"Need Food Ideas for 9 Month Old"

I have a great recipe book called Petit Appetite's and it has wonderful recipies for vegitarian , gluten free, and general organic diets. I bought it off Amazon used for $4 or $5 dollars. That is where I get most of my ideas!

It is very difficult to get complete proteins in sufficient quantities for good brain growth. Please consider animal protein for your child while he is growing.

I remember with my grand daughter who is now three the doctor said not to introduce milk or it by products until 1 year old. This is when they develope early child allergies. Also call your peditrician.

Have you tried giving him tofu...either plain or mixed with a vegetable? My cousin's little boy LOVES tofu (he is 2 now, but started eating it as a baby)! I also plan on giving it to my daughter starting around 9 months. When they are little, you can mush it up and it will be a nice smooth consistency, then when they get older and start eating solids you can cut the extra firm tofu into chunks. Good luck!

PS...Don't feel like you have to feed your child meat. There are LOTS of other ways to get complete proteins without it, you may just have to make more of an effort to make sure they are getting the protein they need.

Home made mac and cheese is great, as is grilled cheese. Lentils are good. Quinoa is awesome - I serve mine Quinoa and spinach. Black beans are good too -I serve that with barley or sweet potato. Soy is on the top 10 allergy list, so you might want to ask your doc about that -we are waiting until after a year on that.
We started yogurt around 8 months and that's been great _i recommend the plain yougurt -the flavored ones have sugar. I would add pureed blueberries or peaches for flavor.
I've also heard about adding flax seed or wheat germ to improve nutrition to yogurt, rice, mashed potatoes etc. -but I haven't done that yet.

If you're ready to take the soy route, veggie sausages are a life-saver in our house. We're not veg, but often eat that way, and my daughter isn't much into meat. For that matter, a lot of the soy-based veggie products are a mainstay around here - veggie corn dogs are our back up for super-picky day! Before she decided it was not on the "approved list", my daughter ate yogurt every day. Rather than spending money on baby yogurt, (and all that wasted packaging!) we just buy large tubs of organic whole-milk plain or vanilla. I used to serve her plain w/ fruit and yogurt, or plain with just a bit of vanilla for flavor (vanilla yogurt, not extract!).

Beans are perfect - they are such great snacks and meal time morsels! I started my daughter early on them and now she requests them for dinner time. Her favorites are red and black beans. You probably want to ask your doc on the diary and soy products - some don't like to start them before a year. Couscous is another option - it will be messy because it's so little, but he'll love that. And, since you're a working mom, it takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, so it's an easy worknight dish. You can spruce it up with beans and cheese too.

You're lucky to be able to start these foods - my son is 11 months and I can't even feed him 3rd foods. He can't stand having "chunks" in his mouth. I'm now trying to figure out how to make a baby food birthday cake for him!!

Hi M.,
A great source for information on feeding your baby is wholesomebabyfood.com. They give great information, lots of recipes, and lots of meal ideas for babies and toddlers. I make all of my daughter's food and 99% of what she's had came from that site! You can introduce yogurt and cheese, but not milk. Yogurt and cheese are different than just plain whole milk. They have more lactase and can be digested by our babies, unlike milk, and are far less of an allergy threat. There is a whole page of information on introducing yogurt and cheese and why those are ok and milk isn't. Egg yolks are also good for your baby to have right now. Not the egg white, just the yolk. I boil an egg and cut it open, then scoop out the yolk for her. That site also has great information and recipes for beans!
Good luck :-)
J.

Hi M.!

My daughter is younger than your son so I am not familiar with at what age they can start on new things, but I have a great book that I borrowed from my sister-in-law called Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron. She walks you through making your own baby food as well as explains when it's okay to introduce new things and what those things are. The book should give you an idea of things that are age appropriate for your son that will help with his protein intake. If you decide to check it out, I hope it helps alot!

Living for Jesus,

Lisa :)

What are you having for dinner??.....that is what ours eats. We make sure that our mean is balanced. Besides Peanut Butter, Honey,& Strawberry's we have no restriction on foods.

Then, We throw in some fruit for dessert.

I gave my kids whtever I ate- I had a striner that suction cupped onto the table and I gave them everything-just go a few days with one item when introducing- esp dairy for allergic reactions. Remeber- he was on your diet for 9 months - lol I would hold off on the beans tho for gas purpose- wait til his system is a bit ready for that- but I honestly dont see any problem with yogurt- Fage is a great natural greek strained yogurt- if you cana find it- central market etc.

D.