Eating real foods?

[Anonymous]

My DS is 11 months old. The daycare he is in recently suggested that he start eating their menu, which consists of real table foods, instead of baby food. I agreed to try it, and they say he likes it, but I am a bit concerned because he only has 5 teeth. I am sure they cut the food up for him, but am still wondering how he handles chicken nuggets etc. Do you think he is too young for these kinds of food? Should I go back to the jar food until he gets more teeth?

[Anonymous]

My DS has been eating real foods since about 8 months. Between their gums and the huge amounts of saliva they produce, they are able to break down most soft foods fairly well without teeth. Just make sure everything is cut into small pieces and veggies are cooked until they are soft. DS didn't have one tooth until he was 12 months and he's been eating fine.

[FJC75]

I agree. My DS has been eating table foods since he was about 8 months old. He only has 4 teeth (as of a few weeks ago). I just make sure whatever he eats is soft enough and in smallish pieces.

[Anonymous]

We all mostly use our molars to chew anyway, so you'd ending up waiting a long time to feed him table foods if you waited until then.

Mine was eating table food at 7 months.

BUT--I would be more concerned about feeding anybody chicken nuggets, unless the daycare is making their own and using processed versions. Ew.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the child. My oldest refused baby food at about 7 months and only wanted to eat table food. We just made it was really soft. However, my youngest wasn't really ready until about 14 months-he had a really strong gag reflex, and would just gag to the point where he would throw up. So, we just took it really slow with him and since we had a home daycare provider, she was able to take it slow with him as well. So, it really is more of a kid-specific kind of thing, as opposed to a physical inability to process the table food.