Lumpy food and finger food

[claireh05]

Hi

My baby is nearly 10 months old and while she has a good appetite, she is not very good at eating anything that is not pureed or finely mashed! At meal times, I often have to add natural yoghurt to her food before she will continue to eat it so I am assuming she prefers the more creamy/smooth texture. WHile I like the fact that she enjoys the natural yoghurt, I am hoping that she will start to eat the food as it comes!

I have given her finger food (peas, corn, pasta, rusks, bread etc) and she enjoys chewing it, but never eats it - it ends up being spat out after a good chew!! Can you recommend some good finger foods to get started with?

Would appreciate your help!

Thanks
Claire :)

[bpato]

Hi Clare

Ds is 11 months old and does the exact same thing. Loves to chew on things like toast ect but will either spit it out or gag and vomit it straight back up.

Pead says he has a highten gag relfex but can't give me any suggestions as to what to do except offer pureed smooth foods and he will eventually learn.

Would also love some advice form an expert about this.

Hope you don't feel I have taken over, just wanted to let you know you are not alone with the problem, and I am glad to see it just isn't DS that does this.

Belinda

[Cheeky Little Monkey]

Hmmm I wonder if she spits out the peas, corn etc because they have a "skin" on them?

Maybe try pumpkin, zuchinni, carrots etc cut up into small strips that are easily picked up?
I just microwave the vegies till they are really soft and then serve them to DD (who is 9 and a half months old) and she feeds herself.

Tonight I did mashed potato and tuna and mixed them into little balls. She had no problem picking them up and mashing them into her mouth.

Good luck

[Melo]

My DS is excatly the same! The CHN referred us to a Speech Pathologist - Who did nothing, told me that DS has behavioural problems which makes him not want to eat. I'm just offering him finger foods and letting him feed him self.

[the pero clinic]

Dear Claireh05,

It certainly does sound like your baby has a strong texture preference for smooth purees! By 10 months a baby should be quite competent with a variety of textures including smooth purees, lumpy purees, mashed foods, soft chewable foods and being starting to learn to bite and chew finger foods.

Some common reasons for not progressing with textures include hypersensitivity in the mouth (and an over-reactive gag reflex) or a tongue that hasn’t learnt to change its movement from a front to back pattern in the mouth to movement that also goes from the middle to the sides. It is the sideways tongue movement that gets lumps to the gums for some chewing and mashing before the food is swallowed.

Instead of focusing on finger foods at this age, I would encourage you to help your baby work through the lumpier and mashed puree consistencies first. Gradually increase the thickness and lumpiness of purees. You can also help her tongue to learn to move to the sides by placing the food to the sides of her mouth to begin with.

the pero clinic