Solid Foods Finger Foods "Real Foods"

My third child was entirely on table foods by the time she was 9 months old. I would offer her soft fruits and veggies, pieces of chicken, cheese, cereal, rice, pasta, and lots of other things that we also had for dinner--all cut into teeny-tiny pieces. She would often grab a handful of the food to stuff into her mouth, but at least she wouldn't choke on a larger piece of food. She doesn't need teeth to be able to eat table foods, but she should be mashing the food between her gums.

Gerber Puffs... have no nutritional value and don't fill them up w/anything. They have no protein... try no salt canned beans of any variety: black, kidney... frozen peas, no salt canned green beans, cheerios, cut up cubbed cheeses, microwave an egg yolk in a small cereal bowl for about 30sec-1min and cut up, tofu cubbed, cut up any fruit or soft veg: banana, yam, carrot, cantelope, peaches... time of year for it, 1/4 cut grapes, whole wheat pasta noodles plain or coated w/canned plain pumpkin, cottage cheese, plain no sugar yogurt, whole wheat bread and egg yolk french toast, homemade pancakes or muffins (pack with wheat germ, flax seed, whole wheat flour, applesauce).... remember they don't know about syrup, condiments, sauces... unless you introduce them, no need for them.

oh my... I would say you should stray away from any solid food and cut back on the other mush foods. Have you talked to her pediatrician about it yet? Even though it may seem that your baby wants these things it is possible that her digestive system isn't fully developed to the point where she should be eating so much. Be careful and don't try to many things at once if you do give her things let give it time to see how her body reacts to it.

Anything that is soft/small enough that she won't choke on (think pea sized). She can have mashed potatoes, soft veggies, pasta, etc as long as it's really small.

hi - check out http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com for a lot of good ideas (my kids are 8YO now so their early days of solid feeding are a distant memory). A little hand-crank food mill can be handy for taking bits of your own food and making it into a consistency that your baby can easily eat - I had one like this http://www.amazon.com/KidCo-Baby-Steps-Food-Carrying/dp/B... and I bet you could find one cheap at a secondhand store or freecycle (3 different friends gave me their old one and I subsequently passed them on down to other friends!)

This book has tons of recipes and ideas to give her.

http://www.amazon.com/Simply-Natural-Baby-Food-Delicious/...

At her age, she can have string cheese, bananas, avacado, green beans, peas, pasta.

Just never give her hot dogs... even when cut up, they don't break down easy in the mouth and can be a choking hazard.

Other than honey (raw honey, that is) you should be able to offer "small" bites of any adult food. The basic "rules of thumb" are 1) use moderation (sensible, right?), 2) small and soft is advised to reduce the chance of choking, and 3) try one new food at a time so you can watch for signs of allergies.

Go slowly and you two have fun exploring new foods!

steam veggies until very soft and cut them in to bite size chunks. (like carrots, potatoes and sweet potatoes, zucchini...
I'm pretty sure cheese is ok at that age... small pasta, beans (whole black, pinto...) I eventually just gave my daughter small bites of anything i was eating.

My son never ate baby food, he hated it. I cut up what we were eating into little bits and fed it to him. He started feeding himself around 8 months. At restaurants, you have to be careful. Entrees are usually loaded with salt. I always would get something off the "500 calorie or less" part of menus, because they are less in sodium.

According to the current American Academy of Pediatrics guidance, the only things you want to avoid are known family food allergens and choking hazards.

At that age, we were beginning to give cooked frozen vegetables (mixed minus the green beans). You can do cups of mandarin oranges, pears, etc. You should try to get ones packed in their own juices to be healthier, if possible. We let our kids, at that age, gnaw on things like string cheese (we were always there to monitor). We also started giving things like real White American cheese (deli vs. prepackaged), very thinly shaven ham/turkey, pieces of banana, blueberries, strawberries, Cheerios, etc.

We never got into the Gerber finger goods other than puffs - just not something our kids liked.

Currently, the belief on things like strawberries, peanuts, etc. is that delaying their introduction actually fosters allergies vs. preventing them. The rule of thumb, though is to introduce a new food, wait a few days to make sure there's not a reaction and to move to the next one.

Here's a sample menu for a similarly aged child from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

most packaging has age approperiate feeding times. i like baby mum mums they desolve quickly and are great teethers. they arent as messy as the gerber teething bisquits. good luck.

You could try avocado, baked sweet potato chunks, banana chunks, baked apple or pear, baked butternut or acorn squash, carrots that have been steamed until they are super-mushy, soft-cooked whole wheat past spirals, shredded cheese...

I think the size of the food matters the most. That and how hard it would be to chew.
My son pretty much skipped the Gerber baby food stage. He was never really a fan of it. He was always WAY to interested in what mommy & daddy were eating.
Cheerios are ALWAYS a great option.
Peel some grapes & cut them into little pieces.
Banana's are awesome because they are mushy yet yummy.
Cheese
saltines
french fries every once in a while don't hurt.

Like some others have said, just make sure when you are introducing her to a new food you give it a few days before letting her try another. Just in case. That way you will know, if she has a bad reaction, which food was the "problem"