Feeding My 8 1/2 Month Old Daughter

I think it would be fine. My daughter is 12mo. and she has just gotten her first teeth. We had issues with her and baby food because she wanted to hold the spoon herself. We had to hold her down to feed her, and that was just heartbreaking. I decided to just give her food we were eating. Fries, tiny pieces of soft chicken, bread, soft carrots, greenbeens..We started around month 7 or 8 and have had no problems. She loves food she can hold and put in her mouth herself. Just watch her and she'll be fine. Infact, my pediatrition told me she should atleast try everything (except honey and eggs) before she hit 1. Just dont give her more than one new thing a day and watch for allergies.

As long as you cut up everything about the size of cheereos, I don't see any harm in it. I did the same for my daughter, my son had a terrible gag reflex and only took babyfood til he was about 10 months. You can also buy the stage 3 baby food it has larger peices of food in it and if they're too big then cut them in half (doubt they will be). Those come in handy when you're out running errands and she's 'starving'.

As long as you're choices for the food you give her are healthy and full of the nutrients babies need, then if she can gum it she can have it. I've been doing childcare for over 4 yrs and have fed my children and others big people food in moderation and they've been fine. I think if it's cut small enough and has a soft-ish texture, she'll be fine. But, make sure it can break down easy and quick since she only has 2 teeth. You should probably be careful w/the types of protein since they are harder to break down in the mouth. Good luck :)

Hi K.,
I wouldn't give her anything too solid since she only has her two teeth and not her grinding(molars) teeth yet. She may not be able to chew up the chicken, no matter how small, and you wouldn't want it to get stuck to where she can't breath. If you want to feed her your chicken, that's fine but puree it in the blender, or grind it up as if you were to make a chicken salad. Soft food is better for now. Just to be on the safe side. The puff snacks and apple wheels actually melt in the mouth from the saliva of babies, so it's safe for them to eat those fake crunchy treats. :-) I call them fake since they melt right away in your mouth. LOL I gave my son cooked pasta twisties and he loved those when he was her age. Chicken noodle soup was one of his favorites. Without the chicken though because the chunks were too hard and big. I ate those. LOL Isn't it wonderful to see your children try new things and see their expressions on their face when they like something, or even dislike something. HA. When my son was old enough to have citrus, I had him try a lemon, and boy did he make a squirmy tart face! Ha ha ha ha...It was so funny to watch his expression turn from wanting so badly to try something new, to UGH MOM..ICKY face and his lips/mouth curled up! LOL. Just be careful what you give your wee one since she doesn't have many teeth to chew solids well enough. G.

Talk to your ped. You can give her anything that isn't a choking or allergy hazard. You can actually go to the library and get a homemade baby food book- it will give you some good ideas. At 1 year they tell you to be done with baby food and serve only real food so if your little one has teeth and they are small bites you should be good.
Good luck.

I have a 10 month old and we feed him food from our plates all the time. He has his baby food for breakfast, lunch then has a small dinner and when we sit down for our dinner we give him more food. Right now he especially loves watermelon. I have also given him cheese, grapes (you have to peel the grapes), cateloupe and more. Just make sure you cut it up to the size of cheerios. If it is a veggie make sure you cook it enough so that it is soft enough to gum, one tooth won't properly chew.
Hope this helps!
R.

Hi K. I gave both my children table when I saw that first tooth! I felt that my children ate better with table food then they did baby food.I guess it would be up to the parent what the best age to start,but both my children did just fine fresh veggies and fruits are the best way to start as well. She will LOVE all the new Food you offer her.Hope this helps you.

V.

If I were you, I would definitely ask your pediatrician, because mine says absolutely NO table foods until 1 year, no matter how many teeth they have. It's not the teeth that tell you wether a baby is ready, it's the digestive system. Just because they have teeth, doesn't mean that their body is ready to process foods. That's why there are 1st foods, 2nd foods, 3rd foods and Graduates for toddler. Gerber has done their research, and they know which kinds of foods that babies and toddlers can digest, and at what consistency.

SUPER BABY FOOD is a GREAT book. It gives you month to month what you can feed your child (for allergy & digestive purposes), ways you can make your OWN baby food (it's really easy!!) & easy recipes for toddlers. I always added cereal to my daughter's baby food to thicken it. I even did that to her applesauce up until over 2 cuz she always made such a mess with it. (I always bought in the 6 pk - not baby food applesauce). If you want to feed canned or prepkgd, I would make sure to get "no salt or sugar added" & rinse them (rinse the syrup off the peaches, etc.) They also make pacifiers" with netting - so you can put pieces of food in them, but not have to worry about choking on them. I used to put frozen fruit or ice cubes in them for teething. Don't feed them honey, any kind of berry (especially strawberry), egg whites (yolk is fine), tomato, citrus fruits & juices until they are a year (must have something to do with the high acid content. And if you have any food allergy, you may want to wait on that too. If she doesn't like any one particular food, keep trying. They say it can take a good dozen times before they like a food.

She doesn't really even need teeth to eat that stuff. So long as it is soft enough that they can gum it, I say go for it. Canned vegetables are great because they are so soft. My son definitely loved them! My son had trouble with meat for a while because it's hard to eat when you only have a couple of front teeth (if you think about it, we chew it with our molars), but you can certainly offer it to her (very small pieces, mind you). My son used to chew on it (kinda like gum) for a while and then spit it out. Still, he was introduced to the taste and the texture, so I figured it was OK. Try lunch meat too. It's easier to chew.

Ultimately, you know your kid and only you can know when she's ready. You can ask your pediatrician, but they don't know your daughter as well as you (and in my opinion they have a tendency to generalize) so follow your gut. Waiting until a year sounds ridiculous to me unless your child has special medical considerations. By the time my son was a year old, he wasn't eating any baby food anymore. It was all the "real" stuff.