When did your baby start eating table food?

[Peanut214]

DS is 9 1/2 months old, and has no interest in anything other than baby food and cereal. I have given him tiny cut up pieces of soft foods like banana, sweet potatoes and carrots - all things he loves in pureed form. If I put the pieces on his tray, he will play with them, squish them between his fingers, etc., but he doesn't put them in his mouth. If I feed them to him, he gags. I tried a tiny piece of cheese once, and he actually threw up!

We have a well baby visit coming up, so I will be discussing it with his pediatrician. I was just wondering what kind of experiences others have had.

Thanks for reading!

 

[ilovejack02]

We started my little guy on table food prob 6-7 months, he always ate what we ate, just mashed up of course. I really didnt do jarred baby food besides carrots and of course cereal. As he got the hang of all of the mashed foods and we learned he wasnt allergic to anything, I then started with chopped up tiny bits and pieces. I would guess 9 months ish .

Kids all start at different times, I imagine your ped will tell you the same thing.

You are doing the right thing, keep offering little bits and he will get the hang eventually.

Of course there could always be a sensitive food texture gag reflex thing that lots of dissers talk about. I dont know what age that starts at, Im sure someone will bring it up.

 

[justhat]

My kids didn't start any solids till 6 months (slightly younger with my son), including thy baby cereals and stuff, but by 9.5 months both were eating regular table food cut into small pieces, in addition to the pureed stuff. They both liked bananas, avocado, Cheerios, Gerber 'puffs', pastas, chicken, green beans, peas, cooked carrots, among other things. My son was also eating things like grilled cheese sandwiches.

I would just keep offering, starting with maybe the chunky textured baby foods and working from there. He'll catch on eventually!

 

[Gabes_mommy]

My DS had very little interest in solid food until right before his first birthday. He just loved his milk I guess.

We actually skipped right over the baby food phase (he refused to eat it) and went right to real food eventually.

He managed to stay in the 97th percentile for height and 75th for weight just on milk.

 

[tzolkin]

It really depends on the kid.

My middle DD started eating homemade baby foods at about 6 months and continued eating them until she was well over a year. She would occasionally pick up and eat "finger foods", but just a few pieces here and there of certain things. If he's eating the same foods pureed I don't think there's any reason to get him to eat cut up pieces. (Unless you think there's an issue with fine motor skills. Just to practice, you can try cheerios or those baby puff things-- they don't squish like cooked veggies, so he can pick them up and eat them or give him little cups that he can fill.)

My DS refused to eat anything pureed on a spoon, so he just had breastmilk until he was ready to pick up and eat foods himself (around 8 months). When he was first getting the hang of it, he did like to eat foods in one of those mesh feeders. (Just don't do banana!) He had his first Thanksgiving meal through one of those.

 

[minkydog]

My oldest started trying other foods at 4 months, which was too early for him. He reacted to a bunch of stuff which later he could eat just fine. He played with his food a lot at 8-9 months, but eventually he discovered it was good. Have you considered letting him fingerpaint in the pureed food for now? A lot of babies rebel when they first start firmer pieces. Also, I found that if I withheld the cereal, milk, and juice until the end of the meal he did better. I'm not talking about starving him. My son didn't eat a lot of solids. But if he took a few tastes I was satisfied.

Now my second child was totally different. By 2 months she was scraping stuff off my plate. Even though I was breastfeeding her every 2-3 hours, she was never full. I started her on cereal & bananas at 3 months so she would stop grabbing the mashed potatoes and peas off my plate.

 

[Folklore]

OP, I could have written your post. My son is 9 1/2 mos and doesn't want table food either. He eats his baby food and cereal wonderfully but hates anything other than that. I was told by a friend to try the chunkier baby food, which I started last week. So far he likes the same flavors he had before but hasn't liked anything new. I am going to keep trying though.

Keep your chin up. I am right there with you.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

Ok, I'll help you feel better. My baby just turned a year old on the 22nd and just started eating table food. About a month ago he started eating puffs. Up untill a few weeks ago he didn't want anything with a texture (beyond puffs), he would gag and everything would come up. He would eat the little puffs if you put it in his mouth for him but would never feed himself he finally did that the day before his birthday. Well, let me tell you this weekend, OMG, it was like a new kid, he ate really well and is off formula and the bottle. He'll still take it if I offer it but never fusses for it. Now, I have given him a bottle with cereal in it at night b/c he was waking up in the middle of the night crying for milk.

I do have little kids, at his appointment last monday he was in the 15th -20th % for his weight but he was growing according to his curve so they aren't concerned.

Whoops, sorry to hijack the thread. I just wanted you to know that they all catch up eventual. Mine still isn't walking, but boy is he fast crawling.

 

[padams]

It definitely depends on the child. I have one DS who preferred baby food up to his first birthday. My other DS preferred "table food" as soon as he could sit in a highchair. At 9 months, both DSs loved to play with their food, and it always seemed that more was played with than consumed. Ask your ped, but you probably have nothing to worry about...

 

[Peanut214]

Thank you so much everyone for sharing your experiences and advice!

Have you considered letting him fingerpaint in the pureed food for now?

