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December 2015 Moms
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STM's when did baby transition to food?

Gingermom15Gingermom15 member
in December 2015 Moms
So, I just found out today that my one year old niece has never had anything but milk and puréed food. It seems that my parents always started my younger siblings on all sorts of different flavors and textures starting as soon as they acted interested, given they felt comfortable with the baby trying these things. She said my niece still gags on everything but puréed fruits and veggies. It just sounds super odd to me, but then again my parents have 8 children (not catholic lol) so maybe they were more relaxed by the time my younger siblings came along?
When did your LO start eating a wider variety of things and transition from purée to different textures?
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Re: STM's when did baby transition to food?

  • helen76dhelen76d member
    It seems a little late but not by much. My last baby seemed to have a severe gag reflex and he was around one when he started to handle things like Cheerios. Some of my other kids where between 8-10 months with teething biscuits and such.
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  • kayleen2015kayleen2015 member
    We started on purées at 4 months. We started introducing "real" food around 10 months and we completely did away with the purées at 1 year. Everyone is different. My sisters LO would not eat purées and was started on sliced bananas and avocados (and other soft foods) at 6 months.
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  • redfallonredfallon member
    We never did baby food. I started DD with mushed up bananas at around 5 months. Then she was gnawing on things like cucumber slices before she got teeth. I don't remember when she went all solid food, but it was around her 1st birthday because we transitioned from formula to whole milk for her bottles.

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  • Gingermom15Gingermom15 member
    redfallon said:

    We never did baby food. I started DD with mushed up bananas at around 5 months. Then she was gnawing on things like cucumber slices before she got teeth. I don't remember when she went all solid food, but it was around her 1st birthday because we transitioned from formula to whole milk for her bottles.

    This sounds like what my parents did. They never bought baby food, just mushed up we ate for meals. Of course every child is different, but it just seemed weird to me to know my niece hasn't made that transition to textured foods yet. At my youngest brother first birthday I remember him gnawing on pizza and raw veggies like a pro. I never looked at it from a parents perspective, though because this is my first.
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  • littleSkittle14littleSkittle14 member
    Dd was 4.5 months. They say to sTart sometime between 4-6 months, whenever baby shows interest.

    I agree it's not alarming, but by 1 yo they can definitely handle small pieces of solid food.
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  • Gingermom15Gingermom15 member
    Also, not trying to compare children, but my other brothers son didn't even have teeth until after his first birthday. He gummed down all sorts of things well before his birthday. The fact that my niece shows interest in foods but still gags does concern me a little, but I feel it isn't my place to have an opinion because she isn't my child.
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  • TomekiaBTomekiaB member
    6 months is typically the recommendation but often times reflex and hunger signs show that babies are ready as early as 4 months so I think the correct answer is 4 months with doctors approval or 6 months. It is generally frowned upon before 4 months--with few exceptions such as doctor recommending rice ceral for excessive reflux). 

    Commercial baby food comes in 3 stages...is she still on stage 1? Strained no chunks or lumps? Stage 2 has a little more texture, stage 3 has even more texture. You move up stages as LO is ready but most babies progress through them fairly quickly. Some of it also has to do with parents nerves or tolerance for messy food...which sometimes need to be addressed by a medical professional if they are delaying things to significantly if the baby is ready. Sometimes parents also worry to much about the lack of enough teeth for big kid food, most "toddler foods" are soft enough that most kids will gum it pretty well even if they don't have many teeth.
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  • TomekiaBTomekiaB member
    edited September 2015
    BTW if she is still stage 1 at a year she might need a pediatric speech therapy consult to evaluate her swallowing. A dietitian can also discuss developmental feeding norms--sometimes parents just need more guidance. Speech therapist have tools and techniques based on the diagnosis that can help. Outpatient doctors might resist a consult to a speech therapist but are sometimes more open to a dietitian (dietitians are cheaper) and if the dietitian says the speech therapist needs to evaluate the doctor typically will order it.  I worked extensively with adult speech therapists but have referred a few outpatient pediatric patients to speech therapy when they were struggling with foods that were developmentally appropriate. I'm a registered dietitian and this is obviously not medical advice since I don't know the child or her records. 
    *edited for forgotten word.
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  • Gingermom15Gingermom15 member
    edited September 2015
    TomekiaB said:

    BTW if she is still stage 1 at a year she might need a pediatric speech therapy consult to evaluate her swallowing. A dietitian can also discuss developmental feeding norms--sometimes parents just need more guidance. Speech therapist have tools and techniques based on the diagnosis that can help. Outpatient doctors might resist a consult to a speech therapist but are sometimes more open to a dietitian (dietitians are cheaper) and if the dietitian says the speech therapist needs to evaluate the doctor typically will order it.  I worked extensively with adult speech therapists but have referred a few outpatient pediatric patients to speech therapy when they were struggling with foods that were developmentally appropriate. I'm a registered dietitian and this is obviously not medical advice since I don't know the child or her records. 

    *edited for forgotten word.
    That's a great point. Yes, she is still on stage 1 and gags with thicker purees such as meat. My nephew, her older brother, is currently in speech therapy for an impediment. Maybe it will be a good way to bring it up to her as something to look into.

