My son is 8 1/2 months old and has been a little "ahead of schedule" most of his life. He was sitting up at 3 1/2 months, army crawling a little after 5 months, up on all fours crawling at 6 months and began pulling himself up and cruising around furniture a few weeks after that. He will probably begin walking in a few weeks.
Since he has been strong, healthy and active I began feeding him straight rice cereal and breast milk at 4 1/2 months old. We moved on to veggies and fruits since then. He also began eating table foods at 7 months.
He eats just about everything we do except berries, citrus, shell fish and eggs (he does eat grapes and tomatoes though). We just make sure it is soft either naturally or by boiling it and cut up very small. He feeds himself the table food and eats about 80%-90% of what I give him, which is about 1/2 cup per meal (3 per day) and 1/4 cup for snacks (2-3 per day). He even drinks out of his sippy cup pretty well, although we only put water or breast milk in it.
He is starting to refuse to eat his baby foods and all he wants is table food or snacks he can feed himself. When should I stop offering the baby food and concentrate on table foods?
He does eat a wide variety of foods, even avocado, olives, sweet peppers, fish (safe fish only!), mango, Brussels sprouts, and more. He is also strictly breast fed so I know he gets a lot of nutrients from that.
I would also like to know if I can start giving him Soy, Almond or Rice milk in his sippy cups at meals. Not interested in juices or cows milk for a while.
Thanks!
My son was completely off baby food by 9 months. He just wasn't interested. He would much rather feed himself.
I did sometimes continue to buy baby oatmeal and let him feed himself (not a good idea if you're afraid of messes).
As for the milk - I think it's the same as cows milk - not until a year, especially if you're BFing. That's all he needs.
I think you can stop the baby food any time you want as long as breast milk is still his main source of nutrition. My pedi always told me not to stress about how often or which baby foods or table foods we were giving as long as they were safe and as long as for the first year the main source of nurtients is breast milk or fomula. I honestly think the sooner you can get rid of the bland baby foods- the better chances you'll have of having a child who will eat a variety of foods.
I would say if he is eating table food just fine then stop buying baby food. There is really no set time but if he hasnt eaten baby food in awhile then that should be a good indicator for you. I wouldn't start giving him any other kind of milk until a year old. Not sure why you would havent to start him on other milk if you still have a good breast milk supply!
sounds like you are good to do it. cut it out. but I would be leary of grapes or cherry tomatoes for choking reasons. and the olives too. if she is not getting alot of protien give him protien baby foods. if he is getting plenty I wouldnt worry about it.
The only thing I would keep is the baby cereal because of the iron content. If he doesn't want baby food, save your $!
Baby food has little nutritional value, go with healthy table food.
I'd say follow his lead. Neither of my kids did baby food at all. I tried it with my first (because I didn't know any better). She rejected it. I tasted and understood why. Commercial baby food tastes appalling. So I just took whatever we were eating, with a few exceptions you've already listed, such as berries and shellfish (also no peanuts until she was a year old), cut the food up or mashed it so so that she could eat them safely, and let her loose. I didn't even try the baby food route with my son. Both my kids (9 and 6 now) are healthy, adventurous eaters whose favorite foods include bell peppers, broccoli, mangoes, seaweed, salmon, "stinky cheese" (blue cheese), green tea... you get the idea.
I agree, there's nothing "magical" about baby foods. They're just soft, safe foods for babies to get them used to food tastes without a choking hazard.
Your son sounds like he's doing just fine and he's eating a nice variety of stuff. Just give him what you have (on a simpler, safer scale) and he'll be a non-picky kid all of his life.
My son didn't really eat baby food. He prefered real food and did fine eating it. So, that is what I gave him. Baby food is expensive, it was cheaper and easier just to chop/mash up what we were having and give it to him. I say as long as your son is getting a balanced diet, quit with the babyfood.
I agree with everyone else on the food question. In terms of milk, I've been told that if you are not breastfeeding (which is great--good job mama!), you need to supplement with formula--not any type of milk. Almond milk should be held off on until at least 2 because of allergies (longer if you have tree nut allergies in your family). I have mixed feeling on soy--I'd look into it a little more.
