Seeeking Food Suggestions for My 8 Month Old

Hi T.,
Your 8 month old doesn't need snack foods! Introducing solid foods needs to be done in a way so that your growing child does not develop food sensitivities and allergies and also so that she doesn't develop a sweet tooth!
Here are some suggestions from an article I wrote about the topic:

Serve food warm, mashed, pureed and cooked, never raw. Babies do not have molars to grind food! Therefore, food should be pureed like a thick soup use a blender or a food mill or mash food well with a fork. Introduce one single food at a time, this way you can see if the child can truly digest that food.
Think of introducing foods as a very important form of an elimination diet! This is most important action you can take to avoid the creation of food allergies and food sensitivities that can be very inconvenient to your journey as a parent.
Here are some ideas for first foods:
•Start with well cooked rice, pureed into a congee- a soupy rice porridge.
•Follow with cooked pureed carrots, roasted butternut squash
•Mashed sweet potatoes
•Mashed regular potatoes
•Mashed cooked peas or beans. Super easy fast food!
•WAIT until way later to introduce animal protein, cheese, wheat, corn
•GO ORGANIC whenever possible! DO NOT TAKE YOUR CHANCES WITH GMO FOODS! Antibiotic, hormone and pesticide residues do have an impact on growing babies.

Here's a list of foods to avoid in the first years: The list of foods to avoid contains typical foods that so many of us feed our toddlers and small children. No wonder we see so many food allergies, skin eruptions and drippy snotty noses in our kids! All of these foods are damp and mucus causing according to Chinese medicine.
•Fruit juices. The sweetness of juice can be especially harmful for small babies and toddlers AND can create a sugar addiction! Stick with room temperature or warm water. There is NO nutritional benefit in giving any child juice! Everyone is much better off eating fruit and drinking water instead. Starting kids on juice will not only create unnecessary mucus/ upper respiratory infections, it will help to create picky eating behavior into the toddler and preschool years.
•Bread and all baked flour products do not supply significant nutrition and can act the same way that refined sugar does.
•Raw veggies- very indigestible for small children and can pose a choking hazard.
•Cheese- super phlegm/ mucus forming. High in antibiotic, pesticide and hormone residues.
•Sweets/ Ice cream wait as long as possible to introduce these completely unnecessary foods.

those puffed foods and crackers that melt in your child's mouth train your child to like sweets! Do whatever you can to keep your kids on real food and not processed food. They will be much healthier in the long run as a result.

Hope this helps!
Susan :)

2 moms found this helpful

I think Cheerios are fine. They really do melt in their mouths. They are also great for hand eye coordination. I run a daycare and I always have Cheerios here! Even the older kids eat them. They are a great snack. I have used Gerber Puffs at times, but they have sugar. They do melt fast though. I use them as treats. Try cutting the banana into small Cheerio pieces.

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Gerber has a full line of Puffs, they are great. They will melt right in her mouth if she dosen't chew them.

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The first finger food I gave my kids was something called "Mum-Mums". It is a rice cereal cookie and dissolves instantly... however, I no longer live in the US, I now live in Canada and I don't know if you can get them there?

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Try firm tofu and avocado. My son loved both and they have the same consistency of bananas so they're a pretty safe bet if you're worried about choking. Gerber puffs are also pretty good. They're softer than cheereos and disolve better.

1 mom found this helpful

Snacks I gave my DD at that age are: Yogurt, cheerioes(she didn't have teeth at all at that age), cottage cheese, any mashed fruit or berries, puffs, natural applesauce, pretty much anything. I just kept trying new foods. Have fun exploring these new options with your little girl.

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My daughter is 1 month ahead and has the same teeth...she loves avacado, crackers (brown rice), frozen peas, chic peas (take cover off and squish in two pieces),soft pears cut up very small, cooked rice, rice crackers, and of course cheerios! It is a little scary at first...giving your baby their first foods...but believe me they can chew alot with those two teeth...have you felt the power in their bite!! Just make sure that you are watching...I usually started my daughter in the highchair at dinner or while I cooked dinner. You can also start a two handled water cup..this is great for their fine moter and gets them used to water which none of us can drink too much of!! I also recommend a mesh bag that you can purchase at Toys R' Us or Target that you can put food or ice in...this is a good way to give them food that they could choke on or that is frozen. Good luck!!

