Sept., Oct., Nov. 2003 Mamas

[jec2]

What is your baby eating? How are solids going? Give me some more ideas...

We are still eating mostly pureed foods but I put teething biscuits or fruit in the Baby safe feeder. I've tried to give DS cheerios or other food to pick up and eat and he just plays with it.

PS. I think I'm feeling self-conscious becauase I had another mom kind of scoff at me that I don't give an 8 month old crackers. But, really, Finn still kind of gags when he's eating things that are chunkier and in need of chewing.

[TraciG]

Sydney will be 8 months tomorrow, han't had any teething biscuits yet, no crackers, I would be afraid of choking, just started cheerios a couple of weeks ago but I put it in her mouth, on the side.

Lets see she's had avacoda, sweet potatoes ( loves them ) chicken with potato, carrots & string beans , blended, rice, barley, frozen peaches in baby safe feeder, pretty much all the baby food fruits & veggies, that's about it so far, still haven't tried egg yolks, u ? Want to try cantaope this moth in safe feeder & watermelon. And she has the baby cereals in the morning, she has 3 meals a day with bottles & 1 snack botttle, all together 24 oz.

[mamicka]

I don't have suggestions about what to feed but just wanted to say that you're not alone with the gagging. I wasn't confident giving DS anything like crackers until closer to 11 months due to the gagging. Lots of other moms thought I was an over-cautious nutso woman but I know my child best & you know yours. I got a lot of, "this must be your first child" comments. OK, whatever... so if he were not my first I'd give him food that I knew he'd gag (& sometimes throw-up) on?

Do what you know is right. :)

[squimp]

Sophia's starting to get more into chunkier foods, but is really not coordinated enough to feed herself. Yesterday I watched her try to put a Cheerio in her mouth for several minutes - completely ineffective but so cute. But hey at least she's trying, which is a new thing.

Before she would just play with them too, so I think you just keep trying. We have given her cooked pieces of rice, peas, salmon, avocado, saltines, sweet potatoes. (yea, I know the salmon is
"allergenic" but we live on the stuff and she's fine with it.) She really liked the peas! She just eats a little bit of these chunkier foods and more of the pureed baby foods. The first few times she gagged on the Cheerios, but I think they were too dry, so I give her water or extremely watered down juice in a sippy cup with solid "meals". Our ped said she needs the fluoride in water for her new teeth. You could also soak the Cheerios in water before giving them to Finn, so they're easier to chew.

As for the scoffer, remember, mama knows best! A baby gagging is definitely a sign to take it easy.

[papal]

If he is gagging then you are doing the right thing by not giving him big pieces of stuff!! Don't let the other mamas bother you, tell them to mind their own beeswax!!

To answer your question, i am waiting for my mom to arrive so she can take over the Leela-feedings... i am running out of ideas. She is loving the Cheerios and they were a godsend on the plane.. kept her thoroughly occupied.
We give her bites of what we eat but for the most part she still likes oatmeal-applesauce, pieces of banana, shredded chicken and cheese, yogurt, rice and daal, sweetpotato pieces, pears, cantaloupe, pita bread..

When we were in NM, one of dh's loony sisters gave Leela some Gerber Graduates cookie type things as a GIFT. They taste pretty awful and they are too big in size for a baby!!! She also hates them and gags on them.

[pritchettzoo]

DD's 9.5 mos old and is loving just about everything, although cheese is her favorite! She had quesadillas the other night (torn up in small pieces) and loved it. She'ss self-feed (messily but happily) shredded mozzarella or torn up pieces of cheese and Oatios (similar to Cheerios but no wheat or corn). I don't puree stuff anymore, but I cut it in a very fine dice and cook it well. She's had and enjoyed really ripe cantaloupe cubed small, and will self-feed almost a whole banana in quartered rings. She loves grapes in small pieces too. Basically, if it's mushy, we'll tear it into small pieces and let her go for it (green beans, broccoli, etc.).

Just imagine what the other mom's reaction would be to CLOTH DIAPERS--crackers are nothing! :P (In other words, it's YOUR baby; why does she care what he is or is not eating?? Let him progress as he feels comfortable.

Anna

[kitmama]

Simon (Oct. 30 2003) is still only eating milled and pureed foods- he will also gag on larger chunks. I'll mash some soft things with a fork so that hey're pretty lumpy, but I have to have water on hand for him to sip. If I give him little pieces, he's completely uninterested in trying to eat them.

