Ask Dr. Brinn
How and when can I start introducing my baby to table food?
At the baby's 8-month visit, I suggest parents set a goal for their baby's first birthday: off the bottle and off baby food. Then I offer these guidelines to get there.
First, know that all table food is fine to offer your baby, as long as the pieces are small. Remember, babies want textured foods they can pick up and feed themselves. Even pizza! Mashed potatoes, applesauce and strained foods lead to lazy feeders – infants who would rather slurp down dinner than chew it.
Teeth, or lack of them, at this age don't really matter. Kids chew with their molars, not the front teeth. The front teeth help chop food into smaller pieces. You're already doing that for them.
Start Now (8 months)
Pick the meal where you have the most time to spend. At that meal, give your baby only table food and offer liquid from a cup. That means you're dropping one bottle and one feeding of baby food from the day's schedule.
Think of meals in terms of time spent feeding, not quantity of food. I suggest 30 minutes for feeding. After 30 minutes, the meal is done. Baby waits until the next mealtime to eat more.
Work Up to Your Goal
In four to six weeks, make that same switch at another feeding time. Trade that meal's bottle and baby food for a cup and table food.
Do that again in another four to six weeks. By baby's first birthday, drop the last bottle (usually the nighttime feeding). After age 1, your infant should be eating all table food and drinking from a cup.
You'll find as you progress that babies generally take much less milk and much less fluid altogether. Some babies will refuse formula out of a cup. No problem. Give them juice instead. They may go from an 8-ounce bottle to 1 or 2 ounces from a cup. Good for them! The less fluid or milk they drink, the better eaters they will become. Even kids with severe milk allergies, who can take no milk, can get enough calcium from food.
If your infant goes faster than this schedule, for example, eating all table food and drinking from a cup by 10 months, that's great. Give that baby extra credit! Give me a baby any day who takes hardly any milk at 1 year of age, is off the bottle, loves table food, and drinks small amounts of liquid over the baby who is still milk-oriented, not getting much nutrition from food and is a lazy feeder, not chewing well.
