What Table Foods Could I Feed My 9 Month Old Daughter?

My son is 10 months and he likes to feed himself now, so I cut everything into small pieces so he can do it himself. He likes bananas, cooked carrots, crackers, beans, rice, caned fruit, strawberies. I'll make chicken soup with potatoes, carrots, zuccini and celery and then give him the veggies to eat. I the mornings I'll give him some applesauce (not the babyfood kind) and pieces of pancakes or waffles or toast. I just mix and match food that he can easily mash in his mouth cause he only has 2 bottom teeth. Hope this helps. Good luck!

You already have some great ideas. Just a few more that are super easy...

canned fruit; just open a can and cut up the fruit. my son's favorites are peaches and pears.
adult cereal; Kix, Cheerios, and bran flakes are my son's favorites. Seriously. He loves bran flakes.

If yuou have a food processor there is really no limits to what you can give her. Of course no peanuts or honey. If you do not have a processor just cut everything up tiny, or keep it mussy if your daughter does not have teeth. Stuff that is spicy might upset her stomach or give her heartburn so just watch out for that type of stuff.

I'm not sure what you mean by "sometimes not an option", honestly the only thing I would hesitate feeding a 9 mo old would be salad. And of course, honey is a no-no until she is 1. Any veggies, pasta, meats (cut small), breads, fruits...all of it is pretty much good. The tricky thing about this age is they want what you want so as long as you are taking SOMETHING off your plate and putting it onto hers, she'll probably be happy...just make sure you carry extra outfits with you and wet wipes...I found this to be the messiest age because if my kid didn't like it, he invariably would puke it up instead of just spitting it out.

Hi D.,
Our daughter had a very strong gag reflex and would choke on biter biscuits.LOL. So I was hesitant to feed her anything atall unless it was pureed.But,I started with applesauce,mashed taters and swt taters.Then,I started adding in Gerber graduate meals.They are great to try things with,and you know they are getting great nutrition too.Because we all know that we adults dont eat the best things sometimes.If shes doing the pincer grasp good and has teeth,try some cheerios or Gerber puffs.My daughter loved those.And they come in assorted flavors.Keep it simple,fairly soft and fun for her.No honey,grapes,peanut butter or peanuts.
Have fun!

D., my son loved noodles, rice, a piece of bread or a roll, cooked veggies, tender chicken cut up tiny, fruit, potatoes, even hamburger helper - pretty much anything. if she is just starting i would avoid things that are fried or too crunchy, i'd also avoid mexican which can be hard on her tummy. if you're cooking maybe try to take some meat out for her, before you season it too much. cut back on butter and salt (which will benefit the grownups too) so you can feel good about what you're giving her. just use common sense. it also depends on how many teeth she has and how well she's eating. you know her best. good luck and have fun!

Our daughter was eating table food at 10mon. There is no reason she can't be eating the same things you are eating. Maybe prepared differently. I try not to give our daughter fried foods or hot dogs/sausage. The possibilities are endless. Just start with seamed foods, chopped up. The same things that she is eating pureed. Our daugher loves brocolli, sweet potato, avacado, eggs. Here are some previous posts that are refferencing feeding babies at this age.

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/4313505810559860737
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/13595414635682529281

Hi D....

Is baby a fussy eater? My son is 10 months and last month i started him on toast bits (cut up about the size of a pea) and cut up egg yolk. I microwaved the egg yolk for 20sec in a glass dipping bowl while i made one slice of toast (he only eats half the slice, so i butter it, and eath the other half). I put these two together and he chews on that. This is the fastest easiest food and gives her that protein. I use wheat bread instead of white.

Just feed her bits on a baby spoon.. little at a time to see if she will gag. Dont give her milk first because if she does gag on the texture (which all babies gag at first) she might throw up her whole feed of milk. Do the solids first to see how she does, then give her milk to wash it down.

Do this for a week, before moving on to a new food, to see if she has any egg allergies.

Don't give her egg whites. As with honey and other foods this should be avoided until baby is at least one year old.

Start slow and each week introduce something new.. or just go by your own pace.

As for teaching her to self feed, get some wagon wheels (Graduates) and put a couple on her high chair, she will pick it up and throw it down - this will teach her how to hold food and she might even bring it to her mouth.

Puffs are a good idea but at 10 months i dont think she would have mastered the self feeding just yet - so you can either put a few down for her to practice with or feed it to her - she might just like the crunch!! Try giant rice crispies, cherios or graduates, whatever your budget allows, but be sure to choose the right "age" so to speak, is she crawling? then get the toddlers puffs.

Good luck!

Fellow mommy of a 10 month old boy...