He has a terrific appetite, and so far loves almost anything I've given him- which is still almost exclusively cereals, fruits and vegetables. We're JUST starting meats, and I'm holding off a little longer with dairy because my side of the family can have trouble with it. (He's still BFing, though).

His big faves are papaya, sweet potato, butternut squash and pear. But he'll happily eat zucchini, melon, broccoli, other fruits, green beans, corn, cauliflower, mashed potatoes, even spinach- etc etc. I think I'm going to try bagel in the baby safe feeder, and see what he thinks.

[rrosen]

Gabrielle is almost 10 months (one more week) and she is mostly eating finger foods now. We has somewhat of an opposite issue,in that she protested spoon feeding very early (she REALLY has a mind of her own) Being that I believe that you should take your childs lead in feeding, I went with it. For the most part she is eating what we do, just cut very small.

Her favorites are:
Kiwi fruit
melons
avacado
plums
green beans
rice and beans
pasta any kind with any sauce or veggies added
turkey meatballs
booty (veggie or regular)
waffles (I buy the organic ones a whole foods that are made without eggs)

we have taken her for dim sum (she loved the steamed pork buns and the rice noodles with chicken)

Take your childs lead. If your DS gags then it is too soon for him. When he is ready he will let you know! And if he is like my dd he will let you know LOUDLY!

[todzwife]

We are going through the same thing here. I am still feeding him pureed stuff, but I thicken it a little with some gerber oatmeal. He's getting mostly gerber organic (see my thread in the bitching forum on trying to find good foods to feed this poor baby!) He LOVES vanilla yogurt...HATES plain, but then again so do I, can I REALLY expect him to eat something I can't stand?
He loves sweet potatoes, but only the jarred kind, even when I put the real ones in the blender, the little strings make him gag.
He likes the carrots/ brown rice in a jar, banana-blueberry (although that is a very RARE feeding because it clogs him up sooooo bad) the green bean/potatoes he likes ok too... he can eat cheerios too, but I have to watch him and offer water. I gave him a little bite of cheese and it was a hit, but he's still gagging on many things, so it's all tiral and error right now. It's frustrating, I know. Don't feel bad if Finn's not eating chunkier stuff, he'll get it soon enough. :)

[Raidra]

Colwyn is eating a mix of pureed and diced/shredded foods. I'm mostly just trying to use up my enormous supply of pureed foods.

For pureed foods, he eats:

Sweet potato
Carrot
Peas
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Cantaloupe
Apple
Pear
Peach
Prune
Apricot
Banana
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt

And for diced/shredded, he eats:

String mozzarella
Pirate's Booty/Veggie Booty/Smart Puffs
Chicken
Beef
Pasta
Plain Bagel
Multigrain Bread
Peach
Pear
Plum
Peas
Cantaloupe
Watermelon

On our list of foods to introduce are butternut squash, turkey, other cheeses, green beans, and some others I'm not remembering.

He's had those Gerber Fruit Wheels and sorta likes them. I've also given him homemade teething cookies which he liked gumming, but he hasn't had them in a month or two.

[jec2]

Thanks mamas! These are some great ideas. We did try plain yogurt and like Shandelle, I couldn't blame Finn for not liking it (now I have got to figure out to do with these two other containers :P bleh!). We also just tried cottage cheese and Finn didn't really handle the curds well--I guess he just isn't ready quite yet. However, we did give him some peach and very soft cantaloupe from my hand and he did do well with those.


For meat, do you all just shred up the meat you are eating or are you using pureed meat from the jar?

[pritchettzoo]

You can flavor the plain yogurt with jam or fruit. Gracie likes hers with wheat germ on top. I've also mixed it with oatmeal.

Meat--she's gotten some chicken and BBQ, but meat in a jar is NASTY! :P I just make sure it's in small pieces and kind of moist. It's really a novelty item at this point.

Anna

[Raidra]

Colwyn's meat is mostly what we're eating, although we did cook him up a nice steak in the cast iron pan. It can be hard feeding him what we eat, though, since much of it has a sauce of some sort.

We just give him little chunks.. he hated pureed chicken, even though I made it myself. He much prefers pieces of meat.

