Help! I''m scared of table food!

[fieryred33143]

I need a "mommy scared to give real food" anonymous club.

I can''t do it and Sophia is ready for it. She''s starting to not really want her purees and go for our food.

What can we start off with? How should we give it?

We only give her puffs right now. Sometimes I''ll give her a little bit of rice and release my breath when she''s done with it haha.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Ho old is she? We just gave him table food pretty much from the start. How would you like diet only of puffs and purees

Give her some chuncks of banana and just put your anxieties on the back burner. That is my tough love

 

[E B]

Date: 3/28/2010 12:00:29 PM
Author:fiery
I need a ''mommy scared to give real food'' anonymous club.

I''ll be a member! I''m scared too. Even though he''s 9.5 months and has a million teeth, I just can''t imagine him fully chewing a piece of table food. I mean, he gagged on his rice cereal this morning.

 

[ponder]

I started with overcooked veggies and potatos. Mash them up with a fork and slowing increase the texture/lumpiness. Also, since you are doing puffs, try the yogurt melts. They dont melt quite as quickly as the puffs.

 

[fieryred33143]

Dreamer-She''ll be 9mo on Thursday.

Right now she has all kinds of purees. We usually cook up chicken and veggies and then puree it. So far she has had: apples, bananas, a little bit of strawberries,carrots, sweet potato, green beans, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, celery mixed in with her chicken/veggie mix, rice, lentils,and regular potato

The overcooked veggies sounds good. What about things like noodles?

 

[neatfreak]

I think it depends on the kid but I just started giving mine chunks of our food pretty early. Sometimes a bit mashed up and always cut in tiny pieces, but they didn't seem to have an issue.

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is remember that if they are coughing they aren't choking! So don't go digging in their mouth with your finger- just help them cough it up. They are only choking if they can't get air in at all-and that rarely happens. Just make sure that the pieces you give her are super small to start and then you'll know that even if she wanted to she couldn't choke on them.

Would the promise that it's MUCH easier to deal with table food than make her separate food appeal to you at all??? SO MUCH EASIER!

Yogurt melts are great, overcooked pasta, lumpy mashed sweet potatoes, etc. Just start there and I bet she'll be ready to move on very quickly! I also gave them toast to gnaw on-that worked well too and they liked it. Just give her a few small pieces at a time to make sure she doesn't shove it in all at once!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Gagging is not choking, remember that!

Gagging is good because it is helping baby to learn how to chew properly!

Hunter only has 4 teeth on top and two on the bottom and he eats everything -- meat, pasta, soft cooked veggies, soft fruits, cheeses. Anyways, they can do a lot with their gums.

We followed the recommendations on this website to the letter: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ It was really useful! And we basically just fed him things on the list in the order they are recommended. The site was recommended my Mela''s LC and others here use it too.

Fiery and EB, for your babies, they would use this guide here: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solidfood8to10montholdbaby.htm And here is the 6-8 months guide in case you wanted to catch up a little: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solidfood6to8montholdbaby.htm

Juse cook everything until it is nice and soft anf cut it up into small pieces and your kids will be fine! The gag reflex protects them from choking so they will do great.

Oh, one other thing is that we do not allow Hunter to eat anything unless he is strapped into his highchair , or sitting down. No eating on the run, while being held and played with etc. That is a really good way to avoid choking too!

 

[PumpkinPie]

good luck Fiery -I don`t have kids so I don`t have much advice, but wanted to encourage you you can do it!

 

[sparklyheart]

Aww if she is reaching for it I''m sure she is ready! If she has her pincer grasp (using the thumb and 1st finger to pick up stuff) then she is ready! If you are scared of choking, try plain cheerios.. They are easy to pick up and they have a hole

Seriously though, just cut up small pieces of whatever you are eating.. Meats may be tough and a lot of little kids won''t eat them so don''t be surprised. Veggies, fruits, cheerios, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, cheese.. all good stuff.. just use a cheerio as your guide and cut it smaller than that so she can chomp on it and not choke. Ditto to what everyone else said about how it''s not choking, it''s just gagging. Everything she does now is good practice for when she switches to mainly table foods so let her try stuff! Be brave, you can do it!

Remember to let her pick everything up.. Don''t push it in her mouth or she will most likely gag! That''s a mean way to surprise her.. she will go for it if she wants it.

 

[Kaleigh]

I started off slowly. Overcooked pasta mainly elbow macaroni with a bit of butter... Veggies, like kitchen sliced green beans, again over cooked. Small pieces of chicken... Cheese, banana''s over ripe. ETC...

Once they get the hang of it it goes really well. I think I started with Cheerios first.

 

[jewelz617]

Don''t worry. Start with soft foods (fuit and yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas, purees, etc.) and then you can gradually move to cheerios, graham crackers. My daughter gagged all the time. And I mean sputtered and gasped. Yes, I nearly has many heart attacks, but she learned "oh hey, this is why I''m supposed to chew."

