My daughter just turned ONE, and I feel like Im still feeding her like a new baby. She gets rice cereal or oatmeal cereal, mixed with fruit or veggies (sometimes one of each) 3 X's a day. We're also feeding her a little of what we eat, but her main meals are still the cereals mixed with the Gerber fruits and veggies. It's the same thing we were feeding her when she was 5 mo old. Should her main meals be something different? (she's my first so I really dont know). It's not that Im scared to give her anything else, she'll try anything, but Im seeing now that if I dont start introducing new things like NOW, she's going to get very picky. She just eats really good with what we're doing, if we try pasta or toast or anything else she'll eat it, but wont make a meal of it.
Thank you everyone for your excellent advice! I have a lot of fun new things in mind to have Maggie try this week. (one at a time :). She has had 7 teeth since she has been about 9-10 mo old so there is no reason she cant be eating big people food. I guess keeping her on the baby food maybe made me feel like she was still a baby. (I swear she's so far ahead it's scary! Like a little 5 yr old).
Thanks again!
Now you can give her all the finger foods! That's easy! Give her grapes (maybe cut in half), cheerios, cut up hotdogs, diced up lunch meat, diced cheese, cut green beans, crackers, etc, etc. You can make meals out of those things. Just try to get all the food groups in. Have fun!! Now is the easy part!
there are a ton of foods that gerber makes for babies on up until they are eating regular food. My kids loved the stars that are flavored and kind of melt in their mouth. they have different kind of cookies like that and different meals. You could try the lasagna and mac and chz and stuff they have tons to choose from at wal mart
By one year old they should be off of the baby food. If you're using jarred food and cereal there isn't much nutritional value. Give her whatever you're eating is small pieces. My middle son was eating nothing but table food by 10 months. My oldest was closer to one year. A meal for my boys at that age would be something like a banana and cheerios for breakfast, cooked chicken for lunch and pasta for dinner. All with a sippy of milk.
It's time to start expanding her diet, and there are a lot of great ideas, but remember, do it slowing. Wait 3-4 days between introducing new foods, especially since she hasn't had much exposure yet. Eggs (hard boiled or scrambled), avacado (mashed or small chunks), oatmeal (real stuff, not baby) I made that thick then into tiny balls for the kids to pick up,blue berries and grapes (I quarter them at this stage, don't worry, you'll get good at it. after 4 kids I can do it with my eyes closed!)well cooked veggies (my kids love broccoli, cauliflower, etc..) I would say there isn't a veggie she can't have right now so start with some that may be harder for her to accept later. Potato, chicken, ground meat, cooked apples, pears, peaches, (just dice and let her develop her pincer grasp!)peas, crackers, toast with a little Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter, like peanut butter but no allergy worries) cut in dices, whole milk yogurt, cooked fish
basically what you are eating, but I would stay away from dried fruits (too chewy and choking hazard) and nuts (same reason and allergy issues). Having teeth really doesn't matter for choking at this age until they have molars, that's the teeth they chew with, they bite with the others....
Good luck, have fun and just remember to introduce variety, but take your time.
My daugter is turning 1 on 12/5. She no longer wants us to feed her, she wants to do it herself. We feed her whatever we eat. She does not have any teeth yet, but she has no problem 'gumming' her food.
Yes, a 1 year old should probably have a 'bigger' diet. Does she eat crackers, dry cereal,plain toast things like that? It is a good way to introduce table foods to her so she learns how to chew. She should be good to go with about anything you want to try, watching of course for choking. I am amazed that she hasn't refused the baby food completely as that often happens at about 10 months or so. Maybe be cautious of eggs, strawberries, peanut butter and the high allergy foods to try them a little at a time and one at a time.
As long as she is able to chew and has teeth she can really be eating anything you are eating. What we did with our son was just chopped everything we ate up. The exception would be nuts, peanut butter, and strawberries until we got clearance from the doctor.
Well, first of all- it does make a difference depending on how many teeth your child has. For instance, my son did not get his first tooth until he was 13 months old, so we had to stay with relatively mushy stuff (although most baby/toddler stuff is). When our daughter was one, she had a mouthful of teeth and she LOVED those little Gerber bites (if I remember correctly, they are called Gerber Graduates). They are individual little ravioli filled with different veggies and ground meats and cheeses. I could tell she loved being independant and feeding herself. The bonus is, it helps with their motor skills to be picking up those little things with her little fingers. They need not be refridgerated before opening so we took them everywhere. It seemed to be the perfect transition to using silverware well. Good luck!
fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains.
pretty much the same thing you should feed yourself, only in smaller portions. depending on how many teeth your child has. softer foods are better for those without many teeth. usually baby cereals and baby foods are starting to get outgrown, but go with your gut mom! whatever works for you! :D
you know your child best. do what you know is safe and healthy for your child! :D good luck@!