I'd be careful with the BBQ sauce.. sometimes it has honey in it.

[pritchettzoo]

It was sauce-less--just cooked, pulled pork. I hate BBQ sauce...I should probably get chucked out of the South for that one! ;) But thanks for the warning.

Anna

[vwh99]

I just gave Gabrielle some chicken that I was eating today....pulled into shreds and she loved it! She ate a whole thigh herself! I was afraid she would choke since she just started on chunkier things recently but I guess not! As for other foods she's eating...watermelon, peeled grapes and Gerber wagon wheels..plus all the Stage 2 pureed stuff except the berries.

Val
Gabrielle 10/25

[Oregonmother]

Maybe try the yo-baby yogurt by Stonyfield farms, it's not so sour because it's sweetened and fruit flavored. I give this to my DS on occasion as a treat, but not to much because he does eat plain yogurt fine. It took him several try's to get used to the plain but he really likes it now.
He also eats:

all the earth's best jarred foods
veggie and pirates booty
Annie's cheddar bunnies
"O" cereal
Teething biscuits
Banana's
grapes-quartered
small pieces of apple
mango pieces
bread
avocado
egg yolk
chicken torn up in pieces
shredded cheese


-Alyssa mom to Kaiden 9/14/03

[mom to little e]

A November Mom (about a week or so after your Finn) here and I have also gotten "those looks" from some moms (yes, this is my first).

We have been pretty cautious --- DH has been worried about choking and gagging and I have been concerned about offering too much too early because I didn't want to encourage weaning too early. DS is still BF and I had some supply issues earlier on. Anyway, we also are still mostly in the pureed foods but homemade not jarred. Blended, we have done apples, bananas, pears, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes (jarred) and mangos for fruits. Making them homemade, I have been able to make them somewhat thicker especially the mango (which he loved!). For veggies, we have done sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas (with those being much more chunky). DS gags on the chunkier carrots if I don't mix them in with a little cereal. With a little cereal, he is fine with them. Same thing with peas.

For finger foods, we have done Cheerios (not at all interested), wagon wheels (then I found out they are mostly sugar so I wasn't too keen on those), teething biscuits, and zweiback toast. I got a Baby Safe feeder this weekend and reading the pamphlet that came with it scared me so we will probably stop giving any biscuits by themselves and use the BSF instead. We have done some bits of shreaded cheese that he loved and recently the Yo Baby vanilla yogurt. Forgot about the whole milk/one year suggestion but he didn't have any problems with it and did love it.

Thanks for posting your question! The answers that were given were really helpful! Even with the books, I have been completely lost with the feeding issues. I find I get the best information here!

Casey
Ean 11/06/03

[miki]

DD even gags on soft food sometimes. She's too occupied with getting stuff in her mouth or she puts too many pieces of cheese in at once. She has gagged on squishy steamed carrot and has thrown up because of it. You are totally right not to go too fast.

Who cares what the other moms say.

[new_mommy25]

Juliet, I am so glad you posted this! I was actually coming here to post a similar question because I can't help that feel that we are behind on solids. I feel reassured to read everyone's responses.

Noah is 9.5 months.

We are still eating mostly pureed foods. Usually Earth's Best or Gerber Organic. DS used to love the wheat free Earth's Best teething biscuits but now he's not as intereseted. I give him cheerios. he eats a few but most land on the floor. He hasn't quite mastered the pincer grasp yet. He likes toast and Ak-mak crackers. We just started him on wheat. The other day I was out of crackers so I gave him one of my Chicken in a biscuit crackers. He loved them! They do contain a lot of sodium though so I don't know if I'll do it again. He does not like plain yogurt or yobaby. Last night for the first time I gave him ste 3 earths best which is slightly chunky. He did pretty well.

