Number 3 Food

I didn't start him on 3s until he had teeth and could handle chewing the lumps. He may have been closer to a year.

It's actually not the teeth that will make a difference. She won't use her teeth for chewing for awhile since the first ones are front ones anyway. I'd say you can certainly start moving up. As soon as you see her making chewing motions using her gums then she is doing what she is supposed to do. The gums are pretty tough and can definitely chew things as long as it is soft and small. Just start small and give her a chance to try it out.

GL
J.

GO with your gut. Don't worry about teeth, they can chew with their hard gums just fine. One kid I knew didn't get any teeth until he was 14 months! I'm not sure what you mean by #3 foods, but my daughter was eating finger foods and other choking hazards considered by other moms at 9 months. Every baby is so different that I think you just have to feel out whats best for your little individual. Good Luck!

My 10 month old never liked the texture of no 3 foods. Instead I have just been giving him table food. He loves that. He does have teeth, but he doesn't use them to chew his food, he mashes with his gums as if he had molars. He eats just about whatever we eat. It's a good age for that, because he seems to want to try everything, so I let him. :)

to be honest my twins are 11 month old too and I've been giving number 3 on and off for a month... they really don't like it, so i end up mixing it with 2... number 3 is chunky, and has bits of solids... you should wait till she has teeth... the bits are small enough for her to swallow whole, but why waste the money on the more expensive BBF if the point is to teach her to chew and she has no teeth... I'd save the money and frustration..
IMHO..

L.

You can give number 3 foods to your daughter, or just skip that and feed table food. My daughter had her 10 month check up last week, and her dr said just table food is fine, just monitor for choking. My daughter has been eating cheerios with no teeth for months and then all of the sudden has 7 teeth. I would feed her whatever you feel comfortable with and that she likes. I am assuming she is still on formula/breast milk so she is getting alot of her nutrients that way.

My pediatrician felt children should be on table foods by 9 months.

I only ever bought a handful of stage 3s (oatmeal) for daycare and I used them from 9 months or so. My ped was big on table foods and earlier recommended that I just buy a food chopper and chop table food until she could handle bigger pieces.

I would get one or two of the number 3 foods each time you get baby food and see how she likes it - she WONT choke on the number 3 foods any more than the #2. The chunks are really really small. My babies hated the #3s though - they wanted no texture or solids - nothing in between. So we skipped right to soft things like bread, gerber puffs, cheerios, bananas, and soft steamed veggies.

Don't worry about the teeth. My daughter started to refuse ALL baby foods except prunes at 11 months. She simply would not let me feed her anymore, and she was so stubborn that she would starve herself. I just steamed everything until really soft or cut up things like waffles, pancakes, sandwiches, pasta, etc really small. Little miss independent didn't get her first tooth until 14 months and we never had any difficulties with choking. FYI: Babies use their gums to "chew" until the molars come in. The front teeth are really only good for biting pieces off.

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My baby is 7 and half months and I am starting her on threes now. Our pediatrician told us she would like to see her on finger foods by 9 months. My baby has no teeth yet either.

Totally depends on how your daughter reacts to the texture. My daughter is almost a year old and with 4 teeth and I do both #2 and #3 foods. If she gives me the "choking" reaction to the #3 foods, I put it through a food mill I bought awhile ago and it mushes it up just fine. Every kid is different!

I never used the stage 3 for any of my girls. My baby was 8 months yesterday and I gave her homemade mac&cheese, canned carrots cut in 1/4ths, and cooked apple slices. She also drinks from a sippy already. I nurse her too. She just started to get teeth and has only 1 threw. She wants to feed herself so I just make sure everything is very soft. She gets very messy but is learning and eating fine.
See what she can do and try a variety until she seems content.

My daughter started 3's fairly early like around 6 months. She is now 10 months and has been eating table foods and the gerber graduates since 8 months. Her first 4 teeth came in at one time at 9 months but she was gumming it before then because she didn't like the mushy foods she wanted texture. I say give her the three's and even the graduates because those gums are very strong and they can still chew and she will enjoy the better flavor and texture.

