I am looking for some advice on how to introduce solids to my 8 month old boys. I began feeding my boys rice cereal at 4 months and began purees at 5 1/2 months. They have eaten every kind of puree baby food, including some homemade food, that I could find or think of to make. Now I am trying to transition them to some soft solids but they don't seem to be interested in it at all. The only thing I have had success with is the "Mum Mum" crackers which they love to chew on, but it seems like they only swallow some of the cracker and spit the rest of it out. I have tried cooked veggies diced into the tinest pieces I could cut, but they just gag or spit them out. I have bought the Gerber Stars & Cheerios which they have pretty much choked on, even if I break them into smaller pieces. I have even tried thicker & lumpier cereals which they just spit out.

I want to try the jars of 8 month baby foods, but I'm afraid they're going to choke on the chunks in these foods.

Any advice on what age you started introducing solids, and how you were able to get them interested & liking solid foods?

asked 30 Sep '09, 03:49

Shannon%20B's gravatar image

Shannon B
accept rate: 9%

Many fruits are both relatively soft and fairly sweet. Both of these aspects should appeal to very young kids who are used to liquid or near-liquid foods, and who (like everyone else) have a natural fondness for sugar. Papaya, melons, pears, grapes (peeled!), and pitted cherries can be good bets.

After fruits, the slightly-solid proteins are an obvious next step. Cooked egg yolk and cooked tofu, both slightly mashed, are good foods for an 8-10 month-old.

There's good information on introducing solid foods at http://wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm


answered 30 Sep '09, 04:06

Gaius's gravatar image

accept rate: 0%

edited 30 Sep '09, 04:11

First I would suggest continuing with vegatable purees, this is quite important because if they become used to the sweet taste of fruits, the taste of vegtables will not seem as pleasant to them.

I used the vegtable puree base of carrots and potatoes to get my daughter used to the taste of fish and meat and basically almost all other vegtables too, by mixing them in as well. Also this adds a little texture to the puree. Depending on how they deal with the textured foods you could slowly add or increase the textured ingredients until you feel comfortable that they are able to chew.

Then you could try some baby pasta with different sauces, textured or creamy.

Although its more time consuming I would highly recommend home made recipes for your baby boys.

This website was recommended to me for its cheerful recipes, you may be helpful to you too.



answered 30 Sep '09, 07:00

Emi's gravatar image

accept rate: 19%

My daughter really love avocado, it was so easy to serve her. I also used squash. Very nice.


answered 30 Sep '09, 17:59

Michelle's gravatar image

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For me, bread was a great introduction to solids. It's a less problematic habit than crackers or biscuit. At the beginning my boy mainly spat it back, but he now swallows most of it. Plus, it's a pretty good way to relief them from tooth pain.

Baby pastas are great too, but I'd first make sure they actually understood how to swallow pieces :)


answered 30 Sep '09, 09:30

AxelleZ's gravatar image

accept rate: 0%

I love the Mum Mum crackers too, especially since they are not messy. I'm still kinda mad at those sweet potato gerber stars for staining one of my son's really cute shirts, ah well. :)

I think that you may notice that as soon as they can eat a cheerio without gagging they'll be "ready" to eat just about anything. I just checked my son's calendar and at 8 1/2 months he had his first cheerio and gagged. 3 1/2 weeks later I wrote down that he was "loving cheerios!" My daughter's calendar has her eating cheerios at 8 months and I don't remember her ever gagging on anything. They just all have different timing. :)


answered 30 Sep '09, 22:25

Sabrina's gravatar image

accept rate: 21%

My Daughter had an aversion to anything textured or lumpy so we had to skip stage 2 baby food and move onto finger foods really early. The only things she would eat (outside of purees) were things she could manage to get into her mouth herself. Initially we went with Mum Mums and Farley's Rusks which are cereal based and easily disolved. When she got those under control we went onto puffs and stars. From there we moved into lightly toasted bread with butter. For fruit we started with fruit cups which are super soft and bite sized. You can also do the fruit yourself but its a lot harder as you have to cook it all to soften it at first. For veggies we started with peas, baby carrots, cut up brussel sprouts, broccoli flourettes, cauliflour bits - all cooked to soften. The trick for us was NOT to cut things up too small. If she could not bite it or gum it herself she wanted no part of it. Once they get the hang of the small stuff you can move onto bigger things and harder foods. Don't be afraid to try things that are not standard - the more you can expose them to the better and you might be surprised by what they like. Our DD loves pickled onions, beets, mushrooms, olives, pizza, mint chocolate, cranberries, dill pickles and she loves mustard! She eats anything pretty much. Oh and the other million dollar trick is to never let them experience a new food on their own. Pretend to make it for yourself, sit down with the plate/bowl on your lap - YOU start eating it, make a big happy fuss about how yummy it is. Curiosity will get to them, they will come over, they will take it from you and try it themselves and 9 times out of 10 they will roll with it. If they don't take to it then, don't be affraid to try again in a couple of days with the same food, sometimes kids just need some time to get used to things. Best of luck!


answered 01 Oct '09, 01:52

dreamerisme's gravatar image

accept rate: 8%

I would definitely go with finger foods if it were me. Just offer them stuff in finger sized pieces. Pear, avocado, banana, cooked carrot, cooked broccoli (very messy) and so on are soft and easy to chew up with few or no teeth. If you can make something for yourself that includes some of these ingredients and they give them small quantities from your plate to try it'll seem more exciting to them.

Try looking at baby led weaning for more ideas. And also worth remembering that until they're one they don't actually need this stuff for nutrients, their still getting their nutrition from milk, so it's just for fun and to get used to tastes and textures.


answered 06 Nov '09, 14:36

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Meg Stephenson
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Asked: 30 Sep '09, 03:49

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Last updated: 06 Nov '09, 14:36