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My daughter loves the banana puffs shaped like stars. They dissolve in her mouth. There are also cheesy puffs, by Gerber I think. They also dissolve. Try those.

Nanc

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I would suggest Gerber Graduate Finger Foods, especially the "Puffs" that come in banana, sweet potato, cherry, apple cinnamon, etc. They melt in their mouth. Also Quaker Rice Cereal is great; it is in the regular cereal aisle and it also melts in their mouth. Also smaller than the Gerber and better to start off with.

Then we went to cut up fruit like bananas.

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When my daughter (now 18 mos) had only 2 teeth, I gave her Mott's apple sauce (no sugar) and teething biscuits as snacks. The apple sauce comes in small containers so they're great for putting in your diaper bag to go out. She also liked Cheerios. She just let it dissolve in her mouth. Maybe try those Gerber Graduate Puffs. I didn't give them to my daughter but I have friends who did and their kids loved them.

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Hi there. My daughter didn't have any teeth until she was almost 12 months old, and by that time she was eating regular food like a champ. We gave her cheerios, small pieces of berries or other fruit cut up, toast, crackers, cooked peas or other cut up veggies, beans cut in half, rice . . . I could go on and on. Most kids don't have their molars until over 12 months, so they have to gum any food they eat anyway. I was VERY nervous about choking, so I cut the pieces extremely small until I was comfortable she could figure out how chew and swallow without choking. Now she eats like a champ! Good luck.

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Hi, T.. How about different fruit, like maybe pear or peach/watermelon. I would try different fruit, as some infants have definite preferences for certain textures...
When your child has a few more teeth, go for the Gerber veggie puffs, they are a great snack, they practically melt in the mouth, but I think your child needs to be a bit older, you can check with the pediatrician on that...I don't exactly remember how old our son (now 3) was when we started giving him those. He loved the corn and sweet potato flavors.
good luck!!

S.

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My 9 month old has no teeth and the pedi. told me to start giving her Cheerios and other small things like that. Those foods get mashed with the gums any way since their molars do not come in until they are much older. She said they have so much saliva that it desolves very quickly. Just don't walk away from her while giving her finger foods. I have been offering these things to her for weeks now and she has yet to put any in her mouth: Cheerios, banana, apples, carrots, puffs.... Keep offering her a variety of foods and eventually she will try them and like them.

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Here are some foods my 6month-one year old really dug (all are cooked/mashed or pureed with a blender)
> yams - dont add anything they are so good by themselves!
> avocado - must be ripe
> steamed/boiled spinach, kale, or other greens- yes, really.
> red lentils
> carrots
> squash (butternut or other orange-fleshed winter squash)

SNACK food? Go with cooked or frozen peas! Frozen peas are a fave of teethers. They cant choke on them. Also cook up chopped carrots, peas, yam into chunks.

Get this book from the library or buy it - Super Baby Food. Forget the author. It has tons of ideas for stuff like this (also got my son's first birthcake recipe from there. sweetened only with fruit juice and the adults actually couldt get enough :)

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Hi T.,

I have to agree with Dr Susan. I can't see the need for an infant to have "snacks." When my kids were babies under a year, they never had snacks, never had a teething cookie, never had those jarred baby "desserts" - just because something is sold doesn't mean it's necessary or good.

At under a year, the primary source of nutrition for babies is their milk - preferably breastmilk but otherwise formula. Food is a supplement. It doesn't have the nutrition that they need so it should be offered only after their milk and not fill them up so that their milk intake is diminished. At 8 months, two or three meals of babyfood whether jarred or homemade, is really all the solids that a baby needs.

I'm way past the baby stage - my kids are 12 and 8, and I work in an elementary school. There is a huge problem with children being overweight and having bad eating habits. I'd suggest not starting off at 8 months old giving your daughter the idea that she needs to eat snacks throughout the day. I see so many kids who over do the snacks and parents who are allowing/encouraging it.

Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

in the baby section there are SOOOO many things. my mother used to give me arrow root cookies to chew on, but they've changed a bit since then. there are certain cookies that almost look like the kinds of oval HARD cookie some people like to dunk in their coffee...my daughter loved them, helped cut her gums really good when teething and soothed the pain. there's also ones i think are called teether cookies. you can give her fruit puffs...those are great, come in all different fruit AND some veggie flavors. i think the absolute best are the dried fruit. i think their more freeze dried, then actually dried. they remind me of 'astronaut food', but my daughter used to go crazy over them! once you feel comfortable gerber also makes 'puffs' not only in cheese flavor, but a few others, though i didn't give much of them to my daughter. and maybe in a couple months you can give her those fruit bars, both cereal fruit bars, and the fruit bars that are like fruit roll ups...but by gerber, and i think it says 100% natural fruit. but there are so many snacks out there that are actually pretty good, just look at the labels. oh, and i used to give my daughter the fruit purees all the time for snacks.

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Hi T.!
I would try the Gerber Puffs my daughter loved them at that age and they melt so no worries, also try the Gerber Carrots they are good too!
Found this on Babycenter!! Love that site!
• Small amounts of soft pasteurized cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese (but no cows' milk until age 1)
• Iron-fortified cereals (rice, barley, wheat, oats, mixed cereals)
• Mashed fruits and vegetables (bananas, peaches, pears, avocados, cooked carrots, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes)
• Finger foods (lightly toasted bagels, cut up; small pieces of ripe banana; well-cooked spiral pasta; teething crackers; low-sugar O-shaped cereal)
• Small amounts of protein (egg yolk, pureed meats and poultry; tofu; well-cooked and mashed beans with soft skins like lentils, split peas, pintos, black beans)

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You can put all kinds of soft foods into one of those neato feeder bags (they have a handle kind of like a gient pacifier). Babies can hold it themselves and you don't have to worry about choking. Banana was actually a big hit with my daughter but only in the bag. Also, sweet potato goes in it nicely.

I've also found that if I kept offering my baby (now a two year old who is a pretty decent eater) things she didn't like for a bit, she'll come around eventually and add it in to her repetoire.

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Gerber makes these fruit and veggie puffs that are great. they are star shaped and are fairly healthy, not too much sugar.

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crusty bread, mushed beans (high protein), steamed(soft) whole carrot or sliced peaches or sliced apples or long chunks of sweet potato (most steamed to softness veg or fruit would work).

These were and are my daughters favs.
enjoy.

(We don't eat any processed foods, only whole foods, so I wouldn't know about anything that could be store bought if that is what you are looking for. Sorry.)

1 mom found this helpful

Cheerios is one of the best finger foods for that age, with or without teeth! They get soft right away in the mouth from the saliva and they are easily chewed with the gums! Helps baby learn hand eye coordination (picking up the cheerios from the tray with two fingers and putting them into mouth) They are fortified with vitamins and minerals, they are whole grain! Start the cheerios now since older they are more chance they will be picky and not like them!

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Anna is 8 months with her two bottom teeth. The cheerios work great and she loves feeding them to herself. You can split the cheerio in half if you prefer. Give them a try yourself without using your teeth and you'll notice they disolve into mush pretty fast. (I tried this because I had the same thoughts you did).

Anna gave her strangest face of all to her first experience of bananas, but really likes them now. She loves pieces of bread and cheese! We've also started pieces of soft fruit, veggies, and pastas. I think she really likes that we share our meals. She gets a piece of cheese, then I get a piece of cheese. Then she starts trying it herself. I also tell her what each item is and sign it (if I know that particular sign). The interaction seems to make her more interested.

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You might think of avocado and peeled grapes. Also, whole grain toast in bite sized pieces. At my whole foods, there is a product called baby mum mums, and they are rice based and melt in the babies mouth.

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I have given my 11 month old cheerios for months, I think even before she got teeth (she currently has three teeth). I think she sucks them so they get soft pretty quickly. I also give her Graduates Finger foods, they are a little softer than cheerios. You can buy them in the baby food aisle. The woman who watches my girls first told me about them, I probably never would have known about them. I also give her Zweibecks now, she really just sucks them but they're great because they last for hours! We actually give her most of what eat, we just cut everything up very small! She also likes blueberries (although they don't seem to get digested!) and grapes and Yo Baby yogurt.

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She should definitely be able to manage cheerios, wheat puffs, yogurt, gerber puffs, crackers, etc. She can gum things, doesn't need to be able to chew them. Good luck!

