All Things Baby Food/Solids

lajoliedreamer

I haven't done apple yet, but I think I might cook it into a chunky applesauce kind of thing since it's so hard to start with. 

Bread - I've been doing bite size, though I've also given her a larger piece to gnaw on. Once I let her pull a piece off my plate with margarine on it, but otherwise haven't spread anything on it. 

Ladybug2821

I was wondering about bread. I never see anyone talk about driving their LO bread until now. Bite size pieces sound like a good way for her to practice putting in her mouth. We fed her mostly except the wafer we give her. 

lajoliedreamer

We also make our own bread so I know everything that's in it, which makes me feel more comfortable giving it to her. 

m6agua

My LOs doctor asked if we were going to introduce any sorts of grains. I said probably not for a while yet, she was completely ok with it.

kristah2

Am I the only one afraid to give my baby anything that he has to chew?! I am so afraid of choking it's insane. I purée all my meats and everything. I couldn't imagine giving bread! 
Obly thing he's had with some texture is scrambled eggs and tuna. 
Any advice on giving more solid chunks of food like bread or meat?

ALBONNET1218

We're attempting BLW so we've done toast "fingers" with peanut butter. He basically just sucks on it and eventually a piece comes off. Sometimes I think he chews it, other times it just falls out of his mouth or he throws it on the floor. I'm terrified of choking but it's going well so far! Peanut butter is the worst to clean up though.  BLW is super messy!

Ladybug2821

kristah2 said:

Am I the only one afraid to give my baby anything that he has to chew?! I am so afraid of choking it's insane. I purée all my meats and everything. I couldn't imagine giving bread! 
Obly thing he's had with some texture is scrambled eggs and tuna. 
Any advice on giving more solid chunks of food like bread or meat?

Just make it really small.  Have you tried giving him puffs?  I saw that S attempted to chew those so I figured she'd be ok with meat.  We haven't had any problems.

camcbeth

I'm not doing blw, puréed food mostly. I tried the My 1st Puffs by Gerber and she gagged when I even broke them into tiny pieces so I haven't tried again. Yesterday I have her the Mumm-Mumm teething cracker and she did pretty well. Still gagged a bit, but I think those dissolved better than the puffs. I didn't let her finish it because I'm just too nervous. This isn't even my first rodeo. I'm very relaxed about many things with the second go round, except the solid foods. 

SandNStarsNJ

I'm kind of a lucky idiot when it comes to solids and find myself scooping more of it out than LO consumes. Admittedly, as far as whole foods we have only done banana, watermelon, and teething crackers. He gets bored with puffs and meat scares me. 

kristah2

Even banana scares me! He took a big chunk off once that took up his entire mouth. It was then I decided BLW is not for me. 
Weve done puffs. He likes those. He gags sometimes but they desolve so fast I don't worry. 

SandNStarsNJ

kristah2 said:

Even banana scares me! He took a big chunk off once that took up his entire mouth. It was then I decided BLW is not for me. 
Weve done puffs. He likes those. He gags sometimes but they desolve so fast I don't worry. 

I think my LO is a special one when it comes to eating as he refuses to chew. He sucked the banana down to a pulp. It was impossible for there to be chunks! He tries to nurse everything. 

kvruns

@kristah2 I'm afraid of it all. Purée all the way 

RhodaMorgenstern

@kvruns I'm right there with you but I'm trying to be better about it. Our 6 year old nephew was super babied (and in many ways still is) by his parents and that included only eating purees until well after he had teeth. To this day, he has weird textural issues with a lot of foods. Going out to restaurants with them is difficult because he won't eat anything and frequently throws fits when it's too solid for his liking.

leighry

Ugh! I'm so jealous of all you ladies who's babies have interest in food! If it's not oatmeal or applesauce he won't eat it. To the point of either screaming and turning away or gagging and puking. Clown.

lajoliedreamer

E will eat anything, but won't feed herself. She just plays with the food in front of her without lifting it to her mouth. They say she does sometimes at daycare, but I don't believe it. Most of the time I'm hand or spoon feeding her chunks of food. Not the best practitioner of blw.

leighry

Nicholas. Every. Day.

MrsMaryK2016

@leighry Yes! This is our house too!

SandNStarsNJ

Don't get me wrong: he wants food and gen puts it in his mouth, but he never actually swallows it. He just pushes it out with his tongue and then cries for more. He's confused, clearly. 

anne11716

@kristah2 I came on here to post the same thing! I'm terrified!!!!

RhodaMorgenstern

I've been giving A those cereal puffs for the past few days and it's generally been fine. She's learning to chew, pushing it around and she's swallowed. Today, she pushed it right to the back of her throats and started choking. I did the bad thing and fished it out of her mouth. I'm still a little shaken up. Do you think I should give it a rest tomorrow and try again Monday morning?

SandNStarsNJ

I would jump right back into it tomorrow. It can be scary for us, but they're just learning. Deep breathes and stick with that mama intuition!

RhodaMorgenstern

I am far too anxiety ridden for this solid food nonsense. Can't they just get all their teeth at once and magically know how to chew and swallow?!?

PrettyPalomino

C turns 7 months in 5 days, so far I've stuck to purees with the exception of mum-mums, which took her 2 months to stop gagging on. Now that she actually swallows, going to try banana & avocado.

