What to feed 8 month old? (refusing purees)
adamsbabble
member
Once again Charlotte is reaching another milestone and doing things completely different than Ava did, proving to me that I still don't know what I'm doing. 
She has started refusing purees and I don't have any clue what to give her now. She has had Puffs and Mum Mums but that is it. The thought of giving her anything else boggles my mind and freaks me out. She does okay with the Puffs and has 2 teeth but still. Ava didn't start any table foods until 10 months and I believe the only things she would eat for a very long time were cut up banana, cut up green beans, cheerios and cheese. She refused anything else and we had to give her pureed food until almost 15 months. She made it easier for me to be comfortable with offering table food and knowing what to give her (she pretty much ate what we ate) since she was older. I realize most kids start table foods eariler than this but Charlotte is only 8 months. When did your DC start eating table food and what did you offer in the very early stages?
Re: What to feed 8 month old? (refusing purees)
Leah was never a big puree fan either, and she was on complete table foods by February despite having just started puffs the month before. Like Charlotte, she was born in May. I thought it was way too early for table foods, but I made sure everything was very soft and cut it up very small for her. She just one day refused purees and so I tried table foods that night and she loved it and would never go back to purees-- even when she was sick.
She had no teeth until 11 months but she gummed everything down. I would give her shredded cheese, shredded chicken, cut up green beans and pieces of carrots, cottage cheese, cut up watermelon, bananas, and strawberries, etc. If I were you, I'd try offering table foods at dinner every night and eventually she may put two and two together and start table foods.
My Charlotte it the same way. She *might* eat some oatmeal and applesauce here and there or some squash, but for the most part she is totally on table foods. I'd just go ahead and start giving her 'real' food. Just make sure it's very soft and cut into tiny pieces. Charlotte wants everything we're eating and I'm glad she's showing signs of being a good eater. She loves blueberry pancakes and bananas coated in cushed cereal (makes it easier for her to pick up). For lunch she inhales grilled cheese sandwiches and any kind of soup. She loves cheese and crackers, noodles, diced fruit or veggies...really anything she can gum down! LOL
P.S. My mom tells me I was the same way - started refusing baby food at 8 months and had no teeth...so she just did the same thing I'm doing with Charlotte.
Mom to Lily Gayle 4.25.06 Charlotte Kathleen 3.27.09 Samuel Thomas ~8.4.12~
Katie just got her first tooth this week, but she's been eating table foods for a couple of months (not exclusively table foods- she's still fine with purees).
We give her cheese, crackers, cut up pieces of meat, waffles, pizza, pasta, etc- pretty much everything we eat. Having no teeth has never been an obstacle for her.
Trust me, I was paranoid about a choking incident, so I would've been okay if Jacob remained on purees until he was 5 years old (kidding!); however, we had only started with a few stage 3 jars before he decided he was over "baby" food and wanted to eat what we were eating. More importantly, I think, he wanted to do it himself. <sigh> He is already fiercely independent. That being said, he's been eating strictly table foods since he was 9 months.
In any case, we started out with a lot of roasted (or otherwise cooked, soft, diced) vegetables, ripe bananas (still his absolute favorite), mandarin oranges (cut up even smaller), canned peaches (cut up even smaller), cheese, and small pastas (boiled past the point of Al Dente).
I still watch him extremely closely while he eats. I don't think that fear ever goes away for a mother (nor should it, I guess).
Try and have fun with it - she definitely seems ready!