i have an 11 month old daughter who is starting to give me trouble eating. she will barely finish 1 jar of baby food, where as before she would eat 2 or 2 1/2 jars each meal. i don't know if this is just a phase or if she is beginning to become a picky eater. at first i thought she was ready to stop eating the baby food but when i give her regular food she doesn't take much of it either. there are some table foods she will eat but as far as veggies and fruits she still wants the baby food. so my question is when should she be off baby food and eating regular foods? you know how you hear from other people...she should be eating this and that by now. but i've tried and she doesn't want it. i want her to have a variety of foods not just the same things. do i keep trying? or stick to what she likes?
Hello A.....I would continue to try to give her new things, sometimes babies dont get a taste for it until after the 3 or 4 time its been offered. Also with my son he would only eat the fruits and veggie jars of baby food....so thats what i gave him but I also offered my food. After alittle while he stopped wanting the baby food. It jus takes a while for them to transition into regular food. Good luck
By 11 months she has probably experienced a range of foods and you've eliminated any allergies. She should be fine eating most foods that you eat. Just cut them into small pieces and let her go at it. you can even give her a spoon to attempt to use. Around age 1 they really cut back on the amount of food they eat - sometimes to the point that it seems they are hardly eating anything at all. They really slow down in growth at this point and simply don't need as many calories. If she seems content and isn't complaining like she's hungry, don't push her to eat more. They are born with the ability to eat what they need and pushing it can lead to obesity later. Just like you, she'll be hungrier on some days and less so on other days - trust her.
I would recommend going with feeding her "regular" food - the same stuff you are eating. The "graduate" foods have a lot of fillers and artificial stuff and quite honesty they just taste nasty. Mine would never eat them, but ate table foods just fine. You might let her veggies get a little softer than you'd like or cut them into tinier pieces, but she'll be fine with adult food. If possible try to add salt after taking out her portion and don't give her super spicy foods, but otherwise, let her test out different things.
My kids actually never had baby food from jars. Right around the time my kids were born (19 yrs ago), there was a big deal in the news about glass being found in Beechnut baby food. (Do they even make that anymore?) Anyway, I was scared by that, plus we had soooo little money and baby food was so expensive. My grandmother had raised four kids during the depression, and jarred baby food wasn't even invented then, so she showed me how to make my own food. Food processors make the job so much easier.
I just graduated the textures all along the way. As the boys got older and teeth came in, I made the food less and less smooth until they were eating whole foods. If your little one still likes the texture of the jarred food, you might try making your own to the texture that she likes. That might ease her into trying some of the new foods. The texture really affects the taste a lot, and maybe she's having a hard time going from foods that are mostly smooth to whole food form. Hey! I like grilled cheese sandwiches, but I bet I wouldn't like it in pudding form! That could work the other way round for babies.
Also, you have to try new foods over and over again. What's that "magic number"? It's something like 15 times before they'll actually like a new food (and yes, sometimes never!) Just try little bits again and again, experiment with different textures, and you may hit upon the right combo.
my son did that when he was teething... then went back to eating like a champ again....
You can give her table foods. Things that you know she will not choke on and try some of the gerber graduates. My son was put on cereal at 2 months old and on baby food by 4 months and he was eating table foods between 9 and 10 months and there is nothing wrong with him. Just try small bites and soft foods at first to make sure she is chewing it up. Like I said the gerber graduates are really good for them and they are soft. I hope this helps.
My son was a huge eater and was off baby food completely by 10 months (he would even eat steak). Also keep in mind, kids do go through grow spurts and will eat more than at other times. I still notice it with my 10 year old daughter... there are days that I can't feed her enough, then a few days later she has no interest in food what-so-ever. Follow her que's and you'll be fine.
she may jusat be more intrested in playing then eatting when my kids went threw this stage I just left the meal on the table and they would come back to it from time to time set a time limit though on how long you let the food sit also make sure that its not something that will spoil easy for mine I would give them cereal with no milk in the morning if you are thinking of takeing her off baby jar food try putting her on the gerber graduets foods it will give her a vareity of foods but not be to much of a chokeing hazard
