Parents of Preschoolers  Discussion Forum

My 22 months old son does not eat anything other than food in the form of a paste ( everything has to be made a pste into the mixer). He already has 16 teeth and if I give him food otherwise he pushes it out with his tounge.

Please help me in taeching him to switch to unpaste form of food.

Thanks a lot,
Kavita Sonia replied. Hi Neetu,
I guess your bet is wrong. I did not and will not copy from somebody else's message. This was first time I posted on this website and I will not post here ever in future after this incident. I do visit couple of other message boards and feel rather welcomed there.

Kavita, I am glad that it is working for you. Two books that helped me along with my pediatrician's advice....

1) Child of Mine; Feeding With Love and Good Sense

2)How To Get Your Kid To Eat... But Not Too Much

Both are excellent books by Ellyn Satter, which I borrowed from my pediatrician's office. They helped me tremendously in understanding and dealing with the problem. If anything I took reference from these books.

GOOD LUCK!
Sonia. Neetu replied. http://www.indiaparenting.com/boards/showmessage.cgi?messageid=7151&table_name=dis_feeding

all tips of sonia will also work, i bet.they are right from hetal's message :)
Sonia replied. Hi Kavita,
I know how frustrating it can be from my own experience. My daughter is 20 months old and eats anything and everything now. It took her a long time to accept texture and different kinds of food. Here are some tips from my experience.

1) Try giving him finger foods. If you are in US try gerber stars or cherrios. Almost anything can be a finger food like small pieces of bread, fruits or vegetables. I started my daughter when she was 10 months old and was completely toothless. Give him 4-5 pieces and let him play with it. Encourage him if he eats it, if not donot react. Trust me the novelty of eating by himself will make him try it sooner or later. Once he starts eating it offer him more. Remember this a new skill he has to master. So donot rush or react and let him do it in his own pace. He will gag once in a while, which is very normal. This is different from choking, so donot be alarmed.
2) Stop grinding his food and make it lumpier and thicker very slowly. He will resist this new texture as he is not used to it. But you have to be patient and donot restore to grinding his food again. Just give him repeated exposure and he will realise that this too tastes good and will start accepting it. He might spit it out as swallowing pureed food was so much easier. But I suggest you be firm but do not push.
There are lot of info. about this on the internet as well as Hetal in the baby feeding section as lots of wonderful suggestions. All these tips are from my own experience and I hope it helps you. GOOD LUCK! Let me know how it goes.

Sonia. Chaitali Gohil replied. Same is the case with my son who is 2.3 months. I even have to grind \" Khichadi\" and feed him in paste form. But he eats chiwda,chakli,biscuits etc. He dosen't like to chew chapati and rice.