Feeding Baby

[lj11]

My DD is 10 months old and has been 'eating' food for a couple of months now. She flat out refuses to eat any baby food or take any formula. She's breastfed in the morning while waking up and in the evening before bed, an occasional middle of the night snack and usually once more during the day on weekends. I haven't started totally weaning her yet, but she did take her first bite this morning so it's not going to be too much longer!

Any suggestions on how to get her to eat something besides: waffles, rice, mac n' cheese, applesauce and cheerios? She use to like scrambled egg yolks, but not anymore. She will eat a couple bites of yogurt every once in awhile. I can't get any other fruits or veggies near her mouth!

Thanks....
Lj
mom to cooper simone 2/28/02

[mamahill]

Ainsleigh loves to chow down on a slice of apple (peeled). She'll just gnaw away until that thing whittles down to nothing. As far as veggies go, Ainsleigh likes hers the smoother the better (she still LOVES Earth's Best and Tender Harvest veggies). Her newest love is mozarella cheese. I have those string cheese snacks that I keep for a protein pick-me-up and a couple days ago I cut off a little and gave it to her. She ended up eating half the stick! I cut it cross-wise, to make a circle, and then cut those in half so they're small enough she can put the whole thing in her mouth, but big enough that she has to chew. Other than that, I'm right there with you on needing advice. Beth, Sue, Shira, and Sarah (Lola's mom) have babies a little older, so hopefully they'll have suggestions...

[nohomama]

The only advise I can give you is to keep offering foods that are new and different. Some recent favorites with us are:

anything with cream cheese on it
canned black olives
wheat toast with butter and honey (only good for babe's over a year)
canned pears, apricots, and peaches (in juice rather than syrup)
arrowroot biscuts
Veggie Bootie
beans & rice
scrambled eggs with cheese & spinach
quesadillas
turkey burgers
homemade falafel
madarine oranges (a favorite from early on)
AND favorite food of all...what ever we're eating

HTH,

[egoldber]

I think all babies go through these phases where they stop eating things they used to love. They go back to them after awhile though. I would just continue to offer a variety of foods of all different types. Challenge yourself to think outside the box!

Sarah never liked baby food much. I only used it occasionally when traveling. A 10 month old doesn't really need "baby" food and can eat pretty much anything an adult does as long as it is soft enough (excluding nuts, peanut butter and any other foods that you might have a family history of allergies with).

Her favorites right now are:

well steamed broccoli (she'd eat it all day and night)
hummos on pita
soy nut butter on wheat bread
cream cheese on English muffin
yogurt
green beans
Goldfish
Corn Chex
risotto
fig newtons
grapes (cut in half)
string cheese

Just some thoughts...

[sweetbasil]

When DS was a little guy, his doctor told me that I should try foods with him up to 20 times before I stopped giving it to him altogether, so I'd just give him a breather and then start it back in a week or two.

Some other winners at our house were:
cereal bars (we liked those new cereal bites, then broken into smaller pieces)
kiwi fruit
pizza
rice
tortillas
small young peas (anything we called a ball, and he automatically loved it- corn, peas, etc ;) a boy thing?)
canned diced carrots, lima beans (cut in half), etc- Del Monte makes those small serve pull-top cans that lasted him a few meals
Golden Grahams
rice krispies
peeled pears, peaches (we've used the canned ones when we're feeling lazy, along with mandarin oranges)
melon (cubed)
turkey hot dogs (cubed)

Have fun! :)

[lj11]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm definitely going to try some of the items that are favorites with other little ones.

[cara1]

-frozen diced veggies (easy to pick up)
-anything made with ground turkey (meatballs, or better, I made this awesome shepherd's pie with ground turkey, mixed veggies, and potatoes all mixed in...we loved it, and it was the first meal DS was able to have exactly what we were having!
-rice cakes

[KimberleyDawn]

Hi,
I had such fun introducing new foods to my 1st and I look forward to that milestone with this one too! Reading your posts reminds me of DS little face when he either loved something or hated it!
Kim
P.S.
Chris' favorite 2 foods forever were scrambled eggs with green beans (weird I know)& cheese mixed in and humus with semi-cooked veggies or bread wedges.

[atlbaby]

a few of DD's staples:
--macaroni and cheese (loves this)--elbows or any pasta&shredded cheese (american, mozerella, cheddar)
--cottage cheese
--fruit cups ('tropical' is a big hit)
--frozen chopped spinach (room temperature)
--green beans/peas/carrots
--chicken cut up into bite size pieces
--pretzel rods as snacks are a bit hit--keeps her occupied for a bit too :)

that's all I can think of now

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[cara1]

Question, my MIL started feeding DS quartered grapes, but she didn't peel them. Supposedly he did fine. Do you all think it's really necesary to peel them?

[egoldber]

i have never peeled them. I cut them in thirds initially and these days I just cut them in half.

[lj11]

thanks again for all the tips. i've tried a few. so far the rice cakes have hit the mark. i haven't seen dd eyes light up like that since she had her first cheerio!

lj
mom to cooper simone 2/28/02