Feeding My 9 Month Old

This is the schedule my pediatrician gave me:
1. introduce rice cereal at one meal a day (I chose dinner)
2. after a week of successfuly eating one meal, introduce baby oatmeal for breakfast in addition to rice cereal at dinner
3. after a week of that, introduce barley cereal for lunch in addition to breakfast and dinner. Now she will be eating 3 meals of cereal a day.
4. after a week of 3 meals a day, you can start to add fruit at breakfast and dinner and vegetables at lunch and dinner.
5. my doctor also said to give the food first, then the bottle. so that would be one 8 oz bottle at breakfast, lunch and dinner and then one at bedtime. I hope this helps!

We did the gerber puffs and wagon wheels to start. Watch the biter biscuits. They are a big mess. You could do melba toast though. It's not as bad. I just introduced my 9 mo old to cheerios and he loves.

He nurses 5 times a day or so. Eats three solid meals. I guess he does snack on cheerios here and there throughout the day (the little tub is where he can find it and it tends to turn into a game).

I do a lot of the same foods as the previous post. Stay away from Eggs, berries, and milk so far. Anything else your family has allergies to (for us we avoid sesame as well as other high allergen foods).

My guy loves some tiny cut up watermelon or bananas. I would suggest mashing the food with a fork if you are looking to quit the jars or puree them a little in a grinder/processor. It will take a few feedings for the textures to not surprise baby but if you start with a banana or pasta, it will go fine. If baby does gag a lot, wait a few days and then try again. May not be ready so fast!

Every child is different, so check with your pediatrician first. You can follow her lead and see what she's interested in, but at 9 months our son was on a fairly basic and typical meal schedule. Upon waking he had breakfast of a bottle and either oatmeal, yogurt, or fruit. Mid-morning he had a small snack (usually applesauce). For lunch he had another bottle and some sort of finger food/lunch dish (we tried to incorporate a fruit, veggie, a whole grain carb, and a protein). Mid-afternoon was another snack (some sort of fruit or veggie). Dinner was a bottle and meal (just like lunch). And, before bed he took a bottle.

When you say solids are you referring to finger foods? Start with mushy fruits or cooked vegetables. Gerber puffs, although not terribly wonderfully nutritious are easy in assisting with the eye-hand coordination and dexterity needed to self-feed. Bananas were a huge hit with my son, along with cut up peaches, sliced grapes (serving whole can cause choking), sliced pears, mandarin orange slices, cantaloupe, melon, rice, super soft cooked beans, carrots, broccoli, avocado, a piece of bread torn into small bites, pasta - just anything that is soft and small. With the fruit, if she is having problems picking it up roll the pieces in Rice Krispies or another type of crushed cereal to avoid it being so slippery.

I used to do all my cooking on Sunday so I would have little mini portions (about a cup of food) to just pull out and reheat for lunch and dinner. I would boil up some pasta or cook some rice, cook some veggies (carrots, broccoli, green beans, or a veggie medley), and either brown ground turkey or cook some beans. The combinations were limitless:

italian - pasta, broccoli, ground turkey, marinara, a little cheese
mexican - rice, veggie medley, seasoned ground turkey
southwestern - rice, veggie medley, black beans
serve with a side of fruit and voila! you've got a really healthy, balanced meal!

Have fun - at this age they pretty much inhale everything you put in front of them. Then they turn two and the eating slows down and they become more picky!

Sounds like you are doing wonderful and on track as a fantastic mother. So I remember starting the solids with a little bit of baby cereal, liquidy is a good start (I actually splashed apple juice in it for flavor) as they seemed to like that and then just experiment with the jars of fruits or vegetables or meat unless you like to blend or squish up your own foods. Just a little. Maybe two or three varieties at a time-tiny bit(Of course some people might want you to stick with the baby food in the jars but well, somehow we all survived it earlier with actual food). And baby will always let you know if she likes it or not with a smile or spit it the heck out. Which might not always mean they don't like it, they just didn't get used to it right away. I decided never to force something (ask my son, zuccini fight number one) because like us they simply don't like everything. So there that's done, now can you please give baby a big hug for me!

We did lots of finger foods at this age. You will be surprised at how well she can feed herself! Here are some foods we give our 11 month old (and have been giving her for some time now)
shreaded cheese
little squares of toast with fruit spread (like applesauce or babyfood)
macaroni and cheese
thawed frozen berries, cut up
shredded apple
shredded carrot
cubes of cooked potato, sweet potato, chicken
any fruit cut into small pieces (cantaloupe, watermelon, peach, grapes, banana)
small pieces of meat

With all this, shoot for the size of about half a cheerio for cutting. I would offer her something before you spoon feed her at every meal. Don't put more trhan about 10 pieces on her tray at once or she will just play with them.

Hi M., my husband and I have an 8 and a half month old. He loves to eat. We make all of his food and it is a lot of fun. We use a steamer basket and a food processor though he can easily eat small chunks of food, only has 2 bottom teeth. Bananas are a huge hit, mash up and put in some avocado, loved that one. We peel an apple and a pear and steam them together w/ a few prunes and then process that up. Probably our little one's favorite food. Sweet potatoe, peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini, squash all healthy options. We give our son whole wheat pancakes, torn into small pieces, beans, small pieces of chicken. Basically most of what we eat. I'm still breastfeeding about 4 times a day but we give our son 3 meals of food and a bottle just before bed. Good luck to you. I'm sure you'll be very comfortable with the whole feeding progression very soon.

