Feeding a 10 Month Old - Columbus,OH

If you haven't seen it, take a look at the Super Baby Food book. It's great. Lots of info that will help.

http://www.superbabyfood.com/

Hi K.,

At 10 months, as other moms have said, he can eat just about whatever the family eats. You should still be prudent with things like peanut butter, strawberries, etc... high allergen foods. Those are best for after a year, closer to 2. Also many small kids have an allergy to egg whites before the age of 1. So, be careful with that. Basically, he "should" be eating, whatever he wants to eat. He "should" be taking mama milk whenever he wants it. Every kid is different. At 10 months my daughter was still nursing 4-6 times a day AND eating 3 meals with the family. Other kids are not going to nurse that much.

Follow his lead. Offer the milk when he normally would want milk, offer him solid foods (soft and very small bite sized) when the family eats.

Enjoy this time! Oh... and put down some kind of plastic sheet under his high chair.... it will save you a carpet cleaning bill. :-)

K.,
You are giving him exactly what he needs now, your milk. And you don't really even need to give him cows milk at a year (are you still going to nurse him?). My girls didn't do cows milk at first, took them awhile to like it. I would just start him with stuff like bananas, cheerios, avacado. Sorry I just reread your post and realized you said you'd like to wean at 12 mos. Anyway, he might not go for the cows milk at first but do like the finger foods that I mention above. Since you are working it's probably more convenient to do jar baby food (while you're at work). I only work a little bit outside of the home so we rarely did jar food. We went straight to whole foods. I would assume he has teeth? I would just give him what you eat at super time, providing it's right for a 1 year old.

First, don't worry too much yet, they get everything they need from nursing/formula for the first year. Any solids beyond that are for teaching about flavors, textures, etc...
The short answer is, if you follow a basic food pyramid you're cool. A serving of anything at his age is 1 tablespoon, and since they don't have big stomachs, you don't need to worry about balanced meals, just a balanced diet. Look at a whole week of foods and decide if it's balanced. Kids tend to "crave" and eat what their bodies need at any given point. So if you offer beans, peas, and bread and he only eats the peas at one meal, just re-offer the others for a snack or at the next meal.

Kids don't need baby food. He can be eating small pieces of anything you eat at the table. Mash well-cooked vegies, potatoes, etc...Give small diced steamed vegies. Shred chicken with a fork. The bonus is that he'll get used to the way you cook and season your foods early:)

You're doing great! They don't just nurse for nourishment, they do it to bond and spend time with you. Wait on the milk until at least 12 months. Some kids readily take it - especially if it's introduced at meal time and not INSTEAD of nursing. Many women run into trouble when they try to substitute a regular nursing session with this cold, foreign substance. If he doesn't like cow milk, try alternatives like rice milk, almond milk, soy milk, etc. Some kids take right to whole milk, others don't. He doesn't need whole milk if you are giving her other dairy products like cheese and yogurt. We're the only species that weans to another's milk, which when you think about it really is kind of weird! So if he doesn't like it, don't push it. Just try again in a month or so.

I am in a similar situation as you with the food aspect of it. My son is one and is on formula for now (we go to the dr today), but I would like suggestions for foods too. He loves noddles of any kind, but I feel like that's all we feed him because that's what he likes! We sneak in vegetables and other things, but he eats mostly noodles, ravioli, chicken patties, pancakes, etc. Let me know what kind of suggestions you get :)

Oh, we were here about 2 years ago. I was dead-set on nursin my son for the first year, and we made it. You're doing a great thng for him.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has really softened their positioning on a lot of foods over the past few years. Things we were told to avoid with our son, we were told were OK to introdce to our daughter 2 years later (such as peanut butter) as long as it's in small quantities, and they have the ability to chew it.
We did really well with Yogurt, thinly shaven cold cuts (ham and turkey were the favorites in our house), well-cooked noodles, American cheese (we would get it from the deli), string cheese, frozen vegetables (mixed veggies tended to be their favorites, etc.
Really, anything you eat, he should be able to as long as it doesn't require serious chewing and is in small enough pieces.
Enjoy this age - it goes so quickly!

