Thursday, August 28, 2008

Transitioning

I have been working with Jackson on getting him to transition over to solid foods. I really don't remember having as much trouble with Abby Kate and Joshua transitioning. Jackson refuses to eat solid vegetables and fruits. I have tried them all and he will usually take one bite and immediately spit it back out. I've tried letting him pick it up and feed himself and I have also fed him the solid food on a spoon or fork. He does really well with the snack foods, but I need for him to really eat. I tried the "cold turkey, no more baby food" method and found that I was wondering if he was getting enough to eat. I am about to run out of the purees and need some help remembering what to do. I don't want my baby to go hungry, but I need to stop feeding him purees by the spoonful. I have tried all of these things over and over again. What should I do? Should I offer him food and if he objects, get him down from the table? Should I keep on spoon feeding him - maybe he is just not ready? I don't really know. Let me know what you think.

4 comments:

Stacy said...

I really don't know...My kids started eating solids at 9-10 months, then it seemed like (with both of them) that there was just a day (literally one day) where they went from loving baby food to not wanting one bite.

Maybe try to cut up fruit and vegs and put the little bites into a puree or soft food--like yogurt (peaches or bananas) or applesauce (greenbeans or squash)? Maybe like transitioning milk, you make it more solid than soft? I don't know...

Also, how many teeth does he have? Can he get by with chewing all solids yet, as far as meat and stuff?

I think that I, personally, would do baby food as long as he would eat it. It's easy to travel with or take to restaurants, it's healthy, you know he's getting it, and it's easier to fix/feed. It's much harder to me day after day to figure out a 'real meal' and fix it than to just pick out a couple tubs of fruits and vegs. I missed the baby food when we stopped using it!

Stacy said...

I left the first comment right before I went on my route. I was thinking while driving that even though they started eating table food at 9-10, that's not when they stopped eating baby food--in case it sounded like that. They still ate a good bit of baby food until, I can't really remember exactly when. Probably 1 year or a little after. Just didn't want it to sound like they stopped eating all baby food when they started eating table food. Of course, they loved table food, so other babies may not switch so easily...

Jess said...

You know there isn't really a right or wrong since every kid and every mom is so different. Whatever you think is best is best. Since you wanted advice, I'll be glad to share what I did with my youngest when he was ready to transition. Once he started showing signs we wanted to eat "real" food, I offered it to him a little at a time and still offered the purees. Then I stepped him up to foods that weren't really pureed. They were semi-solid so he got used to that first. Then when he liked those but was even more interested in the finger foods I introduced veggies and fruits and meats and etc. Each of my kids has had a hard time adjusting to the textures of finger foods after getting baby food for so long. From my understanding it can sometimes take an introduction of a food 15 times before a child will be willing to eat it. Good luck. Again, you'll do what you think is best for Jackson, since you know him the best. It is hard to know they are getting enough nutrition. However, they will eat when they are hungry (plus you will be able to monitor his mood, weight, bathroom habits, etc.) Love ya!!!

brooke said...

Camden did the same thing and to this day he still refuses to eat veggies. I have to force him to eat one bite while watching him dry-heave. Good luck!!