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feeding my 10 month old DD

678 views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  tropicaldutchtulip 
#1 ·
I was just wondering if this is normal. DD will be 10 months in a couple of wks. She still nurses most of the time. I'll feed her cereal and some pureed baby food and started some small bits of food. She's never been a great eater. And now when she eats anything with some chunky bits in it, she gags and throws up. Not just a spit up but a spew. Is this normal at this age? Seems like everywhere I read, it says that she should be eating chunky bits by now. And then tonight, she doesn't seem interested in the cereals or pureed baby food but she's having a hard time with the bits. What shall we do?
Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Cereals and purees are unnecessary in the first place. The idea that we 'must' start with those is a holdover from when babies were started on solids waaaaaay too young. And stuff with "chunky bits" -- I'm assuming you mean a chunkier puree -- can be confusing to a baby. It's actually one of the common problems when starting with purees... they still expect everything to be 'smooth' and their instinct to chew hasn't been stimulated. So it's quite natural for the chunks to stimulate the gag reflex when they try to swallow these unexpected things, and the gag reflex causes the puking.

It's a fabrication of the baby food industry that you have to move from purees to gradually thicker and chunkier consistencies before ever getting to finger food. Babies who are ready for solids are ready for finger foods.

The puking when gagging itself is not a cause for worry. It's kind of disgusting but it's "normal".

My suggestion would be to stop the purees and start offering her real food. There is of course a chance that she's not ready for food yet -- yes, even at 10 mos. Some babies just aren't ready until even over a year old. If that's the case then you shouldn't really be pushing the purees on her either.

Since she has become accustomed to the purees, she might be uncertain about real food at first. On the other hand, she might take right to it! Many babies are quite clever and reject the purees outright heh... If yours has "never been a good eater" it could be that she just doesn't like the purees and will do fine on real food, or she might just not be ready yet.

As long as she's still nursing lots you don't have to worry about nutrition, so even if she eats nothing she's fine.

I'd suggest trying something not too soft, which she can hold and gnaw on. Not 'hard' like carrots, but more something like a soft pear, or some pasta, or toast, or steamed broccoli trees. Or you could try small bits of food which she can pick up with her pincer grasp. (And do let her feed herself. Spoon-feeding can cause problems for some babies too. She might benefit from having more control over her own feeding.) Don't worry if she gags a bit at first, again that's normal (and gagging is the reflex that protects against choking). If the gagging is constant, though, and doesn't seem to diminish after a few days of trying, then the odds are she's just not ready yet, and the strong gag reflex is her body's way of telling you that.

HTH

Edited to add:
In case it helps your 'confidence' in the safety of offering real foods to an infant, I offer my photo set of DD's eating adventures. The first pics are of her chewing on broccoli at 6mo, and the most recent show a 9mo confidently shoving pizza, watermelon, beets, puffs, etc into her mouth. We also started a spoon just very recently, for yogurt - I load it and she takes it from there!
http://flickr.com/photos/lovecat/set...7600330803313/
 
#3 ·
Thank you for such an indepth response, and yes that was extremely helpful. She did enjoy her little brocolli trees. We'll try toast this morning. I did not know that about pureed foods and possibly confusing them when giving them chunkier stuff. She seems very interested in real food bits so I think I'll just go from there. Thanks again.
 
#4 ·
Yep! Tankgirl knows her stuff!
I did start with cereal and spoon feeding, however my girls had no interest in BLW. Now they love it! Solids for the first year is just for fun and exposure anyway. So there is not a set meal schedule that they shoud be eating by a certain month. Just continue to follow your baby's cues.
 
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