Baby food vs. Big people food

Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars. He'll
eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically when I
show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean Mac&Cheese,
spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to do
with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide. I
even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He might
take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull the
food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in and
just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy

I did not get Bonnie to eat much real food until she was 18 months old. I
was really worried about it because we gave her a wide variety of Baby foods
and she loved all of them until they started to get clumps. Now she will
still not eat Peaches, pears and there are a few others she LOVED as a
baby.... I was given a NUK brush by the people at the WIC office because
she would not eat any meat or pasta or basicly anything other then Cherios,
animal crackers, cookies and brocoli for a while.. Oh and she liked Veana
Sausages( not really meat.. ewww) Anyway the WIC lady said some kids have a
hard time with new tectures and the brush kinda numbed her tounge a bit so
she could not feel what she was eating. I am proud to say that she will now
eat chicken and beef(well hamburger) and pasta.. so I can make spaghetti and
not have to make something else for her.. hehe. Bonnie also had no interest
in her birthday cake other then flinging it arround the room.. I was
standing behind her and got some on me.

Tori

--
Bonnie 3/20/02
Xavier due 10/17/04

Amy Hunt wrote:

Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars. He'll
eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically when I
show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean Mac&Cheese,
spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to do
with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide. I
even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He might
take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull the
food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in and
just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy




Let this be a caution to parents that 6-8 months or so is a better
transition time than 12 -- longer you wait the more likely this is to
happen He is now accustomed to special meals

he is old enough to feed himself -- have him eat with the family -- give
him a little bit of his food in his dish and a bit of mashed table food
in another compartment of the dish and let him feed himself and provide
a tiny number of finger foods as well -- since you are busy eating, you
will not be dancing attendance giving him time to experiment -- you can
poke a spoonfull in now and then but don't make feeding him your primary
focus --- the goal is to deemphasize eating

it won't hurt him to eat baby foods for awhile -- so don't worry if that
is mostly what he eats, but he is likely to experiment a bit with foods
you are eating when he sees others enjoying them and no one forcing them
on him or caring much what he eats

good luck -- hope it goes well -- and remember most things that seem
like a big deal at the moment sort of work themselves out over time --
so don't worry about it but take the tiny steps to increase low focus
exposure to other options

Thanks for the great feedback! I totally agree with the starting them out
on big people food sooner comment! I am a first time mom that doesn't seem
to have much baby sense. I can already think of a hundred things I will do
differently next time around -- including more tummy time early on and the
whole feeding issue I have described. I wish I had enough sense and
foresight to figure these things out a couple months earlier! I swear I am
intelligent person, at least I'd like to think so.

I guess something else I need to work harder on are my family meals. I am
a working mom (teacher) and I have never been much of a cook. I have also
always struggled with my weight leading me to eat a lot of weight watchers
dinners and the such. I will concentrate on cooking (my husband cringes)
more family friendly meals and try your suggestions. I wish I could rewind
a couple months and start back then!

Thanks again for the post and I will give this a shot!

Amy
"jenn" wrote in message
...
Amy Hunt wrote:

Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars.
He'll
eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically
when I
show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean
Mac&Cheese,
spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to
do
with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide. I
even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He
might
take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull
the
food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in and
just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy




Let this be a caution to parents that 6-8 months or so is a better
transition time than 12 -- longer you wait the more likely this is to
happen He is now accustomed to special meals

he is old enough to feed himself -- have him eat with the family -- give
him a little bit of his food in his dish and a bit of mashed table food
in another compartment of the dish and let him feed himself and provide
a tiny number of finger foods as well -- since you are busy eating, you
will not be dancing attendance giving him time to experiment -- you can
poke a spoonfull in now and then but don't make feeding him your primary
focus --- the goal is to deemphasize eating

it won't hurt him to eat baby foods for awhile -- so don't worry if that
is mostly what he eats, but he is likely to experiment a bit with foods
you are eating when he sees others enjoying them and no one forcing them
on him or caring much what he eats

good luck -- hope it goes well -- and remember most things that seem
like a big deal at the moment sort of work themselves out over time --
so don't worry about it but take the tiny steps to increase low focus
exposure to other options

