Solid Food

Aubrey likes cheerios (what kid doesn't) and puffs and raisins all kids of small finger food. But she is working on her pincer grasp versus the raking motion. So we are putting the finger foods into small bowls and such so that she has to reach in with her little fingers. This is going ok, but she isn't consistently successful yet. Still prefers the "rake it up and stuff it in method". If anyone has some tried and true methods that worked for them, we'll try them, just let us know:)

The other thing that she is working on with food is "bite and chew". Meaning that she would have a bigger piece of something and take a bite from it, chew it up and take another bite. Like eating a piece of pizza. Mind you she has no teeth still, so this is a little tricky. We have tried cutting long thin banana and she just smashes it in her hand. We have tried cheese...same result. We tried hot dog and she turned her nose up in dislike...after a lick that was it for her:) I have been steaming the very tiny, skinny baby carrots and she will do those only if I hold them for her to bite. If I give them to her, she tries to stuff the whole thing in. I have tried a few other things that she seems to be ok with as long as I am holding it, like a waffle or pancake or something.

The only thing she does really well with are veggie straws which I found at our local Sprouts Market or at Costco. She also likes Mum Mums, which I found at Walmart. They are kind of like a long oval rice cake or puff. She bites and chews at least until they are small enough to shove in:)

I don't really know what else to try and with no teeth there isn't much to try. I think that that should be a prerequisite for eating REALLY SOLID food!

So she eats almost anything that I can cut small enough for her to pop in her mouth...peas, cut up green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, black beans, olives, any fruit, pasta, rice, turkey, ham, chicken, any kind of soup, and spaghetti. She is by far my least picky and I'm pretty thankful.

Thank you for all the helpful pointers on help with constipation. We have been using pear juice instead of water to mix in her oatmeal in the morning as well as putting pear chunks into it and she is doing much better. Regular and less firm now:)