Finger Food for 8 Month Old

My boys were the same way! So independent!

I did avacados, grapes, bananas, cheese, pasta, canned fruit, canned veggies, whole wheat bagel. After they got better I did yogurt, large curd cottage cheese. It wasn't long before I simply made myself a bigger meal and "shared" it with them. I would put them in a booster seat at the table, rather than a high chair near the table, sit down next to them and put some of my food in front of them. When that food was gone, I gave them some more.

After I got used to eating this way, I found it was so much easier (and faster) than spoon feeding them baby food!

Enjoy!

Maybe avoid shellfish too until she's O..

Otherwise, just make sure it's small & soft enough NOT to be a choking hazard.

Toast, Cheerios, small soft cooked veggies, soft fruits, puffs, rice, noodles, tiny little soft chicken bits.....

I remember giving my son soft cut-up fruits, such as peaches, pears and bananas. The Dole brand has great cups with diced-up fruit and they are really soft for the little ones! I would also try cheese, toast, cooked veggies like carrots (make sure they are very soft), etc. Just use your imagination and begin giving her a variety of foods! :) My kids also loved yogurt and applesauce!

Avocado, semi-mashed potatoes (sweet too!), various dry cereals, banana slices (my kids did better when I rolled them in graham cracker crumbs, they could pick the slices up easier), soft breads, rice, small bits of nutri-grain bars, applesauce pouches and mango.

Don't forget pieces of banana and avacado. I found that if I looked hard I could find canned and jarred fruit that was packed in pear juice instead of corn syrup. And I did feed my son fresh blueberries, grapes, and strawberries, just cut very small. Our doctor was fine with us trying all kinds of foods (except honey) since there are no allergies in our family. You might want to ask your ped. We found that the advice we got was different than what was given to my sister in law only two years earlier.

Multi-grain Cheerios
canned mixed veggies (soft and finger size)
canned fruit cocktail (soft and finger size)
jelly sandwich cut up
ham & cheese sandwich cut up
micro ravioli (or mini cut in half), rinsed to save mess
bananas cut
mandarin oranges cut
canned sweet potatoes, warmed and cut

Anything that she can hold herself and makes sense to eat, not spicy, sugary or messy. This is a practice time for her to eat. She is getting all of her nutrition from her 21oz of formula a day so this time until she's a year old and switches to cow's milk is a learning time to see what she likes, introduce her to new foods and letting her practice raking, pinching and chewing and swallowing food. By the time she's a year old she'll be having 3 meals a day like everyone else and a morning and afternoon snack, milk with each 3 meals and juice/water mix at snack.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

My girls were both on table food by the time they were 8 months. The gerber graduates makes diced carrots, green beans, meat sticks, which are super soft and look really gross, but kids like them, and ravioli. Cereal bars are good but rather messy, so be ready. All kinds of pasta, cooked veggies-gerber also makes some freeze dried fruits and veggies that my kids liked. If you use regular canned fruits and veggies, check the sodium kids that age should only have 1000mg per day. Also no chocolate until age one-can cause choc allergy-or so I've heard.