C.
Mommy to Jessie, Katie and Julia
www.TimetoChangetheDiapers.com
Adorable, affordable cloth diapers and reusable items for babies, kids and Moms!

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Avocado! It's goes down easy, digests easy and is really good for them! Hard-boiled egg yolk and white can be good too. Good for brain development. The yolk maybe easier to eat first. Dried apple rings are great if you monitor them. Make sure they're just sucking not swallowing the whole thing. Do you have one of those mesh sucky things? You can put anything in the bag part then screw the back on and they suck through the mesh. No choking worries.

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My 12 month old daughter still only has 2 teeth so I understand your concerns. She loves Arrowhead Mills rice puff cereal. She practices feeding herself and they pretty much dissolve in her mouth.

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Hi T.. At 8 months, your daughter can definitely manage Cheerios (and they are good for her small motor skills, too). I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and at 8 months, she was eating Cheerios, bagel chips (not bagels, too sticky and gagged her), apple sauce, graham crackers, bits of pancakes (although very small pieces), waffles (she'd really just mash it in her mouth, more like a lollipop). She also ate yogurt (plain with a tiny bit of sugar). Hope that helps. Let her have some fun with the Cheerios, they sell books at all major bookstores that actually let the kids play with their Cheerios (for example, you can place the Cheerios on the page to make the wheels on a car).

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My daughter is 10 mo. old, and she only has 2 teeth on the bottom as well. She eats pieces of toast (lightly toasted), turkey, and string cheese broken into small pieces, canteloupe, blueberries and grapes (cut up very small-be sure to cut them into at least 4 pieces rather than having a circular piece, to avoid choking), pancakes, french toast, waffles, applesauce, dole fruit cups, yogurt (and you can throw pieces of diced fruit into it), cottage ch. mixed w. applesauce, pasta (mixed w /a pinch of butter or olive oil), and some veggies, etc. I try to stay away from hard things like crackers, goldfish, etc., however, she does fine w/ cheerios. You might want to try breaking them in half until she gets the hang of them, or mixing a few into her yogurt, or putting some in a bowl w/ some of her formula (to soften them).

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My 9 month old also only has 2 bottom teeth and loves those fruit puffs by Gerber, they disolve very quickly. She also likes the dried fruit also by Gerber and any kind of cracker. Frozen fruit cut up into small pieces is good, it melts rather quickly and helps with teething too!

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My son didn't have ANY teeth until 13 months. He ate everything, cherios, plums, water melons, rice, and even chicken and steak. They can gum just about anything, just make sure the pieces are small enough.

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My daughter is 7 1/2 months and has two teeth. I give her an arrowroot biscuit for a snack along with some puffs. The National Arrowroot cookies are found in the cookie aisle of the grocery store (not with the baby stuff). They are made with the type of flour that disolves in water, so it pretty much melts in her mouth. She loves them. My daughter seems to mash whatever I give her with her gums (of course they are small enough not to choke). The puffs are in the baby section, and they too melt in the mouth. I give her that along with the sippy cup of water and she loves it.

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Hi T., I recently went through that with my daughter...she is 10 months now. I was so scared to give her anything because she only had the two bottom teeth. She didn't like the texture of bananas and would make weird faces when I gave her mashed potatos. She loved the baby food sweet potatos though, so I bought her the little Puffs (sweet potato flavor) that Gerber makes. They dissolve in the mouth so they aren't a problem. You could also try pieces of peaches and apples (canned). They say not to give these things to your child before 9 months because they haven't developed the pincer grasp...but I gave them to mine early (8-8 1/2 mnths) and she developed her pincer grasp early. Hope this helps!

M.

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scrambled egg, crackers dissolve rather quickly, yogurt, smushed banana, canned mandarin oranges (mush easily in mouth), corn meal mush, soggy cheerios if you're concerned about her biting/choking on them.

I try anything that is soft and easily moved around my little guys mouth. He got a lot of teeth quickly (he has 4 top, 2 bottom at 9.5 mos old) and he's really starting to get a knack for moving the food around his mouth and "chewing". He still gags once in awhile, but they are pretty resilient and it pops up easily. Of course, watch her while she eats to make sure she doesn't choke. He's had french toast pieces, whole wheat pancake pieces, toast, teething biscuits, cheerios, soggy honey comb cereal, homemade applesauce, banana, pudding, cottage cheese. I still maintain baby cereal and baby jarred foods to make sure he's getting enough, but playing with foods and tastes is such a fun way for them to experiment with their world. Have fun! Make it soggy with formula for her and watch what she does!

