chewing

[trimbler]

Hi,
Just wondering when I should be expecting my 10mo DS to be able to manage chewing small pieces of chicken? I made a recipe from Annabel Karmel with chicken and broccoli, chopping the chicken into pea-sized pieces, it's very soft and mashable with a fork but he wasn't able to chew it and so rejected the whole dish He's fine with lumps of fruit or soft veg, and with finger food such as bread/bagel, broccoli, rice cakes, baby biscuits, baby pasta (although he doesn't like that mixed into his meals!), banana, etc. But lots of books etc suggest giving green beans as finger food - he's never been able to get through the skin! Also he finds carrot hard to chew and mostly swallows larger lumps whole - as evidenced in his poo! He's had finger food since 7mo. He currently has his front two pairs of incisors (ie one on top and one on bottom) but no molars yet. Should I not be expecting him to manage things like carrot, green beans, meat/poultry until he has some molars, or do LOs usually manage them fine with their gums and in that case should I just persist?
TIA

[Buntybear]

Hi, I would persevere! He has to get used to it. Olly has only just got all his front 8 teeth and has been munchily happily on chicken pieces for months now! Things like carrot and peas won't get chewed up like we would till a much later age I would imagine!

[trimbler]

Ok thanks! What about things like raw carrot? I've seen people suggest that as finger food before a year old but can they really manage it without molars? Bit scared of choking, as he's probably capable of biting off a large piece with his incisors!

[Shiv52]

I give R chunks of chicken now (10 months yesterday) and she does great with it.  I tend to give bigger chunks so she can hold it and gnaw bits off. She tends to like to be in control of it, She likes meatballs too!  Not a tooth in her head.  

I tend to still steam the veggies. 

[Buntybear]

Personally I would be careful with raw carrot. Agreed, I can't see how they are supposed to eat that! I would steam first.

[Lemonthyme]

I saw some friends with 12 month olds giving their kids carrot but I still avoid it (raw anyway) with my 14 month old!

I found the first thing he started to accept chunks of meat was some slow cooked beef in a stew and then it was finger fed; although my son is traditionally weaned, I think around the 12 month mark he was more keen in having a squish of things with his fingers just to test the texture before eating.

You might find he does pretty well with minced meat recipes though, especially if cooked in a sauce and I think at 10 months my son was ok with flaked fish in things as that's very soft.

Here's a bolognaise recipe if you want to try the minced meat thing:  http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/07/bolognaise-adults-and-babies.html  and I posted this 'chilli' recipe when my DS was 11 months old  http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/04/baby-chilli.html

[trimbler]

Thanks Lemonthyme - only just got back on here to read!

Funny, I read recently that carrot is more nutritious when it's cooked, as the cooking process helps you absorb the beta-carotine, (sorry can't be bothered to check the spelling, you know what I mean!) - so I won't worry about raw carrot.

Shiv52 - Tried grilled chicken strips, nice and tender and he had a good go at it, chewed it up well into very small, swallow-able pieces but just didn't want to swallow them... I guess we'll leave it a while and try again later.

He does eat flaked fish in things and minced meat although we've given it a little extra 'whizzing' in the food processor so the bits aren't so large. Currently cooking a diced beef stew so we'll see how that goes... Thanks for the recipes, lemonthyme, may give them a go - interesting to see her comments on slow-cookers and mince.

As for green beans - I still can't see how he's going to get past the skin, he'll manage to bite a piece off with his front teeth and mash it up a bit in his mouth but not enough to swallow and we always end up having to take it out for him. I guess there's just a lot to learn! Thanks for your tips, everyone

[Lemonthyme]

My son kept refusing green beans, even straight out of the garden, cooked and served within 30 minutes french green beans!  I cut them up today though into short (<1cm) lengths and he loved them!  I guess he just wasn't fancying biting off bits and liked them if he could pop them in like peas.

[trimbler]

Sounds like a good idea