I started a new feeding schedule with Darius in the middle of his 9 months after reading the Baby magazine on feeding recommendation. I wanted to reduce his milk feeding to lesser times instead of 5 times a day.
He still prefers porridge which does not have whole visible grains and food that is pureed instead of grated. A few days before, I did not grind the grains before cooking them in the slow cooker and he spitted them out after a few mouthfuls and refused to eat anymore. I blended the porridge then and he finished it. It’s because he would gagged on the pieces during swallowing because he can’t chew them with no teeth. He’s getting a mind of his own nowadays. He rather spit them out than swallow and have the uncomfortable feeling.
Schedule at 9+ Months going on to 10 months:
0700-0735: Wake-Up Feed 5 ounces
0750-0900: Back to Sleep
0930-1000: Breakfast mixed with milk at 3 or 4 ounces
1015-1100:Playtime
1100- 1230/1300: Nap
1230 or 1300: Lunch
1315 – 1445: Playtime
1445: Milk Feed 6 ounces
1500-1630/1700: Nap
1630 or 1700: Snack
1715 – 1830: Playtime
1830: Dinner
1845 – 2015- Playtime
2015-2030: Night feed 6 ounces
2100: Bedtime
- Total milk intake: 20-21ounces
- Breakfast : HT Multi-grain cereals + fruit puree + flaxseed powder, alternate days with 1 egg-yolk. (all mixed)
- Lunch : 3/4 bowl Porridge (Tofu/Meat/Peas) + 1-2 fc Veggie puree (mixed into porridge fresh from steam or after thaw) + 2 fc fruit puree after
- Snack: Yogurt at 2 tbsp
- Dinner : 3/4 bowl Porridge (Tofu/Meat/Peas) + 1-2 fc Veggie puree (mixed into porridge fresh from steam or after thaw) + 1-2 fc fruit puree after
Yogurt
Avoid yogurt with sugar (if you see an ingredient with a -ose, it’s a sugar- sucrose, glucose, fructose, galactose), flavourings, gelatins and artificial sweeteners. They interfere with bacterial activity. Buy only whole milk or low-fat plain ones because baby needs fats. Those yogurt with fruits often contain additional sugars or it will taste very sour.
I have been feeding Darius, Pauls natural low-fat yogurt with home-made fruit puree (mango/apple/honeydew) for a while since he was 8 months old but on an on/off basis. It depends on what time he wakes up from his nap because if it’s too near his dinner time, I’ll skip it. However I find that if he doesn’t eat yogurt, his bowel movement would be lesser, so I try to feed him daily now. He poops at least twice daily, either after breakfast, after lunch, after afternoon nap or after dinner. If he doesn’t poop for the day, he will have no appetite to finish his porridge.
Yogurt is nutritious for babies as it introduces good intestinal bacteria into their gut to aid in digestion and build up immunity. It contains milk protein to coat the tooth enamel to prevent plaque and the calcium helps in building strong bones and teeth.
I finally found Baby Yoplait Yogurt on Sunday for Darius. Had been wanting to get it but it wasn’t easy to find. I always see the adult versions in stores but no baby versions. It comes in a pack of 4 cups at a price of $5.10, in AMK Hub NTUC Fairprice. It may also be available in cold storage woodlands but I think I missed it totally. Will need to check it out.
It’s more pricey but it’s made just for babies so they should be able to take it better without causing tummy upsets. I feed him half only (about 2 tbsp) from the one cup package and covered it in an air-tight container for the next day’s feed. So 4 cups would last 8 days.
Look at its nutritional info: No added sugar which is great. The sugar stated should be from the banana & vanilla or milk.
The taste is so good that I always steal a mouthful from Darius. As he eats every mouthful, he jiggles his legs and have a funny expression because it’s cold and slightly sour. I don’t tell the old folks I’m feeding him Coooooold Yogurt. I will get only exclamations and outrage. Babies’ food ARE supposed to be always hot according to them.
