Solids, not sure where to go from here

[@llli*tallmadre]

Here's where we are with solids.

She's 9 months old. We've taken kind of a hybrid approach of some BLS and some purees. I might run her veggies through a blender enough to chop them into manageable pieces, but I don't puree them so that they're soupy. Generally, we eat in the morning (since I'm home with her right now, I have time to make everything fresh for her), and we've started giving her foods with us at dinner, too.

Right now, we're mostly doing veggies and meats with some fruits. Her favorites are carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, squash, and avocado. She also has eaten chicken and steak, shredded up and loved it. I've tried her on peas and she wasn't crazy about them. I just gave her the regular steamed peas that she could pick up herself, but she was kind of unimpressed either way. Oddly, when we were at a restaurant a few weeks ago, she attacked the hummus that was on my plate. I thought she wouldn't like it, but she actually loved it. Later, I began to wonder if the tahini in the hummus would be a problem in terms of allergies. She hasn't shown any signs of allergies, but I haven't given her hummus again.

Usually in the morning, she eats fruits and veggies, and then at dinner we'll try to modify what we're eating for her needs. It's kind of hard, though, because we eat a lot of things that aren't really baby friendly. Some people have a sweet tooth, but I have a spice tooth. It's not a meal unless my tongue's on fire at some point.

I guess I'm not sure where to go from here. I know that breastmilk should be her main source of nutrition, but should she be eating more formalized meals?

Also, she really doesn't care for spoon feeding. She might grab the spoon, but she tosses it aside and shovels food in her mouth with her hands. Which is fine, but is there a point at which I should be teaching her to eat with a spoon? Is it a bad sign that she doesn't want to use the spoon? I read about someone else giving their baby soup, for example, but I don't see how I could do that if she won't use a spoon or allow us to feed her with a spoon.

[@llli*elizabethr]

Sounds to me like you are doing a great job. Your little one is trying lots of foods and it seems to me you are giving her a good variety of veggies and an assortment of other things. Like other more experienced mamma's will tell you, ""food before one is just for fun". So you can continue what you are doing.

I wouldn't worry about the spoon. Lots of babies don't like spoons so self feeding is a great way to go in my opinion. I tried not to spoon feed my little one for the first few months, but when I wanted to give her a few soupy things like yogurt and soup, I loaded the spoon for her and either left it on her plate or had her help me get it to her mouth. She was good with that for a while, but recently, I think she had a traumatic experience with the spoon, like it hit her sore gums the wrong way and now she wants Nothing to do with a spoon. But that is OK. I know she will get a hang of it when she needs to. She sees us eating with a spoon all the time.

As far as normalized meals, I don't think you need to worry. Sounds like you are doing what I did. Breakfast for the first few months, and a few things with dinner. Then we became more consistent with breakfast AND dinner. Now that my lo is past a year, getting more interested in solid food and I want to wean from the pump at work, I am focusing on three meals a day. But we are past the 1 year point, so I think you have some time before you worry about it. I know others have different opinions about this, but I think what is important is that you do what works for your family. If you want to start three consistent meals now, go for it, but you don't need to expect your baby to be eating a lot at every meal since she is getting most of her calories from bm.

Oh, and I'm not sure what others think about the spice, but I think you should go ahead and let her try a little bit here and there. She is getting that flavor through your breastmilk, so she is probably use to some of the flavors. And if that is what you eat as a family, I don't see why she can't try it too. As long as it is not too unhealthy in other ways, i.e. lots of salt or sugar etc. I've let our little one try some of our spicy dishes, and she was OK with it. She didn't gobble it up, but she also didn't cry.

[@llli*mommal]

My older daughter's favorite first food was spicy fishcakes from our local Korean restaurant. My younger daughter's fave is Channa Masala from the Indian place. Kids are often a lot more spice-tolerant than we adults give them credit for, and the sooner they start building that part of their palate the better, IMHO! The only spice I would be cautious with are hot peppers, both dried flakes and the whole varieties. Those can really burn, and if you've ever chopped a jalapeño and then rubbed your eye... Babies don't know enough not to do that, YKWIM?

9 month-olds are definitely hand-to-mouth eaters. If you preload a spoon and give it to a baby, she will sometimes maneuver it into her mouth- and sometimes she'll fling it across the room. You can start giving your LO utensils at any time, but don't expect her to actually use them until at least a year. And she's unlikely to use them routinely/preferentially until she's closer to 2.

Formalized meals can wait until age 1, at least. At this point, having your LO spend part of your meal-time in her highchair or on your lap at the table- the social aspect of eating- is equally if not more important than what your child eats or how she eats it. There's no need to overthink this- just offer your LO some solids to play with when you're having a meal, and allow her to self-feed. As she gets older, believe me: she will let you know when she wants to sit down and eat!

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

I agree. My 10 month-old has very similar eating patterns to yours. Including not being very interested in peas! I thought she would like those because they're on the sweeter side and could be fun to pick up and smush between her fingers. I don't bother with a spoon. Part of it is that if she is busy feeding herself then I can eat dinner too - we all eat together at the same time (parents, big siblings, baby).

[@llli*tallmadre]

Thanks everyone!

My husband is actually more cautious about the spice than I am. The other night, for instance, I wanted to give her some of the chicken that we'd made. It had garlic and a few other spices on it, but he was really nervous about it. I rinsed it under the sink before I shredded it for her. She ate it all the same, but I didn't think it would be a problem for her to eat it. It's not like it was firey hot. She's had garlic and other seasonings in marinara sauce, so I don't see that it would be a problem on meat. Good to know that your LO ate fish cakes and channa masala, mommal. Now I'm very hungry and want indian!

We do have her at the table in her chair while we eat, and try to include her in the conversation, etc.