Help for a one year old

[luchi]

DD is almost one and I am wondering if I need to change up her food.  Currently our routine is like this:
7:30 am--wake and breast
8:15 am--4-5 tbsp cereal with ebm
11:15 am--breast after nap
12:30 pm--one cube veggie and one cube meat (prepared with some pasta) and two cubes fruit--all this is blended, then some cheese cubes or cheerios
4pm--6oz bottle of ebm after nap (I'm starting the weaning process)
6pm--dinner which is same as lunch
7:45pm--4 oz bottle of ebm before bed

I know she doesn't need a bottle before bed, but I am trying to get her to drink as much milk as possible so I get it in where I can.  My main concern is that I am still giving her blended food.  Is this wrong?  My mom insists that because her teeth are so few (3) everything must be blended.  The only real finger foods she eats are the cheerios and cubes of cheese.  I will sometime cut up grapes for her too.  I will often give her some of my food, like bits of apple or pasta and such, but thats it.  She's not grabbing her spoon, so we feed her every meal.  I am worried about giving her bigger pieces as I have seen her gag sometimes. 
What should I be feeding her at this age and what should the texture be like?  Thanks in advance.

[* Paula *]

Hi there,

By this age my DS was on all of our food.  He too only had a few teeth, but they don't necessarily need teeth to be able to eat our food, they use their gums as their gums are really hard.

By the age of 1 they need of 21 oz of calcium a day, but this does not all have to be in the form of milk - it can include cheese, yogurts, milk in cereal, custards etc.

By this age we were on 2 bottles a day, with yogurts inbetween as snacks - he has never been a big fan of chunks of cheese, but loves creamed cheese on toast.

I know that you are worried about your lo choking, but you can always sit with her, to reassure her and make sure she does not choke.

You could try things like toast, baby biscuits as these melt, bananas, stawberries, grapes, small chunks of potato etc.  You could also try just mashing it first for a few days to help her get used to lumpier foods so that she uses her gums to start chewing, and once she copes with this then go to lumpier and chunkier foods.

I would not worry about her not being interested in a spoon yet, our DS only started wanting to feed himself with his spoon at around 14 months, and now won't let us feed him unless he has his own spoon 

HTH's

Paula x

[momofclaire]

My daughter has been eating finger food for a couple of months.  She will be one next week.  I was worried at first about choking but one day we tried it and she wouldn't go back.  She loves feeding herself!  I would start with soft pieces.  Peas, cooked carrots(cut up)  my child loves bananas and sweet pot.  You can cube pot and then boil them to the softness you desire.  I would sit with your child when he is eating but you will probably enjoy the freedom to eat your meal without spooning all of theirs!