How to start Table Foods

The boys are almost 11 months, and the pediatrician said we could go ahead and start table foods. I feel like we just now got the hang of solids - I have been making their own baby food and I feel like we know what we are doing.

But I have NO CLUE how to introduce table foods - so, here are some of my questions?

1.) What do you feed your baby and breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

2.) How much do you feed them?

3.) I am so nervous about them choking, so what foods do you give them to make sure they don't choke?

4.) Do you do the 3-day wait rule?

5.) What table foods do you avoid?

TIA for all the help!!!

 

I was also really overwhelmed at the prospect of starting table food, but after I got over the initial choking fears, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier to feed them real food. Do they do well with finger foods now like cheerios? If yes, then just make sure to cut up their food small (like the size of a pea) and make sure its soft too. Things the girls loved when we started was rotisserie turkey breast, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes (real mushy and diced), green beans, peas, carrots (make sure they are cut up and soft though- cubed is good), baked chicken, burger meat, pasta (messy but they love it), soft fruit like banana or canned fruits like peaches (diced and I usually rinse the 'light syrup' off), scrambled eggs, cheese, pancakes, toast, etc etc. As they do better with texture and chewing you can experiment with things that aren't as soft. I feed my girls until they stop eating so its different every time. Usually their biggest meal is breakfast and then they eat a little lunch, snack and dinner. I try not to stress about it since they are growing. Foods we avoided were nuts or anything hard or big.

 

QUOTE(spiveyplustwins @ Mar 2 2009, 12:11 PM) [snapback]1211184[/snapback]
The boys are almost 11 months, and the pediatrician said we could go ahead and start table foods. I feel like we just now got the hang of solids - I have been making their own baby food and I feel like we know what we are doing.

But I have NO CLUE how to introduce table foods - so, here are some of my questions?

1.) What do you feed your baby and breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
Breakfast: is usually milk and cereal, lunch varies: grilled cheese, waffles, eggs, peas, green beans, corn, fruit, toast, turkey, chicken, yogurt, pudding, lunchmeat etc
Dinner is usually what we eat unless we have shellfish, we have shellfish allergies in the family and I am not sure when they can have shellfish, so we are waiting

2.) How much do you feed them?
I let them eat as much as they are willing to eat, some meals they chow down and others they take a couple of bites and they are done

3.) I am so nervous about them choking, so what foods do you give them to make sure they don't choke?
When ours were starting table foods, we cut them to small sizes, big enough for them to pick up but small enough for them to chew on and not choke.

4.) Do you do the 3-day wait rule?
No, what seemed to be happening for us is that they would eat all the foods great and then other times would boycott certain things and then go back to it. Our kids like to keep us guessing

5.) What table foods do you avoid?
We avoid shellfish, tomatoes and citrus fruits. Shellfish because we are not sure when they can have it, tomatoes and citrus fruit only because when we have given them DD got a horrible diaper rash, so we will wait until she's a little older.

TIA for all the help!!!


Good luck! I don't know how much help I was. Sometimes we will supplement a solid food dinner with a jar of baby food if they still act hungry. Our pediatrician wants us to put weight on our little ones, I know solid foods have been hard for us to figure out but generally our kiddos have done well with the transition.

 

HERE is the sticky from above with suggestions for finger foods. Good luck.

 

I started with puffs and cheerios. I never did the 3 day rule, idk why I just knew my girls had no food allergies. Some good first foods are mac'n cheese, toast, any soft veggies, nutri grain bars...I cut it into small pieces.

 

First of all, don't panic! I was totally overwhelmed by this too, but it's not that bad. You can take it really slow.

Once I started giving mine table foods, they almost entirely self-fed -- I never put food in their mouths unless it was on a spoon. The trick with that is to cut things so they can pick them up easily -- for instance, really slippery fruits like peaches or mangos have to be in slightly bigger pieces, like a half-inch rather than really tiny. But the good thing about this approach is that they feel more in control, which is important even at this age! Also, I found that mine would eat more and be more willing to try new things if I wasn't hovering over them -- in fact, if I pretended I wasn't even watching.

I didn't follow the 3-day rule at that point. I just avoided the big allergens (strawberries till 1 year, shellfish and nuts till they were almost 2), and I also avoided citrus after Sarah ate practically a cup of mandarin oranges and had a horrible diaper rash.

You don't have to feed them table foods at every meal, at least not at first. You can do it at the same time that you were already giving them baby food, and just add some plain pasta or fruit or cubes of tofu or whatever.

Don't worry if they don't take to it right away. It's pretty common for babies to prefer purees or things like yogurt until 1 year or later. My DD Sarah didn't start eating a lot of table foods until about 15 months (and I think she still prefers smooth things!).

Also, remember that gagging is not choking. It's gross and they can make a scary noise, but as long as they're breathing, they're not choking.

 

I just put a few different things on their tray .... cherrios, puffed wheat, bits of cheese and then let them go at it. I'm in the room but I try not to look since sometimes it is painful watching try to get that bit of food in their mouth. Most of it ends up on the floor. Some people strip the kids down before feeding them. and bath them afterwards.

The more times they see something on their tray then they start to become familiar with it and start to eat them.

Heather