Feeding @ 10 months

Right now the boys eat a bowl of oatmeal (equivalent to a Stage 3 jar) & 4oz for breakfast, Stage 3 & 4oz. for lunch, Stage 3 dinner & 4oz. for, well, dinner.. & 8oz before bed.

I want to transition to actual table food instead of the baby jars. I give them toast, bagels, cottage cheese, eggs, biter biscuits, etc.. in addition to their meals every once in awhile, but I need to know what I can give them to make up for a complete meal (plus bottle) and how much of a serving. Like, could I do mac&cheese for lunch in place of a Stage 3 & how much? I know most people say just go by whatever your babies do & they'll tell you when their full but honestly.. I think they could keep eating forever!


Also, I want to start training them to self feed. I try to put the spoon in their hands but they kind of pull it away and don't care. How can I get them interested in doing so?

 

Good question, I will have to stalk this post

 

I think it's a while before they can learn to use a spoon. For the rest, you could transition now honestly. I do the same you're doing pretty much so far, mostly because DS is picky and likes his jars, and neither will eat pureed table food. So, jars are handy until DS gets used to eating more stuff... DD would eat finger foods all the time I think. If they eat enough different foods, you can totally skip the jars. For the meal size, I've heard it needs to be the size of their fist... I think that if we have to wait until the babies are full, they will just learn to overeat... DD would eat until she throws up honestly. Plus real food has much more calories than baby food, so they need much less volume of it. If you look at preschooler portions, they're tiny... and it needs to be smaller than that still.

 

I've also read that a serving size of each food at a meal should be a tablespoon per their age (1 tbsp of each food for a one year old as an example). I have also read that a serving size is the size of their fist. Mine are usually pretty good about letting us know when they are full, my daughter will feed the floor, just continously drop her table food on the floor when she's done. It sounds like you are giving them a variety of foods already. You can also buy the steamfresh veggies for finger foods so that they can get their veggies in and also get the fruit cups, drain the juices out and give them the fruit pieces of eat so they get their fruits in. For dinner, we give them a bit of whatever we are making (unless it's shellfish, we have shellfish allergies in the family and aren't sure when babies can have it anyway, so we don't offer it to them). As for spoon training, we just started that and right now they like to play more then eat with it, so I give them a little bit to try themselves (you want to use foods that stick to the spoon like oatmeal) so they will start getting the concept of it and then feed them the rest of it. Good luck!

PS: Like Fran, I keep jars handy too because my kiddos will not eat finger food carrots but they will eat baby food carrots, DD won't eat peas but will eat it in baby food form...so I keep them around so they get more fruits and veggies.

 

QUOTE(babymOmmax2 @ Jan 9 2009, 12:06 PM) [snapback]1139882[/snapback]
could I do mac&cheese for lunch in place of a Stage 3 & how much? I know most people say just go by whatever your babies do & they'll tell you when their full but honestly.. I think they could keep eating forever!
Also, I want to start training them to self feed. I try to put the spoon in their hands but they kind of pull it away and don't care. How can I get them interested in doing so?


Yes, you could do Mac N Cheese instead of a stage 3. I just gave mine as much as they were willing to take, but I don't have babies who are big eaters. I am still trying to get my girls to self feed with spoons so I just give them spoons when they are eating but they do not have the hang of it still at 14 months.
GL!

 

so, could some fruit and veggies in the size of their fist be sufficient for a lunch persay?

 

QUOTE(babymOmmax2 @ Jan 9 2009, 06:22 PM) [snapback]1140375[/snapback]
so, could some fruit and veggies in the size of their fist be sufficient for a lunch persay?


It could be, definitely. If they finish it off, then give them some more. Good luck!

 

Wow. Spoons? Really? I can't even get mine to pick up Cheerioes (which they love) off their tray. Well, that's not true, it's not the picking it up that the problem - it's the whole mouth transfer part we have issues with...

We have been replacing more and more foods with table foods over the last month or so to the point where they only have a few jars of things they can't or won't eat in real food or mommy is too lazy to make. Mine tend to eat about 1/3 to half the size of table food that they would eat of jar foods. But for the most part I just feed them as much as they are interested in. When they start loosing interest we stop.

 

Mine might let me spoon feed them once a day. They are totally into feeding themselves so we've had to get creative. I save the messiest foods for dinner because thats right before bath time. I also try and offer a spoon to them at each meal. Its theirs to do what they wish with it.
I give them pretty good sized portions and a variety of items too choose from. Mine let me know they are done eating by either pushing food onto the floor, slapping their hands on their trays, talking to one another and not eating or if Im spoon feeding they stop opening their mouths or turn their heads.
I think as long as you offer a healthy variety of meat, dairy, fruits, veggies etc and they are still having milk the babies will get what they need. Whether they eat a lot or a little as long as its healthy.