What table foods would he like?

I'm still fighting finger foods here... DS so far only eats cereal/bread type stuff (pancakes, toast, puffs, cheerios, waffles).

I'm just at a loss... I've tried egg yolks (need to try scambled next I guess), shredded cheddar, pieces of chicken, veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, peas and carrots), homemade turkey meat balls... He won't eat any of it. Won't even let us put some in his mouth. Plus even when it's something he likes, he takes forever to eat and eats better if we're not in the room. DD is a bit better and ate some of that stuff (she loved the eggs and hated the chicken), but most of it ended up on the floor... although she eats four times faster. They both hate homemade purees, so I can't just blend what we're having, and do ok on jars, although they're starting to be picky about those too. They love yogurt and fruit jars...

What should I do? Should I just keep offering them stuff and leave the room hoping DS will eat something when I'm not looking? Should I just stick to jars longer? I always end meals with either puffs or fruit jars, am I just raising two picky monsters and should I just stop giving them dessert if they don't finish their main meals?

I never thought that feeding thing would be so difficult.... I swear their main courses will be fruit jars until they're 10 at this rate...

 

The current favorite here is a peeled apple, sliced thin bite sized pieces, sprinkled lightly with cinnamon. I cook it in microwave until tender and cool it well. Smells great too!

 

My girls love mandarin oranges or diced peaches. How about piece of sweet potato. There was a long stretch before my girls would pick up anything wet. One day they just took off with the finger foods. The only thing they don't/can't eat right now is pieces of meat.

 

At 11 months I was still sticking in jarred food while they were picking up whatever. They loved fruit. Some great ideas would be blueberries, quartered grapes, watermelon, etc. They also like the Boca Chickn patties. Keep trying. They will get it.

 

how about crackers? mine love them but still have some trouble since we still dont have teeth. also cheetos makes natural white cheddar cheese puffs. i dont know how healthy they are but mine like them. heres a link about them..
http://www.reallynatural.com/archives/chee...ite_cheddar.php

 

My Mom (nuts as she is) gave me the best tip for when I started Owen on solids.

"Introduce fruit LAST, and never offer dessert until he's five!!"

The reasoning was that if he got the taste for sweet, (even natural sweetness, like fruit or sweet potato) that he would have a really hard time trying other foods that weren't sweet. Now, I know it sounds like it might be too late for you to try this, BUT, I ginored her advice at first (cause she's nuts...) and getting him to eat anything but fruit was a nightmare. SO, we just started over. I eliminated all fruit and sweet veggies from his diet, for the first week, and fed him nothing sweet at all (even cereal was unsweetened) and it's like it reset his palate. I then waited a good month before I slowly began to add fuit back in, BUT I did follow her advice about not offering him any dessert at all til he was 5. He became a great eater, and will try anything once, and loves loads of things most 8 year olds wouldn't go near! And we still rarely ave dessert after a meal, and he never even thinks to ask for it, really, as it's never been offered. (My husbands famliy actually started us this past year on the cheese/crackers/nuts/fruit plate in lieu of dessert..very Continental! )

That being said, (and to answer your original question) I had great success with a soft flour or corn tortilla warmed and filled with low fat refried beans and cheese and eensy bits of tomato. (He also loved the beans warm, thinned with a bit of low salt beef broth, into almost a dip for his chicken pieces.) Try pureed avaocado with a tiny bit of MILD (mild, mild, mild!) tomato salsa mixed in. Plain pasta that is a good size (like farfalle) to pick up is great. Cottage cheese was huge. Baked/mashed potato with gravy. MIx a tiny bit of Ranch Dressing powder into some plain yogurt, and let him dip his pasta or soft cooked veggies in it. Very finely shredded/mashed boneless fish. My XH got Owen started on this (I'm allergic to fish and can't touch it) and Owen loved it! Plus it's really good for them. Salmon was his favorite.
Another trick is eating with them, at the same time, and letting them have the same foods you're having, that don't have to be mashed or pureed. (Like, if you have cottage cheese for lunch, or mashed potato, give them exactly what you're having, and let them see you eating it.) This is also good for establishing the mindset of "We all eat the same meal-Mommy sin't a short order cook who makes coemthing different for everyone." If you start it now, they'll never know that not eating what you've cooked is even an option. I'm all about preventing problems before they start-can you tell? Lol...

 

I always heard that babies can suffer some severe issues if they don't get any form of sweet stuff though. Who knows! They don't get dessert every single time, and honestly when I tried fruit he didn't want to pick it up either. He's just difficult, lol.

Thanks for the advice though. There's just so much stuff on your list they are just not ready for yet... I need things I can cut in small pieces and are easy to grab. They have issues with slimy stuff. I'm traumatized about the choking thing still. They're far away from the idea of dipping things too. We tried avocado and he hated it (DD ate some of it). Eating with them just won't work, dh comes home after their dinner usually, or when I'm feeding them, and we have dinner after they are in bed (and usually at the computer, yikes). Our house is small and we would not be able to have four people sitting at the table, especially not with the high chairs. I really want us to eat all together when they are older though, but hopefully by then they can stay up longer so we can eat together. Still not sure about the logistics but heck we'll figure it out.

I guess we'll keep trying new things and eventually he will pick it up... Thanks.

 

Oh...Jonas had issues with slimy stuff like canned fruit. I feel you.

At that age, just keep offering. They will eventually eat some of it at least.

Let's see...mine, at that age, would eat (like yours) toast, pancakes, waffles, bread, peas, diced carrots, green beans, popcorn chicken (even though they were small we cut them in half for a long time), sweet potato french fries (I buy them in the freezer section of Walmart), mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, meatballs (quartered), puffs, cheerios, natural white cheddar cheetos, fresh fruit (bananas are a favorite even though J had some issues with the "feel" of them), cut up grapes, diced/peeled green apples, etc. You get the picture. Just keep trying.

