How is your child coming along?
How is feeding going?
Do you trust her to eat as much as she needs?
How and what is she eating?
Many children are ready to join in with family meals by the time they are 8 to 10 months old. Your child is likely to take several weeks longer. Don’t be in a hurry. She will get there.
Take time to enjoy breast- or formula-feeding and feeding solid foods before you start something new.
- By this time, she is probably getting a good start with eating solid foods.
- Her signs are more clear than before. It is easier to get on her wavelength. She may even be learning to eat thicker, lumpier food.
- She takes an interest in food on her high chair tray. She may finger it or get it in her hand and not be able to get it out.
- She may suddenly refuse to eat from the spoon or grab at the spoon. She is showing she wants to feed herself.
- Give her soft pieces of grownup food and let her feed herself.
Your child will be ready for pieces of soft food when she can pick them up and put them in her mouth.
She will learn to mash the food with her jaws or chew it before she swallows. She will gag some because she is still learning to control where the food goes in her mouth. She can join in at family meals by eating food that is easy to pick up, chew, and swallow.
