What Should a 9 Month-old Eat?

I always keep frozen veggies, instant potatoes and soups on hand. Pasta, and fruit are also great. But it is important to sit with her as a family at least once a week. It will help her social skills, manners and its important later on for a way of having time to talk to her about the important things. I have 4 kids going from 1 to 10, my huisband and I work different shifts but we make at least one night a week family dinner night. The food doesn't matter, its the time we spend with then discussing there week, teaching the right way to use silverware or just laughing at each other.

Sorry back on subject. At her age whatever she is comfortable eating is always fine, try different things but keep soft stuff on hand. Especially quick to make stuff.

I have found this website to be very helpful during the different eating stages of my little girl. http://www.earthsbest.com/baby_nutrition/feeding_schedule...

Hope this helps.

L.

Hello C.. It sounds like your little girl is doing great. It seems that since she is eating crackers she is old enough for other 'table food' such as Cheerios (which mine start eating at 4 months when they first start to teeth) or the other baby finger foods. I also wonder if your little one is drinking any water. With my now 4 y.o she didn't drink much water as a baby and she still doesn't. My now 15 month old LOVES to drink water and I gave it to her often instead of juice starting at 3 months. Also, you might want to start getting into the habbit of eating together; in about a year it will get to be very important for your entire family and a great bonding time when she is older. Once you start that, you can always give her little bites of everyones food and put it on her tray to try when she is ready. Just remember, that alot of times babies have to try something 4 or more times on different days before they actually eat it, so don't give up, just keep offering her things. Best of Luck!

HI,

I also have a nin month od. He drinks about 22 ounces of formula a day. Also for breakfast he has 1/4 cup of cereal and a container of stage 2 fruit. FOr lunch 1/4 cup of cereal and a container of veggies. For dinner, he has 1/2 of meat, 1/2 of fruit, 1/2 of veggies, and some yogurt (soy). We also give him crackers bread, and recently tried some very mushy pasta, he loved it. I think the rule of thumb at this age is bottles, three meals and fill them with variety until they are full.

Although it is not so impoartnat now, you might want to think about having a family dinner. It is an art form lost to our generation, but I have many happy memories of family dinners from when I was young. It supports good eating habits and family communication.

Not to be mean, but now is the time to try to get in the habit of family meals. Meal time can be the most rewarding family time!!! Your little one seems to be eating well, but she will soon need the normal table foods. If she has teeth, she could be eating most cooked veg, potatoes, spagetti, other pastas, cooked rice. There are a lot of soft meals you can cook very quickly that is still good for the whole family at this point.

I do know it can be very hard to get a meal on the table when you are a working mom/dad. I work M-F 8-4:30 (getting home around 5-5:30), with bed time around 8 for 2 of the 4 kids - it doesn't leave much time to play, cook, clean, eat and give bathes. But the younger you start the little ones on eating right as a family - the less you have a chance of a picky eater.

Sorry if I stepped over the line - I just feel strongly about mealtime, and so far I haven't had any issues with picky eaters. And have lots of people ask me my secret on how I get my 2, 3 & 13 yr olds to eat so many things. The baby (5 1/2 mo) has just started eating baby foods and cereals - but he does sit at the table with us most night at dinner time, and if we are eating mashed potatoes - he eats them too.

Please take care and good luck!!

As others have said, let the baby lead you, start regular foods that aren't round and smooth (choking hazards) or that have high allergy rates (peanuts(butter), dairy until 1y/o, egg whites etc). Most importantly start making time for that family meal, or at least one of the two of you sit and eat your dinner with your child. They play monkey see-monkey do. So if you eat while your running around the house and doing a million things, she is going to think that when she is able to eat on her own she can eat and run around the house and do a million things. We started very young with putting my son in a high chair while everyone ate, even if it wasn't time for him to eat. Little puffs/cherrios would go on his tray and he would sit in the high chair with us at the table. Now dinner is a joy, it's a time for us to talk about his day and listen to each other stories. He knows he has to sit there, and doesn't fight about anything because dinner is not the place for it, and he has learned that throw experience of watching us. This has also helped with eating out, because he learned early how to sit and wait for food, and enjoy time together. It is proven through studies to set up better eating habits for life also! :) Enjoy!

C.- what does the daycare feed the infants? You may want to ask them for some healthy suggestions. It's hard to advise you because you didn't mention whether your daughter has teeth, and if so, how many. This plays a huge factor in what you can begin to introduce to her. Baby food is nice, but not very nutritious! Because I do not know if she is actually able to chew, I would suggest boiling some carrots and peas,(make sure the carrots are really soft!),mashed potatoes, even some well cooked chicken in a food processor with a little water is good- remember to keep the foods soft allowing easy digestion and eliminating the possibility of choking. Remember, you don't want to introduce too many different types of foods- as some children can have severe food allergies! So be careful to introduce one new food item at a time, most pediatrician suggest that you try one item for at least a whole week before introducing something new. I hope this helps!:0

Just remember that every child is different, and is at different stages of readiness for eating. I can share with you what I do with my 9 month old, but your pediatrician may be a better source of information.

Our child, too, is in daycare so he is on a pretty decent eating schedule. It looks something like this:

6:30 - at home, 6 oz bottle with 4T of rice cereal or a stage 3 jar of oatmeal

11:15 - at dc, lunch 6 oz bottle with 1/2-1 jar of stage 3 dinner

4:15 - at dc, dinner 6 oz bottle with veggies or fruit

6:45 - at home, 8 oz bottle (bedtime)

We also have daycare give him snacks of Cheerios and Gerber puffs (although, these are mostly for developing the pincer grasp and self-feeding skills) or basically anything that is soft, can be mushed, and finger fed - we don't want the 'table food' to be fed to him, he should be able to do it himself. On the weekends when we are feeding him, we have fed him cut up pancakes, scrambled egg yolk, regular applesauce, bananas, mangoes, papaya, peaches, really soft spiral pasta - basically anything that isn't "round and smooth" on the outside. Fortunately for us, our baby has definitely shown signs of readiness and has eaten just fine without becoming a big ole chunker!

If your baby is eating crackers, you may be able to start introducing other things. Follow her lead and only do small bits at a time. Avoid honey, egg whites, peanut butter, dairy items, and foods that could cause choking (peanuts, hot dogs, popcorn, apples, grapes). As I always say, get the blessing of your pediatrician since he or she knows how your child has developed and progressed.

Hi C.!

I struggled with the same thing when my son was that age. I was worried about servings, how much fruit and vegetables he needed, and the right amount of protein. My pediatrician reminded me that at 9 months he was still getting ALL his nutrition from his formula. The point of introducing table food is for practice and to start social skills. But he definately wanted my son to start table food at 9 months.

So I did as the doctor said! I started with yogurt, noodles, and moved my son into Stage 3 food to get used to chunky foods and meat. By 11 months, he was completely on table food, but that is also because he had all of his teeth by then and could chew everything up. He loved diced fruit, green beans, and hot dogs. He also started to only eat when all of us ate. If no one else was eating, he wouldn't eat!

I don't like vegetables. I know, I know. I'm a bad example! But I just can't stand them besides salads. I keep frozen vegetables at all times and cook a serving for my son to go along with whatever we're having. I am very anal about my son getting his fruit and veggie servings (how ironic!). So I do fruit and yogurt for breakfast, protein and vegetable for lunch, and protein, fruit, and vegetable at dinner. So that's his 5 a day. I started that routine early, before 9 months, with his baby food, minus the protein.

I hope you find something that works for you and your family! Good luck!