Food Suggestions for Self-feeding 10 Month Old.

I went with anything I could cook to be soft then cut up. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Also, diced soft fruits like bananas, kiwi, peaches, pears, etc. Cut toast into strips that he can hold onto and chew on. My girls really liked that. Scrambled eggs were also a hit at my house at this age, but I'm told they can be an allergy problem for some, so try a small amount first and wait for any reaction before giving too much of these.

I avoid canned foods as the cans are lined with a thin plastic coating (to minimize metalic taste) that can leach plasticizers into the food. Best to go fresh if possible, or frozen if not.

Have fun and be prepared with a wash cloth! :o)

scrambled eggs, baked potato, cheese toast, cooked vegetables, cooked fruits, soft meat sticks...anything soft and cooked that you would eat, but only shredded meats.

I walked at 7 1/2 months and drove my mother nuts! An independent and bright child is challenging but rewarding.

Good Luck!

My daughter was an early walker and self-feeder too! She loves toast with butter or almond butter cut into strips or pieces, avocado pieces or slices, scrambled eggs (I make them fast in the microwave), hard-boiled eggs, mango pieces, kiwi pieces, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, steamed broccoli, steamed peas, canned veggies & green beans (no salt added), canned pears and peaches (packed in juice), kidney beans...just about anything works at that age! Before she had teeth, I halved the berries and beans to be sure she wouldn't choke on them.

K.,

Waffles~ great for teething and a good learning food.--yogurt is great too-

cheerios, puffs cereal, malt-o-meal or cream of wheat-high in iron and takes seconds to make....

If I think of anything else, I will post again.

Molly

How about small cut up pieces of veges (i use the frozen mix), small pieces of rice cakes, cut up pieces of other fruit, cut up pieces of turkey or roast beef deli meat, boiled and then shredded chicken, waffles (frozen), homemade pizza, pasta pieces w/ a little butter and cheese, cereal, Gerber puffs, teething biscuits, Pirate's Booty, crackers, Tings (healthier Cheetos).

My daughter loves eggs. Before one year you’re supposed to stick to egg yolks, but after a year you can move on to whole eggs. My daughter likes hers with spinach and cheese. I get frozen spinach that I chop up really fine (don’t bother defrosting it). I mix it into some beaten eggs and add a little milk. If I’m in a hurry I’ll just use this to make scrambled eggs but I usually use it to make a cheese omelet. I cut the omelet into little bite size pieces and she eats it without any hesitation.

have you considered a warm cereal, like say oatmeal (not the sugar based ones, but the original non-sugar type and then sweeten it with raisins) and or another thing is polenta. you can have it for breakfast and or dinner with a little tomato sauce on top. As for the polenta, you can also make it ahead of time, refrigerate it and once hardened a bit, cut it into squares and warm it in the oven, top it with a little apple sauce, plain or with butter. you can also make some kind of noodle, which can be eaten at room temperature.

My son loves mixed veggies, the frozen kind or fresh if you feel like cooking them. However, stay AWAY from processed and canned foods. Too high in sodium! Because of our "convenience" aisles we are now seeing children as young as 4 and 5 with high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
My son eats what the family eats. We just cut it up. He loves blueberries, whole wheat pancakes, eggs with spinach in it, he eats a little cheese here and there, but I think he's lactose intolerant so I limit that, anything really.... if you start him out with healthy eating habits then he is surely to have healthier eating habits later in life. Get those veggies in him now so you don't have to have the battles at the dinner table when he 8 and doesn't want to eat his green beans.

Baked chicken cut up into small pieces, small pieces of pan-cooked ground beef, tofu (I sautee lightly in canola oil and add a little cinnamon), boiled/steamed broccoli (I boil/steam until soft and give remove give the florets only), oatios. There is a website: www.wholesomebabyfood.com that has good info and ideas.

Here are some things I kept on hand
Canned carrots and peas
Canned green beans (cut them up 1st)
Wheat bread cut up
Waffles cut up
Bananas cut up
Mac and cheese (quick and easy)
Grilled cheese sandwich cut up
Ritz or saltine crackers broken up
Graduated from Gerber pasta pick ups are GREAT to have on hand
Oatmeal
Grated cheese
Small olives cut up real little
Frozen chicken mcnuggets - easy to nuke for a minute and cut up

Make sure he is still getting milk somehow! Really important!!

Good luck!

He can eat anything you and your 4 your old eat as long as it's cut up really small. I would just watch him when you give him chicken (sometimes that's harder to chew up).

The air-puffed grain cereals are great - Berkeley Bowl and Whole Foods carry them, no added oil/salt/sugar, and the puffed corn and puffed rice were favorites of my kids when they were younger (I still buy them for adding to homemade granola). Or bits of rice cakes are good too.
Cubed fruits and veggies and tofu - to make them easier to pick up, roll them in a bit of "cheerio dust " (the powdery crumbs at the bottom of the cheerios bag)
any variation of bread & cheese - toast with cheese, cut up quesadilla, pita bread with cheese, etc.
pancakes - dip sliced bananas in pancake batter and cook. Freeze the extras and reheat in the toaster oven (if they stick to the pan, sprinkle a little wheat germ on the pan first)
small shell pasta - I used to mix in a little cottage cheese and spinach to make them like little stuffed pasta shells

Tofu, pears, peas, squash, sweet potato, plain yogurt (with "active and live cultures" on the label), corn kernels, kiwi, banana, rice cereal (I make my own so it's not expensive). Get the Super Baby Food book for lots of ideas and recipes - the author is all about cheap and easy - and HEALTHY!

