Scared to give table foods....???

Question

Riley is 9 months old today and up to this point his table foods have been very limited. He's had a few pieces of bread, biter biscuits, mashed potatoes, ground meat (from stuffed cabbage) & cheerios. He mostly gets jarred food but lately he takes a few bites and then starts spitting it everywhere. Is he telling me that he wants big boy food? With Tyler (my oldest, eating was never an issue (until he hit 2 years old) so I don't know what to do. Riley doesn't seem ready for table foods yet. He choked on a Cheerio the other day!! I'm reading some answers on other questions on how they give their baby pieces of chicken....I'm afraid Riley would choke, even if I tore it into tiny pieces. He has 5 teeth but they are all front ones (top 4 and 1 bottom coming in) and he tries to chew with those (its really cute).

How do I let go of my worry and how do I know when he's ready??

Answer 1

Ok, first off, babies don't need teeth to eat table foods.  Their gums are a lot stronger than you think.  Johnny's been eating table foods since he was 8 months old, and then he only had two bottom teeth.

I was the same as you, scared to death.  I started with the Gerber Puffs or the Gerber Yogurt Melts.  They dissolve in your babies mouth, but they also give baby a chance to learn how to chew.  Anyways, after about a week on those, I started giving him small pieces of peaches or banana.  Then I moved on to something like small pieces of green beans.  

Just start slow, he'll be fine.  :)

Answer 2

My 11 month old son has no teeth and can still gnaw his way through a piece of pizza. He may be ready for big boy food. The only way to find out is to try. My son eats a cereal bar most mornings for breakfast, so you may want to try one of those, because they are really soft.

Answer 3

He should be ready for finger foods by now.  Give him those Puff cerals for babies (they melt in the mouth).  Cheerios are also fairly soft and melt easily.  It may seem like he's choking on his food, but babies will gag when they are learning how to eat.  They need practice figuring out how to swallow their food, so gagging is normal.

Well cooked pasta cut into small pieces are a good start too.  I would just cook some spaghetti noodles, add a little sauce, and then cut it up a little and she would feed it to herself.  You can also try rice, chicken noodle soup.  

Answer 4

We have done big chunks of table foods from 6 months onward, never did any pureed foods off a spoon - and I can tell you we have never had any issues with it.

You need to put a little more faith in him and his ability to eat  the natural way -- babies were never naturally fed anything whizzed up before the baby food industries came around to tell parents their babies were no longer capable of eating anything other than sludge.

Start letting him have what you have, the way you have it - and in no time you will be wondering why you ever doubted him.

Answer 5

you just have to go for it. and i know it sounds starnge but the best advice i was given by a nursery nurse was the smaller the piece f food the more inclined they are to choke as they pop the whole thing in at once.

At 6 months old i was giving my son a big hunk of crusty bread and butter, just for him to gum.

obviuosly i never let him out of my sight whildt he was eating so if he ever got into bother i could hook it out.

he is now 14 months with a ferociuos appetitie.

Answer 6

I also started with those gerber puffs. They melt in babies mouth. It really isn't for baby, but for mom to become confident in table foods. (although my son loved them as a snack later on) Just keep everything super super tiny and let him at it. Make sure he is supervised with you and he will be fine. Just like with everything else in life, you have to try try again until you get it right.  

Answer 7

If Riley isn't ready then he isn't ready.  My son is 14 months old and I can remember at nine months, he wasn't ready.  Heck, he was choking on bananas for pete's sake.  Now, he eats all sorts of stuff.  I didn't push the issue with him - we just would create opportunities for him to try it.  If it didn't work- it was fine.  Every dinner we would give him a couple of pieces, he would ignore it, play with it, or throw it on the floor, until one day, he did well with it.  Try not to worry about it.  I know on these boards it seems like everyone's baby is eating table foods (at least, I felt that way) but maybe they are the ones responding to questions like these because their child is already on them.

Answer 8

My suggestion is if you think he's not ready to move up to table foods just yet, then don't. I know they say not to do this, but baby food is so bland!! especially the meal ones! Try seasoning it just a little with salt and pepper.....and maybe warm it up a little. They say that food tastes better warm. That might help him eat the jar baby food!!

Answer 9

just start with small pieces then you will know what he can handle. my daughter has 6 teeth - 4 top, 2 bottom. she is 12 months and she eats all we eat i have to mash it a little with a fork though.

try pasta's - spaghetti, mac and cheese, as pasta is soft. my daughter also loves cold sliced meat (like sandwich meat) i just hand her the slice and she eats it no problem. she is my first so i was a little wary as to what to give her in case she choked. i just gave her tiny tiny pieces then once i seen she was ok with it, the pices got a bit bigger each time.

Answer 10

I asked a question yesterday about self feeding (non pureed foods) and then I went home and tried it last night.  It was hard b/c I'm terrified for the same reasons.  I gave him some steamed carrots & broccoli and a little bite of whole wheat toast.  And, guess what?  He did GREAT with it!  I was a nervous wreck the whole time but he loved it!  It was a good learning experience for him, as well.  I convinced myself that it's something that just has to be done or it will never happen.  Afterall, he (my son) is ready, I'm the one who's not.  Hopefully I can put the food processor away soon, it's so much easier this way!  Just watch him closely and he will be fine.  : )

Answer 11

Ah, my son was like this - once he tasted 'real' food, he wanted nothing of baby or junior food from jars!

For chicken, boiled works really good. Boil a chicken with veggies like for chicken soup - then make some soft noodles, mash up the boiled carrots, shred the boiled chicken - and he'll have great meals out of this.

Also stews and casseroles - because the meats get really soft.

Answer 12

I was in the same boat as you with all my 3 children I think we all have that underlying fear of them chocking. My son would never eat jared baby food so I always made my own and very gradually made it more lumpy, he eats proper food now but he use to shovel his food in and i'd sometimes be a nervous wreck.  Give him a half a cheerio, they have to learn to chew properly and just give him little pieces of food.  Spitting out baby food is a sign that he's ready to move on, just try him with things, maybe finger food that he can hold and he'll probably suck then first then they will be soggy and won't take as much to chew.

Answer 13

Give him squishier foods. Cheerios might dissolve easily, but they are dry. Be sure to offer water in a sippy cup as well. We gave my son chunks of banana and he did really well with the ONE bite he ate! LOL He just squashed the rest in his hand... and would never eat it again (he's just not into solids yet). I think it is important to give larger portions of food, so that your baby can bite off what they can chew, instead of giving something diced. They can't control something they didn't chew off as well as something they did. I would try various fruits first. They are messy, but fun and slide down their throat easily.

Answer 14

Up to 1 year or so, breastmilk or formula should be the primary nutrition source.  So if your child won't eat table foods or isn't good at it- then maybe he's just not ready yet.  It's all about practice right now.  Just offering cheerios under close supervision for now should do.  He may just need to work on it a bit.  

You might also go with the "puffs" sold at Wal-mart (there's generic and there's Gerber).  They are like cheerios, but they dissolve.  So he can work on the fine motor skills and chewing and swallowing but with less chance of choking.