"Amy Hunt" wrote in message
ervers.com...
Thanks for the great feedback! I totally agree with the starting them out
on big people food sooner comment! I am a first time mom that doesn't
seem
to have much baby sense. I can already think of a hundred things I will
do
differently next time around --


And you second will find ways to thwart THAT effort! I am being a little
tonge in cheek. I was going to do this and that with my second, and darn it
all, she is just not complying. Parents sometimes take too much onto
themselves in terms of what they can affect and what is just their child
being their child. Mine would not eat a BITE of any kind of solid before 6
months. It was really closer to 7. Pretty hard to start her on lumpy when
she would not eat anything. It all works out ok though.

including more tummy time early on and the
whole feeding issue I have described. I wish I had enough sense and
foresight to figure these things out a couple months earlier! I swear I
am
intelligent person, at least I'd like to think so.



Don't give yourself too much grief. The one thing that was hardest for me
with my first was realizing that if I made a mistake, it was undoable. And
it did not need to be undone Right This Minute. I remember when my sister's
kids could drink out of a cup WAY before I even knew it was appropriate to
start trying with my son. I remember thinking, he is supposed to be drinking
out of a cup. Oh My God Get Him Drinking Out of a Cup Right Now. That kind
of uptightness never helped DS learn anything. Somehow he survived my
neroses!

I guess something else I need to work harder on are my family meals. I
am
a working mom (teacher) and I have never been much of a cook. I have also
always struggled with my weight leading me to eat a lot of weight watchers
dinners and the such. I will concentrate on cooking (my husband cringes)
more family friendly meals and try your suggestions. I wish I could
rewind
a couple months and start back then!


I am also work. (Ugh. I hate it.) For me there are 3 keys to being able to
provide dinner for the family. One is this cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...621316-4150506

I can get dinner on the table quickly, often in as little as 15 minutes.
They aren't rocket science recipes. One is store bought chicken patties in a
sandwich with salsa and black bean dip, for instance. I could have come up
with that. But I do not want to! I will begin to look for other cookbooks
like it.

The other absolute necessity is a meal plan. I need to know what to take out
of the freezer the night before. I make a grocery list from the meal plan
plus things we need to have on hand, like juice, snacks, milk, etc.. I only
do meal plans for dinners. We have a rotating same o' same o' for breakfast
and lunch. But you could just as easily do meal plans for those meals to.

I do not try to make my food particularly kid friendly. In our house, dinner
is a take it or leave it proposition, as is every meal. Frank McCourt never
turned down a chicken sandwich! It used to make me crazy to come up with
meals that my son would like that we could tolerate. I do not make spicy or
truely awful things (like liver and onions which my parents loved. ICK) and
I have something kind of boring at every meal, like fruit salad, bread or
applesauce. But once the meal is planned, that's what is for dinner. I also
pick one of DS's favorites at least once per week.

Good luck!

S


Thanks again for the post and I will give this a shot!

Amy
"jenn" wrote in message
...
Amy Hunt wrote:

Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars.
He'll
eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically
when I
show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean
Mac&Cheese,
spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to
do
with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide.
I
even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He
might
take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull
the
food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in
and
just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy




Let this be a caution to parents that 6-8 months or so is a better
transition time than 12 -- longer you wait the more likely this is to
happen He is now accustomed to special meals

he is old enough to feed himself -- have him eat with the family -- give
him a little bit of his food in his dish and a bit of mashed table food
in another compartment of the dish and let him feed himself and provide
a tiny number of finger foods as well -- since you are busy eating, you
will not be dancing attendance giving him time to experiment -- you can
poke a spoonfull in now and then but don't make feeding him your primary
focus --- the goal is to deemphasize eating

it won't hurt him to eat baby foods for awhile -- so don't worry if that
is mostly what he eats, but he is likely to experiment a bit with foods
you are eating when he sees others enjoying them and no one forcing them
on him or caring much what he eats

good luck -- hope it goes well -- and remember most things that seem
like a big deal at the moment sort of work themselves out over time --
so don't worry about it but take the tiny steps to increase low focus
exposure to other options

glunk wrote:

"Amy Hunt" wrote in message
ervers.com...

