What to feed them?

My babies are still on babyfood and they actually like stage 3's :blush: I am completely baffled by what I should feed them as far as table foods go. In a week, I would like to start the transition to regular milk and know that then they should start getting even more from regular food, but I don't know what to feed them? What are some things you are feeding your twinkies? They aren't big on self feeding, they like me to feed them and I can't get off of babyfoods!! :wacko: It is my fault for not even trying to much of "other" things, but they ate it so I give it to them. I am terrified that once they go off of it their nutrition {whatever they do get out of it} will go down the toilet. So please, help me out with some suggestions. Also, if your babies had a hard time transitioning, how did you help them along? Just keep on trying? Thanks so much!!

 

:hug99: Liz!

HERE is a good article about transitioning from baby food to table food. I would just start giving them bites of what you are eating, within reason of course, don't give them a raw carrot. :nea: But if you are eating spaghetti, give them some and see if they like it. Soft cooked veggies, pasta, cheese crumbles. Little bits of toast with some fruit spread on it. Small chunks of banana. If they gag, wait a few days and try again. They will get it. :hug99:

 

I was just looking around the web yesterday about this and I found this article helpful -

http://www.americanbaby.com/ab/story.jhtml...amp;catref=AB27

One thing to keep in mind though is that this article says to give 4 oz of vitamin c juice every day. The AAP says this is outdated advice and you're really not supposed to feed a lot of juice and no vitamin c until one year.

The rest of the advice was good though.

 

Here is a list of some of the stuff that the girls like. I just make sure to cut everything pretty small.

Wheat Toast with butter and either applesauce or pears (baby food) spread on it
Whole Wheat pasta
Cheerios
broccoli (I just cook it and throw it in the food processor)
chicken (I just pick up a rotisserie and cut some up for them)


You can give them pretty much anything as long as you cut it up into small pieces. I am going to try avocado and yams this weekend. We also picked up a cookbook that we found at Pottery Barn Kids. It had some great ideas - just haven't had time to try. As for the self-feeding thing. I would just keep offering them puffs or cherrios till they get used to it. My kids are starting to hate baby food because they want to do everything themselves.

 

Here are some other ideas:

Waffles with bananas (baby food) spread on it,(softens them up more)
my girls LOVE the gerber little meals mac and cheese and spaghetti in sauce(it's all cut up small) but if not I make the
Annies mac and cheese (the shells are best since they seem easie to chew)
sweet potatoes cubed or mashed with milk
most soft melons are good
Egg yokes (I always mix a little bit of cheese in there) big hit.

Every baby's tastes are different so it's kind of trial and error...
Good Luck

 

I forgot to add that the girls also love shredded mozzarella cheese.

 

I am slowly beginning this process as well. We have added unsweetened applesauce in a variety of flavors, YoBaby Yogurt, avocado, oatmeal that has been pureed a little finer in the food processor but, still bigger than Gerber. We are slowly working in cheese, Stage 3 foods and pureed fruits in the processor instead of the baby jars.

 

Mine eat egg yolks, vanilla yogurt, bread cubes (they LOVE bread), black beans, chicken cut into small pieces, green beans cut in half, sweet potato, soft crakers, and deli meat. We started some of this at 6 months very slowly. They don't have their pincer yet, so mostly I feed it to them. But they try on their own and it's funny. Have fun!

 

grilled cheese
mac and cheese
pasta with sauce (homemade)
homemade soup
pulled pork
chicken nuggets (cut up small)
toast
pizza (mostly the crust)
cheerios
Honey Maid Honey Bees
Yo Baby

wow - they do pretty good (which I didn't realize until I listed it all!)