My pedi said no eggs (or only egg yolks) till the first year. Dairy only if there's no allergies in your family. No berries except blueberries. No citrus. She suggested only shredded chicken (wasn't big on meats).

Good luck!

If he will eat anything, you can feed him just about anything. Just make sure you cut it to pea-size pieces, and that it is mashable between his gums. Take advantage of introducing him to all sorts of foods while he is willing to taste anything.

Cheerios, toast, cheese, fruit, steamed veggies, chicken, quezadillas, hot dogs, rice, yogurt, cottage cheese, peanut butter, crackers, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs (be aware of any food alergy reaction from the egg white), turkey meat, ground beef, beans the choices are endless!

You can pretty much make any dinner for yourself/family and just blend up the baby's portion. Then, you can do stuff like pasta dishes and casserols.

Best wishes to you and your really great eater!

Try chicken breast grilled on stove with a grill pan. I just salt and pepper them a little. After they are cooled off I cut them up into finger food pieces.

Both my guys liked cooked carrots and sweet potatoes cut in big chunks-- makes it easier to hold onto to and chew on. Also, canned beans (especially black beans) were a big hit with both.

We purchased a KidCo food processer and processed all of our children's food. You can grind the food according to the age and ability of the child. It saved us a quite a bit of money because we did not have to buy prepared baby food, except when we were on the go. Plus, I didn't have to make them seperate meals. They ate what we ate, just smashed up! It's 19.99 at Babies R Us. Good luck!

You might want to check out some cookbooks for meal/snack ideas... Try "Feeding the Whole Family" by Cynthia Lair and "123 Cook for Me" by Karin Knight. An easy meal my daughter loves is turkey tomato pasta -- saute ground turkey w/ some onions, add tomato sauce or jar pasta sauce and mini pasta. This is easy to pick up. She will eat any kind of canned bean plain -- garbanzos, kidney beans, black beans.... Also try hummus & pita, bagel w/cream cheese, assorted frozen veggies plain or w/ light seasoning. At Whole Foods they have dried peas & dried veggie mixes called "Just Peas" and "Just Veggies" that my daughter loves for snacks, but he may be too little for those (choking hazard?).

Try to buy the book "Superbaby food," it is an excellent guide of cooking for kids and adults. My 2.9 yr old son started #2 potty trained at 10 mo old, and I am convinced because my husband so reliligiously followed the book's recipes and guides of cooking healthy. He was completedly potty trained right at 2 yr. Try the book, you won't regret.

Beans and rice, lentils, peas, and rice are excellent toddler foods. They are soft and easy to swallow and are fun too pick up--just make sure they are well cooked. Applesauce in a small bowl is good for practicing spoonwork but can also be sipped in a pinch. Thick yogurts (trader joe's makes a 4 oz x 6 sample pack) stay on the spoon better and are an easy breakfast. Scrambled eggs and ketchup for dipping will probably be a big hit. Cooked carrots (chicken broth and a little salt in a bowl with peeled carrots microwaved for 8-12 mins). Zucchini slices (1/4-1/2" slices, heat olive oil in heavy pan, add garlic and lightly brown, add zucchini, salt, stir and cover, low heat for 10 mins).

Our Whole Foods has a burrito bar where I was able to get freshly-steamed brown rice as well as baked black beans (yes, a luxurious convenience!). I would smash the beans and mix them into the brown rice. You may want to rinse and drain the beans so you have a drier mixture but it sounds like he'll be a pro with a spoon in no time. I preferred to sneak veggies into the mix from baby food squash, etc and this is a great way to rehydrate refrigerated rice and replace lost moisture from draining the beans. If you already make white rice for your family try slowly introducing brown rice to the mix until you get to a 50/50 ratio. You can also get great rice pasta shells from Tinkyada and again, baby food or fresh steamed veggies can be used as "sauce" as well as garnish in the pasta. While the pasta is plain separate it into containers and when you're ready to serve mix small pieces of meat, the veggies and whatever else you want to get into him (think goulash or stew-consistency). While cooking the family meal reserve components while they're still plain - some for tonight and then some for later. Freeze some and keep some in the fridge. Over the course of a week you'd be surprised how much variety you can build up to have on hand. Oatmeal can be made in a rice cooker... put raisins or cut up prunes in for sweetness while cooking. Pull out some for the little guy and some for the fridge/freezer and then serve up the rest to the "bigger folks" topped with maple syrup, blueberries, nuts, etc.. For us the trick has been serving the youngest with similar enough foods to what everyone else it eating at the time. If your little guy can handle shredded cheese you can make him his own "pizza" by melting it onto rice cakes with some veggie "sauce"... and the rest of you enjoy the convenience of takeout :P

you got soooo many great suggestions. i will add one i didn't see that is super EASY and i have been doing since my little guys was about your son's age...and maybe you have done this. i just make annies mac and cheese and then take peas out of the freezer and put them on the mac and cheese when it is done and it instantly cools it down. easy to eat, they love it and you can always add other things to it too. sometimes i add chicken or another veggie.

Avocado
Cottage Cheese
Yogurt
Rice
Lentils
Beans
Scrambled eggs
Cream of Wheat
Oatmeal

Prepare dinner items ahead of time and freeze in cube trays for use later.