Salmon
I introduced this fish rich in Omega-3 to Darius. He doesn’t really like eating it however when I mixed broccoli into the salmon tofu porridge. Probably because both are strong tasting. I then tried adding sweet garden green peas and the taste of Salmon + Green Pea + tofu turned out great because the peas added a sweet taste to the porridge and masked the strong fishy smell. He didn’t complained when fed.
By the way, I store my fish portions cut up approximately into these little ez-lock containers. Convenient to thaw the portion I want for the porridge, easy to store and very airtight for freshness.
Rejecting Food that isn’t tasty
He’s having better tastebuds now. That day, I mixed a weird combi of avocado + broccoli into his porridge and he hated it totally. They both have a strong taste so it’s not a good combi. I always try to taste his food first before giving him. If it taste good to me then it should be to him. I don’t know what I was thinking then.
So now I try to mix his broccoli with a sweet veggie so the strong veggie taste could be masked. Like Broccoli + Carrot or Broccoli + Sweet Potato.
A Summary of what Darius has tasted so far at almost 10 months:
- Veggies - sweet potato, potato, carrot, pumpkin, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, spinach (going to)
- Fruits – mango, papaya, apple, banana, chinese pear, watermelon, honeydew, kiwi, avocado, rockmelon
- Legumes – Green garden pea (from frozen), dried split pea, sweet pea, snow pea.
- Protein stuff – Tofu , Egg-yolk
- Seeds – Flaxseed
- Meats – Threadfin Fish, Lean Pork, Chicken, Salmon
- Grains – Jasmine Brown Rice, Millet, Oatmeal, Barley, Mixed grain cereal
- Dairy- Natural Yogurt, Baby Yogurt
Food List that I’m going to let him try for 10 months : Brussels sprouts, lentils, green beans, zucchini, whole grain pasta.
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- Darius Learning to Self-Feed We had tried teaching Darius how to self-feed soon after...
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u indeed are a very hardworking mother who puts in great effort to give ur kiddy the best
Yes, agreed.. You are the hardworking mother and loving mother too..
Xing fu baby Dairus..
Thanks for the compliments. *blush. But really, I’m not that good…
I feel I’m responsible for his well-being so I’m putting in my best. But actually I might really prefer to ‘work’ elsewhere if I could have a choice.
Cat, I agree with them. Before you have Darius, you seldom cooked lunch for yourself, but now you make all these nutritious food for Darius. No words can describe a mother’s love.
catherine, i hope you can help me… i know that you didn’t have any problems with feeding darius but i hope you have some ideas for me. mischa just turned 10 months last july 12. i have been feeding him cereal an d he still gags when he encounters any hard texture inside his mouth. i was a little overprotective in making him eat different food because of his eczema. so now he doesn’t like to eat crackers or bread sticks. i bought teething biscuits from healthy times because it’s soy-free, wheat-free, etc. but he doesn’t even like to put it inside his mouth. if it’s a toy then he’ll place it in his mouth. tried giving him bread this morning, if i try to finger feed it, he would turn his head away. but when i placed it on a spoon, he opened his mouth, i was able to do that 2x. then after that, he didn’t want to eat anymore. it is quite stressful. he has 7 teeth already! for breakfast, i prepared some cereal, which i mixed with a teaspoon of mashed cooked rice. and he kept eating it while my mom fed it to him (am a working mom). just need some creative ideas, maybe a little encouragement… thanks!
Hi Mischa’smom,
I do have problems too because Darius doesn’t have teeth and thus doesn’t like food with much texture too and will gag. A sip of water helps him bring it down. It takes time I guess.
Does Mischa takes porridge?
I didn’t grind the grains starting when he’s ten months old and started refining the method by adding more water and cooking it for at least 2 hours in a slow cooker. The ingredients (fish, tofu, mashed peas) are added after 1-1.5hours of cooking the grains so they do not lose too much nutrients. The result is really soft rice and he likes it!