We never did jar foods except later as something to mix in with regular rice for flavor. We start off with pieces of banana and avocado and well cooked rice, and don't start offering until baby has a pincer grasp AND shows interest. Solids are basically empty calories compared to breastmilk (and formula), so they really don't make up a huge part of the diet in our house until after a year old. My breastfed 11 month old eats off of my plate for the most part and has a wide variety of foods she likes, but they aren't the central part of her food intake. She likes green beans, broccoli, rice, bananas, cooked carrots, potato, meat gravies, ground beef, onions (cooked and raw), cheese, chocolate (her sister shared her M&Ms treat), yogurt, bread, corn, apple slices, and a whole lot of other things I can't think of off the top of my head. Your child will let you know when they are ready for solid foods and the purees really aren't necessary for good nutrition. If you're formula feeding, your child will need *some* fruits and veggies to get the micronutrients they're missing by not getting breastmilk, but it still doesn't need to be the main focus of their diet at 10 months.

If she doesn't have teeth, I would avoid the #3 'meals' that have the solid pieces...my kids tended to choke a bit on those anyway. The fruits just seem to be a bigger jar of the same, so if she's hungry for a #3 jar of that, I would go for it. Then you're not going through a jar and a half of #2 level fruit and having a half jar sitting around.

Hi N.,

My dd who is 10.5 mo had about 6 teeth and couldn't handle number 3 foods. She would gag every spoon I fed her. So we just skipped it all together. She's pretty much on table food now. Maybe you can introduce table food and grind the food down a bit.

I'd wait until she's got some teeth - the 3s are pretty chunky. They ahve whole peas and little cubes of carrots, etc. But really it's more about your comfort level and her maturity than age. If you feel comfortable giving her small bites of your food, then she's ready for 3s.

My son had no teeth until 12 months and he started on table food at 8 months and refused all other baby food at that time, totally skipped the stage 3 altogether. One of the biggest myths out there is that they need to have teeth to "chew" table food (I fell for it with my first child). The gums are very powerful and can "chew" as well as those one or two teeth. I would introduce her to as many flavors and textures as possible. There really is a magic window before they become stubborn and start to refuse new things (also learned on my first child).

Both of my kids (and I too) thought the stage 3 foods were disgusting. They kept on with the stage 2 foods until somewhere past their first birthday, maybe 14 months, and started also eating the regular food that I was eating. They both had several teeth by that point though. My son liked food a lot and by 15 months had weaned and stopped baby food too. My daughter kept nursing longer but was probably also off baby food by that point too.

You can start stage 3 now. Most babies initially balk at the texture of some of the stage 3 meals.
I am a foster mom- so with a lot of babies, I stay with stage 2 foods and just gradually introduce table food. I use very little of the stage 3 foods.
Don't worry about the lack of teeth- they get prety good at gumming the food!

It all depends on your child I think. The number 3's are really chunky so if your child has no teeth I might put it off for a little longer. Although she could probably gum some of them.

Hi N.! My sons did not eat number 3's because of the chunks. All 3 boys gagged when they tried to swallow a bite. So I just fed them table food. It's a lot less expensive. And you can take some out of the pan efore you season it so it's not too spicy for her. Then I chopped it up real fine or blended it some and they ate like champs. My oldest was almost 1yr old before he got his first tooth! LOL!

And you are ALWAYS a full-time Mom. Even when they are not around or if you work outside the home. Most likely who will they want if they need something no matter where you are? That's right , MOM! It's the one 'job' that you can't leave even when you do leave. LOL! LOL!

Have a great day!

Take Care,
N. :) SAHM homeschooling 3 boys 12, 7 & 2 yrs old and married to my Mr. Wonderful for almost 15yrs. I love to help other moms, who want to become SAHMs, reach that goal. If you or someone you know wants to become a SAHM, please email me at ____@____.com. Thanks!

we only did stage 3 for a week or so when I realized she could eat what we ate as long as it was chopped up tiny. (she had no teeth either by then, and didnt get any on bottom til 12 months and only has one on top now at 15 months!)

you can do chopped up meats/chicken and shredded cheese and black beans and corn and pretty much anything she can gum.
just make it tiny small. we made everything the size of a corn kernel.

The only real difference between most stage 2 and stage 3 foods is texture, and the amount in the jar. My daughter didn't get her first tooth until 11m. She was fine with the stage 3 veggies and fruits.
M.