    ETA can difficulty swallowing be a sign of speech impediment later? She also has problems latching with breastfeeding and bottle both. She doesn't have a tongue tie.
    Of course I don't expect medical advice, I'm really just curious about this.
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  • armywife8289armywife8289 member
    That is super super late!!! By 9-10m ( at the latest!!!) easy foods like, certain non choke hazard foods should be given so the child can learn to chew! Crackers, noodles small bits, puffs, soft veggies, bananas cut up small!!!! It depends on the child! They see you eat and copy... So in the transition be very cautious! I personally never have had a child have an issue with chewing or learning! I've been in child care for 10 years and have 2 of my own. I started younger than most do with mine, but he was an angry child when it came to baby food, he was not a fan and at 6-7 m he could chew and chew very well!!! Never did he or my daughter choke! I actually have not had any kid choke, except in the very beginning of eating pureed foods! You do what you feel is best for your child!!! Your call! The guidelines are to be helpful, and for promoting development, based on what the average child should progress at!
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  • redfallonredfallon member

    armywife8289 said:
    That is super super late!!! By 9-10m ( at the latest!!!) easy foods like, certain non choke hazard foods should be given so the child can learn to chew! Crackers, noodles small bits, puffs, soft veggies, bananas cut up small!!!! It depends on the child! They see you eat and copy... So in the transition be very cautious! I personally never have had a child have an issue with chewing or learning! I've been in child care for 10 years and have 2 of my own. I started younger than most do with mine, but he was an angry child when it came to baby food, he was not a fan and at 6-7 m he could chew and chew very well!!! Never did he or my daughter choke! I actually have not had any kid choke, except in the very beginning of eating pureed foods! You do what you feel is best for your child!!! Your call! The guidelines are to be helpful, and for promoting development, based on what the average child should progress at!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Jamie


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  • Gingermom15Gingermom15 member
    redfallon said:



    armywife8289 said:

    That is super super late!!! By 9-10m ( at the latest!!!) easy foods like, certain non choke hazard foods should be given so the child can learn to chew! Crackers, noodles small bits, puffs, soft veggies, bananas cut up small!!!! It depends on the child! They see you eat and copy... So in the transition be very cautious! I personally never have had a child have an issue with chewing or learning! I've been in child care for 10 years and have 2 of my own. I started younger than most do with mine, but he was an angry child when it came to baby food, he was not a fan and at 6-7 m he could chew and chew very well!!! Never did he or my daughter choke! I actually have not had any kid choke, except in the very beginning of eating pureed foods! You do what you feel is best for your child!!! Your call! The guidelines are to be helpful, and for promoting development, based on what the average child should progress at!

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    That was my thought!!
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  • ljhgreyljhgrey member
    6 months, then baby led weaning. Milk should be the primary source of nutrition until end of year one. We introd food for textures and tastes and practice manipulating food with tongue and mouth, but I never was concerned with amounts he was eating because he was EBF and that's where his nutrition was coming from.
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  • TomekiaBTomekiaB member
    @sarahgn The relationship between eating and speech is really a question for an ST. Swallowing difficulty doesn't necessarily relate to anything beyond an anatomy issue but obviously could be part of a more serious disease. Sometimes problem feeders have sensory issues as the underlying problem but generally you'd see meltdowns over foods versus gagging in problem feeders. I only really worked closely with ST with adults (inpatient ICU type settings). When I was seeing pediatric patients they were outpatient and we referred them to another location for Speech so I didn't get to know the Peds ST.

    I do have a friend whose daughter seems to suffer from a mild swallowing issue (doctor never ordered anything but her mom did ask me about it). I did work some basic swallowing cues with her in preschool one weekend and we got her to eat better through verbal coaching (keep chewing, make sure you swallowed it all, can you show me that your mouth is empty). Anyway my friends daughter is actually incredibly verbal and talked in complete sentences earlier than most of her peers. Sometimes toddlers are so high energy they don't want to take the time out to eat especially if they have to work a little more at it than their peers. The couple kids I have personally known with speech impediments who saw ST didn't have noticeable issues with food. So, I wouldn't say one frequently equals the other in an otherwise developmentally normal child. 
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  • kepoolekepoole member
    The latest recomendation is to start at 6 mo, one food at a time. Every baby is going to react different, but I remember getting teased by my grandparents about not giving my 4 month old turkey and mashed potatoes at thanksgiving back in 09. There is no need to introduce salty, buttery, extra flavored foods early lol and I didn't want to start out with bad habits so I didn't even let my daughter have sugar before her 1st bday. But the one or two foods a week starting at about 6 months worked well for us. When/if there was a reaction to something I knew what it was. We threw away all bottles on her 1st bday to and moved to sippy cups
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  • ddkistlerddkistler member
    I had intended to wait until six, but my daughter started looking longingly at my bananas at 5 months, so...

    P.S. We skipped purees and just started with table food. You will be surprised at what babies can eat without teeth.
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  • Mizuiro007Mizuiro007 member
    I think it depends a lot on the kid and how long it takes them to be developmentally ready. DS started cereal at 4 months and purees at 5. He's had soft foods and solids that can disolve (like rice rusks and some teething wafers and cheerios). There are still some things he can't manage but there's a lot that he can.
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  • dp1320dp1320 member
    DS had a super sensitive gag reflux so would gag and puke on anything that was more than a stage 1 or 2 baby food until he was about 1 year old. After that he seemed to figure it out on his own and now eats anything and everything at 15 months old. It was super frustrating for me (and probably him too) but some babies just take longer than others!
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