15 month old still eating jarred baby food?!?

Anne - posted on 10/25/2010

Atleast she eats...my son eats 2 bites and is done. I limit crackers and milk but he still barely eats. He isn't skinny so I guess the whole milk keeps fat on him but I need to talk to his pediatrician. Just be thankful that she getting all the nutrients she needs.

Amanda - posted on 10/23/2010

we've tried blending up whatever we are eating, but she wont eat evne touch it. its like she knows its "our food" haha. a few times i've been able to get her to eat a bit of it, if i mix it in with already jarred baby food, which is just a pain in the butt, so thats why i just use the jarred food.

Heidi - posted on 10/23/2010

u can just blend what ever u are eating to be a softer food but as long as she eating even if it just baby food she getting food. just keep offer it to her. when she ready she eat solid food.

Amanda - posted on 10/19/2010

thanks for he advice:) she is actually getting better. i have continued to offer her bit of whatever we are eating at meal times and somedays she eats it for every meal, other days she couldnt be bothered with it, so im just going with her flow and i know eventually she will start eating more table foods. she's a really good eater either way, so im going to try not to worry about it. and she hates those baby mum mum things now, shes been eating them since she was about 8mths. she eats yogurt bits and ritz crackers now, or those heinz baby cookies. she knows how to pick things up and eat them, she even knows how to hold a spoon and feed herself, shes just not 100% interested in our foods, only thing i can count on her to eat everytime is chicken, pepporoni, cheese, french fries, and really any other kind of meat as long as its not super spicy

Danielle - posted on 10/18/2010

I still use baby cereals mixed with milk as a quick warm breakfast opener (followed up with fruits).

Don't be discouraged from trying new foods with her I second the woman who mentioned the food mill. We didn't use it too much because I preferred to make big batches of baby food instead of grind up just one serving out of our plates and we don't do formal meals regularly every night.

Try..
Baby Mum Mums (rice rusks) to get her used to holding and chewing (they come in toddler flavors too)
Frozen peas and carrots - just nuke em.

Just keep introducing new things and give her lots of chances like you did when introducing veggies! Offer it 10 to 18 times I read in a book once! That is a lot!

I have never been a big cook before so I was surprised at how hurt I would be by my daughter not eating something I prepared!!

Amanda - posted on 09/30/2010

yea my daughter gags all the time on the 12mth jarred foods. ive tried blending up what we are eating and making my own baby food, but she wont even touch it, she knows the difference, shes too smart for her own good. and she hates potatoes. my daughter also loves chicken, no matter how its done up she will eat it in small chunks. she also loves cheerios and kiwi(so i found out recently) she does each french fries(so i guess she doesnt hate all potato haha) but really thats about it. one day she had some deli meat turkey and cheese, but hasn't been interested in it since. I know eventually she will start eating more solids and give up the baby food completely, but for now she seems to be content with what shes getting, so im just gonna leave it alone for now and when shes ready to make the switch then we'll do so. Like i said, its not like shes going to be 4 and still eating baby food. a talked to a few moms around where i live and one of them has a son who ate jarred food up until he was 2 then all of a sudden he wanted what was on mommy and daddy's plate and nothing else, and hes perfectly healthy, so whatever.

Laura - posted on 09/30/2010

I give my daughter a mix of either jarred food or regular food. She has been picky about 12 month jarred foods and gags on that texture.

She has a lot of teeth, 9 including 1 molar, with I think another molar is cutting through.

I will feed her either something solid or jarred, and if she isn't responsive to it, I will switch it up that meal and for the following one.

She seems to like chicken a lot in it's solid form stuffed with spinach and ricotta, I cut it up really small and she sometimes feeds herself with the fork but if she plays around too much then I will help her out. Couscous has also been another food that she seems to do well with, oddly enough, when she hasn't liked chunky textures in jarred food.

I would just say, experiment a little, mix it up, and it's good to have some leftovers from the last meal kicking around if your baby isn't into the jarred food at the time. I found having toddler utensils with big handles for them to feed themselves helps a lot.

Maria - posted on 09/22/2010

I know you've already gotten responses andI don't have the time to read them all lol. Don't starve your child that's for sure. but you don't need to spend the money on jarred food either. My son has always eatten what we eat. You can get a grinder and try to feed her what your eating but ground up if it's to thick you can add water to it. You can get a hand mill. As far as things like FF you can just cut up potatos and bake your own heathier and she'll never know the difference. Hope I helped I also searched for a mill here's the link just copy and paste.
http://www.target.com/KidCo-BabySteps-Fo...

Amanda - posted on 09/20/2010

thanks ladies for all your comments/advice. really eases my mind to know that other toddlers are still eating jarred food aswell. ive talked to my dr about it(shes very old school) and she said i should just get rid of the jarred food all together and eventually shilo will get so hungry she will eat whatever i give her. I really didnt want to do that, but after hearing my dr say that aswell as a few ppl on my boyfriends side of the family, i decided to try it, but i felt horrible the entire time, she went almost 2 whole days without eating anything, just drinking milk/water/juice :( i felt like the worst mother ever, finally i gave in and said i cant do this to her, shes going to think im punishing her for not wanting to eat our food yet, and maybe shes just not ready yet, so we went back to the jarred food. Now whenever someone tells me that what Im doing is wrong and I should just take all the jarred food away, i tell them i'm not about to starve my child just because she's not at the "eating level" of the avg child. she still eats a variety of foods(veggies, meats, fruits, yogurt etc..) and shes very healthy and definately not underweight. so i say who cares..at least shes eating. i remember when i was 4 or 5, i went through a phase were the only thing my parents could get me to eat was hot cereal, and thats all i ate for like 2 weeks, no one was worried about that. so how is this any different. anyways im rambling now haha. but thanks again everyone, it has definately helped alot:)

Paige - posted on 09/20/2010

I think there is no need to worry about still feeding your baby jarred food- she would let you know that she wouldnt be into those food anymore. It happened to me- my baby girl started to refuse those foods back in August (14 months old and had 8 teeth at that time) and she'd rather have my food so we stopped using jarred food. Just go with the flow unless the baby's doctor says so. At least your girl has all the nutrients that she needs right now.