Thanks for the great feedback! I totally agree with the starting them out
on big people food sooner comment! I am a first time mom that doesn't

seem

to have much baby sense. I can already think of a hundred things I will

do

differently next time around --



And you second will find ways to thwart THAT effort! I am being a little
tonge in cheek. I was going to do this and that with my second, and darn it
all, she is just not complying. Parents sometimes take too much onto
themselves in terms of what they can affect and what is just their child
being their child. Mine would not eat a BITE of any kind of solid before 6
months. It was really closer to 7. Pretty hard to start her on lumpy when
she would not eat anything. It all works out ok though.

6 months is when doctors recommend starting solids anyway -- so you are
not remiss at all -- and 7 months is not that unusual -- I started mine
on solids then and went straight to mostly mashed table food -- if they
start late, they can handle more lumpy food from the gitgo

I also do think it is easier with the second -- although our kids
differed a lot -- the confidence that comes with knowing you haven't
killed the first one and he has sort of survived the days of incompetent
new parenthood, gives you the boost you need to cope




including more tummy time early on and the
whole feeding issue I have described. I wish I had enough sense and
foresight to figure these things out a couple months earlier! I swear I

am

intelligent person, at least I'd like to think so.




Don't give yourself too much grief. The one thing that was hardest for me
with my first was realizing that if I made a mistake, it was undoable. And
it did not need to be undone Right This Minute. I remember when my sister's
kids could drink out of a cup WAY before I even knew it was appropriate to
start trying with my son. I remember thinking, he is supposed to be drinking
out of a cup. Oh My God Get Him Drinking Out of a Cup Right Now. That kind
of uptightness never helped DS learn anything. Somehow he survived my
neroses!


I guess something else I need to work harder on are my family meals. I

am

a working mom (teacher) and I have never been much of a cook. I have also
always struggled with my weight leading me to eat a lot of weight watchers
dinners and the such. I will concentrate on cooking (my husband cringes)
more family friendly meals and try your suggestions. I wish I could

rewind

a couple months and start back then!



I am also work. (Ugh. I hate it.) For me there are 3 keys to being able to
provide dinner for the family. One is this cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...621316-4150506

I can get dinner on the table quickly, often in as little as 15 minutes.
They aren't rocket science recipes. One is store bought chicken patties in a
sandwich with salsa and black bean dip, for instance. I could have come up
with that. But I do not want to! I will begin to look for other cookbooks
like it.

The other absolute necessity is a meal plan. I need to know what to take out
of the freezer the night before. I make a grocery list from the meal plan
plus things we need to have on hand, like juice, snacks, milk, etc.. I only
do meal plans for dinners. We have a rotating same o' same o' for breakfast
and lunch. But you could just as easily do meal plans for those meals to.

I do not try to make my food particularly kid friendly. In our house, dinner
is a take it or leave it proposition, as is every meal. Frank McCourt never
turned down a chicken sandwich! It used to make me crazy to come up with
meals that my son would like that we could tolerate. I do not make spicy or
truely awful things (like liver and onions which my parents loved. ICK) and
I have something kind of boring at every meal, like fruit salad, bread or
applesauce. But once the meal is planned, that's what is for dinner. I also
pick one of DS's favorites at least once per week.

Good luck!

S



Thanks again for the post and I will give this a shot!

Amy
"jenn" wrote in message
. ..

Amy Hunt wrote:


Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars.

He'll

eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically

when I

show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean

Mac&Cheese,

spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to

do

with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide.

