what is up with that meat?!?

[jess_cecchini]

hi, my dear baby boy now almost 7 months has conquered all of the first foods loves zwieback and cheerios and prefers water over juice...its sounds great except when i went to my ped. on one of his reg visits and we talked about whats next he said well i think its ok now to move to 2nd foods, i thought great...no prob....easy as pie....yea well it did NOT work out so well...he wont eat anything thats a combo. and especially wont eat any meats in fact the meats make him gag....what can i do?? i was hoping to make the steps into 2nd foods and 3rd maybe even table but it seems he's not ready to move out of 1st foods...help please!

[MommaC]

Don't worry so much. Start with the 2nd foods that aren't combos. If he likes green beans in the 1st foods, give him some green beans that are 2nd foods. Once he gets used to things, you might be able to slip him some foods he initially rejected. Another option is to help him adapt to new flavors by mixing just a tiny bit in with something he likes...then gradually increase the amount of the objectionable food. Is it for sure the flavor and not the texture? Just checking... There's nothing wrong with slipping him a few table foods as long as they're soft and diced small enough to not pose a choking risk. Our daughter started with bananas and green beans (canned). We gradually introduced other frozen vegetables (boiled til they were soft) and canned fruits diced pretty small. Give it time. Don't stress. Even if he rejects new things, keep offering them...he'll eventually accept them. Good luck!

[MommaC]

Oh, yeah, the meat. The jarred stuff is DISGUSTING! Just the smell was enough to have me gagging. We started our daughter on table meats super early (we just cut them SUPER small). If you're worried about the protein, try some beans--some babies really like them. And she should be getting enough iron from her formula, so no worries there.

[jess_cecchini]

thanks!! ill try mixing it tonight and see how it goes.

[Kerisweetpea]

my son would not eat the mixed food at all!!! so what i did was whatever kind of meat we ate for dinner i would cut some up for him really small and mix it in with his food and he never knew the difference. my son too like deli meat and cheese that was his favorite!
Good Luck

[jess_cecchini]

Thanks everyone for all the great advice ....what worked well for us is skipping jarred meat all together and going for the real stuff. I ended up making chicken and giving him really tiny pieces...he loved it....i thought he might like the real stuff better anyway since we are well ventured with all types of finger foods. It was so cute to see his three little teeth chomping away at that chicken like a little old man! well so far all we had is chicken...next maybe ham? turkey?