I think DS could do something like ground beef, but I don't understand how babies his age are eating chicken or shredded beef. That's not a flame - I'm just a fraidy cat and can't picture the meat-feeding going down any other way than with choking.
DS has 8 teeth and #s 9 and 10 on the way, but he really just sucks on food, mostly. Does that somehow work for eating the chicken and beef?
Or are your babies chewing a bit more? I always try to see if I can eat something only using my front teeth or sucking on it before I give it to him, and I can't figure out how to eat chicken or beef without using my back teeth.
Sorry. I'm seriously baffled by this!
Re: If you've fed your baby meat from the table
DD also has 10 teeth, and I wonder the same thing (I'm also scared). For chicken, I cook a breast, then put it in the food processor. I mix it with other stuff, because she isn't really a fan of it!
I'm interested to see the answers.
DS started with chicken and turkey around 8.5-9 months. He had no teeth, but had an awesome rotary chewing motion. He just chewed using his gums to mash whatever he was eating. Even once they get teeth, they don't have molars, which are what we use to chew. So honestly, it's not a big deal.
He's never had an issue chewing anything. If your LO doesn't have a good chewing motion, maybe he's not ready.
Ditto. Teeth aren't a factor, they use their gums. DS eats meat and has no teeth. They don't chew with their front teeth anyway, only their molars which don't come in until much later.
My DS only has 3 teeth so far but i've been giving him meat all the time now. I usually put it in crockpot before i leave for work along with rice in it and when i get home 8 hrs later, it will be soft and fall off easily. In the beginning when we just started meat, i would blend it. I know it's nasty, but i rather have blend and not chocking him. now, i just put everything in crock pot for hours and when it's done it will be soft. Yesterday we had christmas party and i gave him ham. He didn't eat it. He just suck on it and then spit it out.
Ok...I'm thinking maybe I'll hold off because he really doesn't do much a chewing motion yet at all, so he wouldn't even be grinding it with his gums. I'll give him a little ground beef or turkey next time we have that.
In the meantime...I think I'm going to look into recertification on infant CPR so I can clearly remember the Heimlich before we give him more substantial meat than that.
I know, I'm totally paranoid about this!
They actually use a different technique other than the Heimlich on infants, but they'll cover it in your class if they cover choking management at all. It's actually a really good technique to know and something that made me feel better about the whole solids transition because I was pretty much afraid to give him anything at first.
Quentin also has 8 teeth, and almost a molar as well. So far, I have given him some plain ground beef, turkey, and chicken. With the chicken and turkey, I cut it into the smallest pieces (smaller than .5 inch), and he mashes them with his tongue and chews it with his back gums until it is soft then he swallows. He hasn't had any issues with it yet (choking).
Yeah - his 4 bottoms are completely in and easily seen, two tops are the same way, and two more tops are through the gums but you have to look for them to see them. It looks like his incisors are going to come in soon.
Yet he doesn't really chew so much as suck.