8 Month Old Wants to Feed Herself

Updated on July 26, 2009
M.F. asks from Silverdale, WA
10 answers

My daughter will be 8 months on monday and she has not been interested in me feeding her solids anymore. She may eat about half of a container and then she only seems to want to feed her self the puffed wheat snacks. I think she is trying to tell me that she wants to be able to feed herself. I am looking for good ways to start getting her to feed herself with out using the processed "toddler" foods. What are good things to start with and what should I avoid? Thanks for the help! M.

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W.C.

answers from Seattle on

My daughter-in-law has two spoons. She starts with one and when my granddaughter grabs that one, my DIL uses the other spoon until my granddaughter drops the first spoon and grabs for the second. Then my DIL uses the first spoon. And so it goes. Very clever of her.

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R.C.

answers from Seattle on

When my daughter was 8 months old her favorite self feeding foods were mushy bananas and avacado. i would just put some squished pieces on her tray and she would love it! she is 10 months old now and within the last month we started offering her cheerios which are great because they have a fun crunchy texture but dissolve in her mouth. also i occasionally get her these all-natural teething biscuits from the local food co-op which she loves. when i cook broccoli i always break off some of the little tiny pieces for her to self feed. she loves the texture of the little fronds. its amazing to watch them gain some independence in their feeding skills!

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M.H.

answers from Portland on

Seems to me avoiding the processed toddler foods is a good idea. Wheat and dairy are common allergens these days and often that is what that stuff is made of.
My naturopath just had a baby and she let little one feed herself her beans, blueberries (she ate a 1/2 pint a day-full of amazing antioxidents),she ate greens that were cut up. Just cut up all of the fruit and veggies into safe size pieces. Litte ones love it!!!

You should see this little girl now! she is the strongest, brightest little thing. She eats all the things people say that kids do not eat! She loves Sardines and the oils in the fish are great for her brain development and sardines and not known for mercury since they are so small! She loves it!!! One of her other favorites is Dolmas from trader joes!

Good luck...
There is a great book out there called nourishing traditions that suggests ways to avoid food allergies and how to assist folks in eating in ways that is healthy and nourishing!
M. Hawkins, LAc

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L.S.

answers from Seattle on

My youngest son did the same thing. I started giving him fruits and vegetables from a can. There is no need to buy special toddler foods. I buy the canned fruit that has no added sugar and the fruit cocktail is perfect. Also, I give him vegetable and meat that we have at dinner cut into small pieces. As long as it is small and soft, almost anything is fine.

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A.W.

answers from Seattle on

No need to buy toddler foods. Give her regular food just chopped up fine. Fruits and vegies are great to start - diced peaches,bananas, avacados, green beans, peas, variety of beans, sweet potatoes,...go for it. Just make sure they are small and not a highly allergic item (eggs, nuts, etc) My daughter was an early self feeder too (at 8 months). I still made the other stuff for her too and let her pick away and still gave her bites from a spoon too.
Have fun.

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F.N.

answers from Seattle on

Frutis and vegetables are always good. You can give her whatever shes had in a container before without worries about allergies. Make certain you consider choaking hazards though. Bananas are better in strips or little chunks than in round slices, grapes should be cut into quarters. Frozen peas are great as is canned fruit (canned in juice) but it's summer so you have access to fresh fruit right now and probably won't need canned (it's really soft though). Personally my kids demanded whatever we were eating starting at about 9 months so we just gave it to them cut smaller for their consumption. The (now) 8 year olds favorite meal at that time was catfish, red-beans and rice, and spinach! Fish and ground meats are an option, if you do hotdogs, cut into strips or chunks not rounds like the bananas.

Good luck!

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M.G.

answers from Seattle on

That's the exact age my youngest started on nothing but table food, his choice. We started with simple things like pasta(w/o sauce for less mess), vegetables, fruits, all cut up of course. Peanut butter sandwiches(no nut allergy), dry cereal then again if your little one can use utensils you've got it made. Avoid things that are not easily chewed or gummed.

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M.L.

answers from Seattle on

Some of the finger foods we offered (all cut into small bites):
string cheese (cut so it's not round)
tofu chunks
organic cheerios
avacado (a little messy, but so is life)
yogurt (add rice cereal to thicken)
oatmeal
peas
corn kernels
steamed broccoli
baby carrots (cut so they aren't round)
raisins
teething biscuits (rarely, also quite messy
dried apples (trader joes carries a softer one)
freeze dried fruits

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K.M.

answers from Seattle on

My daughter would never let us feed her, she always wanted to feed herself. Here are some of the things that we started with.
Yogurt & cheerios mixed together
steamed carrots chopped into little pieces
grapes cut into quarters to start
strawberries, blueberries, peaches, really any type of fruit chopped small
steamed brocolli
grean beans - we used canned ones
refried beans
quesadillas w/ refried beans in the middle cut bite-size
pizza - cut bite size
pasta w/red sauce, olive oil & cheese, nothing
pb&j
bagels & cream cheese
rice w/fish or chicken cut very small
crackers & cheese
eggs & hashbrowns

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K.K.

answers from Portland on

My sons favorite at this age was stir fry... I would use sliced lunch meat to assure no choking, or no meat at all... and cook the veggies until they were just soft enough for him to gum, but in fairly big chunks... he LOVED it... and still does at 10 years old!!!

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