Transitioning off of baby food to table food

[Nicole_E]

My little one is about 10.5 months old and I want to start giving her more table foods and less baby foods. She's in daycare and when she turns 1 they will offer her table food exclusively, unless we still want her on baby food, given cow's milk, unless we still want her on formula, and by 16 months she will be moved to the Toddler classrooms, where there is no baby food or bottles (or pacifiers!) offered. I know I don't have to rush but I should start looking into and making the transition now so that by 16 months we don't have a problem.
She has eaten some table foods already: cheerios, mac & cheese, bananas, biscuit, pasta in sauce, but always just a little to try, never for a full meal. Hubby and I were thinking maybe starting to drop her baby food dinner and let her eat what we eat for dinner to see how that works. Then gradually swap the lunch then breakfast. I haven't spoken to her doctor yet about this and she doesn't go back for a check up until she's a year old. I don't think this is the sort of thing I should be calling her doctor about, but maybe I should? I've gotten different opinions from people saying I should offer her unseasoned foods (plain chicken, pasta, etc) and others saying to give her what we eat regardless of how it's seasoned (or in a sauce).

We like the idea of letting her eat what we eat and introducing her to seasoned foods, but the problem is how to eventually get her onto eating only table foods and making sure she's eating enough. Any ideas? Opinions? Success stories? I'll take anything!

Edit: Forgot to mention that she still gets 4 bottles a day: 6oz when she wakes up, 2 4oz bottles in between meals, then one last 6oz before bed.

 

[MindUtopia]

I think that's a great idea - pick whatever is the least rushed, stressful meal of the day and sit down and eat a meal as a family offering her whatever food you're having. However you normally season your food is the best way to go, minus too much added salt, sugar, honey (until 1) or whole nuts (choking hazard til they're older). You don't need to do plain food or else your LO will probably only like plain food, unless that's how you eat in your family, though I'd probably avoid anything that's really spicy (as in chillies or chilli powder) for now. But other spices, herbs, seasonings, like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, oregano, parsley, rosemary, garlic, etc. are great to try. If you want to add salt or chilli to your food, we always scooped a salt/chilli free bit out first for our daughter, then added salt or whatever for ourselves.

It will probably take longer for her to eat normal foods than spoonfed/pureed foods, so do it when you have the time to not have to rush her to finish. Keep feeding her as much milk as she wants. She probably won't eat as much food, volume-wise, once she starts on real food as it's just trickier to eat until they get the hang of it. So you may find she wants more milk to feel fuller. That's completely fine. Give her as much as she wants. You'll see that drop as she starts to get the hang of eating real food. Otherwise just enjoy it and be relaxed about it. It's a process and it takes time to adjust to eating new things in a different way, but she'll get there.

We did baby-led weaning, so started with only finger foods, not purees, and self-feeding from 6 months. It was great. My daughter was completely fine eating toast, bananas, avocado, roasted carrot sticks, raw cucumber or melon sticks, etc. from 6 months, even though she had no teeth to start. She didn't eat a whole lot until maybe 9-10 months, which is usually when babies start to really start to eat for the sake of eating and to fill the stomach. She also started to use a spoon to feed herself (if I loaded it) around then as well, so you might try that if your LO is used to being spoon fed, just let her do it herself. She was a great eater and we never had any issues with doing finger foods. She's now a really good, adventurous eater. I think the most important thing really is to just be relaxed about it and don't focus on the quantities of food eaten. It's a learning experience and it takes time, but it opens up a whole new world of things to try.

 

[Nicole_E]

Thanks, I think we are going to try the dinner thing next week. She always eats her "dinner" at the daycare between 4-4:30pm because sometimes, with hubby's schedule, he works a little late (he does the daycare pickup so I can cook) and then they don't get home until maybe 5:30-5:45pm. We try to keep her on a schedule with hubby and I eating dinner, then she gets a bath, her last bottle being at 7 then bedtime at 7:30pm. So her eating dinner at the daycare helps us a lot so that hubby and I can sit down and eat without having to rush to feed her too. She still sits with us while we eat though and we usually give her cheerios and a few tastes of what we are eating. Maybe tonight instead of giving her cheerios to eat we will start giving her a "snack" of our food.