What types of "real" food can I feed my 8.5 month old?

Question

My 8 month old no longer wants her baby food...what kind of table food can I prepare for her eat??? She watches me eat so I give her a little but what I eat isn't always what I want her to eat so I need your help in giving me meal ideas I can make for her..

Thanks is advance

Answer 1

Pretty much anything you eat he can eat too. My daughter is 7 1/2 months old, and she has her homemade baby food and or rice cereal combinations for breakfast and lunch, then for snacks/dinner I give her things like raw or cooked mushroom pieces, cooked veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, squash, carrots etc) you just need to cook them a little longer than normal so they are really soft. Also, pieces of chicken cut/broken really small, rice, etc.

I just put it on her tray and let her feed herself for dinner every night (then she gets a bath!).

Anyway, good luck with it, have fun!!!

Toni Lynne  =)

Answer 2

My daughter LOVES pastas, green beans, chicken (usually grilled), baked pork chops, peas, scrambled eggs, fish sticks, and PB&J. Also these things are easy for them to feed themselves. With the meats though I sometimes have to remind her "chew it up"

Answer 3

I agree with Johnny's Mommy. My son is also 8 months and we let him eat anything healthy that we are eating...fruits, veggies, pasta, beans, rice. So long as there isn't a ton of salt on what we are eating we just let him have some.

I love this website: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com

I always refer to it if I am wondering if there is a particular food I should hold off on.

Answer 4

A big juicy Steak with pepper sauce...Go on you know she deserves it..

Just jokeing folks, wheres the sense of humour.. Calm yourselfs..

Answer 5

my son has been eating what we eat since he was about 8 months old.  if what you're eating isn't what you want her to eat...maybe you should change what you're eating.  cut everything into small pieces, and it's fine!  my son loves pasta, chicken, burgers, hot dogs, fruits, veggies (i use canned with no salt...it's already in smaller pieces and soft)etc.  even when we have pizza i find a piece with less toppings to cut into little pieces and he loves it! you wanting her to eat healthy while you don't is a "do as i say not as i do" type of thing.  you'll regret it soon when she figures out that mommy can have a quarter pounder, but i can't".

Answer 6

I see lots of moms who use pieces of cut up hot dog and pack cheerios as snack on the go.  Gerber has foods for older babies.  It's a line called Gerber Graduates and this is basically a meal plan for growing infants.

Answer 7

I would give her mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, pureed carrots, etc. I just really wouldnt give her chewy food yet. Choking is still such a hazard at her age. Home made foods are tastier than bottled foods from the store. Just dont put seasoning in them, salt etc. You can make the mashed potatoes etc runnier with her formula.

My daughter ate really well until she turned 3 years old. Thats when her will and dislikes came in. But I mean up until then I had the say in what she ate.  

Answer 8

What you are eating is the most powerful influence on what your child will at as a baby, toddler, child and adult.

If what you are eating is not food you consider appropriate now is the time to change your diet.

A baby over 6 months should be eating family foods, but emphasizing protein, iron, zinc, healthy fats, nutrient dense fruit and vegetables.  Grains should be limited and should be whole grains as much as possible.  Weaning diets high in grains, including iron-fortified baby cereals are linked to anemia, zinc deficiency and poor growth.

Each of your meals should contain at least two servings of vegetables (for you).  A toddler serving is about 2tbsp.  Try to make sure everyone eats at least one green and one orange/red fruit or veg each day.

Limit salt and sugar.  Though a small amount salt is necessary and can aid in digestion.

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintro...

Ensuring good nutrition

Babies who are allowed to feed themselves seem to accept a wide range of foods. This is probably because they have more than just the flavour of the food to focus on – they are experiencing texture, colour, size and shape as well. In addition, giving babies foods separately, or in a way which enables them to separate them for themselves, enables them to learn about a range of different flavours and textures. And allowing them to leave anything they appear not to like will encourage them to be prepared to try new things.

General principles of good nutrition for children apply equally to young babies who are managing their own introduction to solid foods. Thus, 'fast foods' and foods with added sugar and salt should be avoided. However, once a baby is over six months old there is no need (unless there is a family history of allergy or a known or suspected digestive disorder) to otherwise restrict the foods that the baby can be offered. Fruit and vegetables are ideal, with harder foods cooked lightly so that they are soft enough to be chewed. At first, meat is best offered as a large piece, to be explored and sucked; once the baby can manage to pick up and release fistfuls of food, minced meat works well. (Note: babies do not need teeth to bite and chew – gums do very well!)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/676279...

Solids best

After six months, Mrs Rapley said babies were capable of taking food into their mouths and chewing it.

Therefore, feeding them pureed food at this time could delay the development of chewing skills.

Instead, she said, they should be given milk and solid pieces of food which they could chew.

Mrs Rapley argued that babies fed pureed food had little control over how much food they ate, thus rendering them vulnerable to constipation, and running a risk that they would react by becoming fussy eaters later in life.

She blamed the food industry for convincing parents that they should give children pureed food.

She said: "Sound scientific research and government advice now agree that there is no longer any window of a baby's development in which they need something more than milk and less than solids."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9646449/

Yet experts say children over 6 months can handle most anything, with a few caveats: Be cautious if you have a family history of allergies; introduce one food at a time and watch for any problems; and make sure the food isn't a choking hazard.

Parents elsewhere in the world certainly take a more freewheeling approach, often starting babies on heartier, more flavorful fare — from meats in African countries to fish and radishes in Japan and artichokes and tomatoes in France.

The difference is cultural, not scientific, says Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' nutrition committee who says the American approach suffers from a Western bias that fails to reflect the nation's ethnic diversity.

[...]

Rayya Azarbeygui, a 35-year-old Lebanese immigrant living in New York, isn't waiting. After her son was born last year, she decided he should eat the same foods she does — heavily seasoned Middle Eastern dishes like hummus and baba ghanoush.

"My pediatrician thinks I'm completely crazy," says Azarbeygui, whose son is now 13 months old. "But you know, he sees my child thriving and so says, 'You know what, children in India eat like that. Why not yours?'"

How to introduce healthy children to solid food has rarely been studied. Even the federal government has given it little attention; dietary guidelines apply only to children 2 and older.

[...]

Take rice cereal, for example. Under conventional American wisdom, it's the best first food. But Butte says iron-rich meat — often one of the last foods American parents introduce — would be a better choice.

Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston, a specialist in pediatric nutrition, says some studies suggest rice and other highly processed grain cereals actually could be among the worst foods for infants.

"These foods are in a certain sense no different from adding sugar to formula. They digest very rapidly in the body into sugar, raising blood sugar and insulin levels" and could contribute to later health problems, including obesity, he says.

[...]

Food allergy fears get some of the blame for the bland approach. For decades doctors have said the best way to prevent allergies is to limit infants to bland foods, avoiding seasonings, citrus, nuts and certain seafood.

But Butte's review found no evidence that children without family histories of food allergies benefit from this. Others suspect avoiding certain foods or eating bland diets actually could make allergies more likely. Some exposure might be a good thing.

Answer 9

Pretty much anything.  Last night, my son (9 months, but he had this at 8 months too) had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus.  Just cut them up into bite sized pieces and let them go at it.

My son eats whatever I eat.  Chicken, steak, pieces of hamburger, stir fry, pastas, fruits, veggies, etc.