[babymama]

Santiago (11/16/03) is still mostly eating pureed food.
He's eaten
oatmeal and rice ceral - mostly mixed in w/ other food, not by itself
mashed up banana - almost every day, sometimes multiple times/day
most of the jarred Earth's Best fruits and veggies
sticky rice (occassionally only)
peas - prefers fresh to jarred peas
carrots - prefers jarred to fresh
pears (both homeade and jarred)
applesauce (both homeade and store-bought)
avocado - he's not wild about avocado
mashed up black/pinto beans - offered 1-2 times
mango - fresh, mashed w/ fork, offered only 1-2 times
Horizon organic whole milk yogurt - vanilla, pear, and peach flavor (has yogurt maybe twice/week)
Cheerios - everyday, not able to totally self feed these yet
Gerber Sweet Potato Puffs - almost everyday, dissolve easier than Cherrios, but not as nutritious
soft,stringy chicken - once only
turkey - deli-meat cut into tiny pieces, had this 2 or 3 times
he's also had diluted apple juice (1/2 juice, 1/2 water)

stuff I'm not totally sure when to introduce, but am thinking of trying with him soon (in part based on responses to this thread, thank you!): cheese, pasta, flour tortilla, cantalope, watermelon,

stuff I've given him that I'm sure I wasn't supposed to give or not totally sure it was ok to give:
strawberry filling from a slice of cake I was eating
pretzels (fat sticks, he mostly just sucked on them)
sliced pickels - he *loves* them, sucks the juice mostly, had 3 times
If there's more in this category, I can't remember (or at least theat's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Thanks for posting this!

Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[ALLEYCAT]

I had the same problem with not giving Wiley solid foods partly because I don't want to grow up too fast and I'm trying to keep him a nursing baby as long as I can. When I did finally give him crackers he gagged and got teary eyes but then leaned forward, mouth open trying to get more.
Now he won't eat jarred or homemade purred foods of any kind. He would rather nurse,(yea) or eat food from my plate I LOVE seafood so I'm not too happy with changing my diet. I have started to trick him and when he opens up for finger food or something off my fork, I shovel in a little baby food of some sort. I have tons of Earths Best and don't want to waste it. Don't worry, one day he will eat solid stuff too. You may be like me and wish he wasn't yet.
Right now he likes anything orange,
sweet potato - yum
acorn squash
butternut squash
carrots from a jar mixed with oatmeal
green beans
peas
all beans, lima, black, kidney, lentils
onion
zuchini and yellow squash
red bell pepper
red grapes in small pieces
peaches - yuck
apple sauce real-yum baby-yuck
dill pickles - yum
french fries mush in his hand but it occupies him so I can feed him other stuff
crackers and toast
pasta especially mac and cheese!
today he ate grilled veggies cut into small pieces and loved them

[jec2]

thanks for all these great ideas.

Yesterday we tried watermelon in the BSfeeder and Finn loves it. Also tried it cut up as finger foods and it was NOT a hit. I gave him shredded cheese and that went over pretty well so I think with these suggestions of what you all are eating it will help us navigate the next several weeks.

[sunriseiz]

Wow. You guys are making me feel really behind! We've been trying really hard to wait 4-5 days after a new food to make sure dd doesn't have a reaction which has really slowed things down. DD gums things pretty well, so I too am trying to finish up all of my puree'ed (sp) stocks and move on to chunkier things. Problem with that is I'm not sure how chunky she can handle. I've wanted to try apples, but it seems like without cooking them it might be a little hard. Same for peaches. Any thoughts on this? This should be a great time of year to try new fruits and veggies, so I'd like to take advantage of the fresh foods as much as possible.

Our list:
Cereal (rice, oatmeal, barley)
squash (butternut, yellow)
sweet potatoes
carrots
peas
green beans - yuck
bananas - really yuck
cheerios
pears (pureed and cut up from can, so soft)
applesauce
nabisco teething bicuits (melt in mouth)
veggie puffs (more sugar than I thought at first glance)

Sunny
Mom to Ellie 10/28/03

[jpang]

The summer fruit has opened up a whole world of eating for DD. Her favorites right now are cantaloupe and peaches. For the cantaloupe, I use a spoon and scrape out really thin slices. For the peaches, I can feed her chunks and she mashes them up herself. DD loves eating the foods that the adults eat, so I often take little bits of what's on my plate (unless it's peanuts or other chokeable food, or really spicy) and give it to her. She's a big fan of cheerios, which she uses the pincer grasp to feed to herself.

Latest additions have been tomatoes cut into chunks and soft cheese cut into chunks. I agree that you have to watch how your baby does-- babies vary a lot in this. There have been a couple of times when DD looked like she was gagging, but sometimes this happens when she doesn't have any food in her mouth at all! I'm always sure that I'm very attentive when she's trying a new food-- ready to remove it from her mouth if I need to.