Megan - posted on 09/19/2010

It took my son a while to eat solids often (ok I was picky too). All of a sudden he wouldn't have anything to do with it, and now I use it only occasionally and sadly out of convenience. I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

Adele - posted on 09/14/2010

dylan still eats alot of jarred food before he had the chemotherapy he would eat anything that i mashed for him he stratd chemotherapy at 6months and now its very hard finding stuff to give him that he will finish bcos the chemo changd his taste buds most things he ate before alot of it he wont even look at so jarred food for me is better cos theres certain ones he will scoff with no problem

Heather - posted on 09/14/2010

my daughter will be 15 months in a few days. she eats finger foods really good, but she also still eats jarred baby food as well because some of our food still chokes her (and she has 8 teeth) she just hasn't got the hang of how much she's supposed to chew. so dont stress its perfectly fine if you still use jarred food.

Ashley - posted on 09/14/2010

Amanda, you are very welcome...glad you found my rambling helpful lol! It sounds like you are doing the right things...so keep it up! Your LO will get the hang of textured foods before you know it! :-)

Amanda - posted on 09/14/2010

thanks ashley for the advice. i have actually talked to my dr. aswell as a few public health nurses. my dr. told me to just continue offering her bits of whatever we are eating and if she eats them great, if she doesnt then dont worry about it, just always make sure its there for her to choose from. and then top her off with jarred foods, if i think she is still hungry. so thats pretty much what i've been doing, or at least trying to do. as for the public health nurses, they told me to do it cold turkey, to get rid of all the baby food, dont even have it as an option and just give her our food, they said a child will not starve themselves, she will eventually eat when she gets hungry enough, well i posted about how that turned out in my original post, and i am definately NOT doing that again. My daughter loves finger foods and feeding herself, its just the textures of stuff that I found bothers her and usually causes her to gag and throw it up. Even some jarrded baby foods, like the 12mth jars are soo thick for her, even tiny spoonfuls cas her to gag and puke. I talked to my dr about this aswell and she said it's just something shes going to have to grow out of and she will eventually, shes slowly getting better now that she has teeth to chew with. but its still tough. anyways thank you for your response, it was helpful

Ashley - posted on 09/14/2010

My daughter eats just about anything at this point, but every now and then I still give her certain jar food when we are out and about, for convenience.
When we transitioned her to solids, we did it slowly. I started adding more texture to her jar foods and giving her chucks of soft foods to eat with her fingers at each meal. For example if I was giving her sweet peas then I would warm a small amount of frozen sweet peas, mash, and add them to the jar peas. I would also add boiled (slightly mashed) white potatoes to green beans, and sweet potatoes to the jar version. Once she got the hang of the textures we started to reduce the amount of jar food we added until she was comfortable eating the small soft chunks with her fingers. She also really enjoyed crunching food with her teeth, so at 8 months we started giving her goldfish crackers as a snack which she soon started to request! Though keep in mind, she already had 3 teeth by five months, and currently (15 months) has 8, and 4 others coming in at the same time. Scrambled eggs, cheese, pancakes (no syrup), bananas, and avocado (of all things) were, and still are, a big hit. I also found the fruit cups with no sugar added. They are convenient, just the right size and texture, and cheaper than buying1 jar of Gerber Grads. My DD loves peaches and pancakes for breakfast. The fruit juice not only softens the pancakes but it’s also a healthier alternative to pancake syrup!
All of that to say, don’t worry, LOs mature at different rates, and they will let you know when they are ready for a change. In my opinion you should continue to gradually offer new textures/foods and fill in the nutritional gaps where needed. Also, if you haven’t already, ask your Pediatrician for advice. They have usually seen and heard it ALL! :-)

Good luck!!

Amanda - posted on 09/14/2010

thanks for your response, its encouraging to know that im not the only one with a toddler who still eats jarred food. i have everyone breathing down my neck because she isnt soley on table foods. i look at it the same way you do, i just want to know that she is getting enough to eat and is eating healthy. and if that means the majority of her food intake is still baby food, than so be it. its not like she is going to be 6 and still wanting baby food haha, she will at some point start eating table foods. i just hope its sooner than later, as its starting to get very expensive buying baby food all the time. thanks again for commenting though.

Adele - posted on 09/14/2010

hiya my son dylan is also 15months old he eats everything in sight but not a huge amount so i still feed him jars and yogs the way i see it as long as they are eating it so what dylan gets a jar at lunch time after whatever i have given him just to make sure hes full and 2 yogs after his dinner again just to make sure hes full my older son is 3 hes always been a fussy eater never eaten much i kept him on jars until he was 2 because he loved them and wouldnt eat what i gave him i didnt want to but it meant he was getting something decent into his tummy. good luck x