Table Foods for 9 Month Old. - San Antonio,TX

I have a 10 month old in my daycare. As soon as I place him in the highchair, I hand him a cup or bottle (about 2oz) of formula. When he nears the end of his drink, I place a few finger foods on the tray. I use the Gerber finger foods, diced fruit & vegies, cheerios, anything type of food which is easily-chewed/digestible for his age & # of teeth. After he tries some of the finger foods, then I serve the jar food.

By following this method, his hunger is appeased by the drink & I have time to prepare the rest without him stressing. Good Luck! & keep offering those finger foods!

may be rice cakes. You can add toppings to them such as cream cheese and marmite. Also could try halved blueberries, grapes or cherries. Also bread sticks are great also. My one year old has always loved these foods from seven months and still does. I carry a tub of bluberries and bread sticks around with me in his diaper bag everywhere I go. Hope this is helpful?

Kat-
Sounds like he is not ready. He will let you know when he is ready. He will start grabbing for what you have. Just because the ped told you to do so, doesn't mean it is right for your son. All children are different! My second son was early with table food, he was seeing what everyone else was eating and he wanted it. You will know when he is ready.

Mel G

It's going to have to be trial and error.

The best thing you can do is put small quantities on his highchair for him to try and let him gradually understand the differences.

We didn't have that problem. Both of our kids were DONE with baby food quickly and wanted to eat real food.

Slice some apples or pears, take the skin off and let him gum them if he's willing. I think the problem we make as parents is being scared of letting them learn to chew. We're so afraid they'll have an accident, and we cut things so small, they don't really learn to chew things (by chew, I really mean gum appropriate foods).

At that age, we were giving small quantities of lunch meats (ham/turkey very thinly shaven), real american cheese (from the deli, not individually sliced), well cooked vegetables (frozen mixed vegetables were the favorite with green beans taken out).

The ONLY restrictions in place are those foods that cause choking hazards and those that are a known family food allergen (According to the American Academy of Pediatrics)

When our 4 year-old was transitioning, it was the policy to delay introducing peanut butter, egg whites, strawberries. That is no longer a valid thought. Most experts actually believe that holding off (unless there's a known family allergy) may develop the allergy instead.

Good luck.
Here's a sample menu from AAP's parenting website, HealthyChildren.org:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

Don't rush him. He'll let you know when he is ready for table food when he starts to really want what you are eating! My daughter didn't even want to eat solids of any kind until she was 10 months! Now she is 14 months and eats everything we eat. We just had to wait until she was ready. So, don't worry!

jar food-i would cry too. I would get a food processor. I would grind up the bananas still. cook some pasta grind it up. give him whatever you are eating for dinner unless it is something spicy and grind it in the food processor and give it to him. My son really like sweet potatoes when he was a little guy. poke holes in it and nuke it for 8-9 minutes for a big potato.
preheat the oven to 425 while it is nuking in the microwave. cook it for about 35-40 minutes and then grind it up in the processor and feed it to him. try cooked carrots too. cook then and add a teaspoon or so of sugar to them. once soft cool them and grind them up to for your son. put the food in the jars that you have and feed it to him. good luck

my baby loves chunks of avocado, baked sweet potato, baked butternut squash, banana, baked apples or pears, whole wheat pancakes covered with plain yogurt instead of syrup, soft cooked whole wheat fusilli pasta...

just keep introducing the "new foods". Put them out first, then the other. Let him have both. Eventually he will get curious and try the new one. He cries because he doesn't recognize the new food. Yes, even at 9 months they can recognize the differences in things.

He's training you very well :). Try putting little pieces of banana in front of him on a high chair tray while you're getting the other food ready and see what he does with it. Do the same with pasta cut up small and bits of fresh veggie and fruit cut small. If he gets to play with it and feed himself some of it he will like it better. Yes, it is much messier and lots goes on the floor or anywhere but down him, but the feeling of independence will do well. I would give him the finger food along with something more familiar, leaving the new food on his tray or plate for him to eat by himself. So, for example, stay with the oatmeal for breakfast, at lunch give him some yogurt yourself with small pieces of fruit out for him to eat himself. At dinner he could have some stage 2 with soft veggie to eat.
Good luck!

Follow HIS lead. He will let you know when he wants table food. When he starts fussing for the food on your plate instead of his, you'll know he's ready!!

Maybe don't try table food just yet. Some babies need a little more time. My daughter didn't start table foods until she wouldn't eat the Gerber anymore at about a year. Pediatricians just go by the norm, but some even most babies aren't really what the Docs consider the norm. Take your time and if he doesn't like something, then just try another day with something new. No need to upset a little man at meal time. Ha ha ha!

Try eating it yourself and maybe he will want to try, or feeding it to him w/a fork or spoon. My 9 mo girl just started grabbing the fork and 'helping' me get the food to her mouth, and finished off the jar of carrots she otherwise turns her head from. Some food ideas are guacamole or small avocado chunks, scrambled or hardboiled eggs, cooked or refried beans, hummus, really soft steamed fruits and veggies, and Gerber Graduates turkey sticks sliced up.

Feed him at your meal times what you are eating when you are eating it. It is okay to give him his typical foods before then, maybe less so that he might be interested in what you are giving him. Do not stress over it.

Start slow. Give him a few pieces of table food to explore while you feed him his baby food. Maybe put a piece of the "real" food on a spoon and feed it to him in between bites of his baby food. It's not vital that babies eat a lot of table food at this age. It's more for exploration. It can take up to 10 times of a baby being exposed to a food to decide if they like it or not. Just keep trying!

it really depends on how many teeth he has and how good he is at mashing with his gums (at 9 mnths my son had no teeth at all) does he crackers? thats what we started my son on he loves them because he can feed himself. then cheerios (he even went through a I dont want to want to eat anything but cheerios phase.) I know with my son he didnt want to eat a lot of table food till around 11 mnths. thats when he started to try everything we had on our plates. dont try to change to much at once find one thing he likes and go with it. oh and sometimes I have to "trick" my baby into eating. If there is something on his plate that he doesnt reconize he refuses to eat it intill I slip a piece of it into his mouth then he will usualy eat the rest on his own.

try halfing it, example part jar bananas mixed with real bananas