I haven't read the others, just too many. But I feed mine sweet potatoes. You just cook them like a regular baked potatoe, and just cut it up in to small pieces. It mashes pretty good in their mouth if it's cooked long enough. Both of my kids like it and it's better for you than the regular potatoes, you can choose not to put butter or salt and pepper on it and they are naturally sweet so it taste good. I also cook carrots in the mircowave with a little butter and once again not salt or pepper. Both of these things you can make a big batch ahead of time and just have it. It's good for a quick meal too. Of course you will want to add other things to their diet, but I alway thought it was easy.

get a food chopper and you can chop up all the foods you eat. I have a cheap one from Walmart and it worked great for chopping meats and other foods from the dinner table when our kids were babies. It comes apart easily for easy cleaning and also dishwasher safe. Mashed potatoes, cooked veggies, pasta foods, are also other favorites that your 9 month old should be able to eat.

At 9 months, my son still didn't have any teeth so we were very cautious and started him with Gerber puffs and Cheerio's. We also did applesauce, mashed potatoes, small pieces of toast, cheese in little pieces, very ripe fruits cut very small (bananas are great!), very soft veggies cut very small. We tried noodles and meats but he wasn't really ready for those until he got some teeth after age 1. We stuck to things he could mash in his mouth. Best of luck!

Hi D.!
It depends on how many teeth and experience your little one has. When my daughter was that age, I was making all of her baby food and just freezing it, so when we had dinner, I'd pull something out of the freezer, thaw it out and we'd be good to go. I don't know if you've been to wholesomebabyfood.com, but it's got great ideas for transitional baby food.

For us, once my daughter was ready for me to stop pureeing her food, spaghetti was one of the best transitional foods. She had some trouble initially with the meat, but the pasta and tomato sauce was squishy enough that she could practice trying to feed herself without me worrying about her choking. I used to also boil up or steam some frozen peas, carrots and corn, cooled them down and then put them on her tray so she could practice picking up with her finger and thumb and putting them in her mouth. I would often use this as an "appetizer" to keep her busy while she waited for her dinner to warm up. Most of the time when I pureed stuff for her, I would boil some chicken (add a LOT of water in the blender) and blend it until it was smooth and then also blend up some cooked green beans or carrots with the meat. From time to time I'd put things like brown rice in there. So, when she ate it, it was all blended up together, but it was a whole meal. That way we didn't have to worry about her choking on the foods we were eating or something being too spicy.

Other foods that work well are soups (just watch out for the sodium content) grilled cheese, mac and cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheerios, Gerber Puffs, ice cream...you know, anything soft.

I hope this is helpful!

Take care,
Hilary

Good Morning D., Having to think back a few years as our 2 yr old gr son is not a great eater of anything new or basically anything.
Peas, green beans, cooked carrots, chicken and noodle or stars soups with broth removed (she can pick those up herself, Messy Messy :)), mashed potatoes, mac N cheese.
I know alot of mama's make their own baby foods from table foods in blenders, or cooked their own special recipes for babies, I just never went that way. We all survived on what our own mama's fed us. Don't think our boys went without. Oldest is 6'2 240 Youngest is 5'10 150.
I remember pulling most of the meat off of a chicken leg and letting the boys chew on those.Then they turned into drums on the high chair tray.. LOL

God Bless you D. hope you get some really great ideas from all these aWOWsome Mama's
K. Nana of 5

My first son ate what we ate, I just made it very small for him. My second son is the pickiest child I have ever encountered! He eats fruit cups, grapes cut into 2's or 4's, cheese broken into small squares, cheerios like they are going out of style... on nights when we'd have something we couldnt; feed the baby I'd make a small serving of pasta for my first son, sprinkle a little parmesean cheese on it and hed eat it and love it, my second son won't touch pasta with a ten foot stick! YOu can cut up canned green beans and also serve peas, carrots, beans from a can... If I'm not sure if afood is suitable for the baby I'll put a piece in my mouth and see if I can work it with my tongue easy enough to swallow, I figure then the baby can gum it well enough to eat it.

All 3 of my children loved rice cakes at this age. Just the plain ones. They are easy to hold onto, and they do dissolve in the mouth, which I liked!

They also all enjoyed frozen grapes! Just cut them up really small, and stick them in the freezer. Feels great on their sore gums, and my 8 and 7 year old still eat them!

We did soft carrots, pastas, peas, rice, bananas, mashed potatoes, ground beef, chicken and any foods that are either soft enough for her to chew (or gum) or something that can be ground up.

My youngest didn't have teeth until really late but she loves food and was really motivated. She would eat just about anything we were eating.

I started my son off with things like mashed potatoes and smashed green beans. But you have to watch your seasoning. Your baby can pretty much eat whatever you eat. If your out get your baby some fries or something of that nature. It works for me and my son is 8 months....

I havent read all your respones but I did mushed up carrots,peas,bananas,avacados,potatos,corn....
small bites of chicken,turkey,bread...
I did anything that I thought was small enough to feed him. Good luck.

I haven't read any requests, so I may be repeating...cook chicken breast and dice into small pieces, freeze and when you need them take out what is needed. Also, mild cheddar cheese cubed SMALL, torn up bread, pasta cooked very well done and cut into tiny pieces, lunchmeat cut up small, yogurt. As soon as my daughter (who is now 18 months) started on table food, baby food was out the door!! She loved the different textures and flavors.