mashing up food

[liliasmum]

Hi, my dd is 21 months and I still mash her food. She has most of her teeth but i just find it quicker to feed her when its mashed. I work full time and my mum has her everyday. She doesnt like the mess so she still feeds dd everything. she can eat finger foods etc on her own fine but she wont entertain a spoon. Should I stop mashing things now? or carry on, my mum says as long as she is eating then its fine
Mel

[mrsrobbo]

Although its quicker to feed her when the food is mashed, if she has a lot of teeth i think its time for you to let her experience the different flavours and textures of food. You should offer her a spoon with every meal, my ds is learning how to scoop and stab now, he doesnt want me to feed him. Although your mum might not like the mess I think you need to tell her that you want to stop mashing the food now and want to encourage independent eating...good luck!

[* Paula *]

I agree with the PP.  You want to let your DD learn and experience the different textures of the foods.

When we were feeding our DS we always gave him a smaller bowl with a bit of food in it and a spoon for him to play with and learn with, while we fed him from his normal bowl.

He will now happily feed himself.  Although it is time consuming, he now does let me share when he is feeding and we take it in turns to scoop food into his mouth.

Good luck.

Let us know how you get on.

Paula x

[liliasmum]

she doesnt really seem interessted, do you think its because i have left it so long?

[* Paula *]

It could just be because she is just not used to the textures.

You could try and make it into a game.  She may not eat as much, but you could both sit on the floor and play and show her how you put the foods in your mouth and how you chew it, and then ask her to do it.  When she picks it up, and puts it to her mouth you can make a big fuss of her and clap your hands and praise her.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

[linfran]

I agree with pp's.  My best friend's little girl is 2yo and they are having trouble getting her onto food which is more lumpy - my friend reckons that she mashed everything a bit too much and for too long.

I think Tom Tom's mum's idea is really good - my ds is 10mo (with 11 teeth) and he loves sitting at the table for a family meal and watches really closely what we do.  We try and give him similar food to us (eg if we're having a roast chicken dinner, he gets some chopped chicken and carrot pieces to eat with his fingers and then has some mashed potato and gravy which I feed him with a spoon) and it's like he thinks he's a big grown up boy.