No progress from purees...

[bubbabear1]

Hi there,

DD is 8 months old tomorrow.  She has had a wide variety of solid food and I tried her with a more chunky version and she didn't seem to handle it very well - basically she gagged and it all came back up - especially potatoes.  I also tried her with scrambled eggs and she just held them on her tongue and wasn't sure what to do.  I have given her a whole pear and she chomps on it - I dont know if she actually eats any but she has a good go.  She nibbles on rusks and enjoys a whole carrot to stick in her mouth - I think it helps with her gums.  She wasnt fussed about bread/toast and just made a mess!! She has had rice cakes but they are a bit small to co-ordinate her hand to mouth action.  Should we be moving on from purees by now?  I don't really know what to do next...

Any ideas??


Cheers,

Siobhan

[anna*]

You don't have to go straight from purees to lumps, you can go to a slightly less finely processed puree. You can also go straight to finger foods at any time too! Gagging and a bit of puking is quite normal and to be expected though, it's just part of the learning process, and the reflex is their way of protecting themselves from choking.

[bubbabear1]

Hi Anna,

Will try some less processsed puree and see how she goes.  What finger foods do you suggest?

Cheers,

Siobhan

[Mashi]

Yes, I don't think that at 8 months you should look at it as "time to be off of purees" but perhaps time to start introducing other things in an effort to start transitioning!   So, continue to offer purees but include finger foods to let her explore, play with and put in her mouth and do with them as she pleases!   We did soft pear spears, sticks/cubes of baked sweet potato and squash, cooked baby carrots, banana cut into sticks, rice cakes, etc.  I just added them onto DS's tray and let him do what he wanted, often eating them myself in really exaggerated ways to show him. 

Also, making purees thicker and a bit lumper, sometimes adding things into them - say grated apple into some mushy sweet potato.

[anna*]

Mashi's covered it off! Experiment with different shapes, some prefer spears (they hold one end and gnaw on the other) others prefer tiny cubes (once they can work their pincer grip). It needs to be soft enough that you can mash it against the roof of your mouth with your tongue, or be hard enough that it won't break off but will dissolve if they drool and chomp on it enough. Stan loved to chew on a really hard crust of bread, like a slightly stale end bit of a baguette.

[~Sarah~]

I want to follow along...DS having same problem!!!!  He is 8.5 months and will eat anything pureed or competely crispy like cheerios or mum mum's, nothing in between.  I give him toast cut into strips, he puts it in his mouth and as soon as the texture changes-he spits it out.  I have tried freeze dried fruits like bananas-which he loves pureed-but if he puts them in his mouth and they get slimy or mushy he spits them back out and makes an aweful face.  Cheese, I will make small pieces and he will eat one or two little bits, but spits that out too.  Although this week is getting slightly better.  DH had french fries on Friday night and thought we should just try it-of course thinking he would spit it out-but he gobbled that up just fine!!!

I am going to try a few new things, cooked green beans etc... I will let you know how it goes if you keep me posted of things that seem to work for you.  Maybe we can get our picky babies to eat like the rest of us

Also, how much BF/formula are you giving at this point?  I have a slightly bigger than average baby and I am still giving him about 28 oz a day.  I tried to cut back but we were having some pretty bad EW that I figured out was due to hunger.  I keep thinking that if I cut back milk he would be hungrier to eat food, but that is not how it goes

Sarah

[~*Nicole*~]

Just wanted to jump in and say, practice practice practice and offer offer offer. If it is small enough, mashable enough and not a choking hazard (nuts, grapes, popcorn, etc.) or a notorious allergen (eggs, strawberries, peanuts, celery) then offer offer offer. LOs learn by having the experience. The only recommendation I have is to not offer a ton of specially made baby things that you slaved over and they end up spit out and refused. You're likely to feel a failure and frustrated. BUT if you are having something to eat for yourself, by all means offer. They'll get the hang of it.

Oh and Mommy Mertel-Someone once said they coated their los fruits in wheat germ and the texture helped them pick them up...but I wonder if your lo would like the texture better?

[my3girlsjde]

It took what seemed like forever to get my girls off of purees and on to lumps. They gagged and spit it out every time. Like Mashi said, I just offered different things and let them explore and went with what they liked. Thick oatmeal was our bridge to textures and then things took off from there. Mashed bananas were another favourite. As well as canned peaches and pears (packed in juice or water) mashed to an almost puree and very gradually moving it to lumpy. It took 2 months or so. It was a little frustrating at first because of everything I've read about what they should be doing versus what they were doing. It was much less stressful letting them decide what and when, just a bit tedious trying to keep up with their appetites with purees.

I have no idea exactly what was going on then - perhaps teeth, textures feeling funny, or just not ready. But it worked itself out and they are now eating everything from the table that we do

You could wait a week and try again with the lumps, or just go gradually and offer the odd finger food on her tray also. There's no exact science, and as long as mealtimes aren't frustrating and she's eating nutritiously it should work itself out.

HTH

[my3girlsjde]

Oh, and I found shredded cheddar cheese worked wonders rather than cubes or slices

[bubbabear1]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the advice. Really appreciate it and will take a more relaxed approach now I know that we are not alone.  Sarah, my DD has never been a big eater/drinker so will only take about 20oz of milk a day if I am lucky.  She has been illl for the last week so taking even less so we are trying to get milk into her in as many ways as possible.  She has had 3 bottles today so far and taken about 13oz in total which is an improvement on yesterday.  She has also had some fish with cheese sauce, porridge with fruit and yoghurt with added milk.  Who knows how much she will take at her bedtime bottle - has been about 4 oz over the last few days...  She had some toast this morning and seemed more interested in it than before and wouldn't let go when I tried to change her nappy so that is getting better aswell.  I was going to try grated cheese but DH had eaten it all. I gave her a whole pear and she chomped away at the whole thing and cried when I tried to take it away from her and she looked like she really enjoyed chewing - really smacking her gums together - very amusing!! Bananas make her constipated so we avoid those where possible but am going to try avacado tomorrow to see if she likes that - good calories/fats apparantly.  We are also getting some NW and I do feed her as she takes so little in the day but we are changing her teats tomorrow to see if that helps to increase her daily amount.  Once her intake goes up again we can tackle the NW - I hope...

BTW Is it ok to put unsalted butter on a sandwich for them or best to just leave it plain?  Anyone know?


Thanks again everyone,

Siobhan

[anna*]

Unsalted butter is fine!

[bubbabear1]

Cool, thanks for letting me know!