When to Stop Baby Food

When my kids hit 9mths, we started on table food. My son hated stage 3, so that was a waste of money for us. When my daughter accidently found a cheerio that I dropped, we started on some finger foods. Now at just over 9 months, she eats almost everything we do. Like someone else said, I don't have the money to buy extra food if she's not going to eat it. One thing you might want to be careful of is making an extra meal when he won't eat what you fix. He's a little young to get it now, but that could bite you in the butt later. I used to do that for my son and now it's hard to get him to eat anything outside of his favorites.

Your son can probably stop with the baby food as soon as you are ready. In Nursing School, my husband learned (in nutrition class) that toddlers need only finish ONE full meal once in a 3 day period and their nutritional needs will be met.
Fruits are probably the easiest thing to feed a small child bacause they are naturally juicy, usually pretty tender, and they have vitamins, too. If you feel it is not tender enough, use a fork to mush it up. I have many friends whose children were still on jarred baby food at this age, but all of mine were mainly 'off the jar' by 1 year.

Hi C.!

I introduced table food at 9 months. I justed started with easy stuff, like cut up fruit, yogurt, mac and cheese; all which my pediatrician recommended.

By around 11 months he was completely off baby food. He also had all his teeth. So he could eat anything. I would not revert back to feeding him baby food. If he doesn't like something, give him something you know he likes. And then try to introduce the food again. Sometimes toddlers need to be eased into new things.

I really think kids know what they need. Some days my son eats all meat at his meals, and sometimes all he wants is fruit. I just put it all out there for him and let him choose.

Good luck!

My daughter is 15 months old and still eats baby food, along with table food. My pediatrician suggested to feed her whatever she will eat. They say it takes 10-15 tries to get a child use to a certain food....which has been true with both of my children. One week they refuse something, then two weeks later, they love it. My pediatrician recommended giving my daughter enough vitamin D milk to ensure she gets enough vitamins. I also give her V8 Splash juice and Juicy Juice Harvest (both of which provide the fruit and veggie vitamin intake necessary for the day in a glass or two of juice). A couple other little things I do to add nutrients: use whole grain bread to make jelly or cinnamon toast, add Gerber baby squash to macaroni and cheese, and so on...little things they don't really notice. Sounds like you are doing very well with your son's variety of diet...just think...some kids survive on hot dogs and mac & cheese alone.....you are doing great!

I know they are a little bit more expensive, but have you tried the step 3 baby foods? My son didn't like them, but some people have great luck with them. I often went through the joys of making an extra meal for my son if the meal we were having couldn't be adjusted for a young toddler.

My daughter is 16 months and we still feed her some baby food. Mostly the fruits. She will not eat any fruit that is cut up. It has to be pureed, but she doesn't have any problems with veggies or meat. I think it might be the texture? She loves fruit, just not in chunks. It's bizarre.

As long as he's getting balanced meals. It's perfectly OK.

It sounds like you're headed in the right direction. I would just try to offer a variety of real food before reverting to the old jars. Baby food fruits are basically fruit sauces (like applesauce) but he should be able to try soft whole fruits like canned peacher or pears, cantaloupe, no sugar added varieties of applesauce (mott's has a great line of these with other flavors like strawberry and peach). Other ideas include canned vegetables (they tend to be softer than frozen, look for no salt added varieties), pasta like macaroni or other small kinds, Gerber has really cool meat sticks - they look like small hot dogs but are much softer so not so much a choking hazard, my daughter loved them. You just don't want him to get to a point where he won't eat normal food because he wants the jar ( I once took care of a 1 year old who wouldn't eat it unless he saw you spoon food from the jar - I'm not even joking!!) So give him a plate, offer several things and if you have to use the jars don't fret, just keep looking for other things he likes - I know those jars sure are convenient though, aren't they! I miss them (my daughter is 2 1/2)

I also think that maybe trying stage 3 baby foods that have some different textures in them. My son was knda funny about "textures" so he took a little while to adjust but the stage 3 really got him used to having "chunks" of food instead of just the puree. Best wishes to you and yours.

There is nothing wrong with still using baby food to suppliment his diet but i guess my question for you is why? if he can eat table food, most fresh fruits are soft enough for him to eat if you cut them up and he will be getting the nutrients he needs that way. but regardless it is very important that he get balanced meals throughout the day to meet the needs of his growing body so if baby food is easier at times it's not going to hurt anything.

My daughter is 12 months old and is having the same issues. I use a foodmill to grind up Gerber Graduates and "people foods". I think I purchased the Kid Co. foodmill for $12 at Babies R Us. It has come in handy. My daughter dislikes pasta, so I'll grind up mac n' cheese in the foodmill with a hotdog. This really has solved some issues. She still isn't eating great, but it is better than it was. The Gerber Graduates diced pears or apples are convenient or you can buy canned fruit, too. I hope this is helpful!

I wouldn't worry about it. My daughter still took some baby food until she was your son's age. He'll eventually not want it, so as long as he is getting used to table food, let him have some baby food too.

Hi C.
I have a 2 1/2 yr old son and 8 month old daughter. She's already on table food and so was my son before 8 month. I use a processor and add water or applesauce to it, to puree it like baby food, but still to leave a little bit of 'chunks' so that they have some kind of variety of textures. My daughter is still on formula and in the morning i mix oatmeal w/ baby food fruits to keep the vitamins in her. I would suggest maybe trying to puree things to see what he may or may not like. Personally i don't have the money to spend on stage 3 and stage 2 is not enought for my daughter right now. But the processor to me works wonders!!! i love it!! Oh I also just started processing those toddler meals the one's in the boxes. She seems to like those alot, maybe that would help too. I wish you the best of luck :)