Are parents too slow at introducing solids to 11 m.o. old

I have tons of questions today lol

I have this 11 m.o. old and I dont know if its just me, but although I said at interview and in my contract that I will only give the solid food the baby once parents have introduce it first, sometimes I feel like I want to give her some pieces of food that I know she can take and will be good for her and change the taste.

Like in the agreement (she has been coming here for a month now) and they bring her lunch of course. Snacks are slowly being my responsibility so thats good, but they always give her the same lunch and I feel bad for the kid lol.. today I want to give her pieces of cucumber for example... its soft not to hard for the stomach but I dont know if she had some before (it wasnt planned on my menu I just felt like it today, so I sent mom an email). I guess being the mother of two grown up girls, I want just like they do as well, for her to experience food more and more so she gets use to it no ?!?! I dont know what they do at home, but she had maybe 3 different kind of lunch for the past month... so I feel she could start eating more and I dont want to call them every lunch time to see if I can do this and that... maybe I should see them in person and ask in general what they think ?!!

But what do you do in that case... ??

I find that some parents are waiting too long to introduce solids. A 10-11 month old should be able to eat finger foods with no problems. I do not allow pureed foods in the daycare. There really is no reason, unless it is medical, at that age.
If you are in charge of snacks, than I would introduce more finger foods that way, then ease into lunches. I would talk to the parents though about introducing some finger foods into her lunch though, as well as at home. I think some parents just get over paranoid about their child choking.

I have a form that is part of the info packet for the child where the parents list foods by catagory that the child has had such as veggies, fruit, meat and alternates, dairy, breads and cereal, etc. They list favourites, dislikes, feeding concerns or restrictions and check for bottle, cup, finger feeding etc.

This goes back to when kids started at 4 -6 months and was updated by parent as they added a new food. Now I use it as a starting guideline and if a parent doesn't list something as a restriction it becomes fair game.

I start with parent providing so I get to see what the norm is for them, how small, texture etc. then within the first month I take over and do it so if it means putting lunch in the magic bullet for a few weeks I do that but then I just "assume" the parents have progressed and start feeding the child as I see they are able including introducing a cup if they didn't come on one.

I think parents are way too cautious (more often first time parents). I meet so many moms (friends, family, strangers) that continue to give their kids purees for far too long. I worked with a woman who's 2+ yr old was mostly eating purees and she claimed it was because her kid was "sensitive to textures." I just smile and nod.

I still remember my 6 mos old eating graham crackers in the grocery store and some woman came up to me and asked how she was eating it. She said her 11 mos old "has trouble" with baby mum mums. I watched her as she started panicking because "a piece" got in his mouth. I wanted to say "it's suppose to go in his mouth so he can eat it! I find it is more about the parent's comfort level and what they introduce. Babies can eat most things as long as it's introduced to them and they get to practice eating it.

I think I would be careful with a child who has had only purees at home as the risk of choking is higher when they haven't had practice. I would start with something really soft like rice puffs that melt in the mouth and go from there. I wouldn't give that child cucumber as she is likely to choke on it with her limited experience. I had one who was on purees until he was about 14 months...parents were really cautious...but he is now 2 and eats everything. Why rush it if there is a safety risk? My own kids ate everything really young, but when it comes to other people's kids I kind of follow their lead as I wouldn't want anything to happen on my watch.

I agree with Sunnydays, take the lead from the parents. I was just sharing my experience with my own kids.

However, that being said my almost 2 y o wanted to eat whole grapes as the bigger kids were and I cut them up for him. I asked mom how he eats them at home and she said she cuts them up but he should be fine eating whole grapes. I will still cut his up in half just because it's one of those foods I tend to be more cautious with. Plus he seems like such a baby still to me developmentally, don't want to risk it.

This all goes back to studies showing that children didn't require food till they were a year old and that formula was the best for them - yeah think of all the artificial stuff they put in there to fortify it so that it begins to meet the nutritional needs. This became the norm so all the kid got was bottles of formula or breastfed for months.

Then we started to see kids cutting teeth later and later, talking later and later, being independent in eating later and later...... for sure a connection.

Kids need food early to exercise their gums to help the teeth cut through - they call them teething biscuits for a reason. They need infant cereal between 4-6 months because the iron stores they got at birth are depleated not to switch to iron fortified formula.

My youngest is now 20 years old and I for sure like the old ways much better and kids were much better for it in the long run.

You can shred the cucumber Disney princess. I usually do that when they are infants along with row carrot and beets.

I've been lucky that all the babies who have started with me but one have been on table food at age 11-12 months. I'm definitely careful about foods that may cause allergic reactions and if I were you I would ask the parents if it's ok for you to start to give their child about a teaspoon full of certain foods in very small chunks to help them out with introducing table food. But sometimes parents appreciate our help and a little nudge in the right direction. It seems that a lot of parents really want their babies to remain babies and have a difficult time thinking that they are growing up.

Well I ended up giving her some cucomber cut in small pieces (although with my own girls back then I would just give the round piece and they would chew on it). I had the ok from mom and she ate them all and seem to have liked it. She already had pieces of cheese that are harder then cucomber so that is why I knew she would be fine.

Like I told dad at the end of the day, I actually would have even given her pieces of mac and cheese at lunch you know... or some other time like I know she would be fine with a certain food as it is similar to another etc etc and he agreed. Like if she already tasted tomatoes, I'm sure she will be fine with my tomatoes spaghetti sauce for example.

I told him I wasnt sure yet where they were as she has been here for a month and had pretty much the same foods all the time and he explain its because it baby food homemade left overs from the baby bullet thing haha.... He agreed and will make me a list of thing she had already.

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Originally Posted by Momof4

I've been lucky that all the babies who have started with me but one have been on table food at age 11-12 months. I'm definitely careful about foods that may cause allergic reactions and if I were you I would ask the parents if it's ok for you to start to give their child about a teaspoon full of certain foods in very small chunks to help them out with introducing table food. But sometimes parents appreciate our help and a little nudge in the right direction. It seems that a lot of parents really want their babies to remain babies and have a difficult time thinking that they are growing up.

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Tell me about it... I think I am responsable for 4 kids leaving the baby bottle and sippy cup to a regular cup lolll