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At what age do babies start eating solids?



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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 9:55 am
As in Cheerios, puff cereal, the very first foods they can eat? My older daughter started at like 6 months. My younger daughter is 7 months and hates when I put that kind of food in her mouth. She eats the mushed baby food (in the jars) just fine. I'm not worried from a nutrition point of view, but rather, at what point do I say the might be an issue like sensory or something?
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BrisketBoss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 9:57 am
You're putting it in her mouth? Is that literal? You should put it on her tray or in her hand and let her go from there. :- )

I guess at about 8 or 8.5 months I would be concerned if my child did not want finger foods.
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 10:00 am
6 months. Put the food on the tray you shouldn’t be putting anything in her mouth
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BrisketBoss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 10:01 am
Also, Cheerios can be kind of hard to pick up with the immature grasp of a baby. That's why in BLW they suggest finger length pieces of food, so the baby can pick it up it their fist and a little sticks out. Adding length cannot make something more 'chokeable,' but if you're worried, you can try soft food like roasted sweet potato--yum.
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amother
Hyssop


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 10:02 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
As in Cheerios, puff cereal, the very first foods they can eat? My older daughter started at like 6 months. My younger daughter is 7 months and hates when I put that kind of food in her mouth. She eats the mushed baby food (in the jars) just fine. I'm not worried from a nutrition point of view, but rather, at what point do I say the might be an issue like sensory or something?

My youngest didn’t put a shred of food into her mouth (despite every effort I made) until she was 11 months old! Nothing mushed, nothing solid….nothing. I had her evaluated at 11 months, and of course she ate very nicely for the speech therapist and the OT. BH that was the beginning of her eating.
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amother
Caramel


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 10:05 am
My oldest didn’t/Couldn’t do finger foods till well over a year. She preferred to be fed, so that’s what we did. My younger baby figured out self feeding much earlier so we did more of that for him. No big deal
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 10:08 am
Babies can naturally feed themselves. There is a learning curve and it can take them over a month to learn to pick up food, get it into their mouth and then eat it. We hinder it by jumping to help them. All babies will learn if we allow them.
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amother
Cerise


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 5:23 pm
Actual milestone for being able to pick up finger foods is around 8 months or when the kid is crawling and develops their pincer grasp
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BrisketBoss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 5:26 pm
amother [ Cerise ] wrote:
Actual milestone for being able to pick up finger foods is around 8 months or when the kid is crawling and develops their pincer grasp


That's based on the traditional model where you start with small pieces, but yes. That's when they develop the more mature grasp.

As younger babies are able to pick up toys with the palmar grasp, it stands to reason that they can pick up food too. Smile
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Rubies




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 5:28 pm
BrisketBoss wrote:
That's based on the traditional model where you start with small pieces, but yes. That's when they develop the more mature grasp.

As younger babies are able to pick up toys with the palmar grasp, it stands to reason that they can pick up food too. Smile


What's the modern model?
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BrisketBoss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 5:30 pm
Rubies wrote:
What's the modern model?


Baby Led Weaning--skipping the purée phase entirely. Finger length pieces of food are recommended for beginners so that they can hold the food in their palm and bite some off of the end. It also helps teach appropriate bite sizes. (There is no danger in a baby stuffing their mouth at first, as some of them do.)
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 5:46 pm
amother [ Cerise ] wrote:
Actual milestone for being able to pick up finger foods is around 8 months or when the kid is crawling and develops their pincer grasp


Babies can pick up finger lengths strips at 6 months. Look up baby led weaning
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Rubies




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 6:15 pm
BrisketBoss wrote:
Baby Led Weaning--skipping the purée phase entirely. Finger length pieces of food are recommended for beginners so that they can hold the food in their palm and bite some off of the end. It also helps teach appropriate bite sizes. (There is no danger in a baby stuffing their mouth at first, as some of them do.)


What is the goal with this approach vs the traditional one?

Which foods are safe for baby to eat at the 6m stage?
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amother
Dodgerblue


 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 6:18 pm
Rubies wrote:
What is the goal with this approach vs the traditional one?

Which foods are safe for baby to eat at the 6m stage?


It's easier for everyone and most babies are become better eaters. They can eat everything with a few exceptions that are choking hazards.
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BrisketBoss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Aug 09 2022, 6:30 pm
Rubies wrote:
What is the goal with this approach vs the traditional one?

Which foods are safe for baby to eat at the 6m stage?


There are a number of benefits, including that babies learn right away about appropriate bite sizes and how to chew. If you start with purées, they are learning to swallow food before they learn to chew it. Another benefit is babies are more in control of their food. Studies show this makes them more in touch with their own fullness cues--a good start to a healthy relationship with food. Another one is it's easy--they can eat just about whatever your family is eating. You don't have to sit there and feed them, either; you can eat while they do. Of course, then you have to clean up.

Choking hazards are basically foods that are really hard (like jerky or whole nuts), or sticky (marshmallows, thick layer of peanut butter--thin is fine), or round AND approximately the size of a child's airway (we recommend that grapes and hotdogs be cut into lengthwise quarters). Anything else is fine, even at 6 months. Some beginners do better with toasted bread than soft, though.

Interestingly, there are some non-recommended foods, like raw apple slices (thin slivers are fine and so is whole, actually) and potato chips, that many traditional weaning people give their babies early on!

Some parents do a 'lite' version of BLW where they only do soft foods like banana, because doing other foods makes them nervous. To get the full experience though, you're introducing your baby to all kinds of textures at once. Yes, even things like chicken and white potatoes and string beans. They won't always really eat the food, because some of it is trickier to manage for beginners, but it all provides good exposure and practice and it is not dangerous.
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SG18




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 10 2022, 2:16 am
Cheerios and puffs aren't really foods I would introduce that young, personally. Real foods- fruits, vegetables, protein, etc- are more important nutritionally, and can follow the baby-led weaning model.
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