Baby Food Texture

So one of my 7 month old boys has major gagging issues. It's gotten better with the bottle (for the most part) and we've been working on solids for 2.5 months .. really pushing it the past 5 weeks. He's gagged and thrown up EVERYTHING - cereals, apples, bananas, avacado, green beans. I can't put him in the high chair AT ALL something about it makes him violently throw up, and we're not sure WHY because lap-feeding at that same angle is fine. I think it's psychological, but it's something I'll deal with once I get him eating regularly. One battle at a time.

The pedi wants me to be pushing solids, and especially high fat ones, for his weight gain issues. (Can't get him to drink more formula than he does.) She suggested added olive oil to his solids, but ... that did not go well. Avacado went ok, but I got thrown up on more times than not, and rarely got more than 6 tiny bites into him.

So even though he's on Alimentum because he didn't do well with milk proteins, I gave him some yogurt. So far so good,and it is the FISRT THING he hasn't gagged on. I mean, I can't put him in the high chair but he LOVES yogurt. I've stirred the various fruits in, and all good still. I haven't been brave enough to try cereals yet, but that's next.

BUT .. what do I do with other foods? How can I introduce veggies, and avacado and things that I just can't imagine stirring into yogurt? The goal, of course, is to slowly get him used to other textures, and I feel like the veggies are smoother than the fruits, so a better bet. I REFUSE to mix his formula into it. (Ever smelled Alimentum?) So what else can I add to the food to make it more of a yogurt texture? Thin, but still creamy? Or should I just stick with the yogurt base and work up the texture from there by adding cereal? I'd love to get him eating the avacado again, but how can I make THAT thinner and creamier?

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

Derek was on the "smelly Cheez Its" formula, I mean Alimentum from 6 weeks to just over a year. He had a milk protein allergy too. We did not introduce dairy to him until after he was a year old. So just beware that offering dairy if there is a milk allergy present could bring on some GI upset, mucousy stools, etc. Just wanted you to be on the lookout. You might want to check with your Ped about offering dairy too.

Anyhoo, I might try mixing his formula (since he is used to the smell and drinks it) with the avocado. You never know what they will like unless you try it. Or you could make some cereal with water and make it a creamy-ish texture and try and mix something into that and then go from there. I had a gagger too and its not fun. The reflex and urge did go away slowly. I just had to be patient. HTH! Good luck.

 

QUOTE(DATJMom @ Jul 16 2008, 03:02 PM) [snapback]879925[/snapback]
You might want to check with your Ped about offering dairy too.


Oh we did check, first, and did a small amount to start. It was never really clear if he had an allergy, intolerance, or was just reacting poorly to the Enfacare. With his poor weight gain she didn't want to mess around and just jumped to Alimentum to rule out all the possibilities. So she said since I was feeding his brother yogurt anyway, give him a fingerful and see what happened, digestively. It's been over a week, increasing amounts each day, and no bad reactions - oddly he's less gassy and less diarrhea! Not likely we'll give him other dairy until he's older though; I suspect it's the bacteria in the yogurt making it so digestible for him.

 

Great. I am glad you did that

I just found a new yogurt in the aisle called "Greek Style" yogurt made by Cabot (the cheese makers in Vermont). Its got 14 grams of fat per single serving container. I bought some for the boys since they had some nice flavors. Its very thick but if you found it you could add some water to thin. It does have a fair amount of sugar in it which I am not crazy about but the full fat is nice.

 

I would just mix the veggies in plain yogurt too.

 

go to www.wholesomebabyfood.com it says to mix the veggies in yogurt we plan on doing that too!!


you are doing a great job!!

 

I used to stir pureed veggies into yogurt. We think of it as strange but babies don't. I feed them Fage, which is another brand of Greek yogurt. It's high fat and high protein (20g per 1 cup).

 

I used breastmilk but my MIL used to puree white potatoes and add it to the other pureed veggies to make it creamy. The yukon gold or baking variety will make it grainy and quite a bit thicker so we stuck to the small whites and yellows. They don't add their flavor either so he could get used to the actual taste of the other foods.

 

To get my babies to start eating solids I had to mix formula and oatmeal cereal with it. I still have to do that for the green veggies. Mine aren't on Alimentum though.

Maybe you could get the plain flavored yogurt and mix in that? GL

 

I guess I'll try the yogurt! It just sounds so .. gross. Peas and yogurt? I could also skip veggies for now, they're not nutrionally adding much. He's just so behind his brother on solids I don't want to start getting mixed up on who can eat what, so I wanted to get through the basic foods at least. I guess I'll try some yogurt in the avacado though, though that sounds bad to me too! But oh the fat and calories!

I'll check into that Greek yogurt too, next time we buy some. Sounds right up our alley! thanks!

 

Just remember that babies don't have any ideas about what goes with what - I'm sure a little creamy mashed avocado in yogurt would be awesome (and FWIW, I had a drink at a mexican restaurant once made with lemon and lime juice, gin and avocado and it was to die for). And isn't that the whole theory behind books like "The Sneaky Chef"?

My guys were on Alimentum, too, and they lapped up cereal mixed with it. It nearly made me gag to make it, but they thought it was great. If you can hold your nose, I bet your little guy won't mind.