7 month old eating..

[leanne1b]

Hmm. My 7 and a half month has finally got purée perfected, an will now accept stage 2 jar food... But still won't take home cooked stuff.
Also, anything we do blw style, ie, strips of toast etc. he uses to chew rather than eat.. Anything larger than... Quarter of a cm, that he tries to actually eat.. He chokes on. Should I be worried coz none of urs seem to do this?! X

 

[roxane 1985]

habe u tried asking ur health visitor as there could be an underlying problem, maybe enlarged glands making it hard to eat or it could be a simple as he doesnt feel ready for more solid foods and u may just have to really blend up his food and very gradually let the soft lumps get bigger so he can get used to eat. failing that speak to your gp for advice

 

[amyjayne77]

Oscar us 9m and has never put food in his own mouth! Not once, despite my wish to blw.
Purée is fine but anything with lumps makes him gag. He's such a fuss pot!!

 

[MrsR]

Is he choking or gagging? There's a big difference. Also at 7 months they are still getting the majority of their nutrients from milk feeds so it makes no difference if they are 'chewing' (which they actually need to learn to do especially if they've been on purees) or 'eating' the food. They will eat once they've learnt to chew and swallow.

 

[Amy_J]

i dont think its anything to worry about at all! milk is still very important at this stage!

my lo is used to purees now but if i make them a bit lumpier he spits it all out! i want to try finger food too but he doesnt seem into it whatsoever!! reading helens BLW journal has made me wish i did that from the begining even though im scared! i think hes off his food atm for teething so will try with chunkier purees and more finger foods next week!

 

[leanne1b]

Lol sudden bursts of responses lol.
He's suddenly not doing this as often, but when he does it's def choking.
He can now take about half cm of a solidy bit. Sorry duno how else to describe really?
Dyu think it's just his way of getting used to things? Xx

 

[Annie050408]

Right, Ella is doing exactly the same and I think that before I try her on toast etc... I'm going to give her rice with her mushed up food- you can get rice which is from 7 months plus and this is small enough not to choke them but will give them practice of chewing and working harder than to just swallow. Having said that, I wont try that just yet.

Over the past week I have been giving E half a rusk to suck and chew on which I think is good prep for the next step.

 

[leanne1b]

Thanks for the tip hun x

 

[Zazu]

Zac isn't great with big chunks of food (although he does tend to stuff loads in his mouth!) but will have lumpy stuff, I have started adding pasta stars and rice to his purees to give it texture. He will have chunks of banana and strawberry as they are quite soft. I try not to panic if he gags, and just make sure he isn't actually choking. I wouldn't worry, they will all get there in their own time xxx

 

[leanne1b]

Thanks hun. Def feel better knowing there are some other little ones out there doing the same thing
X

 

[PinkPunch]

Leanne my daughter never liked my homemade mashed food either once she had tried the jar stuff. It's so hard to get the same consistency though!

 

[leanne1b]

I think that's the problem. Their version of mashed food is like purée, with bits in, rather than all mashed. So hard to match their consistency x

 

[Zazu]

I think that's the problem. Their version of mashed food is like purée, with bits in, rather than all mashed. So hard to match their consistency x

I've not used any jar food yet, so not sure of the consistency, but if you want to do home made, could you try pureeing stuff with a hand blender and add pasta/rice to give it lumps? I got bags of heinz baby rice in home bargains for 10p! X

 

[leanne1b]

What's home bargains? That's ridiculously cheap!!!
Good idea! Though now es doing so mch better with the food I'm tempted just to give him what he wants until he can handle stuff a bit bigger and then just make him eat the same stuff as my daughter/partner x

 

[Zazu]

It's a shop that sells loads of random stuff quite cheap, I thought they had them everywhere, maybe it's just in the north west? If he is happy with the jars and so are you, you may as well stick to it. I only did my own as it is cheaper xxx

 

[Squeakz]

hey hun my mum told me the other day that i couldn't eat anything with any lumps in at all until i went to proper eating. So it was pureed food or eating properly. They could give me slightly pureed food or puree with bits of lumps in as i would gag and choke. Eventually i got to an age that i just started chewing :S....i realise its not advice or anything but thought it might be a bit of moral supprt!!
xxx

 

[Amy_J]

i was speaking to my mum earlier & she told me i was SOOO fussy, she started me on purees which was fine. when she started to mash the food to give it a different texture she said i used to spit it all out and pull a funny face!!! she said i was about 10 or 11 months old before i would take lumpy bits and even then it was a struggle until one day it all kind of fell into place! i was starting to worry about my lo as he isnt keen on the more mashed foods at all!!!, but she just told me to relax and he'll get there in his own time!!

 

[MrsR]

A purée fed baby learns to swallow before they develop the ability to chew so when they encounter lumps they sometimes end up choking because they haven't had the chance to develop this ability to chew. A 6 month old baby's gag reflex is quite far forward on their tongue (as opposed to on say an adult where it's right at the back of the tongue near our airway) but it moves back as they get older. Also a spoon fed baby when given lumpy food on a spoon can choke because they suck the food off the spoon. Research suggests that babies who are spoon-fed have more problems gagging or 'choking' when they start to handle food themselves because they haven't learnt how to move food around their mouths. Hth

 

[leanne1b]

It definitely helps squeakz thanku. And cheers for that Helen. Definitely motivates me to encourage blw more too.
An Amy thanks. I'm glad hea not the only one. And just seems to want to take things at his own pace an I guess he'll just do it when he decides he is ready.
Thanku for all ur support and advise ladies! Xx

 

[Squeakz]

we give J purees but he always has finger food during the day! but apparently i was terrible for eating lumpy food!! xx