Stage 3

You could chop up the chunks or disgard them. Or do what you been doing until you feel comfortable with stage three. Also, give the child small portions. Hope these suggestions work for you. Good luck.

My best advice in this situtation would be to trust your own instincts. Give the situation some thought, and if you really feel that the child isn't ready for solids, then wait a while. There is no reason that she NEEDS chunky food so waiting won't hurt her.

Good luck.

Hi C..
My youngest is 13 months and at 8 months he was absolutely not ready for chunks either. He would gag and that is scary, so I know how you feel. Someone else responded and said that they made their own baby food and I did the same. If I went out somewhere I would use the jars, but at home I always did my own. You know your child teh best. She will learn how to eat chunks when she's ready. You don't have to rush her because of some kind of food schedule.

I felt the same way with my first one...( I have two a 2 and 1/2 yr old and a 10 month old). What I found to be more helpfully was to make her food myself. I know that sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't. I have a mini food processor and I would put things in there and they would get really small. I also tried to mix some of the chunky stuff with applesauce or a lower stage baby food. Trust me she will probalby gag a few times and it is hard to watch but it does get better. I would give it a good week until she will get the concept, and you will def. know if she is not ready! my ten month old is eating table food completely. everything is cut in small pieces and he practically feeds himself. ( so nice!!)noodles and chicken cooked in broth and really cooked is good starters...( makes it super tender) and if you make it then you know what she is getting is good for her!....also try a thicker yogurt that will maybe help her get used to a thicker texture! good luck!

If your daughter has teeth you should be fine, at 8 months old I had to stop giving my daughter a bottle because she bit the nipple off, so I kinda knew she would be ok with food! You have to be comfortable with it. If she is not ready she will let you know! Hope it all turns out well!

M.

Hi C. B. All you can do is watch her while she eats her food. Make sure she is chewing and not just swallowing her food to prevent choking.

I was really worried as well, about the stage 3 foods. My daughter would gag every time we tried to give her a bite and it made me a nervous wreck! As it turns out, she skipped the stage 3 foods and went right to tiny bits of table food. I think that the combination of "baby" food, and the chunks of table food mixed threw her off. She did much better with actual table food once I was comfortable enough to give it to her, and my worries were over! (well, at least for the moment!!) After the fact, I talked to her pediatritian and she said that it was completley normal and that every baby is different. She said alot of babies skip stage 3 for the same reason. You will both know when she is ready! Good luck!

Dear C.,
I am a mother of three, 2 boys 8 & 5 and little girl who just turned 1. None of my children got teeth until they were 9 months old but wanted food that had more substance. Of course I was so scared to feed it to them they didn't have teeth. What I did was find things that were easy to chew like boiled eggs cut up, cottage cheese, instant oatmeal flavored, grilled cheese, noodles(soups and pasta), beans and lentils, and for meats I stuck to deli meats either cut up in pieces or shredded or meat that was cooked so long it fell apart. I hope this helps you.

As far as table food goes you can try a mesh food feeder, you can find them in walmart or any other baby store. They are made by Munchkin and Sassi. You put a cracker or carrot or any other hard to bite item and it attaches to a ring and they basicly suck and chew on it until it's small enough to fit through the tiny holes in the mesh bag and nothing that isnt big enough doesn't fit through it and it's a great learning tool. It relieves your fear on choking at least on the table food. It also allows you to be more relaxed while teaching them to eat food. We used it with my niece and we weren't constantly staring at her like we were waiting for her to choke on something. It was a good teether with a fresh raw carrot in there as well. Hope I have helped. Let us know how she does.
T.

It really depends on how many teeth she has.Try things like cheerios first. My kids love the Gerber puffs. They are really great to start with if your nervous if she can't chew them they melt in her mouth before she swallows.

Hi C.,

I know what you mean about forgetting what you did the first time around...smiles...I have custody of my now 23 month old grand son...my last born was nearly 19 years ago...I have been wracking my brains a whole lot...

Anyways, when my grand son began fussing more and wanting to eat a bigger variety I went out and bought a food processor and I would grind everything up that we was having and just let him go at it...making sure there were no big lumps of anything hard left in it...it helped me to get through the stress & worry of him choking while he got all the yummy foods he needed in a safe way...until he got enough teeth to actually chew harder foods safely...He loved to be able to dig in and just feast away...There are some snacks in the baby food isle that are wonderful...They come in a milk bottle shaped container...they come in babana, corn & sweet potato flavors...they're small & dissolve quickly...my lil' guy didn't care for the corn one's...I hope this has been of some help, as worrying about your child choking is such a scarey ordeal...

Best of luck to you, R.

Hi C.!
I guess I would try to mash the chunk a little to see how she does with a partial chunk and take it from there. I have 4 kids...the youngest is almost 6 and I worried from that first bite on!! One thing that I did learn was that if they did seem to be "choking or gagging" on something was to raise one hand/arm straight up, over their head and for some reason, this helps with that gag reflex. I've never lost a kid...ok, not a good pun, but I know that they will want to be independant and at some point, you will have to let them. Try a little at first and see how that goes. I am sure that you will be much more worried than she will be.

She is only 8mths old she has plenty of time to learn. Don't stress your self out just wait a little longer, she will be fine. If you really want to start try giving her something try finger foods....banana, avocado, canned peaches, bits of bread. Let her try on her own.

just start with small things like diced peaches, cheerios.... see how she does, then if your comfortable enough start trying more things out!! good luck