In, Chew, Spit - When will he ever 'Eat' it all?

[Shellha]

My almost 10mo DS will take most finger foods, however unless it is completely smooth (eg cheese triangles) he won't eat it. He puts it in his mouth, moves it around and then spits it out. I 'recycle' the food until he eats some/most of it, but most things eg ham, most fruits, toast, sandwiches etc, he will just put in his mouth, give a cursory taste/chew and then spit out - won't eat it at all. Is this just something he will grow out of?

He also seems to dislike any food that isn't pureed, however I can get him to eat some lumps eg pasta bits, if disguised in yoghurt - his one true love food.

Any suggestions, other than to persevere, on how to get him to actually EAT the food. We are wasting so much food and I am STILL having to feed him 1st stage jars (he won't eat homemade food anymore since we returned from a 2 mth trip away where all he had was jarred food).

Cheers

Shell x

[Lana]

I would keep offering the finger food and feed him the purees as well.  some little ones take longer to get used to the texture of the food and chewing but the only way they do is by practice.  When I first gave B food with chunks in it he gagged but eventually he learned what to do.

HTH

[Shellha]

Thanks Lana - it seems every other baby my DSs age is on to full blown dinner yet here we are still at the puree stage. As I said to DH, he can't be 4 and still eating puree surely! That said he did eat some sandwich and kiwi fruit this afternoon :-) The little triumphs ......

[Lana]

Just try not to worry what other babies are doing.  Hard to do I know

Glad to hear he did have  bit of the finger food for you

[zayandme]

I am struggling to find a post about my problem but this is fairly close (albeit opposite  )- what if my baby only eats pieces of food and cannot 'chew' purees (almost nothing stays in his mouth).
I would depend only on the cheerios, banana pieces etc. but its not filling him up. He is nearly 8 months old.

If you know of a better place to post, please let me know! Thanks!

[Lana]

You could try spreading the puree on to bread.  Or give him veg and fruit as finger foods

[jasmynesmum]

Other than toast and cheese DD only ate puree up until she was 14 months!!!

They are all so different!!  As long as they eat right!!!   

[cbell]

My 11 month old is still having some difficulty with finger foods and food that is "thick". She will eat cheerios until there is no tomorrow but yet she has a terrible gag reflex when it comes to thicker purees. What I have been doing is adding rice cereal to her pureed foods to thicken it up so she gets used to taking thicker things from a spoon. I am going through a double whammy with the gag reflex as well as the "pickiness" which is driving me insane. She just came off a two week cold (just awful) and she is starting to get her appetite back, back to where it is normally which is not a big one. But I am struggling with the veggies, she will take fruit no problem but veggies she will turn up her nose after a couple of mouthfuls. Understandable as I am sure most adults would choose fruit over veggies too, however... And her one year birthday is coming up and I doubt she will eat any cake nor would she know what to do with it in front of her.

Anybody got any suggestions?

[catmom]

I know this sounds crazy but do you let them play with the food and make a mess?  DD is not picky about the foods she is able to play with, taste on her own, smear on herself, etc.  Our feeding specialist calls it a "full body experience".  It's messy but easy to clean up.  Try making it fun if you can.

We add rice cereal to the puree to give it a little texture.  We have also smashed up the finger food "veggie puffs" that melts in their mouth to add texture to the puree food.  If you put it on top of each spoonful of food then they are crunchy when it gets into their mouth.

I expect your daughter will love to play in her birthday cake and will not be able to help putting little cake fingers in her mouth.  Feeding specialist says their own cake to enjoy (wear) is a must.

HTH