Items to Order at Restaurants or 9 Month Old Babies?

L.,
We used to bring our own finger foods for our son. Cheerios were good or even a jar of baby food, and we would just feed him at the table while we were eating. If that is not an option, then we would order a side of rice, veggies(plain), noodles, basically anything he would eat. Most restaurants are very accomodating.

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Agree with the others, at 9mos they aren't going to be eating enough to really need their own order of something. I'd usually bring along things like rice cakes, yogurt cups, or applesauce cups to go along with sharing bits of what we were eating. Things like steamed tofu or bits of fish fillets at Chinese restaurants, bits of tortillas, beans, and rice at Mexican places, bits of pasta and bread at italian places.

Hi there,

I can only make a suggestion for Italian restaurants. I'm actually living in Rome, Italy, and here babies eat "pasta in bianco" at restaurants. It's just plain pasta with olive oil on top! Our daughter ate it when she was 11 months old or so, and she loved it even though here it's cooked "al dente" (kind of under cooked by American standards). If your daughters are eating dairy then sprinkle some parmigiano on top.

I agree with what other mothers wrote, steamed veggies or bits of what you are having. But I'd also bring snacks or an emergency jar just in case they don't want to have what you are having.

Buon appetito!

Depends on what your babies likes. My son loved pinto beans and avocados at that age so we ate at Mexican places a lot; but I had to bring my own rice porridge b/c he wasn't so good with lumpy food at that age. At a Japanese restaurants I fed him avocado and bits of grilled fish but not raw and again brought my own rice porridge. It's probably best to just go out where you want and bring all his food for them; you can let them try bits of food off your plate to try new things on them without having to cook a whole meal, but your dinner will be a lot more peaceful is you know you have stuff for them to eat. It really won't be long before they'll be eating regular foods with you!

Just give them a little bit of what you are ordering. You don't have to order them something special, plus you might be wasting money as they may not like what you ordered special for them. I share my chicken (cut it up real small), pasta, steamed vegetables. I also would bring a little something they like in little tupperwares to feed them while out so you don't have to totally rely on the restaurant food.

When they get a little older, my daughter loves the ravioli's at Tomitina's restaurant (in Dublin and Walnut Creek). The order is so big though that it usually makes dinner the next night too - maybe with twins they can split it! Also we go out to breakfast a lot because we are up early and home early these days. At breakfast what works best is one plain scrambled egg. She loves it, and it is really inexpensive. Other than those two things, she usually won't eat enough of any plate to order her own. So we still just share from our plates.

I wouldn't order them their own meals quite yet. Restaurant portions are so large that my husband and I would share portions of our meals. Eating out is expensive enough without adding on two extra plates. At that age I would pack pureed vegies for their main course and let them try things such as black beans or spainish rice when we were out at a mexican restaurant, small pieces of pancake, and oatmeal when we went out to breakfast. Other ideas might be small soft pasta or risotto at Italian restaurants or mashed potatoes, little bits of baked potato, and polenta at places that serve comfort food. Soups can be great too depending on the consistancy and temp. Enjoy eating out with your little ones!

Our 9 1/2 month old daughter has just started transitioning from mush into more finger foods, and when that happens, restaurants get a lot easier, because you can just dice up some of what you're eating and give it to the baby. Even when you're still in the mush phase, there are things you can find/

Breakfast/brunch is easiest: yogurt and some fresh fruit which you can cut into tiny pieces or mash into the yogurt.

At Italian places, we've done well with a lump of ricotta cheese and some steamed or grilled veggies. Chinese restaurants and will usually give you some steamed veggies as well. The toughest for us have been Indian, Thai, Mexican and other places where they use lots of spicy sauces, but even there you can usually find something, even if it's just some cucumber yogurt sauce with rice or a few chunks of cheese and a tortilla. We also keep a container of Cheerios with us for emergencies.

I hope that helps!

Bring your own tried and true finger food or baby food and let them experiment with the flavors and textures of the foods that you are ordering.

I used to carry a food mill and grind up a little of what I was eating. My girls were adventurous eaters from a very young age (until they hit 3 when suddenly everything had to be white and bland for a year or two), and their dad is a chef so we ate out ALOT.

10 months old... I would say watered down miso soup is fine. When my daughter was that little I usually went with steamed rice and steamed veggies, the simpler the better. Most places will help you out. Mexican whole beans & rice. Indian I used to order her rice & peas w/o sauce. Good luck! C.