Hi All,

My son is 15 months old and his weight is around 10.7 kgs which the paed says is fine. He's healthy , active and keeping us on our toes ! My question is regarding the food texture . We are still giving him food mashed in mixie although he has 10 teeth now ( 2 more cutting ) including his molars !

I am working and my MIL is the primary caregiver while I am in office. When I am at home , I try to give him more textured food - like soaked bits of chapati , biscuits and rice/dal mashed by hand and lumpy. He takes these but sometimes he acts as if it's choking him .My MIL gives him non -lumpy food - it's much easier for her to feed him that way .

I want to know if continuing mixie mashed food is bad in the long run - is it bad for the intestines since food will have no fiber ? Or will it cause constipation ? is it bad for his gums ?

How do I get my son accustomed to more textured food ? A colleague of mine has a 12 month old boy with no teeth who's eating idli pieces with dahi and sometimes even some chilli powder ( that I do not envy !) .

This is what my son normally eats :-

6 AM - 180 ml cow's milk or 150 ml formula
8.30 AM 9 AM - chapati, malai and banana mashed in mixie
12 noon - rice, dal , veggies and mild spices cooked in cooker and mashed in mixie
. Also has some curd and sugar

3 PM - 120 ml cow's milk or 90 ml formula. A biscuit ( marie or glucose )
5.30 PM - Ragi porridge. I soak overnight and grind and strain . So it's semi solid but no lumps.
7.30 PM - little rice mashed with dal/sambar/rasam. he has just a few teaspoons since he's already sleepy by this time when I get home.
9 PM - 180 ml cow's milk


Hetal , I hope you see my message . BTW , how do u search a particular board for a topic ? I have seen you copy paste links in your replies and wonder how you found that link !! Thanks
Hetal replied. if your baby doesnt seem hungry, i think the diet is good as to my notice.
i would like to add more in it,,adding a serving of whole grain or multigrain,pastas in my baby diet.

for finger foods, try giving pastas,chopped and boiled vegies, check my post on solids and you will get in some ideas there,,also there alot many sites that provide good ideas,,help yourself with the recipes that fit your time and lifestyle/spices.

about giving textures and related to health. textures of food has nothin to do with health, other than just making easy for your baby to digest it.
but at 15months babies pretty much has mature digestive system that can handle lumpier foods and some kids like mine also like eating raw apples,,esp if they have all their front teeths,and like to bite !!!!

also babies tastes and preferences are differnt dpending on how they accept it and how they are introduced solids.
so comparing is no worth.

your baby is 15months,if i were you i will keep trying introducing lumpier foods or foods like pastas at evey meal, it would be a good start...i understand they choke,so go slow..give tiniest piece he can eat and go very slow,,allow them to feel the texture in their mouth, play with it by moving the food inside mouth, take a bite yourself before them and eat along with them,,some babies like mine learnt to eat finger foods by mimicking the food chewing action !..

sometimes babies do loose patience but my observation is its pretty much human instinct ! we too sometimes dont chew our foods nicely ! do we...??

most of us when less time during meal hours,, or badly hungry, end up gulping food than chewing it,, and sometimes we too choke ! babies are just little adults,,they have samething goin on with them,,because they cant stand hunger...good thing to deal with this --- offer food 5min before he is badly hungry,,to make them comfortable to meals and njoy their meals,,then just trying to fill themselves...

as far that choking is not harsh or big bites arent offereed to baby, i would keep giving my baby lumpier foods..he has to learn to eat if he at 15months..
i also understand that we cant force kids but at 15months i would definately keep trying offering finger foods,pieces,lumps to my baby.

now about my pasting links :) well,,,when the posts are same and simiar nature,the answers to it are very much common and related to the same topic,i definately dont want them to be typed again and again,,which explains i post the link of my own messages to someone having same problem.
its makes my life easy ! its not hard to find where and whom you replied ! atleast not for me.
hope this was some help !
njoy your time.