Real food for 10 month old!!! HELP!!!

[Redstiletto]

Alright, so most of you have seen me around here. I have a 10month old, Lucas.

Well at our 9 month check up the doctor said that I could start feeding him foods that we were eating. (Since I make all his baby food at home..)

And well to put it bluntly... I am terrified.

He has been eating the gerber puffs since he was 8.5 months, so he could figure out the chewing stuff.

But I am so afraid to feed him anything but pureed foods.

At this rate he will be eating pureed in highschool!!

I know I have to just let go a little and let him try new foods, but I dont even know where to begin.

We have done bananas.. .small pieces of them that I put in his mouth (he refuses to touch them because they are slimmy... its funny)

But I dont know what else to give him to get him to start eating real food.

His daycare teacher suggested sweetpotato.. so I am going to try that. But I need to get him to start meats... like chicken... but how can I do that when I am terrified he will choke?

Just a heads up, he is a dairy, soy, peanutbutter and egg free baby (breastfed and has eczema). So I cant do like yogurt or scrabbled eggs...

Any ideas??? I dont know who is worse at this, my son or me!

~Nic

 

[GolfingMom]

small pieces of fruit like peaches, watermelon, grapes (quartered),
peas, corn,
cut the chicken, fish, meat into small pieces.

 

[ChristianMama84]

We give Remy small bits of chicken, pork chop, mac & cheese, peas and carrots...basically whatever we're eating. Oh, he loves bite sized pieces of pb&j! Just be sure to give him a tiny bit at a time and that he has swallowed before you give him more. You can do it, Mama!

 

[coffeegal]

since he is bf i will tell you what my dr told me- bf babies have very strong jaws- since they have to use them to nurse.

take a sweet potato and dice it up into small cubes (i do less than 1/4 inch) steam it. you'll know they are done when you can easily mash it with your finger. he'll be able to much it in his mouth easily. it is even softer than those puffs.

as for meat- you don't need to do that yet, start with squash, sweet potatoes, cooked apples, avacados.

since my third child i've tried to stay away from jarred baby food. (my 6th tho would only eat jarred bananas, for 3 months. *roll eyes*)

 

[Redstiletto]

thanks! I will try that. I found a good website with fingerfood recipes for homemade baby food. I will give it a try!

 

[bugaboo]

You could make a gentler transition by mashing his food just a little with a fork, leaving it chunky, before gaving him the cut up pieces.

 

[Redstiletto]

Well i dont mash his peas all the way anymore.. I leave them a little chunky

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

Unless babies have molars- they don't chew with their teeth. The front teeth are all for tearing and biting food-the back teether are for chewing. Many kiddos do not get their first molars until around age 2- 2 1/2. LOL! I duno- knowing that made me feel better about feeding my kids.

Pesonally what I would do- would be to offer bites of food first (whatever you're having). And then finish off the meal of whatever you're having pureed. That way baby is still getting the same amountof food- but is also learning to chew and swallow. As he gets better and better at it- eliminate the purees one meal at a time.

 

[Birbitt]

For meats you just need to cut the food up into tiny little pieces. Ground beef and turkey works great for youngsters since when you cook it it breaks down into small pieces we used to put that with a bit of homemade gravy and let our boys eat it with a spoon (we watched them carefully to make sure they weren't getting too much at one time). For Chicken I always served it in small pieces either cold or lukewarm and with some dip (we used mashed potatoes, or hummus as a dip for the little ones). Fish is great for babies because it's soft and breaks apart easily (just don't over do it on the fish for now). Also Avocado is very healthy and it's very easy to chew, also for some protein you might try cooking some dry beans until soft and then they make great finger foods.

 

[Redstiletto]

i cant figure out the avacado.... its not a normal food in our house... so i am lost as to how to prepare it.

I did find a bunch of great recipes here: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

So I am going to try some today, but I am still scared.