Hello! I didn't read the other replies but here is my daughters schedule at 8 1/2 months. She gets 3-4 6 oz. bottles a day...totaling 18-24 oz. a day. She also has solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I jar each meal...sometimes 1 1/2 jars if she is really hungry. She also has snacks 1-2 times a day. Gerber Puffs, Gerber Yogurt Melts, Baby Mum Mum's (you can find them at Walmart, they are awesome!), Gerber veggie and cheese snacks. You can also begin feeding her VERY soft diced veggies. Cooked until VERY soft and mushy and cut up no larger than your pinkie nail. Avocado, banana, cut up blueberries. Start slow and work your way up. But by now your daughter should be eating a jar of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We started solids at 4 months per our pediatrician. Oh, we also do a sippy cup filled with apple juice, water or white grape juice. Usually, just water though. And don't forget to watch her while she eats the snacks! Hope this helps some.

My baby is 8 months, but I also have 3 older kids ranging in age from 2 and a half to 6. Believe it or not, even having been through this 3 times before, I still feel unsure as to what to introduce when. Doctors advice seems to change so fast! At one point they told me no eggs until 2 or 3 years old, and then at my last appointment (6 months) they told me he could eat scrambled eggs and even soft ground beef. I think the best thing to do is just to do what feels right to you. As long as it's not choking shape (like hot dogs or grapes) and you cut everything very small, you're safe. Bananas are always the best first solid food! Have fun with it. Give her a little of anything soft that you're eating. And believe it or not, pretty soon your daughter will be telling you what she can eat and you will hardly remember this stage.

not to fear. We've all been where you're at. We learn thru trial and error and become better parents thru them. Does baby have any teeth yet? Soft mashed potatoes are a good place to start. All babies are different. They do things at different rates. If baby is satisfied and not loosing weight he dr. probably feels she's doing well. You don't want to force her if she's not ready. You'll know when she's ready; she'll be less satisfied after feedings and looking for more. Jr. baby foods should be checked out with your dr. They like things with noodles. Baby fruit can be eaten until they have the teeth for soft fruit; peaches, cut small, oranged, bananas, veggies (cooked well)lightly seasoned. Good luck. Hope this helps a little. Good luck and God bless.

Our baby was drinking 6 8 oz bottles adday and our peditrican stated that if they wanted food offer it if not it was fine, we live in chicago and our ped is at rush hospital, we didn't introduce him to any meat until he was 12 months old, i did do peas and brown rice at nine thru 12 months it seem to work, also just a mommie tip we never taught our children bye bye because it seemed to cause anxiety we say see u later because it means i'll be bback hope this helps

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i wish i'd had this when my 5 yr old was born - really has helped me wrap my head around feeding questions - now nursing and starting solids with 2 very different 8mo old twins

Don't feed her spagetti..I had a problem with my little one choking on a long stand of the soft stuff...Soft finger foods would be good and build her manual dexterity..Like peas, pieces of cheese noodles..or soft corrot cubes from mixed vegetables...Yogurt without high fructose corn syrup.
I had a manual food grinder that was just a turn crank, easy to clean and almost anything that we had for dinner could be ground up in it and mashed with a fork...Watermelon chunks, banana, Cheerios, are a good place to start...Good luck and do not rush anything...Be sure to feed her fish 2 times a week for best brain development...but not canned tuna...too much mercury!

Hi,
I am going throught the same thing. I have a 9 month old daughter who is progressively eating more and more jarred baby food.
I just took her to her 9 month check up. The dr. said she could start to eat "table food". What I have done since the appt is up her level to stage 3 jarred food, which is much chunkier than stage 2. She is taking a little while to get used to this. I also give her cheerios now, which she can feed to herself. I will soon give her soft "table food"..fruits and maybe pasta...she still needs to practice with the stage 3 jars for a bit longer.
Her bottles have lessened as she has increased her oz of food. She has 5 or so oz of cereal mixed with formula for breakfast and then an additional 3-4 oz formula. For lunch, she has 6 or more oz of food and only 4 oz of formula. She has 6oz bottle in afternoon. Then at dinner, she has 9 or more oz of food and again, only about 4 oz of bottle. The more she eats, the less she drinks. The dr. said that is fine.
I think it really depends on each baby. Give her avocado or banana or cheerios and see what she does with it.
Hope this helped or at least showed you I am in the same boat:) -K.

My little guy Gets nursed about 6 ish, then we all get ready he goes to day care and about 8 or so he get rice or oatmeal cereal with yogurt and tops it off with about 3-4 oz of B-milk. About 11 he gets some vegies with protien source, Meat or beans cut smaler so he can feed him self.And 3-4 oz of B-milk. then about 2 or so he gets some frut (and the rest of his veggies if he did not eat them well) and then 3-4 oz of B-milk. Sometimes he get cheerios with this as well. Dinner is cereal and a bottle. My little one is 9 1/2 months old.

Veggies: Sweet pot chunks, Squash, Zuccini, carrots all cooked soft and put into chunks. Spinach,

Fruit: He has some allergies. but he get pears that are ripe or cooked, Peaches, bannana, avacodo & Bannanas. We are working our way into more fruits as they are in season.

Meat/Protien: ham chunks, hamburger chunks, Beans, chicken. Anything that is chewable not too tough. Turkey.

He also gets cheese, Cheerios, puffs, and other things that are soft yet chunky.

Good luck.