What to Give My 9 Month Old at the Dinner Table

Dinnertime is such a special time, I am glad to hear that you are starting the tradition now. I too have a 9mo old and a 3year old. What I have found that works for me is to have a bowl of cooked noodles or boiled veggies pre prepared in the re fridge. I feed him his baby food first, prior to dinner, so that I can eat with the family. Then when its time for us to eat, I pull his highchair up to the table and serve him a small portion so that he can join in with the fun.
I hope this is helpful for you.
Happy Dinners to you!
C.

If you want him to eat your dinner, when you and hubby are eatting it, then do it. If he has teeth, you should be fine to give small bits of your dinner. Stay away from nuts and wheats for now (allergies), but seasoning is fine. Obviously not Stuffed Jalapinos (sp?), but a little salt, butter, and paparika is fine. If he "grabs it all and crams it in his mouth so that he can't chew", put less on his tray at a time. 5-6 bites at a time should be fine. You can also give him a spoon and toddler fork to practice with. At that age my son thought that it was great. Some of the things he would get to eat by himself were: noodles boiled in chicken or vegatable stock (boiled until they almost melt in your mouth), tiny bites of chicken, diced banana, diced apple, diced pears, thawed peas, shredded carrots, and sauted Extra Firm Tofu (I know it is highly unapealing to most adults, but kids seem to love it. You dice it up and throw it in a lightly sprayed non-stick pan. Toss it around just long enough to warm it, then add a touch of soy sauce. Mix it around and serve.) I would also let him feed himself things like applesauce with my help. I'd hold the container and guide his hand to get the scoop of food. Then he'd take it to his mouth. Altough we would "WEAR" a lot of it at first, he LOVED doing this. By 15 months, he could do it himself with very little mess!

I hope you all enjoy your family dinners! ~J.

Protein, fruits and vegetables. You can't go wrong. Pieces of chicken, string cheese (any kind of cheese), cooked carrots, peas, green beans. Stay away from starchy food like cheerios, pasta, and meat (red) and nothing with lots of salt.

Hi there,
Have you tried any of the gerber graduate snacks? If your baby has already eaten dinner and you just want him to join you and your hubby at dinner, I would go with the gerber graduate snacks. They are usually pretty healthy and mostly finger foods.

Aloha, you can check out appropriate foods for each age stage at www.babycenter.com Also, each baby is different....don't offer anything hard of course, no choking hazards, but things that will dissolve or mash up in the mouth well is fine. We give our boy (who is 11 months) tofu, pasta, rice, mashed potatoes,sweet potatoes that we cook ourself, very soft vegetables in small cubes, cottage cheese, soft bananas etc. Yes, don't give 'restaurant' foods that are overly salted or seasoned. He can eat 'table foods'.... or, if you're out, just tell the waiter that you want something in particular...but omit the high seasonings and make it more mild. Usually they can accommodate kids, if you are at a kid friendly restaurant. I wouldn't COMPLETELY replace his baby-food with adult food....yet. He's still 9 months. Beware, and make sure you know what foods they should NOT have at this age... egg white, nuts, peanut butter, seafood, citrus, regular milk etc. As for meats...some say not until after 1 year old, some say from 9 months it's fine... just make sure with your Pediatrician. And sure, babies cram food in their mouth..... you will have to feed him instead of just letting him pick up the food bits by himself and stuffing his mouth. He's just a babe...and they like to stuff their mouths. Dangerous of course, they choke. Before eating or, going out to dinner.. just make or pack something that you have prepared for him... bring it, and at the table feed it to him. At a restaurant... he can nibble on the bread... or any other mild and baby-friendly foods they have... just make sure you order something that can be shared safely and appropriately for his age. That's what we do. Now though, my baby is rejecting baby-food per say... he just wants table food... so we just have to get creative and we 'make' portions for him with our food, that have been altered in seasonings and chop it up small.
You can get a lot of great ideas online...or, get one of those baby-food grinders... that you can use to puree or grind up your own table food with. We use that and it's great.
Good luck!
~Susan
www.cafepress.com/littlegoogoo

At that age my daughter ate pretty much everything with in reason. I would just mash it, or break it into small pieces, you would be surprised at how well kids do regardless of how many teeth they have. She used to love grilled cheese and soup, or burritos, baked ziti, chicken etc. I was never a fan of baby food and neither was my daughter, she actually ate much better when she was given (real food)

My son is 14 mos.. When he was 9 mos. I gave him small cubed pieces of cheese, plain chopped cooked noodles, small pieces of cooked carrots or broccoli. You could also give him small pieces of cooked ground beef and potato or even tofu. Also, cooked plain rice or cut up pieces of banana. I would just make sure the food you give to him is cooked separate, without any spices or seasonings. Their stomachs are too sensitive still. Good luck with dinner:) Feel free to contact me with any questions,

A.

