When did you feed your baby table food?

Question

My son is 6 1/2 months.
His first tooth is just erupting. He also is a self sitter.
I want to give him noodles and bananas and meat of some type and other foods easy for him to gum.
When is a good time to start?

THANKS!

Answer 1

From what you described I would say now. I have a 10 month old and she has been eating table food for at least 3 months now. We still feed her formula, rice cereal, and baby fruit from the jar. But at dinner time and sometimes for lunch, she will eat what we are having. Good luck!!

Answer 2

If your baby is already on the baby food toddler meals that Gerber and Heinz makes then giving him table food is ok. The best way to break him in is to go get a baby food grinder. They are in the baby section of your stores like WalMart. You put the food into the reservoir and turn the grinder and the food comes up ready to feed your baby. You can mix the foods together like a stew or do each separately but it helps baby learn to get some table food that is sort of pre chewed as they would say. It is a bit thicker consistency than the toddler jarred foods are. Be sure though not to give him any extra spicy thing and keep it pretty much bland foods you feed him. For example, no spices except maybe some light salt, and if you do mashed potatoes, use just milk to make them thinner and not margarine or butter. His tummy is still young and needs to be broken into those things very gradually. Just about any non spicy food that you eat at that time will be ok for baby. You can gradually go from the grinder method to just fork mashing it and finally giving it in small whole bites. Eventually he will be eating it all completely whole and chewing it all by himself.

Answer 3

You know, I started introducing soft table foods around 6-7 months. Things like banana or avocado slices, chunks of boiled sweet potatoes, soft cooked carrots, etc.

I still fed some home-made "baby food" as well and continued nursing...but my son really seemed to enjoy trying the new textures of table foods :)

Answer 4

As long as you let him feed himself (no putting it in his mouth, no helping him hold it) then he will start eating solids when he is ready.

The baby's ability to pick up food, place it in their mouth, gum it, move it back with their tongue and swallow it keeps pace with the baby's ability to digest it.

Also the food doesn't need to be terribly soft, my son's first food was pear slices (well ok actually it was grass....). Slices are generally easier for baby than small pieces.

Also you should know that allowing your baby to self-feed reduces the risks of choking, and may reduce the risks of allergies, obesity, and among the moms I know prevents picky eaters.

If I might make one suggestion though, be careful with grains particularly wheat. I wouldn't start wheat until at least 9 month. I didn't let my son eat any grains until 9 months and no wheat until 12 months. That is basically the only foods I withheld (well and honey and junk food).

Guidelines for implementing a baby-led approach to the introduction of solid food
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html
Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing the baby to gag. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking – and makes one wonder about the safety of giving lumpy foods off a spoon.

Nourishing a Growing Baby
http://www.westonaprice.org/children/nourish-baby.html

Answer 5

I started feeding my babies table food at about 6 months old in addition to their formula and baby food. Start slow....do not
introduce more than one food at a time. That way if they have an allergic reaction you will know what it is from.

I started mine on mashed potatoes and little gravy.

Answer 6

I started giving my babies food after I knew they could eat babyfood well. Noodles might be hard for him though. Banana's are a great food to start with.

Answer 7

at 4 months

Answer 8

Now is a very good time. Start with rice cereal if you haven't given him that yet. Table foods can be given anytime after 5 months. Make sure it is mashed or pureed well to avoid choking.