Mine also ate better if I didn't hover so I would do dishes, etc, while they ate and just be near by if they needed something. They are much better about this now though.

 

I had SUCH PICKY EATERS for the longest time and then one day it was like a little light bulb went off "Hey, we like to eat!" Now they eat everything! Back when they were still picky one of the first things I got them to eat was Kraft Mac N Cheese - have you tried that?

 

We give the girls whatever we are having. Our pedi said they can have anything except to wait on eggs, peanut butter and shell fish until they are 1. They have had eggs. We had them in meatloaf and pancakes and didn't even think them being in there so we thought well they aren't allergic obviously. Now they get eggs all the time. THey love them.

Luckily my girls aren't too picky. THey love feeding themselves. I'd say just keep trying. The girls don't like the sippy cup that much to drink out of but we still keep trying. They think the sippy cup is toy. Eventually, hopefully they will get it.

Good luck!

 

My son started out this way, now he's starting to catch up. Nothing I did really, he finally just started doing it. At first he would only touch the cheerios & puffs. Then he got into the bread and toast. Now he's picking up bananas, cooked apples, and canned peaches and pears, pieces of cheese and sandwich.

What about cheese, but not shredded? Mine don't really even try to pick the shredded cheese up. But when I give them chunkier pieces, like cut up string cheese or a piece of cheddar cut up, they eat it. One thing I noticed with my son is if I try to feed him, he turns his head or sticks his tongue out so it can't go in. But if I hold it up for him to take it out of my fingers, he's more likely to try to pick it up and put it in his mouth. Maybe it's just him though.

 

Pieces of cheese scare me... I can't really imagine chewing those without molars, even if I know lots of babies do it, lol.

 

Oh, I think the next thing my son was willing to eat after the cheerios and breads was pieces of graham cracker. I know, the choking thing really scares me too. They had baby gold fish crackers the other day too. That was probably the biggest piece of something they had so far, so it scared me. But they liked them and did good with them.

As for the cheese, I cut the string cheese in really tiny pieces. Like I cut them in thin circles, and then cut the circle in 6-8 pieces. They're easy to pick up because they're not slimey, but they're so tiny that even swallowing them whole I think they'd be ok. But they've done really good with chewing them.

 

Those gums are killer! They can chew very efficiently without teeth! Just take it nice and easy. They may surprise you!

 

I would keep offering stuff and hope that he will try it out. If he sees his sister eating it or even you, he might be willing to try. It sounds like you are offering a wide variety of foods already. Hang in there he will get it!

 

Hey Fran,
I have TWO very very very picky eaters on my hands. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO difficult and I seriously stress out every single day about it. They are 16 months old now and it hasn't gotten a whole lot better here.

They are self proclaimed vegetarians. They have not eaten one piece of meat in their lives.... EVER! And it is not for lack of trying on my part. They hate it. They gag. Here is a list of things they WILL eat and this is sometimes sometimes they won't eat anything EXCEPT fruit!

Oh and I wanted to add that I was (still am) very afraid of choking as well. I think we all are but I am very very very afraid of it.. BUT since your kids are older now they do really need that practice of chewing and swallowing. Gums are very efficient at mashing stuff up. Make it small and it will be fine. They do need to be doing that now. It will be fine!!

Okay: colby chz block cut up, avocado, grapes (cut up well), blueberries, blackberries, strawberries.. all cut up, HOMEMADE panckakes and waffles NOTHING from the freezer!! (lovely), toast w/ pb and J.. if there is no "j" they won't eat it! Pizza, pasta that DH makes.. again, nothing from a can or box.. they know the difference. I did try fish sticks and they ate them like twice. Also bean and chz burritos from the freezer. They do kind of like those.

We mainly exist on cheese and avocado fruit sweet potatoes and carrots. (Carrots straight from the can are a staple here.) Oh and to add insult to injury.. mine began refusing a spoon FROM ME at 7 months of age. I have not fed them ONE THING from a spoon since then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They bat it right out of my hand. So.. right there.. I've cut our menu down by 3/4.. it's tough! AS long as they're taking a spoon.... you are blessed!

Not sure if I helped but wanted to say that I share in your pain and it's really really hard.

 

Oh that sounds painful, lol. Mine do bat the spoon out of my hand occasionally when it's not fruit, but not all the time yet thankfully!

They're eating right now... i think one of the issues with DS is that he's so SLOW, I never know if he's really done or if he would eat more if I gave him some time. And if I'm looking at him, he just smiles and plays with the food instead of eating. DD just ate her part of green beans and grilled cheese, and DS is picking the grilled cheese and leaving the green beans.

I've created a monster!

 

I loved this book "child of mine: feeding with love and good sense" someone on here mentioned it and I loved it. It gave some great advice for how to feed your baby, toddler, preschooler, etc. some really great advice. It mentioned how a child will often need to try something 15 or more times before they eat it. often will put food into their mouth and take it out to get used to the textures and smells. Starches like pasta, bread, rice are more easily accepted than meats and veggies. The need to make food like meat more "moist" for them to swallow it.

good read if you have the time.

 

QUOTE(Fran27 @ Jan 28 2009, 12:17 PM) [snapback]1165823[/snapback]
Pieces of cheese scare me... I can't really imagine chewing those without molars, even if I know lots of babies do it, lol.


Kraft makes cheese crumbles - they sell them with the shredded cheese. They are easier to pick up than shredded cheese, but still very small and the perfect size for babies.