From puree to 'normal' food

[starrmummy]

Help! My one year old is a very good eater, but every time I try and and get her to eat finger foods she gags, or puts them in her mouth and then spits them out. I tried to give her small chunks of peach (which I know she likes) but she won't eat it unless it is pureed. She can eat tiny pieces of pasta and I can sometimes sneak in a pea or piece of corn if it is mixed with a sauce, but otherwise she won't eat anything chunky. Any ideas or anyone experienced the same thing? I know she gets enough food as she is very active and sleeps well, but the food thing does worry me. Thanks!

[babyOcho]

have you tried giving larger pieces of food so she can pick it up and take bites out of it, rather than smaller bits that she can pick up, pop in her mouth and chew?

[starrmummy]

I have tried, but she tends to try and stuff it all in her mouth at once (not very lady like I know!) and then can't chew on it so opens her mouth till it all falls out! I will try again though - we are going away in a couple of weeks with some friends who have babies of a similar age, and I refuse to take my blender with me!!!

[MrsBadger]

how is she re mashed things
ie not pureed to a pulp but not actual solid lumps? Shepherds' pie, fishcakes etc are v good for this

keep offering finger food, she will get there - dd took ages to work out she could bite a piece off and needn't cram the whole lot in.

[starrmummy]

She has had fish pie which she ate except for the peas and brocolli which were too lumpy for her and will eat bolognese/ sheperds pie if the meat is very fine. I'll try fishcakes though - she loves fish, so that might go down quite well! I also can't get her to eat rice at all (either sweet or savoury) which limits the variety of carbs I can give her - any ideas or tips??

[MrsBadger]

long grain rice like basmati foxed dd for quite a while, but she loved risotto - the shirt grain rice cooks softer and creamier
this recipe is fab and much easier than ones where you have to stand at the stove stirring for 20min - we substitue anything and everything into it, mushrooms, leftover veg, prawns, whatever we have

dd's fave is mint and peas with chunks of smoked salmon fillet stirred in 5-10min from the end (any earlier and it overcooks)

[AitchTwoOh]

what about something like a biiiig hunk of steak, what would she do with that?

[starrmummy]

Thanks for your suggestions. The risotto recipe sounds yum (and I'll eat it if she doesn't!). I am not sure what she would do with steak as I haven't tried, but it is worth a go! I guess I need to do it well done for her? She has got six teeth, do you think that is enough to manage steak?

[MrsBadger]

certainly enough for her to have a good try!

dd just used to suck the bejeezus out of it and spit out the ragged grey leftovers...

[AitchTwoOh]

yes, absolutely. dd can reduce a piece of steak to a pathetic grey lump of connective tissue and she's only got two. the teeth are there, just underneath. forget about the teeth thing wrt eating, it's a total red herring. i know a baby who was fully BLW'd and didn't cut a tooth until she was 13months old.

[cheezcurl]

Whether finger food is offered at 6 months or at 1 year, babies still have to learn how to deal with the whole foods as purees and mashes do not prepare them for this. Keep offering her the chunks and with practice she will soon learn how to deal with them. Also try not to stress too much about how much she is getting down it is amazing how they pick up on your anxiety, maybe offer her some more manageable food afterwards if you are concerned. Good luck, watching them experiment with solid foods can be such an amazing time. My DDs (14 months) favourite at the moment are olives, she will eat handfuls!