 It scares the crap out of me when she gags, but she will literally gag and smile at the same time, so I figure if it doesn't bother her, I need to move on too lol

SandNStarsNJ

Can we talk about avocado for a second? I love a good avocado, almost too much. But when I introduced it with ODD, she was disgusted. Three years later and she still won't commit to swallowing it. So now I'm jaded and am hesitant to introduce it to DS because if he doesn't like it, I've just wasted another delightful bit of avocado. So how are you all serving it? Simply puréed? Small chunks? Any added flavoring?

PrettyPalomino

@SandNStarsNJ I actually gave her a slice of it with the peel on so she could hold it (helped a tiny bit), so I saved the other 80% of it to put back in the fridge they are SO expensive. But yeah, she gagged a bunch but that was a couple of weeks ago, going to try again soon. I feel like I won't know what she truly likes or doesn't like until her gag reflex relaxes a little.

ZoeFer

i mashed quarter avacado but left little bits in it and mixed with mashed banana. she liked that puree. she couldnot eat it plain.

tvh1982

I spooned a bit out of an avocado and my LO loves it.
I also already had puréed it with pear, she loves that too. 

As for giving pieces, I give my LO anything. She chews and chews. 
I'm not to worried about the gagging as it comes naturally for them and much sooner than we would gag. So they are pretty good in gagging food back up.
Still just give soft foods as half a banana, bread, rice cracker, pear, strawberries, ..
Bread has spread on it (either fruitpuree or little butter) 
I used to work as a lifeguard which might be why I'm comfortable letting her try. I hate seeing it, but so far so good.

Apple, carrots and other hard foods I put in a nuby feeder and she loves to chew on it. 

We also do purée, because she needs to eat a little too. Feeding herself is squeezing foods and eating a little. I never give it at the same time as to not confuse her.

SandNStarsNJ

@tvh1982 I worked as a lifeguard for years too and have been thinking that's why I'm a little more adjusted to the whole "possible choking/threat scooping". Back in my day, if you could see the food, you could scoop it out and there was no problem. 

Thanks for the avocado suggestions, ladies. Every time I cut one it goes brown so quickly that I've come to simply eat the whole thing once it's been cut. Trader Joe's sells mini ones which has been great for that. 

fitlady21

I also just scoop avocado out of the shell and give it to her. I'll also give it to her in slices. You'll be amazed what they can chew while just having gums. I make my LO mini chicken pot pies and she loves it! I just cut it into pieces and she goes to town. She also loves oranges and raspberries. I now give the raspberries whole and I cut the orange slice in half.

kvruns

Every time I read this thread I feel lazy 

leighry

kvruns said:

Every time I read this thread I feel lazy 

Same.

camcbeth

Ok because of this thread I've loosened up and let her try pancakes this morning and bread today. I would've never with ODD. It makes me feel good when you all are trying it and have success.

SandNStarsNJ

camcbeth said:

Ok because of this thread I've loosened up and let her try pancakes this morning and bread today. I would've never with ODD. It makes me feel good when you all are trying it and have success.

Same! DS was freaking as we ate at a restaurant yesterday so I broke off a piece of bread and he happily sucked on that thing. I never have ODD bread - like ever. 

kristah2

Do you guys give like a whole piece of bread or little baby bite sized pieces? 

SandNStarsNJ

kristah2 said:

Do you guys give like a whole piece of bread or little baby bite sized pieces? 

I tore the top of a panini (so mostly crust) that was the size of a quarter only oblong and let him suck on it until it dissolved in his mouth. DH, in his astute observance, thought it was puffs the whole time.

m6agua

So I've now tried peas, avocado, and watermelon. She loves avocado but hates the other two. I'm kid of surprised at the dislike of watermelon. I've only tried it once so I will try again. Peas she hates, alone, mixed, it doesn't matter.

SandNStarsNJ

m6agua said:

So I've now tried peas, avocado, and watermelon. She loves avocado but hates the other two. I'm kid of surprised at the dislike of watermelon. I've only tried it once so I will try again. Peas she hates, alone, mixed, it doesn't matter.

That's how LO feels about butternut squash. He makes this face and then does:

m6agua

SandNStarsNJ said:

m6agua said:

So I've now tried peas, avocado, and watermelon. She loves avocado but hates the other two. I'm kid of surprised at the dislike of watermelon. I've only tried it once so I will try again. Peas she hates, alone, mixed, it doesn't matter.

That's how LO feels about butternut squash. He makes this face and then does:

Mine shuts her mouth down! Then proceeds to gag even if I didn't put anymore in her mouth!

tvh1982

kristah2 said:

Do you guys give like a whole piece of bread or little baby bite sized pieces? 

I give her the crust I cut off in her hand and then feed her small pieces.
The pieces I put in her cheek so she has to 'get' it with her tongue. If you put it on the tongue they often push it 'up' and it gets stuck  
My LO is really chewing and I can tell she swallows. Some babies though 'hamster' and put bread in their cheeks or up. So you might want to check before giving a new piece of bread.
We also get recommended not to give fresh bread as it easily forms a 'ball'. It's better to have bread a day or two old.
Start with a little butter or fruit purée they like on it. 

Ladybug2821

Has anyone given their LO eggs yet?  I think my pedi said to introduce at 8 months but I'm a little scared because of her dairy allergy. It's crazy to me how she has these allergies (allergic to tomato also) because no one in our family does. I really hope she grows out of this. Being on this type of diet is super hard and I would hate for her to have to deal with it.