Finfer Foods for 9 Month Olds

My baby is nine months old too and we started to give finger foods about a month or so ago. I wouldn't recommend Cherrios as they are hard and doesn't melt in the mouth as quickly as Star Puffs do. Break up the Star Puffs to start with as they might be too big at first. We also will give her pieces of bread, pieces of cooked pasta, apples bits, peach bits, really anything soft that we go down easily. We also will give her pieces of tortillas and rice crispies. Hope this helps!

P.

With my twins, we started with Cheerios and the Toddler star snacks or puffs. I also did chopped bananas and avocado, though those are harder for them to pick up, so often I would feed it to them. It was good practice for chewing, though. Then we moved on to Goldfish, pieces of bread, cheese, pasta, cooked veggies, fruit-whatever was around or we were eating. Grilled cheese became a favorite quickly.

As for how much and when-whatever and whenever they want. You don't want to stuff them, but if they are interested in eating (or even just playing with food), let them. That's how they learn. I start with a few pieces, then give them more when they are ready. Do watch them until you know how they eat-one of my kids likes to stuff his mouth, so I have to just give him a few pieces until he chews and swallows.

Cherrios are good. Gerber also has "star" snacks. They are great. They just dissolve in the mouth. Steamed peas, green beans, corn. Small pieces of string cheese or cheddar cheese. These are things my daughter loved when she first started eating finger foods. Also, see what recommendations your pediatritian has.

Start with Cheerios, they are easy to pick up and melt in their mouth. All my kids started with them.
C. B

I'd start with foods they've already had cooked soft and cut chunky. You can get them from Gerber or do it yourself. The Gerber Graduates are great, although expensive. I do use the puffs and others for on the go snacks as I can keep them in the diaper bag and they don't spoil. Frozen peas and corn were a favorite for our second. Ironically, he only eats fresh fruit and veggies to this day at almost 2. We just get our fruit a little overripe so it's soft enough for him without having to cook it. He did like Gerber's freeze dried products.

For snacks, do cheerios and puffs, and all the others that are mentioned and once they ":master" those, you can try baby goldfish. They are smaller than the originals and they love 'em!

I highly recommend the finger foods that Gerber has. They are great. I gave them to my now almost 4 year old son and plan on starting finger foods with my other son in just a couple of weeks.

Avocado and banana chunks smash easily in his little hands, but my 9 month old digs both of those. I also steamed sweet potatoes and cubed them about the size of a peanut and that went over well. I'm going to cut up steamed green beans next and then steamed carrots, then tofu, then elbow macaroni. Personally, I'm saving the processed "Puffs" for convenience while we're out, and here and there at home.

A.