Feeding 11-Mo-old with No Teeth

Children often go through times of eating constantly and eating rarely. They listen to their bodies and aren't driven by cravings (like us, unfortunately) so they eat more when they are growing and less when the body is taking a little break. Don't force it, if she's still on formula she's getting all the nutrition she needs.
Also, you may want to consider a slow transition from a bottle to a cup. We often traumatize our children unnecessarily in order to force these "milestones". All it does is make life miserable for a time for our children and us.

As far as snacks go, there is this really cool little device (not sure what its called), I've found it at Walmart and Target. It has a little net attached to a plastic ring. You can put strawberries or other fresh fruit in the net part, and your child "chews" through the net and gets the strawberry without being allowed to get big pieces. It works great for little ones with no teeth.

Hope this helps.

My oldest didn't get her first tooth until she turned 1, but we fed her anything and everything. Even with a few teeth, they rarely have any molars at that age, yet they're all able to mash up their food just fine, it seems. I do remember both of my kids becoming adamant about feeding themselves at that age. It was a huge mess! But they figured it out eventually. Just try to give her foods she can pick up in her fingers, since the spoon won't be very useful for a few months yet. (And get a really big bib! =)

With the bottle, if she's really attached to it, why not let her have it for a while yet. Introduce the sippy cup at snacktime, but for those times when she seems to really want her bottle, just let her have it. My oldest was almost 2 by the time we threw away her last bottle. (My youngest could have cared less what she drank out of.) Every child has something that they're attached to. The bottle isn't such a bad one!

At 11 months old your daughter should be able to eat almost anything that you eat. My daughter didn't get her 1st tooth until 11 months, but she was eating everything by 10 months old (including meats). There appetites can change and also most people tend to eat less as the weather warms up. Some finger food options are:

Cut up- bananas, strawberries, peaches, pears, watermelon
Frozen Vegetables steamed
Chicken Nuggets
Raviolis
Deli meats and cheeses
Mac n Cheese
Grilled Cheese sandwich

Hi T.. I have a little one that is late to get teeth too. On the positive side, the dentist says this is good and the teeth should be very strong.

My little guy is 20 months old and he just got his first tooth. He also has Down Syndrome so he has less muscle tone which makes it harder for him to have the pressure to mash food. That being said, he eats everything except for things that are crunchy, stringy or chewy - carrots, celery, salad, granola bars, fruit leathers, etc. Here's what he eats:

All potato dishes, small pieces of meat, small pieces of any fresh fruit (except citrus), Cheerios, Rice Krispies, breakfast bars, any cooked veggies but be careful of corn (I use creamed corn for him), sandwiches (PBJ, meat, grilled cheese, etc.), burritos (bean and cheese), quesadillas, pizza (cheese only), etc.

I introduced everything slowly and went with what he was capable of. Their gums harden so they can chew fairly well without teeth. Also, it helps to get the teeth to come through because of the pressue they have to use on the gums to chew.

L.

My daughter got her first tooth at 14 months. Her favorite food was the lunch meat I got from the deli sliced for thick lunch meat.