It''s all about just introducing different foods. Chunky applesauce becomes mushed banana, becomes peas, becomes toast. Take your time and trust your baby will know what to do. If I can offer any small advice: don''t give her any Biter Biscuits. They seem great for teething, but they are rock hard and tend to break off at the end. Not good for babies who are just starting solids.

I took an infant CPR and Heimlich maneuver course at my local hospital and that made me feel so much better about solids. I felt more in control in case something did happen (which it never did). As your baby starts to walk, everything will go in her mouth. It''s how they learn. Be careful, but you''d be amazed at how perceptive babies are. My daughter put a nickel in her mouth once and I freaked out. She spit it out with so much force it almost shot across the room. She gave me a look like "Well, THAT wasn''t food..."

 

[kama_s]

With my brother, I would grate chicken and over cooked veggies to teeny tiny little shreds, mix it with rice or shred some sort of carb and add some yogurt to the mix to make it more mushy. He didn''t have any issues swallowing the thing and personally, I didn''t think it tasted too bad either!

 

[Mara]

i hear you, fiery.. J is obviously not near table food yet but i am sure it''s stressful to transition from liquids to solids..or purees to solids..or anything to solids!

have you taken infant CPR class? i haven''t, but i am thinking about it because then i will at least know what to do in case something happens. i think that might help alleviate some of the stress, just in general. then we hopefully plan to give him a little bit of whatever we are eating if he wants to try it. that''s the plan anyway hahaha.

 

[Kaleigh]

Taking a CPR class is key. All parents and care givers should take one. That class saved my child''s life.

I never want to scare anyone. My experiences with Rob were extreme, but I had the tools to deal with what was thrown our way...

 

[fieryred33143]

Thanks ladies for all the tips. We gave her 3 pieces of overcooked pasta tonight. At first she didn''t get it. She grabbed half of one, it got stuck to her hand and she kept looking for it

. After she saw that we were eating it, she put it in her mouth. She coughed a little and I just told myself that it''s not the same as choking. After that she played around some more but was more interested in her sippy cup

.

Re: CPR/HM classes-we took a class while pregnant but I need a refresher. We were supposed to go this last Thursday but was cancelled due to low attendance. Hmph. We''re rescheduled for this week. I''m taking MIL and FIL with us bc they should learn as well.

 

[Jas12]

Fiery--just know that if you cut up things small enough she can''t choke on them. gag and cough yes, but not choke.

I know it is stressful, i ve had many heart-stopping moments when it looked like Co was choking on something. It''s a terrible feeling, but they have to learn how to eat, so just do your best to minimize the risk.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

We used to give my brother strained vegetable beef soup. We''d buy the low sodium version of Campbell''s, strain the broth, rinse a bit and heat until lukewarm. The veggies and meat were the perfect size to avoid choking and they were also soft enough to encourage easy chewing/gumming.

These days I''d probably go with an organic/sodium free version, this was in the 90s though and I don''t think my mom knew any better. Still, the concept is sound. You''ve got a good mix of different flavors and textures and it requires little prep.

Henry, my brother, also used to eat a lot of cottage cheese.

 

[Pandora II]

Fiery, I really recommend buying a copy of Baby Led Weaning - it has lots of advice on the gag mechanism and good foods to introduce.

Two things that I do - and I moved straight from EBF to adult food, no purees at all - are to make sure that she had big pieces of things as they are much more likely to choke on small bits and to NEVER put anything in her mouth for her. For example, I''ll cut a sausage in half and then cut it lengthways to make either 4 or 8 ''sticks''. She can hold one in her fist and there''s a bit poking out for her to suck or chew. Same with sticks of broccoli or asparagus. I do cook vegetables a bit longer than I normally would so they''re a bit softer, but not slushy.

Daisy is forever getting things a bit far back for her own comfort and coughing them forwards again - I just leave her to it. Yesterday at lunch she gagged on piece of steak and the friends we were with looked shocked that we just ignored it - they were all set to turn her upside down and slap her on the back. Ten seconds later, D was happily chewing away.

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 3/28/2010 9:16:47 PM
Author: Mara
i hear you, fiery.. J is obviously not near table food yet but i am sure it''s stressful to transition from liquids to solids..or purees to solids..or anything to solids!

have you taken infant CPR class? i haven''t, but i am thinking about it because then i will at least know what to do in case something happens. i think that might help alleviate some of the stress, just in general. then we hopefully plan to give him a little bit of whatever we are eating if he wants to try it. that''s the plan anyway hahaha.

That''s what we do with Daisy. She has a bit off my plate whether it be curry, steak, sashimi, pie etc. She''s not into vegetables in a big way, but likes meat and fish - and puddings...

