No Teeth - What Does Your 8 Month Old Enjoy?

Hi,

My oldest one had only two teeth when he was one year old and he refused anything which wasn't completely mashed; even very little pieces. The child service (in Belgium you need to go on a regular base) tried to convince me to teach him how to eat small piece, but he refused. He didn't eat anything else than home made baby food until he was 18 months, he started of with apple. My daughter was 10 months old and while we were eating I gave her a biscuit or a piece of bread and she loved that. She was having that in her chair (she had two teeth).

About the eggs: in Belgium doctors advice to wait untill they are over one year old to give eggs. But be carefull with them: we don't have any egg allergies in the family, but my daughter started to get ill frequently when she was one year old. My mother in law gave her cake and sometimes biscuits. She throw over at least 5 times a week. After a few weeks we went to the doctor; who took some blood. Result: egg allergy (both white and yellow). The doctor said we were lucky that we never gave her a full egg.

My advice: start not with a full egg but with only a piece

Good luck,
V.

I was told you could give your baby the yolk of the egg. You can cook the egg like you normally would when you fry an egg, but it's the whites that are bad for them. My daughter's almost 9 months and also has no teeth, but she loves eating anything we are. She really likes beans and rice, we're just careful to give her a few grains at a time. She also likes caldo (soup) and pasta-also little bits at a time.

I would continue offering him small bits of whatever you are eating...cooked vegs, soft fruits, bread, noodles, etc. Just watch close and take it as it comes.

I do home childcare and have worked with alot of children in the past 20 years! I have had many many children with no teeth at 12 or even 14 months and they were totally on table food several months before the first teeth showed up!

My youngest went from breastfeeding to table food, with only a small stop for baby oatmeal. He wanted to be big so badly! Some things that we gave him were cottage cheese (small curd), pretzels (they get soft and dissolve quickly), Cheerios and other cereal (he loved bran flakes!), avocado, pasta, toast or bagel cut up in small pieces, deli meat, beans, corn, soft-cooked veggies (carrots, squash, potato, rutabaga, etc). Just experiment and enjoy!

Our daughter didn't get her first tooth until she was 11 months old, so I understand your situation. I was often amazed at what she could eat w/o teeth. She liked bagels with cream cheese a lot. Our grocery store sells mini bagels and we would just cut them up for her. We also buy freeze dried fruit at Costco. The freeze dried kind is a lot easier to eat that traditional dried fruit; not as chewy. The kind we buy you can get on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Brothers-All-Natural-Freeze-Crisps/...
I hope that helps.
K.

Those teething biscuits make a pretty big mess. My daughter was never able to really eat them, just soften them up and smeared them around. It was a good distraction tool, though. My family in Asia sent some baby rice crackers that I later found in the Asian Market at 103 & Metcalf called Baby Hai Hai. Then, I found WalMart Grocery (the one at 92 & Metcalf) has the same thing called Baby Mum Mum. Those are great - they start crunchy and are easily dissolved, and they have some slight flavor. My daughter also loved getting other crackers, like Saltines (I removed the salt from the top, first) or Ritz - easily dissolved. She got to where she loved anything we could give her. We sometimes used a potato masher to mash & break up the food, so it was smaller/softer, but not a puree.

It wouldn't hurt to get a box of the biscuits/cookies and see how he does with one - under close supervision. I recall that they are extremely hard, so I don't know that he could gum it enough, but who knows? He could - maybe my daughter wasn't that persistent or didn't like them enough to try that.

My son at that age (also no teeth!) loved cheese and also could eat pieces of lunch meat (both torn into tiny pieces). Other favorites included yogurt, cottage cheese, small pieces of tortilla or toast, and cereal such as Cheerios or rice puffs. It's amazing what those little gums can do! Our doctor advised that egg yolk was okay before one, with whites being introduced after one. You may want to see what your pediatrician says. Congratulations on having such an adventurous eater!