not enough solids? no chewing for 9 month old

[mercedybear]

my Lo is 9 months and still only eats 1 serving of 1.5 tablespoon iron fortified oatmeal and 2 tbs of fruit or veg a day. The "guides" are saying 2-3 meals and 1-2 snacks per day!
Examples are toast, cut up cheese etc but I dont see her being able to "chew" these foods yet, help!
She has 4 oz bottles 6-8 times a day (every 2 hrs still)
Am I doing anything wrong?

 

[MindUtopia]

I think you just aren't giving her enough credit for what she can do. We did BLW from the start (no spoonfeeding) and my daughter was eating toast, jacket potatoes, roasted carrot sticks, roast chicken, scrambled/fried eggs, pancakes, whole bananas, plums, etc. from 6 months. They are perfectly capable of chewing and eating any of that, even without teeth (we only had 2 front bottom teeth until 11 months). You just have to offer it and sit back and let her do it. It won't happen right away because she'll have to 're-learn' how to eat finger foods if you've been offering purees up to this point. But she will do it. At that age, my daughter loved peas, blueberries, scrambled eggs, toast dipped in soup, etc.

 

[mercedybear]

thanks, I tried to give her softened cheerios and she kinda played around with it in her mouth but no chewing...I am terrified that she'll choke. We havent tried dairy such as cheese yet or eggs ( I think before a year they can have egg yolk?)
I am so lost about trying to fit in solids throughout the day as due to teething it takes her an hour to finish a bottle, then I wait and she is tired by the time I have the solids ready. She still feeds 4 oz of formula every 2 hours. I think I may try to get in 2 solid meals today, and a snack if she will take it.
So far she has really only had,oatmeal, banana, apple sauce,pear, sweet potato, peas, green beans and pureed chicken I am trying to introduce new foods to her once every week( 4 days)

I am so lost with solid feeding and hope I dont set her back!

 

[liz1985]

I would personally think she needs to be eating more than that by now. I know they say food for fun untill 1 but somewhere between 6m and 1 year it has to switch so that by age 1 food is their main source of nutrition. I can understand your nervous to give her more textures or whole foods but really babies can handle food really well. We did tw with ds but skipped purrees and oony ever mashed his food and quickly switched to chopped food. By around 8months he mostly fed himself all food using his fingers, although we did give him cutlery to practice and we fed things like yogurts and weetabix. He was also eating lots of finger foods from 6months. He didn't get his first tooth till 8months and managed fine. After 6m they can eat anything except whole nuts, honey and certain fish. I also think you dont need to introduce new foods so slowly, theres no reason lo cant have a new taste at every meal, unless you have known allergies. The longer you leave it to introduce lumps and finger foods the harder lo will find it. I would just mash your food instead of puree then begin chopping and adding finger foods in next few weeks. As long as you dont add salt theres no reason lo cant just have what your having at each meal.

Weaning can be stressfull and worrying but try to relax it should be a fun time for you both. Babies have a very strong gag reflex so are very unlikely to choke. Good luck and enjoy it.

 

[mercedybear]

thank you, I feel like a "bad mom" as I havent been giving her enough practise and solids :S I didnt realise how much and what she may be capable of. Yesterday I was able to give her two solid meals ( lunch and dinner) with some chicken bits in her mashed peas which she did tend to chew. My health advisor said to introduce new food every 4 days, I guess I am being overly cautious. Its confusing when she takes a bottle every 2 hours and then to try to fit a meal in there, I was still thinking at the "6 month mark" to not have her formula intake drop, I was only giving her 1 solid meal......thank you for your help! I think today I will try some egg yolk after oatmeal for breakfast and see how she does with that, shredded cheese at lunch with toast bits and her veggies...
It doesnt help when I asked my DH to pick up plain yogurt and he brought home the no fat version

 

[liz1985]

Your definitely not a bad mum. Babies learn fast so she'll soon pick it up. And also its not the amount she eats at this age its more that she's getting the opportunity to try. ��

 

[mercedybear]

thanks for the support! I offered her cheerios, cheese and yogurt for a snack, she would have nothing of it
Tried to add in some egg yolk at breakfast, wouldn't touch that either, only oatmeal and fruit.....atleast I am trying.

 

[zorak]

We do a mix of musher food (not quite puree) and finger foods. It's amazing what they can manage. Things like toast M seems to suck to bits. He happily eats everything and will just spit out any remnants he can't quite manage.

He has three meals a day plus snacks. Often if he is teething he prefers solids to milk.

 

[zorak]

She will get there. Don't worry too much