He loves to do this!

OP, I could have written your post. My son is 9 1/2 mos and doesn't want table food either. He eats his baby food and cereal wonderfully but hates anything other than that. I was told by a friend to try the chunkier baby food, which I started last week. So far he likes the same flavors he had before but hasn't liked anything new. I am going to keep trying though.

Keep your chin up. I am right there with you.

It helps so much to know that someone else is in the same boat, doesn't it? I'm going to try the chunky baby food. Maybe it'll help transition him to firmer foods. Thanks!

Ok, I'll help you feel better. My baby just turned a year old on the 22nd and just started eating table food. About a month ago he started eating puffs. Up untill a few weeks ago he didn't want anything with a texture (beyond puffs), he would gag and everything would come up. He would eat the little puffs if you put it in his mouth for him but would never feed himself he finally did that the day before his birthday. Well, let me tell you this weekend, OMG, it was like a new kid, he ate really well and is off formula and the bottle. He'll still take it if I offer it but never fusses for it. Now, I have given him a bottle with cereal in it at night b/c he was waking up in the middle of the night crying for milk.

I do have little kids, at his appointment last monday he was in the 15th -20th % for his weight but he was growing according to his curve so they aren't concerned.

Whoops, sorry to hijack the thread. I just wanted you to know that they all catch up eventual. Mine still isn't walking, but boy is he fast crawling.

That's great to hear that he is doing so well with eating! I guess they are just each on their own timetable, and will do things when they are good and ready!

 

[2binak]

Our DD did not eat table food until she was 10 months old. We started her on rice cereal at 5 months (after she started moving her mouth while we and the older kids at daycare ate) & jarrred baby food at 6 months. Around 8 months, she started eating Cheerios, but only because the older kids at daycare were eating them and she would get ahold of them from time to time. For the next 2 months, the only things I gave her other than bottles & baby food were Cheerios & the Gerber Puffs. At 10 months, we started giving her very soft cheeses, very well cooked pasta & bananas.

Our DD hated the stage 3 chunky baby foods...never ate them. We just kept with the stage 2 until she started table foods and then, gave her a mix of table foods & stage 2 baby food.

We always took our cues for feeding from our DD to be sure that she was ready. We never went by a book or what other people said we should be doing.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My kids were fed homemade baby food from about 6-7 months on-ward. We had docs who said not to worry as baby is learning to eat and at around 10-11 months, they should be eating the solids.

And that is what mine did.

If you are feeding your baby jarred food and boxed cereal, table food is going ot be completely different.

And like bottles or nursing or pacifiers--once that option is eliminated, then teh baby suddenly is interested in the alternatives.

At 9.5 months, I really woudl not worry that your son has no interest in table foods.

But I would begin transitioning to some meals not being the "baby" food and only offering softened table foods. Much like how you transitioned from all formula/breast milk all the time to having the baby food.

I would perhaps offer foods that dissovle in the mouth so that he can practice gumming.

Something like cheese is way too difficult for a child used to eating what really amounts to as liquid food.

Broken up cheerios or those puff snacks are good.

Mashed banana or what ever.

It takes practice and your son is still a bit early to understand what he is supposed to do to "chew" the food so he can swallow it without gagging.

Our original doc for our first 2 babies said that between 7 and 11 months, baby is still learning HOW to eat, so I really wouldn't sweat it. He's still learning.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

Your post sounds so familiar!

My second DD refused to eat solid foods until she was just under 10 months. I would try to feed her yogurt, mashed banana and avocado, etc., and the vast majority of it would be pushed out by her tongue without ever actually making it inside her mouth. She loved breastfeeding, however, so I wasn't all that concerned (she was a chunky baby).

At her 9 month well-baby checkup, the midwife gave me a referral to a dietician to try to get her eating habits straightened out. That night, as I was telling my DH about the appointment with DD sitting on my lap, she leaned forward and took a big bite out of my bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. I finally clued in...the harder it was to get her to eat, the more I kept looking for something soft and mushy to feed her. What she really needed was something with MORE texture, not less.

From that day forward, I just fed her whatever I was eating. She is still the better eater of my two DDs!

 

[Hoodie]

My DS started rice cereal at 4 months and moved to purees. He started puffs around 6 1/2 months. He loved playing with them and I didn't have to worry if he managed to get one in his mouth.

We saw the doc when he was 7 months and she said that self-feeding table food before 9 months was a little early but some babies are just ready. She thought sometime between 9-12 months that they would start showing interest.

Well my DS is 8 1/2 months and he ONLY wants to feed himself. he gets mad when we spoon feed and tries to take the food off the spoon to do it himself. (including oatmeal and purees ) He won't eat anything off our fingers - he has to take it from our hand and do it himself. Dinner time was so much cleaner when he allowed us to feed him.

My DS is pretty early for that though. Yours is right on schedule so don't worry!

 

[Lachesis00]

Technically?? Aiden was... 3m old, maybe 2. My grandma would feed the grandchildren and great-grandchildren mashed potatoes and gravy. Back in her day, there was no such thing as babyfood.

Really though... around 6-7 months old.