Eating meat

[henrysmama2012]

Hi everyone,
My 10 month old LO loves puree (fruit, porridge, cereal, pureed veg, etc), but the very few times I've tried him on meat he has actually been sick, even after a few mouthfuls. I think that my husband was successful in giving it to him once, though. Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it possible his digestive system is just not ready for it yet? Or could it be meat based purees that I have tried have bits in them (i.e. he has to chew them) and he is not used to the texture? Possibly the one he ate with my DH was quite smooth in texture-not sure. Do some LO's just not like meat?? He's a good weight and happy aside from this so I am not overly worried, I just want to get him used to it in the interests of a varied diet and thought it was a bit strange.

Does he have food other than purée? He should be on lumps now?

If it was lumpy then I'm willing to bet it was that and because he's not used to lumps, he gagged. So it's not the meat.

Does he have finger foods?

Try cutting up roast chicken thighs into small pieces and let him pick them up and chew. Also other small pieces of food (at 10 months he should have a pincer grip now so cut into pieces the size of a pea).

Meat is important for iron and minerals like zinc.

Chewing is important for speech development. So best to get him into finger foods ASAP.

Hi there,
Thanks! I really want him to eat more finger foods, etc, for the reasons that you describe, but we aren't having much luck. I really don't know why. Stuff like lumpy porridge seems to be fine, and textured puree (as in, Ella's Kitchen etc that write' textured not lumpy' on their packaging), partly mashed banana, etc - all good. But I do try the lumpy stuff like meat and the finger foods but the few times I tried finger foods (e.g. baby biscuit)/meat with lumps he gagged, and I was scared he would choke!

Gagging is normal. Babies' gag reflex is a lot more sensitive than ours. Gagging is noisy (and messy) - choking is silent.

So give more finger foods because that's actually a safer way for him to learn how to handle lumps than hiding them in a purée. If you hide them in a purée then spoon it into his mouth, there's more risk of choking. Try it on yourself - get your DH to feed you and put the spoon in your mouth - its not nice! When spoon feeding my two I gave them the spoon so they could get the food on the tip of their tongue and work it to the back of the mouth.

Try soft finger foods like boiled carrot sticks and brocolli florets. Do the thumb test - they should be squishable with your thumb. Let him explore and don't leap in when he gags - this is how he learns not to try and swallow a lump before chewing!

I used to freak out with this with my first. So try doing this when your DH is about. Also eat with your baby so it's not all focus on him.

One way to introduce meat as a finger food is to try home made burgers eg chicken breasts blended in a food processor with breadcrumbs and herbs plus a bit of oil, shaped and fried.

Fab, thank you so much - I am going to try all of that (-:

Good luck! It's also worth learning what to do if your baby does choke a d what choking looks like just in case. You'll feel happier knowing that.

also worth adding baby can get iron and all minerals they need from other food so don't need to rush or force it.

Meat is one of the best sources though?

Thank zcos that is good to remember also. Iggly I've had a look at some 'what to do' if your baby chokes videos and we are trying some puree meat today...if that works we will graduate to little pieces...(-:

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Good luck. Do give him pieces that he can pick up and put in his mouth himself. Muh easier for baby.