Hi T.,
My 6 month old baby's first solid meal was chicken nuggets and he loved it, and since he hated baby food i started giving him a little of everything we ate but spicy foods and of course i would make sure i cut it down to the smallest pieces; though, by 7 months he already had 4 teeth, 2 tops and 2 bottoms, which it probably helped him swallow the food better. Now he is 4 years old and he is still eating everything.

My advise for you would be to not to be afraid of your baby choking, and start giving him small pieces of food, by small i mean small like breadcrumbs to start and see how he does and then increase the size as he gets older.
Good luck!!
R.

You can give him many table foods, as long as the seasonings and sugar are kept to a minimum. You can mush most of it with your fork and let him feed himself. Just give him a couple bits at a time. You might want to prepare a bunch of ice cube trays full of food you have previously pureed or chopped (nearly any vegetable, chicken); they make a perfect portion size to microwave. I always did my own baby foods because I liked to KNOW what my babies were eating. When you get in the habit of setting some of what you're preparing aside, it's not really a chore. Beans, rice, barley, shredded cheese are other foods you can have ready to serve at dinner time. I agree with not filling him up on a bunch of cereal and crackers.

Hi T.,
I also have a 9 month old son who loves to cram everything in his mouth at once, and a hubby who often works too late for us all to have dinner together. I have been buying frozen veggies and steaming them, which makes them REALLY soft(mirowaves seem to make it chewy). Pieces of tofu sauteed in a BIT of teriaki(sp?) sauce or just nuked plain in the microwave is great. You can also get meatballs or turkeyballs ikn the freezer section which are also quick and easy to heat up. You could also try putting aside some of whatever you cook and serving it to him the next evening. My son also really likes the Gerber graduates "puffs", and cooked ramen noodles (this is the easiest pasta to eat by far in my opinion). I have a friend who's 9 mo old loves cooked tortellini. For snack I give him pieces of Kraft square cheese. It seems less dry than a cheese cube. At costco they have boxes of brothers-all-natural freeze dried apples and pears with are AWESOME for little guys- they melt in their mouth and they can practice "taking bites". These are great to take as a snack whiile we are out and about too.I rarely get to eat with the family as my hands are always dirty creating bite sized pieces for my son and letting him eat one piece at a time, but I know eventually this won't be a problem. My pediatrician said by 9 mos he should be feeding himseld the majority of his food. Good luck!

If your 9 mo old has a few teeth or a mouth full, he should be able to eat blant veggies such as peas, cooked sliced carrots, and finely chopped broccoli bits, etc. I also made my girls grilled cheese, spagetti with macaroni noodles, and quesadillas at that age. Even micro bites of white chicken breast they could manage. Anything they could pick up with their fingers and was extremely soft they just loved. I started making blander dinners and just added seasoning to darling hubby and my plates this way the babies could eat whatever I made. It gets easier as time goes by I swear Pretty soon you won't even think about it when cooking. Good luck.

Hmmm.... at 9 months, my daughter rejected all forms of baby food and wanted to self-feed. So I got pretty creative with finger foods. I'm not sure what baby foods you have gone through, but you need to keep allergens in mind (don't give him strawberries for instance, ask your ped for a list) and feed him one new thing for a week before introducing other new things (it takes 7 exposures or so before an allergy will surface). So that being said, these are the big hits at our dinner table: pasta (small sizes like little shells, elbows, salad pasta, etc) avocado, tofu boiled in chicken broth, peas, most fruits cut up in little chunks, steamed broccoli, asparagus, cheese (those crumbles worked great), for raisins, I'd put some in water and cook them in the microwave for a few seconds until they were soft. If he wants to use a spoon, yogurt, applesauce, etc. I would stay away from heavily seasoned stuff until he's fully appreciated the "whole foods" and until he's been exposed to stuff that he might be allergic to. Wait until he's a minimum of 1 year, and some experts recommend avoiding highly allergenic food (shellfish, nuts, etc.) until after 3 years of age. Have fun and enjoy it!

If your dishes are too spicey for him, then maybe you should have something made just for him as well. Does he have any teeth yet? Is he eating any 'solids' like mashed carrots, or mac n cheese? We started by giving our daughter whatever we could that we were eating, that was soft enough. I often pulled aside some of the chicken when I was cooking a dish so that she could have just some plain chicken while we had whatever I made. Another great idea is plain pasta - maybe w/ a little butter and salt for flavor - tube or bow kind - anything he can pick up and feed himself. It's a tough transition ~ Good luck.
K.
http://kellyis.stayinhomeandlovinit.com

my kids favorite was tofu cut into bite sized cubes and soaked in either juice or pan fried with frozen fruit, (not really fried I just put tofu and fruit and cooked it till warm.

We also did any cooked fruit, cut into bit sized pieces again and we did any fruit or veggie they would eat.... and i have to say to this day my kids still at EVERY veggie and fruit available because we didn ot provide an alternative when they were young.

H.

get him used to pureed veggies!That IS real food. YOu might also want to set some of your healthy food aside before you add salt, and mash it up for him. Make sure he drinks enough water if you are already giving him meat. It takes about 3 days on average for your body to process.