1 Yo Not Liking Baby Food Any More? What Alternatives Are There

I have a ten month old, who eats just about anything I put down in front of her. She only has two teeth I just cut up everything in to very small bites. My son ate baby food forever, with my daughter I just crumble up whatever I am eating and she takes it. Peas and carrots are good, from the frozen section just defrost them. Tortalini was good. At a year old they can eat almost anything as long as it's in small enough pieces for them to gum. Good luck.

My daughter is almost 1 and eats about everything! She will eat chicken, pasta, ground turkey/chicken/beef. I give her chicken nuggets (1) and "real" veggies. There is a book for first meals for children, I can't remember the name (I'm looking for it too) but if I remeber, I will post back!
M.

Hello all...

Not sure if my son is an oddity, but Italian food always gets him eating. He loves anything in spaghetti sauce. He usually eats anything I give him, but if he's not too keen on say brocolli one day, all I have to do is put some tomato sauce on it and he gobbles it up.... Is this good for him?

Sometimes I open canned tomatoes or stewed and put that on rather than spaghetti sauce b/c I think hey tomatoes are better right?

But, yes, I too have this problem every night deciding what is best for him to eat.

He was just at his 1 year appt yesterday and the Pediatrician said "Go for quality, not quanity" as his appetite will decrease with all the new stimuli around him and beginning to walk.. he said he may only eat 1X a day and just to keep offering nutricious "small" snacks and milk (at least 2 times a day, but definately with all meals). He also said to limit juice to 4oz per day and not to let my son "cruise around" with a sippy of milk or juice, but just water during the day. Reserve the milk and juice for meal/snack times and try to always feed meals in the highchair to signify that this is what "everybody does".. so that he'll get used to seeing mealtime as a serious, pleasant experience that is part of "family time" and then he won't be as likely to snack on junk and overconsume throughout the day.

Other things I've bought into are to have a fruit tray (even if I have to buy it) and steamed veggies in tupperware dishes in the fridge. I put cheerios in baggies in the diaper bag and I stock up on big packs of yogurt. I leave the mac n cheese and the grilled cheese for restaurants (Friendly's) and order a side of mixed veges or applesauce instead of fries.

Any other tips toddler mommies? I am running out of creativity and I have to sack this all together after he goes to bed at 8pm so that I can get ready for work the next day.

Keep the ideas flowing ladies...

I rarely fed my kids commercial baby food simply because at that point in my life, I was too poor to afford it and too "rich" to get food stamps! I grew up in an immigrant family and ate what everyone now calls a Mediterranean diet. Tons of veggies, leafy greens, fish, lots of tomatoes. (Yes, tomatoes are AMAZINGLY good for you in almost any form! Full of anti-cancer properties.) I fed the same things to my kids, because that's what I love to eat. Some things were a hit with them, some weren't. My foster son is Korea, and one of his fave snacks is dried squid legs. LOL! Hey! It's what you're exposed to! Just keep trying all sorts of healthy foods. Expand your own diet and experiment! I agree with the pediatrician about quality vs. quantity and also with having meal times in high chairs at table, especially with having family dinners. I've always done that, and it's paid off well.

my son was/is the same way, esp. w/ textures of food and he's 2 now. you can try boiling potatoes until they are soft enough for him to chew but still in chunks so that he can pick them up, breakfast foods are easier like pancakes, waffles, french toast sticks. i still have trouble getting my son to eat meats esp. sausages. you can try small soft meatballs, noodles. hope this helps.

I had luck with little pieces of meatloaf (recipe from Progresso bread crumb label-very moist), small pieces of cut up grilled cheese, small cut up ravioli and other pieces of pasta. I had a hard time coming up w/ food ideas for our first, but with the second I just ended up giving him small pieces of whatever we were eating and he did fine!

Lori sounds a lot like me...lots of vegies, fruits, and some good grain and proteins.

I have 4 kids all closely spaced, so I just didn't have time for different foods for the toddler, and my kids didn't really do jarred food at all (I don't recall if I even used any of it with my last two). I just fed my kids whatever the rest of the family was eating--cut up so that they could handle it. We nearly always have a fruit tray and a veggie tray out at meals--we have containers that are about 10" in diameter and divided into 3 sections inside plus a center well where a dip container sits and we try to keep one stocked with veggies & dip and one with all fruit (we pull the dip container out and put fruit in that spot) at all times so that we can just pull them out at meal times or when the kids are wanting snacks.

For snacks, you might consider an ice cube tray with things like spaghetti sauce, ranch dressing, yogurt/fruit smoothy (these past three items are "dips"--kids LOVE dips), a few pieces of tube or twisty pasta, carrot sticks or rounds, whole grain bread strips, cheese cubes or small sticks, pieces of boiled egg white (not the yolk--too messy for unsupervised grazing!), frozen mixed veggies, broccolli florets, cucumber wedges, small fruit pieces in alternating cubes. That is, kind of create a checkerboard with the filled cubes...because filling the whole tray is just too much, but toddlers really love the "keeping all foods separate" and the selection of different snacks. If you keep this in the kitchen on a low table that the child can reach this can be something the child grazes on--which as long as you are keeping healthy stuff in the tray, is a good eating pattern. Just take it away about half hour before meal time to help encourage your son to eat at meals. I have to admit though...my philosophy with snacks are that I don't really care if they "ruin" my child's appetite for a meal so long as the snacks are the same kind of healthy foods I would serve at meals. But kids still need to sit down with the family for meals in my house regardless of whether they eat or not.