If the rice is cooked fast in a pot over fire, he can clearly tell the difference and always fuss when eating resulting in half not finished.
He can’t eat biscuits too nor does he even like teething ones. He eats those Gerber star puffs that melts easily in the mouth and likes it a lot. I’m not stressed about biscuits since there’s so many other things he can eat.
For bread, how big a piece did u give him? I only give him bits sized the tip of my fingers. Maybe u can start with the bread parts nearer to the centre because those closer to the crust are harder to chew. For bread, I started him eating a little since I was eating it. If he sees you eating, he will want to eat it too. So chew for him to see and he might want to try to follow. Darius’ main breakfast is still (oats, barley or brown rice) cereal with fresh mashed banana & flax seed powder.
Interesting that u mixed it with cooked rice.. why so? since cereal is already a grain. Mixing with fruits would make it tastier and give a more balanced diet. The fruits can give the texture, like banana, (don’t blend it but just lightly mash it), or apple, pear (grate it). Sometimes, I add cooked egg yolk too which also gives texture. If you see a big piece, let him eat it and chew on it first separately without the cereal and make sure he swallow before another mouthful of cereal. Otherwise, he might vomit all out when he gags. (happened to Dar when I fed him too fast)
I find that children like fruits a lot so if you want to introduce texture to Mischa, maybe you should start with fruits, like mango, papaya, watermelon, honeydew. They are easily eaten and yet had some texture to let him practise chewing. Slowly increase the texture by mashing less (These fruits are Darius’ staples). And carrots is his practising tool too as I blend it less finely now so he can try to chew them.
My method is be persistent! If he only takes one mouthful today, he might take more tomorrow, or an alternate day only if you keep offering it and don’t give up.
I would like him to eat soft rice too so it’s not so troublesome to prepare specially for him but I think he’s not ready. Mischa is only 10 months, why rush? Some kids, like my nephew only started eating rice at age of 3 and he’s still a very tall smart kid.
I feel that it’s not whether they can start to eat adult food or learn to chew like us. Many kids don’t eat porridge til after 1. It’s more of what nutritious food we can let them eat. Sure it makes our task easier, no need to cook separate porridge, can just eat outside food. But if I have to blend broccoli, carrot, mushrooms, spinach, chicken all the way til he’s 3 years old, I’ll still do it as he’s still getting nutrients into his stomach, just not by chewing like us. Of course, I will not give up trying to get him to chew his food properly…but I will try not to stress too much.
thanks for answering my questions. i will try to follow your suggestions. it’s just a little frustrating to me when i see kids who are the same age as mischa being able to eat all those food. and with his eczema it’s very scary for me to give him different food as it may aggravate his rashes. it’s a good thing that in singapore you have plenty of choices, but here in the philippines we have few choices, and i can only buy healthy times products in 1 store – at healthy options. it’s also more expensive than the ordinary ones. thanks so much for taking the time to explain things. i really appreciate it!
Hi, Mischa’s mom,
you are welcome! I was just sharing what limited knowledge I have.
hi catherine, i just wanted to share to you that yesterday, i bought mischa a biscuit and he started to eat it. he did not gag on it! chad (my hubby) and i were really happy!
the other night we also tried giving him rice while we were having our dinner, and he also ate it! he did not gag also.
now we are hopeful that he will be able to eat regular food. we have been a little stressed about his eating. i guess you just have to wait until your baby is ready to eat. just wanted you to know how we’re doing….
Wow, that’s great that he is starting to accept more textured stuff! Yes, just have to be patient in waiting and introducing! It will happen. So he just bite chunks off the biscuits?
How I wish Darius can do that too but I accept that he needs to grow his teeth first… ha and I’ll just wait.
is it really normal for a child to like to eat something one day and then not like it the next day?
Yes, I think it’s normal. A lot of sites and babycare book says so. Darius is not liking his peas recently though he never complained in the past…hmm. Sometimes, he also doesn’t like broccoli, but another day he will eat it witout fuss. I also do not understand why so.