Many new moms have this question in mind, “Is my baby ready to make the transition to table food?.” Somewhere even when they know that their baby is ready, they don’t really know how to make the change.
You must be thinking it’s high time to transit your baby from puree food to table food, but you are not sure how to manage it. Try to relax your mind a bit about it. Transiting to table food is not that difficult and your baby can manage eating solid food before their teeth come out.
Did you know, many babies are not given pureed food at all, that they are fed solid food from the beginning? This mainly happens where the parents have an approach to introduce solid foods.
What is considered table food anyway?
There is no historic mystery about the table food; still, many parents are not sure about how to introduce table food to their child. Here is the answer to your question. Table food for baby is any food that your baby is already having but it is not in pureed form. Table food is any food that is age appropriate, you can feed your baby the food that the whole family eats. The only thing you need to keep in mind is the food should not be pureed.
What age can my baby switch from pureed food to table food?
There is no specific age for starting solid foods, but according to studies, it’s mainly after six months that baby can start eating solid foods. You should observe your child while he/she is eating solid food, check their ability to mash and gum foods.
One important part of moving to solid food is your baby’s ability to pick the food themselves or self-feed. A good pincher grasp is required and along with it, your baby also needs to be able to gum and mash the food.
Here are a few signs that your baby can eat table food without teeth:
- Your baby doesn’t need spoon feeding
- Doesn’t enjoy eating pureed food at mealtimes
- Grabs spoon or try to feed himself
- Chews easily without teeth and mashes food
- Baby can grasp properly and can move food towards his/her mouth easily
How can my baby eat solid food if he does not have teeth?
Babies don’t need teeth to eat solids; instead, they mash the food with their gums.
Molars are basically the teeth we use for chewing food. Most babies don’t get their molars until 10-16 months or older. The last pair of molars comes when the child is around two years old. The ability to eat solid foods depends on a child’s ability and not whether they have teeth or not. The 20 baby teeth all come by the age of two and a half year. The permanent teeth continue to develop under the jaw.
So, stop stressing!
More than likely your little one is ready for the big change. They will seem a bit confused at first, but they will LOVE diving into their food on their own terms. Not only do table foods taste better than purees, but it helps them with their independence and helps improve their hand-eye coordination.
My son and daughter-in-law fed solid foods to my granddaughter before she got her teeth. I advised against it, but I was overruled due to articles and advice given on the internet. She is now two years old and pretty much swallows her food whole, which is what I told them would happen. She chews about five or six times and then just swallows whatever it is.
If a child is given something to eat without any teeth to chew it with, be it a piece of meat or a rubber band, if they haven’t figured out that it has to be pretty much pureed to swallow…because that is what they have been used to because they had no teeth with which to chew, they they will swallow it pretty much whole. My children ate things like crackers and food chopped up into infinitesimal bites before they had all their teeth. Publishing information on the internet for new parents and telling them that their baby will just gum it until it’s soft enough to swallow is irresponsible. Each child is different. Every food is different. New parents haven’t got a clue…and some lack the common sense to figure it out. I hope and pray that other parents do not read your article and others like it.
Now we will have to wait until she can count to get her to chew her food 60 times before swallowing, which is what my mother did for me.
My 11 month grand with 4 teeth was just fed a McDonalds Happy Meal burger and they Other Grandparents, are bragging about how she ate the whole thing. She has an upset stomach and is gagging but they say that is normal. Mom and Dad are both at work and I am seeing this via the phone. Is this okay?