I have a daughter who is almost six years old now. I never gave her baby food because I had such a hard time getting her older sister off of baby food. With my oldest I went by the book (I have 20 years between my daughters)--the jar foods introducing each food one at a time. That was the biggest mistake. With my little one, I just took whatever we were eating and put it in a little Black and Decker food processor (the tiny little electric ones). You could grind up green beans, peas, carrots--and you can even change the consistancy by the amount of time you leave it on--chunky, mushy, or medium.

I also gave my daughter mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, baked beans, tiny pieces of hot dogs really cut tiny, cheese, pasta (one of her fav's in butter)--just about anything we ate. If I was lazy, I would buy the little frozen packs of squash, or sweet taters that were already mashed and take a little bit out and microwave it. My little one also like the different varieties of hot cereals. She's a pretty good eater.

I must give most of the credit to our wonderful daycare provide, though (Fa-Fa). She is incredible and has years of experience with the children. She was the one who gave my little one breakfast and lunch while I worked and she was the one preparing and introducing the meals. The only meal I had to plan during the week was dinner and on the weekends is when I got into more preparation!

Hi W.,

With my twin girls I tried cutting up a variety of fruits. I would sometimes used the fruit cups,(the already cut up fruit)by Dole that was found in the canned fruit aisle. ( I found I could never cut fruit fast enough for my girls:o) ) I also would try a variety of textured applesause...like chunky. As they grew out of their baby food...I would just mash up or cut into fine pieces what we were having. Mashed potatoes were a hit...along with cooked soft veggies like peas. Some squashes get nice and soft when you boil them. How about Jello or puddings? Maybe for dessert. As far as textures...don't know if I have any good ideas about that. Think it's more of a hit and miss kinda thing. He's just probably figuring out what he likes and dislikes. Happy Eating!

My daughter is 11 months and skipped baby food altogether she didn't like it. I was so upset and tried everything to get her to eat. I have a 10 year old and she took to all jar and pureed food. I was at my wits end with the baby and we finally realized she wanted to feed herself when she was 9 months old. We give her what we are eating if possible. She loves soft meats like meatballs and meatloaf. I give her cheese crumbles, chicken and dumplings. Avocado, boiled carrots cut small, grapes cut into quarters, pasta or gnocchi with the sauce. I have a good palate so I think she acquired that in vitro. She surprises us all the time. Try little bits of the food your eating you will find out what he prefers

Hi! I have a 1 yo and I am a first time mom and trying to come up with things mainly for dinner for my daughter. One night she likes something then try to give it to her again a few days later and she wants nothing to do with it! UGH! But we do a lot of grilled cheese, chicken tenders, raviolli, baked potatoes (no skin), veggies.... a lot of things she can pick up and eat on her own.
She rarely eats canned baby food anymore. Hope some of this helps! I find she is eats much better and breakfast and lunch but not so well at dinner time

I did lots of grilled cheese and cheese at that age, cut up into like 1/4 inch pieces. Peas, cooked carrots super cooked/mushy, fish sticks cut into small bits. Along with what you are giving yogurt, smoothies, applesauce. That is such a tough stage, they don't want "baby food", but can't quite handle the "real foods' yet.

Have you introduced peanuts/creamy peanut butter yet? I know it's early for that. I think I remember doing a grilled pb&J at some point. Makes it stick together better so you can cut it into tiny pieces. I think I did some tortellini and Mac and Cheese too. Good Luck!

try firm tofu, avocado and very ripe pears

Hi W.! I know you don't want to get into the fancy toddler foods (they taste awful) but I found my son loved the gerber veggie crackers and the fruit and veggie puffs. If you have a small food processor you can give him what you are having for dinner, like chicken and pork. My son (now 3 1/2) was the same way, and I would just try my best to keep track of what he was eating, and sometimes he would eat the yo baby yogurt with a meal twice a day just to get enough in him! There is also all natural applesauce in a jar that is low in sugar, and if he like bananas you can mash them with baby cereal.....I know it's hard but hang in there and as long as your doctor says he is growing, then he'll be fine..........best of luck!

What about giving your child what you eat? make sure the pieces are really small-or you can get a baby food processor at babies r us...I used to do that with fruits. I know what you're going through...it's tough!

But I know a woman who never used baby food at all.

Have you tried just plain old fruit and veggies, boiled to soften them up? My son loved apples that I'd boiled so they were soft; after refrigerating, they're also great for teething. Also, I know it's not every mom's dream food, but theres always chicken nuggets. The ones taht Perdue makes don't have much breading; jsut bread crumbs, and they're soft enough for little people to chew. Good luck!

Hi W.! I totally hear you....Here are some ideas that worked for us..
Canned fresh cut sweet peas
Broccoli steamed with Velveeta cheese melted overtop
Rice A Roni - chicken flavor {they have low sodium choices}
String cheese
Cold cuts - turkey and ham
fig newtons
Ellios pizza {microwaved so it's soft}
Whole wheat waffles with butter or jam
meat balls, chix tenders
Tortillini {with or without alfredo sauce}
Whole wheat pasta cooked in chicken broth
Hope this helps *hugs*

Hi W.,

I have twin 11 month olds and I am going through something similar. They only have 2 teeth. They just started chewing foods, so I really give them small pieces. I do buy the gerber stage 3 foods, but hate them.. I just gave them chopped up hamburger or meatballs the other day and they loved it.
I also cut up the little gerber meat stix for them and they really enjoy them too. Good protein.

Mashed potatoes are good too, sweet and regular idaho. Try cottage cheese or soft cheeses. I also gave pancake pieces.

Good luck. Kids are so finicky.
T.