Finger Foods for a 9 Month Old

My kids pretty much ate whatever we were eating. I liked getting the cans of diced potatoes, manderine oranges, canned peaches, spaghetti, mac & cheese, etc. I also gave my little ones goldfish and cheerios. I agree that vienna sausages are a great option too. You just have to keep an eye on how he does with different foods. I had one of my children who used to steal food off my plate when I wasn't looking and gum EVERYTHING to death.

Hi!

A few ideas I used with my 10 mo. old daughter when I was starting her out - now she eats great - pretty much what we have she'll have (w/o seasoning) -

* shredded cheese
* cottage cheese
* cooked & cooled peas
* over cooked pasta
* finely shredded chicken & fish
* over cooked veggies - potatoes,yams,broccoli,cauliflower, zucchini,carrots, etc....
* avocado
* hard boiled or cooked egg yolk
* cut up ripe pears,bananas,mango,etc...
* whole grain bread (in chunks)
* whole grain "Joe's O's" from Trader Joe's (or Cheerios)

There are some great books out there too with really good recipies for getting your little one used to "big kid" food :)

Good luck!

Here are some to try - I started giving these to my little guy around that time:
- boiled egg (yolk only)
- small pieces of soft chicken or diced up lunch meat
- any vegetables that you either want to boil or by canned and dice up (carrots, green beans, potatoes, pinto beans)
- fruit cup or again canned fruit just make sure the pieces are small (doctors say to avoid citrus, corn, strawberries because they are high allergen)
- avocado
- if you grill any veggies you can dice them up

Hope this gives you a start!

My girls always started out with little cut up bites of watermelon, bananas, peas, soft bites of sweet potato, grapes cut into 1/4s, soft bites of carrots. Just make sure everything is cut up really small and give one at a time for a couple of days to make sure there are no allergies. I also remember buying one of those safe feeder things (one step ahead catalog and Babies R Us sells them) and I would freeze bananas and put them in there and my daughter would go crazy with it! She LOVED it! If you look on Baby Center they have a lot of good suggestions too. Have fun!

I use to do cheerios, sliced cheese cut up into small peices, bananas, soft fruit, noodles, soft veggies like green beans or carrots.

You can give your child anything you would eat cut into tiny pieces at this point. For snacks I liked to give my son cheerios and Kix cereals dry. He also loved veggies liked cooked corn cooled to a luke warm temp and peas, carrots, potatoes, macaroni and cheese where the macaroni is a little overcooked, I gave him pasta (any kind), Lasagna was his favorite at that age. You just have to make sure what you give him is cut up into small pieces and such. My child had a lot of his teeth at that age too, so, I think anything that can be gummed is good if there are no teeth

Gerber graduates has the mini meat sticks.... so an equivilent to those would be the vienna sausages. They are small enough for the hands and fall apart easy so as less a choking hazzard than hot dogs.

Now is a good time to start introducing him to whatever you normally eat. I cut up whatever we are eating into pea-sized pieces and place them on the high chair while we are eating dinner. I do it every night whether he eats it or not. Eventually they will eat more and more of it. You can also shred your food in a food processor and give him shredded chunks that way--kind of as if it were "pre-chewed". You want to get him used to what you eat so that he doesn't have a hard transition when he is older.

I did cut up fruit, waffles, pancakes, bread and butter, lunch meat cut up, hot dogs cut up tiny and skinned, pretty much i used anything I wanted and just made sure they were cut up small and that i only put a couple on the tray at a time. And then not only we could eat it too but so could me oldest child. Just let him try anything and you will then not only be giving him a varity of food but also saving money from buying the nasty gerber ood that goes to waste if he doesn't eat it. Also albertsons has little cans of vegies that are mixed ect and they are tiny for the kids and they are ot that expensive. Good luck

Hi,
If he does okay with dairy, the processed cheese slices seem to just melt in their mouth. Bananas, cut up tiny are nice and healthy, cherios are great, and lately I've been doing the baby goldfish crackers. Nutri grain yogurt bars cut into pieces are also a pretty healthy, easy to eat snack. Good luck!

So way back in the not so distant past, Gerber didn't make these expensive finger foods, and doctors didn't tell us what to feed our kids, millions of babies ate regular table food! Now i'm not knocking allergies and being careful, my son used to get whatever we had just cut up small, and he loved it!! Once he got real food, i could not get him to eat his mush!! So i say just give him what you are having as long as its not to spicy or has something that might cause an allergy.

kid's can eat much more than we give them credit for. in fact, now is the time to start him on spices and interesting foods to develop his palate. gerber graduates are not necessary and i only used them as convenience foods. they are expensive AND boring. my daughter started with green beans (straight from the can) and black beans. you can also give him carrots that have been cooked to death. cooking things too much makes them lose their nutritional value but if he develops a taste for them he will have the rest of his life to reap the benefits. pasta is another fun food for kids especially if they help make it. try it with a spicy sauce! good luck! or just cut up your dinner and as long as it doesn't have strawberries or peanuts or any of the other high allergy risk foods let him give it a try!

Hi B.,
I too have a 9 month old who loves to feed herself! I've stayed away from the store bought finger foods because I've read the ingredient panels and have not been impressed with the nutritional value. I give my daughter lots of fruits and veggies, cut up into small pieces. Her favorites are cantaloupe and honeydew melons, bananas and zucchini. She also loves Cheerios, of course. I also give her cooked pasta, with no sauce. She is always so proud when she feeds herself - it's fun to watch her learn! Hope this helps.

Del Monte or grocery store brand canned veggies (no salt version) are easy and convenient. Normally the canned veggies are too high in sodium for babies, but these are just like what you get from Gerber, but in a big can which you can save the rest for another day or feed to the rest of the family. They are great to have on hand when dinner is on the table and what do we feed the baby!

One of the best finger foods is puffed rice cereal. Millet puffs are also good, and really teach fine motor development, since they are ever so tiny! Both the rice and millet are soft and dissolve in babies' mouths very quickly, and not likely to cause any allergies. Any soft food, such as avocado or cooked sweet potato cubes, works great too, tho a bit messy, but hey, that's what bibs and water are for! ;)

Hi B.,
I started giving my son wheat puffs when he was about 11 months old (he was late on solids). They're great because they have no preservatives, sugar, salt and all the other stuff that finger-foods designed for babies often have, and they don't make a mess! (Except when he stuffs his mouth full of them, decides he can't swallow the lot and spits them out onto the floor!). You can also get rice and millet and, no doubt, other kinds of cereal puffs. I found the puffed wheat at Safeway but I think you can find a greater range at health food stores and places like Wholefoods (formerly Wild Oats). It was only 2 bucks for a big bag, as far as I can remember.

B.,
My son is just now 11 months and we tried anything that would disolve easily in their mouth! Fruits that were most like peaches, crackers, etc. I hope you have a great day!

there is another website you can try, it is zerotothree.org. They have great parenting tips. Have you tried green beans, cooked carrots, various fruits cut into small pieces, just make sure they are very ripe. Cheerios are a great finger food.

One of the things that I do for my 10 1/2 mo. old son is give small pieces of mushy fruits and veggies. I take cheerios and mash them down and then sprinkle that on the slippery fruits and veggies. This allows my son to grab them more easily. It gets messy but it's fun! My son loves to feed himself now.