When Did You Start Your Baby On Table Foods?
23 December 2009
My baby will be 8 months on the 25th of June. He still likes his formula but doesn’t want to eat his gerber food anymore. He still doesn’t have any teeth. How many months was your baby when you started him/her on table foods?
I wouldn’t go with this off of how many months, it’s when your baby is ready! I would try getting something that will melt in the mouth first. Like the Gerber puffs….they are sort of choke safe because they melt.
Try something that wont be too hard to mush between the gums until his teeth come in.
But to answer your question, my Daughter started on things like, spaghetti and such when she was about 7-8 months old.
There are a lot of finger foods that you can do that aren’t exactly table foods. It doesn’t matter if they have teeth (you chew with molars, anyway, and most babies don’t have any), as long as they make a chewing motion with their mouths.
We have been giving some finger foods since about 7 months:
ditalani pasta with cheese sauce or pureed veggies for sauce
cottage cheese
chunks or sticks of very soft fruits (pears, banana, avocado, peach)
squished blueberries
grated apple or chunks of cooked apple
grated cheese
tofu cubes
cheerios or gerber puffs
mashed sweet or white potato
Some more advanced ones that are almost table food:
veggie burger
toast/pancake/waffle/muffin pieces
chicken sausage or chicken hot dog (in very small pieces, NOT slices)
soft cereal bars (the type like nutrigrain, i think gerber makes some)
mashed egg yolk
meatloaf
scrambled egg yolk with veggies or cheese
very small pieces of chicken
cooked ground turkey or hamburger
My dd is 8 months and we are moving into the “more advanced” finger food category – and when I feed her food from the table, it is usually stuff we have that is pretty plain (mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, baked chicken, all w/o extra salt). She has 2 teeth, but so far has done fine even with things like chicken, you just have to make the pieces small enough. I think your baby is old enough to do basic table foods but that you might want to stay away from more complex meals still – some of the ingredients are more approrpiate for 10 months plus – like tomato products in spaghetti, for example. And you can do many of the “finger foods” with a spoon, too, if you want less mess, though self-feeding also builds good skills for your baby, and around 8 months they have a good pincer grasp developing to handle it.
He was nearly 10 months old before i started it, that and toddler food, became what he ate mostly, and only had a lil bit of baby food after that, and he still had 40 ounces of formula like he had since he was a few months old.
.
But he had 12 teeth at the time, lol, so he was able to learn to chew quickly, and he loved it.
Since ur son doesn’t have any teeth i would only give him soft stuff that he can mash with his gums, and stuff that he can swallow without having to chew, like yogurt and oatmeal and stuff like that.
Hope this helps and good luck,
By 10months, my baby was on full family dinner pureed. If it is really smooth, it will not matter if he has any teeth or not. Some babies even start earlier. I had mine eating jar dinners and baby cereals since 4months.
Once they get on the family dinner, just try to cook with a little less seasoning. If you like heavily spiced food, take out his portion before putting in the seasoning and throw them together into the blender till nice and smooth. A little veg, some potato, some of the meat or chicken as you are eating. Another thing, is that if you are sharing with your baby always cook the meat through, don’t feed babies rare meat.
I would definitely try him on healthy, baby friendly table foods. I was a little nervous giving my son table foods at first, but then I realized that he will basically mash everything up with his gums! (It’s actually kinda funny to watch!) I’d give your little one cooked veggies, bananas (Careful to make sure bananas don’t constipate him), small pieces of bread, even pasta… Anything that you think he’d be able to mash easily should be fine! Good luck! Have fun watching your little man learn!
If I remember correctly, my oldest daughter was 8-9 months old and I would pinch and chew some food and give her. Or I would give her cornbread and liquor from greens, peas, beans etc. While contiuing to give her cereal and baby food (the fruit kind) mixed together.
But nothing solid, their little esophagus is too small for solid foods and you can risk the baby getting choked.
Why waste money on Gerber ‘food’? LOL. Of course he doesn’t want to eat it anymore. Right at 6 months, when you start solids, you can start on ‘table’ food. Just make sure it’s prepared right for his stage. He doesn’t have teeth, so he needs it very soft, but it doesn’t have to be pureed. He might like to self feed. Until he’s a year, formula is to be his main source of nutrition.
my son was the same way at that age. that is when i started chopping up foods small and letting him have small pieces. also i gave him the toddler meals. he is now 11 months and eats pretty much what ever we do. he had no teeth when he started either but at this age they aren’t really using their teeth to chew they are gumming it to death.
My son was 6 months and had no teeth. We gave him cooked vegetables, fruit, pitta bread, hummus, toast, rice cakes… and then whatever we were having if we could make it baby friendly.
We didn’t really bother with purees and jars… it’s all a con. Teeth are irrelevant anyway. Babies only get a few front teeth at first and they are not used for chewing – try and eat something only chewing only with four front teeth… it won’t work. They mash things with their gums.
My son was eight months when he first had table food.He had a christmas dinner!I just cut it up for him and he really loved it.Before that he was on purees of fruit and veg but after he enjoyed his christmas dinner so much and chewed it so well he was on table food full time.
My son is 7mos and I’ve been trying a few things here and there, but he seems to be having trouble..he gets choked and it scares me to death. He doesn’t have teeth either so I’m going to wait another month or two..if you want to start trying some foods with your son it should be okay.
You can puree anything since he has no teeth. stay away from nuts and seafood of course. some people say not to until a year but its the preference of the parent. stick to the same mashed foods also to watch for allergic reactions.
I gave my daughter gerber solids at 4-6 months then at 6 months I gave her our food we ate. She is no longer on gerber baby food because it is disgusting and she knows it. lol
She has 2 teeth but she gums her food.
i did the whole puree veg from around 6 months till 8 and now she has what we have, i no longer cook with salt or fry things as i want my baby to have most healthy concious food possible so good for us to!!
try to give him stage 2 or 3. they can eat stage 3 w/o teeth because the pieces are so soft that he can squish him w/o teeth.
He can eat table foods as long as you cook them well and cut them up small. He is ready. have fun.
I start give my kids table food at 6 months old.. Banana’s,potatoes and fries (they loved them) grapes but take off the SKIN.. Good Luck