You will make it to 12 months! I was in your situation, working full time and wanting to continue breastfeeding. I continued well past 12 months, try 2+. I let my son dictate how much he wanted to eat. I would nurse him in the morning along with an oatmeal and fruit mixture. Lunch time I would have a bottle that the daycare gave him, plus cereal, a meat (he was never a big meat eater though) a vegetable and a fruit. When we were together at dinner time, I usually had a noodle/mac and cheese/rice side dish along with the meat and vegetable and fruit. I had breast milk for him at the meal, and then he would breastfeed before bed (i loved the bonding time!)
Since he seems to be an active child, he may eat a little more than when he was more sedentary. If he's hungry- feed him. Kids that young don't have the emotional ties to eating we pick up as adults. They should eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. And when it comes to cow's milk- I recommend organic all the way!
Hope that helps.

I was the same as you about not wanting to do formula and succeeded in getting to one year pumping at work and breastfeeding twin boys. I remember being really concerned that I wouldn't be able to pump enough to keep them going in the last few months, but then I read that your breastmilk changes as they become older and it's not ablut volume, but they're still getting all the nutrients they need from it. With that said, my boys were both huge eaters and they ate several tablespoons of food at each meal. They never liked toddler jar food but wanted table food, so we did a lot of whole wheat pasta, steamed veggies and fruit. For protein, they loved cheese, yogurt, and especially tofu - which is so easy to cut up and give them (avocados were a bit hit too). I kept nursing morning and evening for an additional year and it was great. I don't know when they would have naturally weaned, but I had a week long trip to Europe just before their 2nd birthday and while I stressed about "forcing" the weaning at that point, my mom said they were perfectly fine the whole week having a sippy cup of milk before bed and that was their routine from then on (I missed it far more then they did when I returned!). Be assured you're giving him the very best. I'm convinced my boys were such great eaters because they were used to the variety of flavors from my breast milk. And they have been extremely healthy little boys.

By 10 months all my kids were doing basically the same thing:

3 meals a day at the table with the family eating whatever the rest of the family was eating - just cut into pea-size bites since none had teeth at this point
nursing as soon as wake up, mid-morning, just before afternoon nap and just before bed... about 10-15 minutes each time

At this age, he can eat pretty whatever the rest of the family is eating (a few exceptions like peanut stuff). Studies have shown that it actually doesn't matter >when< a food is introduced (like 8 months vs 12 months) with respect to allergies or whatever -- if a kid has allergies to it they have allergies to it. Doesn't matter if you find out at 9 months or 13 months. The exception is peanut butter stuff. So anyways.... just put him at the table, cut food into pea-sized bits, put on his plate or tray and let him feed help himself. My kids also walked early and ate a staggering amount of food/breastmilk at this age. I talked with other moms and if I fed my kids what they were feeding theirs my kids would've starved. :-) All kids are different.

As for cow's milk... it's not necessary. Most people in the world do not drink milk once they are weaned. Nothing magical about it. All the Good Stuff in cow's milk can be found in other, healthier foods. That said, my kids do drink milk but all of them went through a 'I hate milk' phase and I didn't push it. And as a head's up, most breastfed babies I know refuse cow's milk with a passion for several months - so don't drive yourself crazy.

Hi K.,

First of all, good for you for the nursing and pumping! My son just turned 1, so I just finished all of that up (and I feel like I have so much more time at work now with no pumping!).

I did want to let you know that I started mixing milk into the breastmilk bottles around 10 - 11 months (with each kid it got earlier...my last one I started at 10 months). I don't know if this is your first or not, but no one told me that the baby might not like cows milk, so with my first, I thought magically at 1 year I could stop nursing and everything would be fine, but she hated milk! Anyway, that's why I slowly transition them before their first birthday.

As for eating, I think a lot depends on how many teeth he has...I know feeding my kids got so much easier once their molars came in! But I feed a ton of cut-up fruit - bananas are a huge hit, as well as mandarin oranges and peaches. Yogurt is great, along with cheese and I give my son lunch meat and crackers. Starting around 10 months I tried really hard to feed my son whatever we were having...just cut up really tiny. If we were having something he just couldn't eat, I would do yogurt or baby food or fruit or veggies.

Hope this helps...if you need any more ideas, feel free to contact me!

When my son was ten months, I was feeding him his oatmeal and maybe some very ripe fruits cut into tiny bits. LUnch might have been fruit, veggie (jarred babyfood stage 2)and some finger foods like cheerios or gerber puffs, and dinner would be whatever I fed the rest of my family like shredded meat cut VERY VERY finely, veggie also cut into very tiny pieces and mashed potetoes. Surprizingly, he was off jarred babyfood befor me was eleven months old and boy did I rejoice!!! I hpe this helps.