I

even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He

might

take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull

the

food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in

and

just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy




Let this be a caution to parents that 6-8 months or so is a better
transition time than 12 -- longer you wait the more likely this is to
happen He is now accustomed to special meals

he is old enough to feed himself -- have him eat with the family -- give
him a little bit of his food in his dish and a bit of mashed table food
in another compartment of the dish and let him feed himself and provide
a tiny number of finger foods as well -- since you are busy eating, you
will not be dancing attendance giving him time to experiment -- you can
poke a spoonfull in now and then but don't make feeding him your primary
focus --- the goal is to deemphasize eating

it won't hurt him to eat baby foods for awhile -- so don't worry if that
is mostly what he eats, but he is likely to experiment a bit with foods
you are eating when he sees others enjoying them and no one forcing them
on him or caring much what he eats

good luck -- hope it goes well -- and remember most things that seem
like a big deal at the moment sort of work themselves out over time --
so don't worry about it but take the tiny steps to increase low focus
exposure to other options

"jenn" wrote in message
.. .
glunk wrote:

"Amy Hunt" wrote in message
ervers.com...

Thanks for the great feedback! I totally agree with the starting them
out
on big people food sooner comment! I am a first time mom that doesn't

seem

to have much baby sense. I can already think of a hundred things I will

do

differently next time around --



And you second will find ways to thwart THAT effort! I am being a little
tonge in cheek. I was going to do this and that with my second, and darn
it
all, she is just not complying. Parents sometimes take too much onto
themselves in terms of what they can affect and what is just their child
being their child. Mine would not eat a BITE of any kind of solid before
6
months. It was really closer to 7. Pretty hard to start her on lumpy
when
she would not eat anything. It all works out ok though.

6 months is when doctors recommend starting solids anyway -- so you are
not remiss at all -- and 7 months is not that unusual -- I started mine
on solids then and went straight to mostly mashed table food -- if they
start late, they can handle more lumpy food from the gitgo

I also do think it is easier with the second -- although our kids
differed a lot -- the confidence that comes with knowing you haven't
killed the first one and he has sort of survived the days of incompetent
new parenthood, gives you the boost you need to cope



Absolutely. For me, part of that is knowing that these little things that
you do "wrong" are not a very big deal.




including more tummy time early on and the
whole feeding issue I have described. I wish I had enough sense and
foresight to figure these things out a couple months earlier! I swear I

am

intelligent person, at least I'd like to think so.




Don't give yourself too much grief. The one thing that was hardest for
me
with my first was realizing that if I made a mistake, it was undoable.
And
it did not need to be undone Right This Minute. I remember when my
sister's
kids could drink out of a cup WAY before I even knew it was appropriate
to
start trying with my son. I remember thinking, he is supposed to be
drinking
out of a cup. Oh My God Get Him Drinking Out of a Cup Right Now. That
kind
of uptightness never helped DS learn anything. Somehow he survived my
neroses!


I guess something else I need to work harder on are my family meals. I

am

a working mom (teacher) and I have never been much of a cook. I have
also
always struggled with my weight leading me to eat a lot of weight
watchers
dinners and the such. I will concentrate on cooking (my husband
cringes)
more family friendly meals and try your suggestions. I wish I could

rewind

a couple months and start back then!



I am also work. (Ugh. I hate it.) For me there are 3 keys to being able
to
provide dinner for the family. One is this cookbook:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...621316-4150506

I can get dinner on the table quickly, often in as little as 15 minutes.
They aren't rocket science recipes. One is store bought chicken patties
in a
sandwich with salsa and black bean dip, for instance. I could have come
up
with that. But I do not want to! I will begin to look for other
cookbooks
like it.

The other absolute necessity is a meal plan. I need to know what to take
out
of the freezer the night before. I make a grocery list from the meal
plan
plus things we need to have on hand, like juice, snacks, milk, etc.. I
only
do meal plans for dinners. We have a rotating same o' same o' for
breakfast
and lunch. But you could just as easily do meal plans for those meals
to.

I do not try to make my food particularly kid friendly. In our house,
dinner
is a take it or leave it proposition, as is every meal. Frank McCourt
never
turned down a chicken sandwich! It used to make me crazy to come up with
meals that my son would like that we could tolerate. I do not make spicy
or
truely awful things (like liver and onions which my parents loved. ICK)
and
I have something kind of boring at every meal, like fruit salad, bread
or
applesauce. But once the meal is planned, that's what is for dinner. I
also
pick one of DS's favorites at least once per week.

