Baby Feeding

[LaurenMitch]

Hi,

First time parents here needing some advice as we are somewhat nervous surrounding this particular subject.

Our daughter is 9 months old. We are struggling with introducing and building solids into her diet.

What was everyone's else's experience and what can we do to help our baby increase solid food intake?

What are you doing at the moment? We found baby led didn’t work at all he just ignored everything so we went for purees in the end and lots of “here comes the airplane!”

Just feed her what you eat (obviously assuming it’s healthy and appropriate, nearly every meal has something suitable). Babies push back when you force food on them. Don’t do that. Just be relaxed about it. Sit and eat together. If you’re having a sandwich and crisps and salad, give her a quarter of sandwich and some tomato slices. If you’re having quiche and chips, a bit of each. Roast chicken, mash, broccoli, all fine and easy to pick up. Just let her play with it. Don’t focus on how much she’s eating, because they still don’t eat vast quantities at this age. As long as you see something coming through in her nappies, she’s eating and that’s fine.

Hi, at the moment we are doing pureed foods, some fruits (banana/ kiwi for example), steamed veg (pepper, carrots). More recently she seems to have gone off most things and appears to be "gagging" more than usual.

We are absolutely terrified of baby choking on something which is leading to such anxieties when trying to increase the amount of solids.

Hi, thank you so much for the response.

At the moment we are doing pureed food, some fruits (banana/ kiwi for example), steamed veg (pepper, carrots). More recently she seems to have gone off most things and appears to be "gagging" more than usual.

She has also started to try and smack the spoon out of our hands... I presume signifying she wants to be miss independent...

We are absolutely terrified of baby choking on something which is leading to such anxieties when trying to increase the amount of solids.

If you’re worried about choking, have you read up on the difference between choking and gagging?

Have a watch of this video too from the British Red Cross so that you know what to do in the very rare chance that they do choke.

Have you had a look to see if there is a Paediatric First Aid Course near to you?

Have you got the Solid Starts app too? It shows you how to cut up food in an appropriate way for her age. So for instance now she is 9 months you can offer shredded chicken for her to pick up and eat.

If LO is refusing spoon feeding, I think you’re right that it’s time to ditch that and concentrate more on offering foods which they can tackle themselves.

I had a spoon refuser too but at 9 months I think it’s perfectly normal for her to want to feed herself. Have a look at this cookbook which gives recipes that you can all eat.

Also have a look at this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust too as it suggests portion sizes and gives sample menus.

You might find the Weaning Section on MN helpful as well, it’s under Feed the World

I was also coming here to say download the Solid Starts app and follow their page on Instagram. They have useful info on the difference between gagging and choking.

Giving solid foods rather than purées actually really helps their gag reflex. The solid starts app shows you how to safely cut and serve every type of food for the baby’s age to minimise the risk of choking. It’s really good to let them have a go with the spoon themselves too.

Also don’t stress, lots of babies won’t really take much interest in food until they’re over a year old, it’s more about exposure at first. ❤️

Another vote for following Solid Starts on Instagram.

I’ve just reread your posts @LaurenMitch.

Do you want to give us an idea of what her schedule is each day for food and milk and we can see if we can offer some suggestions?

Hi,

Schedule as follows:

Bottle at 7am (8oz)
Breakfast at 9am - trying puree/ wheetabix/ ready brek with fruit or some toast strips
Bottle at 11:30am (8oz)
Lunch at 1pm (blended/ pureedfood and melty stick)
Bottle at 4pm (8oz)
Tea at 6pm (blended/pureed food)
Bedtime feed 7:30pm (9oz)

Hope this helps.

Thank you for so many wonderful suggestions ❤️

Thank you so much ❤️

Definitely recommend the Solid Starts app .It's safer to serve actual food now and not delay it. I'd be giving whatever you are eating, in a appropriate format (the app shows you this). Get lots of flavour in - sounds like what you are feeding now is quite bland. Let baby feed themselves, make a mess, play with the food, that's how they learn. Mine didn't really get into eating til well over 12 months. Best thing is to be relaxed, eat meals with them, let them see you eating your food without any fuss or pressure.

That’s good but it’s more like the diet of a younger baby.

I think it’s time to start dropping a bottles. You’re aiming for 13.5 Floz a day between 10 and 12 months

If it were me, I’d start with the first bottle.

So your day could look a bit like this:

7am breakfast with a cup of formula.

There’s lots you can try for breakfast. Try Ready Brek with chopped banana, blueberry pancakes, cheese on toast with <a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=images.ctfassets.net/ruek9xr8ihvu/sxmPx5WN9A2ri3P8WjNoa/0886ec5683f9335566c751b686bc82a6/How_to_Cut_Tomato_for_Babies__1_.jpg&tbnid=yvmgLiQxH8ZQIM&vet=1&imgrefurl=solidstarts.com/foods/tomato/&docid=1WH5ph4_lmClmM&w=2550&h=2550&hl=en-gb&source=sh/x/im/m1/3&kgs=31609dcb0ec775d1&shem=epsd1,nisbtsac,rimspwouoe&utm_source=epsd1,nisbtsac,rimspwouoe,sh/x/im/m1/3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cherry tomatoes, Savoury Muffins or mashed avocado on toast.

10 is bottle

1 pm lunch. I’d drop those melty sticks though, giving UPFs to a baby isn’t great.

4 pm bottle

6 pm Tea

7.30 pm bottle

Give her a week on this then I’d stop the 4 on bottle and offer her Tea around 4.30 pm instead.

Thank you all. Downloaded the solid starts app. Tried last night with some shredded chicken, cheese and cucumber. Definitely seemed more content making a mess and feeding herself as opposed to us feeding her with a spoon.

The fear of little one choking is our biggest fear, something we are trying to overcome.

Thanks for all your advice

Gagging is fine and normal; the more solids your child eats (real, crunchy and lumpy foods!) the less they will gag. But you still need the gag reflex because it's protective.

My friend's daughter had no top teeth at ten months and was eating whole apples! It definitely inspired me to give my baby food in a less prepared format.

I think you’ll just have to trust her more OP. Chewing and learning to move food around helps to develop the muscles she’ll need for speech later.

Choking is a concern but it’s fairly rare, you can do Paediatric First Aid Courses and you aren’t doing her any favours by not letting her take a bit of control