My favorite website is www.weelicious.com The mom who built the website shops mostly at her local farmers market and makes everything from purees for babies at 6 months to kid friendly foods. I love making purees for my son who's 7 months old. Some of her recipes are vegan friendly as she has vegan friends. She even makes "How to" videos with her son. Check it out, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
My kids never had jarred babyfood, so they ate what we ate very young (8-9 months). Before then I just pureed various fruits, veggies etc... for them. Certainly by now, she should be eating what you are eating. She needs to develop other tastes. There is really no need for her to be eating pureed food at this point. Give her finger foods and let her feed herself.
She can have almost anything now that she is 1 year. I have given my 1 year old (turned 1 in November) Mac and cheese, pizza, corn, etc. Almost anything he can eat with his hands I give him. For breakfast we always have a toaster strudel! They like the independence of being able to feed them self. Hope this helps.
are you mixing all the veggies with cereal? I would feed mine child (at that age) the fruit mixed with cereal, but a stage 2 or 3 veggie, and meal by itsself...not mixed with cereal. And table foods as she would like to try them. My son was on table foods by one, he refused babyfoods by one year of age.
Yogurt is a good start. Scrambled eggs is good too. Really start giving her anything youj would eat, just smaller pieces and less. When my son was one (he's 2 and a half) he really liked the graduate meals. Its a good thing she will try anything because now is the time to have her eat a variety of foods to keep her from being picky later! good luck!
If you are nursing, keep doing so! It is the best nutrition you can give your baby and the rest of the food is secondary.
I wouldn't worry as long as she is happy, content, filling her diapers and growing. Babies are masters of eating when hungry and stopping when full, something I wish I could make myself do!
Don't be too eager to get her on solids, as she will be eating solids and lots of processed foods the rest of her life.
Go to Ask Dr Sears Web site, Dr Sears has never failed me!
Good luck and enjoy your little one!
J.
M.,
My baby isn't quite one (11 months), and he still is on baby food and infant cereal. He is a gagger and a choker so he is slower going to finger foods. That doesn't seem to be your problem though, so I would get your baby eating what your eating since she seems to do ok with it. If you think she isn't feeding herself enough though you can still supplement with baby food (it can't hurt). Eventually she will just eat what she needs to eat and you won't be concerned! Good luck!
Hey, I just thought I'd add that my doctor gave us the go ahead to give our son most table food at 12 mos (using common sense), but said to wait on strawberries and nuts for allergy reasons (allergies don't run in our families, that's just his advice) and no honey.
It's time to get her off the baby food. My kids (3 and 1) both eat Quaker oatmeal made with milk for breakfast and a bowl of fruit every morning. Raspberries are great because a 1 year old can pick them up and eat them. I also cut strawberries up and give her chunks of banana. Canned vegetables are great or the Gerber carrots in the jar. String cheese is another mainstay in our house. Just break it up into smaller pieces for your baby. Great source of protein, dairy and fat. Pasta, pieces of bread or bagel (good for teething), graham cracker sticks (called morning sticks on the box) baby goldfish crackers are all good snacks and a rinsed and drained can of black beans is a great source of protein and fiber. Don't give too many though or you'll see them whole in her diaper. Another good item for teething is frozen peas. Give them to her frozen, they thaw almost immediately after touching a tongue.
Baby foods can be convenient because it takes very little thought or planning but you'll find it much more economical to feed her what you're eating. Also less prep work too.
Enjoy!
M.,
My daughter is almost 15 months. We have her on an organic diet. Some of her favorites are kiwi, mangoes, avocado, bananas, brocoli, and sweet potatoes.
My youngest granddaughter, whom I do day care for, just turned 13 months and for the last four months she has been basically eating the same foods as we do. I make sure everything is cut very small and some of the items are mashed a bit, but otherwise she has all but her eye teeth and does very well. My own children and my husband's were all eating table food at 6 months. Good luck, I think you'll find a much better eater.
M.-
Congrats on that 1 year old - my son Brayden just turned one on 11/6/07 - so they're very close in age. He is on table foods only. When we ran out of baby food, as he had been eating a few bites of our food, we just started feeding him more of what we were eating. Just make sure you give her small bites. You'll soon figure out what she can handle. He eats everything we eat, except of course for peanut butter products. He's a very good eater like your Maggie!