 

[Beth1231]

I found it hard to make that first leap too. Then one night, I couldn't get her to eat pureed peas. And we happened to be eating peas with our dinner. So I gave her a couple and used my finger to squash them a little. And she ended up eating about a dozen! That was the beginning for me

Small pieces of whole-wheat bread
Organic small crackers that I found in the baby food aisle
Cheerios (of course!)
Pieces of cooked pasta
Green beans that I cooked and squashed a bit.
Lumpy apple pieces (I used a fork to mash thin slices a bit)

And yeah, she still won't eat those slimy banana pieces that stick to her fingers! I watch her very, very closely. Maybe you can have a little cup of water on hand to help you feel better. Once I saw her mash up half of an adult sized cracker with her gums, I felt better.

 

[Birbitt]

Really if you get a ripe avocado (one that gives to gentle pressure but is not mushy, also if you are really unsure flick off that little piece of stem on the end and look at the part underneath it should be a nice shade of green with no yellowish coloring and very little brown) all you have to do to it is cut it in half remove the seed (either with a spoon or the heel of a sharp knife) use a spoon to scoop out the meat and then cut it in pieces...I have to warn you though that it will brown very quickly...if you have a vacuum food sealer you can slice it up and put it in there to keep for a few days but not more than 3-4 days...and if you don't have a food sealer then you have to use it up right away.

 

[Redstiletto]

Can you freeze it?

 

[-~Truth_N_Trust~-]

no I don't think you can freeze avocado.
I was going to say pasta too, but don't some have egg in it? Anyway, cooked small pasta (like risoni) mixed with mashed avocado is a good one. I always added ricotta cheese - but you're not doing dairy so I'd just leave it out! Avocado mashes really well (think guacamole).
Big pieces of fruit as finger food are a great start, my son loves apples and watermelon. But I watch him closely because he is liable to bite off a big piece and scare me to death!

as for meat, use nice and tender meat. Like really tender roast or broiled lamb, or the softest part of a roast chicken. and just give them small pieces to try.

Ezekiel is 9 months old, I just mash with a fork a bit of whatever is on my plate and give it to him. Although he prefers to feed himself!

Oh, also you can feed porridge - oats - but the chunkier traditional version, you can make it up with formula or breastmilk, and mix it with some mashed banana, always a hit!

 

[Redstiletto]

He eats oatmeal because he can't have rice cereal... so that one he has been having for months, he likes it with apples for breakfast.

he has had pasta... Pastina...(Italian babyfood) its really small noodles chopped up real finely.

He didnt care much for having to pick them up thogh.

 

[Tawny]

Carrot sticks and cucumber sticks, Kirsty loved those, especially when teething and I kept them in the fridge. I used to put bits she could pick up and eat on her tray while feeding her her normal meal, I would eat some too so she could copy me. Its messy but great fun.

 

[Redstiletto]

YAY we made it through our first finger food! I cut up sweet potatos into small itty bitty pieces that would mush in his mouth... he loved them!!!

YAY!! That was enough excitement for me for a while! We will have bananas tonight, I read that if you roll the little pieces in ground up graham crackers then the babies will pick them up because they will not be slimy.

 

[Linnis]

DS started eating Cheerios around 8 months, pieces of fruit from canned fruit salad(packed in juice not syrup) By 10 months he was eating pieces of baked chicken or beef steak. He loved and still loves Mashed potatoes. You can steam veggies until they are cooked but firm enough for perfect finger foods.

Puffs are still a big hit here.


DS had his first set of molars by 15 months - he's now working on his eye teeth which means he has 16 teeth. He managed to chew food up with 4 teeth so I don't know if having more teeth helps.

DS even if he's 19 months still loves Baby food, finely pureed stuff.


You could also try yogurt - plain first - then add flavoring to it or buy flavors just watch out for the sugar content, some of the yogurts have so much sugar. DS LOVES vanilla yogurt from about 10-11 months on.

 

[ShannonMcCatholic]

YAY we made it through our first finger food! I cut up sweet potatos into small itty bitty pieces that would mush in his mouth... he loved them!!!

YAY!! That was enough excitement for me for a while! We will have bananas tonight, I read that if you roll the little pieces in ground up graham crackers then the babies will pick them up because they will not be slimy.

Babies will pick up plain ol' pieces of banana. You don't need to coat them

 

[Redstiletto]

he refuses to pick them up because they are slimy