What age should babies being eating table foods?

Question

What age should babies being eating table foods?

Answer 1

My son started at 6 months

Answer 2

There's no 'should.'  Most babies are ready for table foods bewteen 7-10 months.  A few are ready a bit earlier (6 months), and a few gag and choke, or can't pick them up until around a year or more.

In general, I think it's sensible to make the transition as soon as baby is able.  Table food is healthier, cheaper, more varied, and more intesting, and the longer baby is kept on bland mush, the more likely he is to end up a picky eater who is afraid to try new things.

EDIT:  Obber, while there are certainly downsides to babyfood, a comparison to frozen meals isn't really accurate.  Frozen dinners usually contain a LOT of sodium and preservatives. They are actively UNhealthy.  Babyfood (esp. if you avoid the 'dinners' and 'desserts') are just pureed food  No salt. No sugar. Nothing in them to do any harm.

And no flavor, but that's another issue entirely.

EDIT #2: Ober, the article you cited is VERY old.  Dates from the early 1990's I believe.  Manufacturing processes have changed a lot since then.  Yes, some baby foods do contain fillers, but simply reading the labels will allow the purchaser to avoid those few products. ("Desserts" and "Dinners" mostly.  "Pureed carrots" are just carrots and water. No salt, no sugar, no starch.)

Answer 3

6mo. There is no benefit to "baby food."

Jars of Gerber are to babies as Stouffer's frozen entrees are to adults. Nothing exceptional, just convenience.

"Gerber and Heinz replace real food with water and thickening agents in many of their products for children over six months of age. Such adulterated products are nutritionally inferior to products made with more fruits and vegetables.

The single-ingredients foods made by all the companies differ only modestly as a result of adding somewhat different amounts of water. However, Gerber and Heinz add substantial amounts of water and thickening agents (flours and chemically modified starches) to more than half of their twenty-five most popular fruits, mixed and creamed vegetables, desserts, and dinners for babies over six months (second- and third-stage foods). Not only are those products a monetary rip-off, they are also nutritionally inferior to similar products made without fillers. Gerber and Heinz' bananas with tapioca, for example, contain less than half of the levels of nutrients found in their plain first-stage bananas. Gerber and Heinz' regular dinners, which contain at least two types of refined flour as thickeners, provide less than 50% of the nutrient levels found in comparable dinners made by Growing Healthy, which are made from whole foods and contain no starchy fillers. Many fewer products made by Beech-Nut and Earth's Best contain starchy fillers.

Baby foods are very high priced compared to similar regular foods. Baby foods cost far more per ounce than conventional national brands or supermarket brands. For example, parents often pay more than double for baby food fruit juices and applesauce. Gerber Graduates diced fruits and vegetables are also more than twice the price of comparable products available in the canned goods aisle. For the majority of puréed baby foods, there are no comparable regular products. However, judging from the instances in which direct comparisons can be made, these baby foods are also priced far higher than they would be in a competitive industry.

Makers of baby food encourage a mystique about their products. They want parents to think that commercial baby foods have special properties that make them particularly appropriate, if not essential, for infants.

Advertising campaigns promote the myth that commercial products are especially good at meeting the nutritional and developmental needs of infants. Gerber's public relations and advertising machinery has cultivated an almost sacred image in people's minds of Gerber products. Those perceptions are clearly untrue. Parents, armed with a food processor, blender, or mashing fork, can easily prepare safe, nutritious, and economical food for their infants at home."

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/cheat1.ht...

Which says nothing about the finger and "table" foods sold in the baby aisle, which ARE _unquestionably_ garbage, nutritionally. "Puffs," those little pasta meals in the tray, "fruit" bars full of high-fructose corn syrup and only half a molecule of strawberry -- garbage, garbage, garbage.

Answer 4

No reason babies can't always eat table food, provided it is pureed or cut up. We gave our son real baby food only from about 4-5 months old, then switched to the same food we eat.  Ever tasted those "Stage 3" jarred baby foods or the "Gerber Graduates" stuff? Gross!

If you're asking what age baby should start eating finger foods, the answer is when they can crawl with their tummies off the floor, sit up well, and begin to pinch foods between their fingers. Our pediatrician said to try a tiny morsel, and if our son wasn't ready, he would push it back out with his tongue. For beginning finger foods, I do like the Gerber Puffs (Banana, Sweet Potato, etc). They are like cereal but dissolve in the mounth so there is little chance of choking.

Answer 5

at around 10 months +

Answer 6

8

Answer 7

its up to you and your baby.

my daughter was eating table food at 6 months, but she was on jar food awhile befor that..

Answer 8

Babies should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months, then table food can be gradually introduced starting at 6 months old, with  breastmilk continuing to be the major source of nutrition and calories until at least one year old.

Answer 9

My first daughter started cereal at 2 wks (in her bottle), baby food at 4 months and mashed potatoes as soon as she had tried every flavor of stage one baby food.  My 2nd is almost 5 months old and had been eating baby food for a month, she will try mashed potatoes as soon as I cook them again, (this weekend).  Regular food that requires chewing should be started after baby has most of front teeth and can chew and swallow without getting choked.  (My doc said all of this is ok for mine, every baby is different, ask your doc.)