Having Hard Time Feeding Baby

My son was the same way grabbing the spoon. i finally gave him his own spoon and let him attempt to eat while feeding him at the same time. That way he was working on his skills, but I knew he was getting enough to eat.

A few suggestions:
1. Try making your own baby food. This is really really easy - you just mash up whatever you're eating and give it to him. You can get one of those baby food mills (KidCo makes them) for about $10. I wouldn't like jarred food either! Yuck.
2. Give him his own spoon. That way he can feel likehe's participating and you can still feed him to make sure he actually gets something in his mouth
3. Switch to finger foods. Cut up squares of toast, cooked sweet potato, fruit, etc. Let him figure it out himself.

We never made it to the level 3 baby food! I would try some finger foods.

Rachel, I agree with another post. It is time for some table foods. Some soft table food is a good idea now. My children never ate the stage 3 either. They where ready for table food by this stage as well. Mashed anything was good for them. Plus it was cheaper. I also added in a vitamin to their dailey diet. Good Luck to you.

Hi Rachel. Try putting just a little bit of the food into his bowl and give him his own spoon. Then feed him yourself the rest of the jar with your own spoon. That way he can 'play' with his food (it is chunkier so it has a different texture that he wants to check out) and you can get some piece of mind knowing that he is getting some nutrients. Have fun - enjoy it! One day you will look back and laugh at what he's doing!!!!

A few thoughts:

1) Give him his own spoon - or two - one for each hand
2) Use bowls with the suction on the bottom so he cant pull it up or don't give him the bowl in the first place
3) Try finger foods that he can self feed with
4) Try moving him towards people food (my kids had a brief time with #3 before we gave them "people" food)
5) Be patient

Best of luck!

Dear Rachel,
I had the same thing happen to my son when he turned 9 months old and started on 3rd stage foods. It seemed to me like he just hated the new texture of them, since they are much more chunkier than the 2nd stage. It took about 3-4 weeks for him to get used to eating it, once he got past it he was fine and loved it. My only suggestion with the spoon is to do what you're already doing, let him have one to play with. It doesn't hurt to start giving him finger foods (puffs or cut up pasta pickups), as it seemed that my son liked to eat if he could put it in his mouth by himself. Good Luck!

Hi! I have a 10 month old who liked to do the same thing. He is also a picky eater. I just gave him an extra spoon to play with while I fed him and that helped. I did not let him play with the bowl - though he did want it. I let him explore that stuff during a non-eating time; so after it was out of his system, he was ready to eat and not so interested in playing with it! Good luck with whatever you try! :)

Sincerely,
Mother of a 3 yr old and 10 month old

Hi Rachel. This is just another stage that they go through. It helped when I gave my daughter her own spoon to just have something to hold while I still fed her. I let her try to do it herself too but most food didn't make it to her mouth either. I was okay with it because I was still feeding her with my spoon. Just holding her own seemed to satisfy her. Some of the 3rd foods jars are not very appetizing. It may be he is surprised by the big chunks that aren't in the other jarred foods. I would stick with the 2nd jars and start feeding him what you are eating chopped up tiny. It sounds like he is ready to be more independent which is a good, yet messy thing. Best of luck!

give him finger foods and let him go at it. He will not starve. He is just discovering his world and asserting himself. Have you ever tasted any of the foods - they are pretty gross.

Hi Rachel,

It does sound like he's interested in feeding himself and table foods are generally fine at this age. At around 10 months, my daughter started on well cooked plain noodles, buttery toast cut into cubes or strips, those types of crackers that melt in their mouths (Gerber make them), well steamed veggies, and soft fruit like bananas cut into small chunks. Around 11 months, I also pureed chicken and ground beef and left it up to her to get it into her mouth. (I left the meat just a little chunky). She was happier that way and it was fun to watch her enjoying learning how to feed herself.

Give him a spoon to play with while you feed him. Are you feeding him cereal at each meal too? I would do the cereal in the morning and then around lunch give half a jar of some vegetable and half a jar of fruit. Babies don't really eat very much food. Feed him when he's hungry, before he gets nursed or a bottle. I never worried about my kids getting all the right vitamins until I was finished nursing them at one year old. Then I was more interested in making sure they had a balanced diet. He is getting all the important things from his milk right now. Babies like to play in food on their high chair tray, I sometimes let my kids make a mess when they were done, they loved to rub their hands all in the gooey mess.

Your baby may be a picky eater, the texture of the third foods he may not like. My nephew never ate third foods, he hated them, but my 8 month old daughter loves everything. At this stage they love to go after the spoons and bowls, they really want to feed themselves. Give a spoon or two, to him while your feeding, and see if that helps. Also, you can try finger foods, I do this with my daughter, I give her a couple of finger foods first, then I feed her a couple bites of baby food, and then when she starts grabing at stuff again, i give her a couple more pices of finger foods, and repeat! Best of luck!

Sounds like he is ready for table foods. My daughter has been doing them since 8 months and is a little piggy now. She won't go near the jar foods. Try dicing up some cooked green beans.

Give him an extra spoon to hold while you are feeding him. ALso most babies skip stage 3 foods, try giving him table food and see how he does.

We never got to the 3rd foods...both my children went straight to table food. My husband actually hated feeding our children the 3rd foods! He wanted them to have more variety. Both my kids are great eaters and don't have any food allergies. Especially my daughter, she loved to put food into her own mouth. This age is so fun because you can feed your little one creatively! My husband and I used to enjoy going to a favorite Mexican restaurant and my daughter, at 10 months, was wild about their chicken/rice soup. They would make sure that hers was less liquid/more chunky. Good luck!