So nice not to have to take food out with us or make purees or anything. She''s also a very clean eater - everything goes straight in the mouth and there''s no food in hair etc.

 

[Jas12]

HH--Yep, i did the exact same thing with soup. It''s the perfect mushy consistency & already in bite sized chunks. Just heat, strain and serve!

 

[sbde]

fiery - look into buying "pastina" pasta, it''s tiny and just right size for little ones who are just starting on table foods. i overcooked it a bit and would throw in organic veggies while boiling the pasta and give it to J. to make it go down easier i would also mix a veggie puree into the drained pasta/veggies and would often add ground beef or shredded chicken.

start of with smaller bites until sophia is comfortable chewing/eating it and then move on to larger bites.

you can do it!!

 

[fieryred33143]

Thanks again for the recs. Pandora, you were my inspiration to start!

Date: 3/29/2010 10:29:36 AM
Author: sbde
fiery - look into buying ''pastina'' pasta, it''s tiny and just right size for little ones who are just starting on table foods. i overcooked it a bit and would throw in organic veggies while boiling the pasta and give it to J. to make it go down easier i would also mix a veggie puree into the drained pasta/veggies and would often add ground beef or shredded chicken.

start of with smaller bites until sophia is comfortable chewing/eating it and then move on to larger bites.

you can do it!!

Thanks for this! That sounds awesome. Regular grocery store I''m assuming?

 

[sbde]

Date: 3/29/2010 1:46:10 PM
Author: fiery
Thanks again for the recs. Pandora, you were my inspiration to start!

Date: 3/29/2010 10:29:36 AM
Author: sbde
fiery - look into buying 'pastina' pasta, it's tiny and just right size for little ones who are just starting on table foods. i overcooked it a bit and would throw in organic veggies while boiling the pasta and give it to J. to make it go down easier i would also mix a veggie puree into the drained pasta/veggies and would often add ground beef or shredded chicken.

start of with smaller bites until sophia is comfortable chewing/eating it and then move on to larger bites.

you can do it!!

Thanks for this! That sounds awesome. Regular grocery store I'm assuming?

yeps, regular grocery store. here's the one i used: link

a little bit of butter melted into the pasta helped it go down easier as well (as did a veggie puree as mentioned before)

i hope this helps you guys! let me know how it goes.

 

[qtiekiki]

I didn''t read through everyone''s responses.

Here''s my advices/tips:

Start with soft food (either in nature or cooked until soft).

Don''t let gagging scares or discourage you. Gagging is the way babies prevent choking.

Ground meats (and in general, food cut into pieces that are too small)- M had a hard time with these. Because they are so small, she would just swallow without chewing and that led to gagging. She did much better with chunks of meat, which she actually chews. Something to think about.

Babies don''t need teeth to get table food. They can gum their food, which let them practice the motion of chewing. Just make sure the food is soft.

Be patient, keep offering table food and give them time to get used to the textures and tastes.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Fiery, I just got these for a gf who registered for them. Her neighbor swears by them, though it looks like the online reviews are mixed). It''s a great concept, you put in squishy fruit/veg and let the little one squeegee it out. The holes ensure that the texture is fine enough for them not to choke.

I don''t see this as being a way to really train your LO to eat solids, but it seems like a good method for introducing the flavor of fresh fruits, etc.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2738035

 

[Pandora II]

I have one of those, used it once, never again!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 3/29/2010 5:00:14 PM
Author: Pandora II
I have one of those, used it once, never again!

Good to know!

 

[Mara]

HH my friend has one of those and LOVES it!! Her little girl is currently trying to strike on foods so she said she puts pureed food in there, freezes it and then the little girl sucks on it and ends up eating anyway. So funny!

 

[curlygirl]

Date: 3/29/2010 5:00:14 PM
Author: Pandora II
I have one of those, used it once, never again!

Ditto. Neither one of my girls liked that mesh feeder.

Infant CPR: I highly recommend taking the infant CPR class. We had a woman actually come to our house to teach us and it was well worth it. She also taught us how to do the heimlich maneuver or basically hit the back of your infant if they are actually choking. We've been meaning to take a refresher course now that we're beyond the infant stage. I really believe it's a must for all parents and caregivers.

 

[TravelingGal]

Fiery, if you want to help her along, you can teach her how to chew with any back teeth, as well as move her tongue around in her mouth. I learned a lot when I took Amelia to therapy.

You can take a toy like this and put it in her mouth. If she has molars, stick it (the long bit) toward the back of her mouth and have her bite down as you turn it here and there. The move it slowly from side to side in her mouth, with the goal being that her tongue follows it from side to side. I also found that Amelia liked it a lot better when dipped in ice water.

Obviously most kids aren''t as weird as mine and learn to eat just fine. But if you are scared of solid foods, it might give you a little peace of mind to help her learn to move her food around in her mouth and chew better. Mine was a champion gagger, and this really helped.