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Hi:
My 9-1/2 month old daughter doesn't have any teeth yet (I'm so upset about that, but I can't do anything but wait), but she still "gums" cheerios, puffs, pancackes, waffles, and goldfish. Even though your daughter has 2 lower teeth, I've heard infants don't really use those teeth anyway to actually "chew" food--they still "gum" it. Good luck.

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Hi Terri,

Gerber Puffs are great! They melt right in their mouths! Cheerios are okay too, they dissolve pretty easily and because of the hole in the middle, a baby can never choke on them.

M. Targi
Area Manager
Arbonne International
www.mariatargi.myarbonne.com
"The products will change your skin and the opportunity will change your life!"

1 mom found this helpful

Gerber Puffs, found right with the baby food are great! They are softer and mush up better than cheerios, these were actually the first snack I ever gave my daughter, she is two and a half now and still loves them!

Zwiebeck bread is another I gave my daughter at that age.

Keep trying with bananas, they are so healthy.

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I have 5 children-my youngest 11 months old. She has four teeth but still chokes very easily. just a few suggestions in which I give to my daughter----I will put cheerios in milk and let them get soggy and then give them to her. she can easily gum them and loves them. Cheese--but I will take little pieces and squeeze them in my fingers until they are mushy. yogurt, pudding , cottage cheese, and gerber puffs--there is different flavors(cherry,banana)--they almost melt in the mouth so when she gums them they kind of dissapear( i tried them myself first to make sure she wouldnt choke. First couple times I gave them to her she did gag a little but then got use to the idea she couldnt just swallow them.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi there!! My twins likes the Gerber Graduates Finger Foods (crunchy little puffs that look like stars and dissolve in their months.) I used to break them up when they were 8 months. Also by Gerber there are veggies puffs called Little Crunchies that dissolve also but not as fast. Organic or regular mini fruits or mini veggies are dried fruits and veggies. None of these are very high in sugar or salt. Look on the back of the box and it will give you the guidlines if the child is ready or not. I used to give them bread (white and wheat )also. keep trying the banana..tastes change. Hope this helped.

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we have been giving our 11 month old little pieces of LARA BARS for 3 months. She LOVES them-- probably because the dates are sweet. They do contain nuts (no peanuts) but they are chopped up so small they just go down.

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Try puffs--they come in fruit and veggie flavors. My son loved them!

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Try one of those mesh feeders. I thought they were great. You can put anything in it and not have to worry about large pieces getting in your child's mouth. I found the gerber products to be pretty good (the puffs) similar size to Cherios (so they can work on the pincer grasp) but dissolve very quickly in their mouth. Even anisette toast worked pretty well for me. They can't really bite it without any teeth, just suck on it until it starts to fall apart in their mouth. You should always watch them when they eat, but be esp. watchful with the anisette toast.

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Hi! I used to give my kids little pieces of whole wheat bread with jam on it. Also, if your doctor has ok'd cheese, the little laughing cow squares are great. You can try blueberries too--if you're worried about choking, just smoosh them a little.

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You could try blue berries, grapes cut in half, Cheerios -one or two at a time- The baby isle has these little melt away snacks.

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Check out the Gerber fruit puffs - they melt in your their mouth! http://www.gerber.com/prodcat?catid=524
They have different flavors - Strawberry & Banana, Sweet Potato, etc. My daughter loved them!!

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Try the toddler puffs in the baby food aisle. They dissolve the second they hit the saliva in her mouth so there's very little fear of choking. Lots of different flavors too.

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Hi Teri
my boy Leo is the same age as your wee one and only has two bottom teeth as well. For finger food we give him toast fingers,( remove the crust) and he loves it he likes to suck on it prpbaly as its soft and the butter we also give cottage cheese curds and bits of hard cooked egg yolk and cantaloupe a piece with the rind still on that he can pick up easily this is a winner I always sit with him while he is eating as he sometimes stores the food in his mouth and I have to get it out. Hope this helps

Best
K.

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