Transition to Table Food
Posted by joy14 Apr
I should have remembered, but I didn’t. During Jovi’s nine month checkup our pediatrician informed us that she’s ready for table food. Table food? Really? Wasn’t she just born last week?
Somehow I had forgotten that babies eat pureed food for a matter of three months or even less! That makes our small appliance duel less exciting, but it’s true. (If you’re looking for some tips on making your own purees check here, or find some fabulous recipes in our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide: Down-to-Earth Ways for Parents to Save Money and the Planet.)
When Jovi reached nine months, we did buy her some Happy Baby organic puffs and she seemed to enjoy them, but I wanted a simpler, thriftier option. Now that we’ve been experimenting for awhile we’ve found all sorts of table food options including:
- steamed carrots
- pears
- apples
- noodles
- avocados
- banana
- bread
- rice
- mashed potatoes
- puffed grains
- and just about anything we eat!
It’s also important to note that the idea of pureed baby food is a western one. In many parts of the world babies nurse and then are carefully fed small portions of “table food” when they seem interested. When I was eating a banana a few days ago, Jovi simply leaned over and took a bite—that’s definitely a sign that she’s ready for more! Of course tots can easily misjudge the size of their bites or how long food should be chewed, so I’m sure to keep a close eye on her during mealtimes so that she doesn’t choke on her grown-up grub.
What are your favorite table foods for baby? Was it an easy transition to make?
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5 Responses for "Transition to Table Food"
We started table food right from the start (6 mo) with Child Lead Feeding. We never used the food processor and things went swimmingly well. He got the joy of handling all these great foods in their original form and enjoyed textures right from the start. That’s not to say that we didn’t still occasionally mash his sweet potatoes or that we offer pureed foods on occasion for ease of clean-up though.
Puffed rice is a GREAT finger food! It is really cheap and small enough that a baby won’t choke on one piece.
If you set something down in front of your baby and they can pick it up and put it in their mouth, they are definitely ready to feed themselves. This usually happens around 6 months. It is hard to believe how soon they are ready to start feeding themselves. It’s easy to keep feeding them even after they’re ready! I got some of the rice husk things you can buy at Walmart. They are easy to hold and dissolve in your baby’s mouth. By 9 months or so when they have a couple of teeth, you can give them a hard piece of toast to eat. I use organic bread that doesn’t have any wheat flour in it. The bread has more texture and gives the baby something more to chew on. My baby loves it. It’s nice to let them feed themselves while you make everyone else’s dinner!
My second child was not interested in food until she was seven month old and never the least bit interested in purees. So, before I even knew there was a name for it, I practiced baby led weaning (this is a good article on the topic: http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html ) The other thing was that unlike when I had just one baby and hours and hours of free time to make wholesome organic babyfood (ha!), I was now also wrangling a toddler and the baby was the least of my problems. I usually just gave her a bit of what was on my plate and let her have at it. She didn’t need bland food. She loved flavors and spice, and now she has a much more varied palate than her brother happily eats just about anything.
My choking worries were relieved by the knowledge that babies do not have the ability to bring things to the back of their throats until they also have the ability to chew. This explains why when you are feeding purees to a very small baby who really isn’t ready yet for food she will keep pushing it out with her tongue.
Oh, and one more thing! Now that the AAP has said there is no conclusive evidence that delaying the introduction of certain foods prevents allergies, I asked my pediatrician if I could give peanut butter, eggs whites, strawberries etc etc before age one and she said to go ahead and try, just keep some benadryl handy just in case. With no family history of allergies I wasn’t worried and nothing bad happened. It was just SO FREEING to be able to feed my baby just like the rest of the family and not have to think about anything beyond enjoying the meal.
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