When to stop pureeing food

[Lozza]

My DS is 16 months old, he has his 4 front teeth and 1 top eye tooth. When it comes to his food he doesn't like anything too chunky otherwise he spits it out So i puree all his meat other then mince i just cut it up really fine but most veg i puree or mash. Just wondering when did everyone start giving there toddlers the same food that they are eating. I'm so over pureeing foods. He has bits and pieces of food and whole baby pasta and rice but if mince is too chunky or chicken in chunks he spits it out. Could this be because he doesn't have enough teeth and it's all too hard or him being fussy or am i asking too much for his age. I do try giving him food a little more chunky randomly every now and then but he's still not interested any advice will help thanx

[MummyNaomi]

Lozza - there is a some great info on the CYH sites that you might find useful... Parenting and Child Health - Health Topics - Foods for babies (solids) 1 - how and when to start

I think most babies even without teeth can handle non-pureed food - they learn to mash it with their gums in the absense of teeth. Perhaps try to slowly introduce soft lumps subtly and make it lumpier and lumpier over time? Is he perhaps a bit fussy when it comes to textures?

I feel for you, its a PITA doing seperate meals (I have a fussy DH, and am cooking for an 8 month old so its three different meals in our house LOL)

Hope someone drops in with a similar aged child to give you more tips....

[Lozza]

Thanx for the info i'll have a good read. Ds is not good with finger food just plays with it instead of eating it but i'm going to start doing more of it slowly .thanx

[bubbles81]

same with my 9 mnth old dd, if i just mash it with a fork and give it to her she'll eat it but will sort of pretend to vomit after each spoon-like nothing comes out but she she does it. so i puree it and this has since stopped. i need help as well....

[MummyNaomi]

I remember reading somewhere that gagging (the pretend vomit) was about not liking textures - now if only I could find it again and see what it said to do ................

[amberj]

I find this a vexed question too. My DS, at 18 months, is ok with chunks....but he doesn't seem to chew them in any meaningful sense. They kind of get swirled briefly around his mouth and then swallowed. I freak out about this, fearing he might choke, or that its bad for his digestion, and go back to pureeing as well- which he vastly prefers as it requires no effort to eat!

For your situation, besides gradually introducing soft lumps, I suppose you could try one of those mesh bag things- apparently you can actually put anything in there (meat, veggies, pasta etc), and they have to suck/chew it to get the food to come out in a kind of mush/puree form. DS loved his when he was younger, although now that I think about it, I wonder how well it would go with teeth. I was just thinking that maybe it would kind of teach your LO about having something lumpy in his mouth, but with no danger? Sorry, probably not much help!

[Emma1979]

hmmmmmm what about finger foods, like cruskits, piece of toast, cooked carrot fingers, a hot chip etc? i'm pretty sure i gave my dd food like that from about 7-8 months... she was definitely eating bowls of brocolli and other soft cooked vegies around 9-10 months.....

16 months seems to be a long time to be pureeing food, but i guess i only have the one child to compare it to, so who knows..... but if they are okay with finger foods i can't see why you'd need to puree, as they would get lumps/chunks when they bite... no?

[Lozza]

16 months is a long time to still be doing and i'm due to have another baby in a week so i'm trying to make it easier on myself. He likes rusks hot chips eats them all fine. If i give him toast he eats a little bit but more interested in playing with it and throwing it on the ground, so not much gets eaten. Same with sandwich's not too bad if i feed it to him may eat a quarter of a slice of bread but not really interested again.. He eats a little bit of cheese but only a piece here and there if i cut a slice up he mainly plays with it. I mainly give him pureed food because its easier at tea time and i know he'll eat it and wont waste half of it. In general he's a good eater eats all his food if its muchy

[Laranna]

I think at first they tend to play with it more than they eat it because it's all learning about the different textures. They do that with their fingers and hands as well as their mouth. DS started eating same kinds of foods as us around 10 months I think. He's 19 months now and has only just got 2 molars. He manages to chew with his gums. I overlooked the messiness letting them feed themselves creates and let him go for it. At the start, more was over him and the floor but he got there. You can also use the 2 spoon technique, give him a spoon and you have a spoon. He tries to feed himself and in between you can pop a few mouthfuls in. That way, you'll feel better knowing at least he's getting something into him.