Good luck!

S



Thanks again for the post and I will give this a shot!

Amy
"jenn" wrote in message
. ..

Amy Hunt wrote:


Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars.

He'll

eat crackers and peas, but that's about it. He screams hysterically

when I

show him the "big boy" food. When I say big boy food, I mean

Mac&Cheese,

spaghetti, cheese balls, etc. In fact he didn't even want anything to

do

with his birthday cake! If I pull out a baby food jar he opens wide.

I

even tried blending his food to give it that baby food texture. He

might

take one bite, but when he realizes it's not Gerber, he tries to pull

the

food out of his mouth and starts crying. I'm stumped! Do I give in

and

just keep giving him baby food or is there some secret I haven't heard
about? Suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Amy




Let this be a caution to parents that 6-8 months or so is a better
transition time than 12 -- longer you wait the more likely this is to
happen He is now accustomed to special meals

he is old enough to feed himself -- have him eat with the family --
give
him a little bit of his food in his dish and a bit of mashed table food
in another compartment of the dish and let him feed himself and provide
a tiny number of finger foods as well -- since you are busy eating, you
will not be dancing attendance giving him time to experiment -- you can
poke a spoonfull in now and then but don't make feeding him your
primary
focus --- the goal is to deemphasize eating

it won't hurt him to eat baby foods for awhile -- so don't worry if
that
is mostly what he eats, but he is likely to experiment a bit with foods
you are eating when he sees others enjoying them and no one forcing
them
on him or caring much what he eats

good luck -- hope it goes well -- and remember most things that seem
like a big deal at the moment sort of work themselves out over time --
so don't worry about it but take the tiny steps to increase low focus
exposure to other options

"Amy Hunt" wrote in message servers.com...
Thanks for the great feedback! I totally agree with the starting them out
on big people food sooner comment! I am a first time mom that doesn't seem
to have much baby sense. I can already think of a hundred things I will do
differently next time around -- including more tummy time early on and the
whole feeding issue I have described. I wish I had enough sense and
foresight to figure these things out a couple months earlier! I swear I am
intelligent person, at least I'd like to think so.

I guess something else I need to work harder on are my family meals. I am
a working mom (teacher) and I have never been much of a cook. I have also
always struggled with my weight leading me to eat a lot of weight watchers
dinners and the such. I will concentrate on cooking (my husband cringes)
more family friendly meals and try your suggestions. I wish I could rewind
a couple months and start back then!

Thanks again for the post and I will give this a shot!

Amy

I frankly wouldn't worry at all, unless it's an expense issue or
something.

There's enough variety that he'll get his nutritional needs met. The
jars are small and easy to handle, he can start feeding himself. And
one of these days, he'll demand a taste of whatever is on your plate.
I doubt very much he'll want to stay on baby food forever. But if you
let him make the decision -- and treat it as no big deal at all -- you
won't get stressed and neither will he.

OTOH, if he reaches college age and he's still eating baby-food out of
jars, it'll save him from all the junk food floating around...
(I've know teenage girls who eat baby-food because it's convenient
portions that can be eaten on the run at any time of day, and it
usually doesn't need refrigeration.)

Rupa

OTOH, if he reaches college age and he's still eating baby-food out of
jars, it'll save him from all the junk food floating around...

My dad keeps joking around that he'll be the only one in his class that has
to crawl to school (obviously, we are not walking yet) and have baby jar
food for lunch!

Amy

"Amy Hunt" wrote in message
ervers.com...
Hi. My son is 12 mo. old now and I am having an extremely hard time
switching him over to big boy food. He ONLY wants baby food in jars.

Sounds like my boy. He's 16 months old and loves some jar foods...he won't
eat any vegetables or meat unless they are pureed. Give him a jar and he'll
eat several of them, but put a diced up veggie or meat in front of him and
he won't eat a single bite of it. Sigh.