L.
Keep giving her everything you eat. As long as she is able to chew the food she can eat it. If you are having roast with potatoes and carrots give her a little bit of each- just make sure they are cut small. Also make sure the meat is tender. I would stay away from things that are real hard or chewy (carrots, fruit snacks, etc) for a while yet. Give her big people snacks too (little gold fish crackers are great for snacks). Try toddler foods from gerber too. Give her lots of finger foods. Keep giving her food from the table. She will get the hang of it and she will start to make a meal of it. Canned veggies and fruits are great snacks or for meals too. They just have to be cut sometimes. She can eat most anything that you have at the table.
We feed our one year old everything we eat, with a few exceptions. He doesn't get much in the name of raisins, since he has an overactive gag reflex and frankly I don't wanna clean it up! We don't feed him nuts, since he's not a fantastic chewer. He gets very small quantities of peanut butter, but not sandwiches at all. And no honey. But otherwise, he pretty much eats what we eat. One caveat--when he was at his 1 year apt, the doctor did the lead test and also hemoglobin, and he was low. I suspect it's because a) he's breastfed (no iron-enriched formula), and b) he finds meat hard to chew, so unless it's ground beef, he doesn't eat much. So, he's on PolyViSol, which is yucky, but he takes it well, and I'm hoping his hemoglobin is improving. It might be something worth asking about if/when you take her off iron-supplemented baby cereal, since my doc reminded me it improves immune function, too, and it's wintertime!
My daughter turned 1 last week. She mainly eats what we eat. For breakfact she has YoBaby yogurt and some sort of carb. Cherrios, littel waffles, ect. Lunch is usually some pre-cooked chicken, pasta, and a veggie. Dinner is whatever we are having. Before bed I give he pureed bananas with some baby cereal. And then maybe a jar of baby food. She isn't too big into the baby food, so we started her on "real" food about 8-9 months. When ever she was able to chew and was starting to pick things up. But every baby is different! If she is interested in real food, give it to her!
At one year old, she is safe to transition to adult table foods (unless there's a medical reason), using common sense (ie, no pizza!) By all means, use up the baby foods you have, but start introducing her to what you are eating for each meal. For veggies start with steamed carrots and mashed potatoes; fruits we did small pieces of bananas, plums, peaches, canatlope, watermelon (softer fruits, which may be a challenge to find what's in season!)etc. small pieces of cheese, regular yogurt, cottage cheese; for meats (unless your vegetarian of course) we started with deli ham and turkey and cut it into small pieces. If we had a meal with chicken breast we used my pampered chef chopper and chopped up a piece or two small enough so that it was basically shredded/chopped; hamburger recipes we just made sure the hamburger chunks were small enough. Our 1st daughter is now 4 and has eaten more fruits and veggies than I ever did in my first 30+ years of life (my parents were a meat and potato family and there wasn't much variety!) She actually eats steamed broccoli and LOVES it! ANd she gets upset when plums are not in season. Unless we are having something that we know that she truly doesn't like, she has always had smaller portions of what we ate, and it worked out fine. SHe has never starved or lost weight on account of not liking the meal (we do always have something we know she'll eat). Good luck and have fun!
Hi M.,
A big part of this is if your daughter has teeth, and how many. My son is 11 months old, and has 2 teeth. He was late to get teeth, and some of my relatives were kind of going crazy because we were still feeding him pureed food. I didn't stop pureeing his food until he got teeth.
Now, he basically eats whatever we're eating. His breakfast is fruit, usually a banana, pineapple, or mandarin oranges. His lunch is often leftovers from our supper, stuff like shredded chicken meat, macaroni & cheese, or some sort of hotdish or soup. Supper is the same, and then he gets fruit again before bed. He's totally off of formula; he drinks goat's milk, soy milk, and white grape juice.
I would say that oatmeal & fruit is fine for breakfast, but I would start being adventurous with her other meals. IMHO, baby food is a marketing ploy and price-wise, a rip-off. ;-) It's good that you are giving her whatever you are eating, but I don't know what you mean by she's not "making a meal of it"... "Normal" food is a lot more filling than baby cereal, so she's not going to each as much table food as you might think. Also, babies that age will eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full. If you're worried about her intake, feed her more frequent, smaller meals. Also, the only meal my son eats with us is breakfast; we watch him, not the clock, for signs that he's hungry.
Good luck!
