Question

My baby is nearly 11 months and I'm really struggling to get him to eat any sort of texture or lumps in food. He just gags and ends up being sick. He is not that keen on our food and prefers food from jars. He is a good eater but only with smooth foods. We are also vegetarian so I dont know what to give him.

Answer

I'm really sorry your little one is having trouble with lumps. It must be frustrating and worrying for you when he doesn't take to texture as well as you'd like.

 

It is really important to introduce more challenging textures, as it helps you little one to learn about food, develop hand eye co-ordination and eventually progress to eating family foods. So do keep trying with lumpier food. Maybe the lumps are a little too big or the sauce too runny. The texture needs to be small soft lumps, in a thick puree, quite like fork mashed banana for example.

 

If lumpy mashed textures are proving too challenging, have you thought about offering finger foods instead? Ensure your little one is supervised while eating and try placing a well cooked carrot stick or steamed broccoli floret on his high chair tray. He may well play around with it to begin with but should learn quite soon to put it in his mouth and chew away.

 

Let me know how you get on!

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