Looking for Sample Menu's for My 10 Month Old

Hi A.,

I made both of my children's food myself. What i did was start with veggies, and just steamed them. I woudl then mash them up, with a little of the steaming water, if needed, and put the mush into icecube trays. I woudl freeze the cubes, empty them into freezer bags, and then do it all over again. I found to start 1 cube was ok, then slowly worked up to three or four cubes. As my kids got older, i would mix and match cubes, so that they would get a variety of flavors, and foods in their diet. Fruits are also good to do this way, apples and pears can be made into apple sauce, bananas just need to be squished. Avocado was my daughter's first food, i just put it in the bowl and mashed it up. She loved it. I also used ot sometimes mix the cubes with a little baby cereal. There is a pasta called semilina (i think)that is very small, adn is good for little kids like your daughter.

Remember, only introduce one food at a time to start. Give at least 5 days between foods, so there is ample time to see fi there is an allergy. Avoid eggs, and citrus.

YOu can also do meats like hte veggies, if you want. Use a food processor and blend the meat to a mush. I personally never did that, though, as it just didnt seem appealing to me.

Any potatoes are good, you can just mash them up like regular, only without the milk, butter and seasonings.

If your child is already eating the mashed up foods, then you can start giving her steamed veggies and fruits, but cut them into little bites. Canned peas are also great, just try to get the no salt added kind. Frozen peas and carrots work well also.

hope that helped.

liz

My son is 13 mo and for the past 3 months his menu has been like so: (FYI-we only use organic ingredients and food)

Breakfast:
-nurse 20 minutes, 1 local farm egg over easy made with coconut oil, sprouted grain toast, 15 blueberries or 1/2 banana
-steel cut oatmeal, nurse, 1/2 container sheeps milk yogurt
-1/2 cup heritage o's, 10 raspberries, nurse

Lunch:
-1/2 can wild sardines, 1/2 cup frozen peas
-home made soup (chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, parsnips, squash, peppers, eggplant, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley)
-brown rice and black beans, steamed brussels sprouts
-quinoa, boiled red cabbage, watermelon

SNACK:
-whole wheat crackers
-1/2 cup home made old fashioned popcorn (*cut up)
-spelt noodles
-rice cake

Dinner:
Roasted Chicken, steak, salmon, etc, veggies, whole grain
(small bites of whatever we have for dinner)

NO DESSERTS, NO SUGAR

I see you are a working mom, so you probably are looking for ideas that are easy to incorporate into your baby's diet without too much fuss. Here are some ideas, just remember to cut everything up small at first:

soft cooked veggies
fruit cups or fresh fruit cut small (soft is better)
cottage cheese mixed with applesauce or Breakstone's singles are great for traveling/daycare
meatballs
ravioli or stuffed shells
peas and carrots from a can (or any beans)
mozzarella cheese sticks cut up with crackers
waffles/french toast/eggs/pancakes
fish sticks
chicken nuggets
grilled cheese
cream cheese and jelly sandwich
macaroni and cheese or sauce
drained soup, homemade is best (less salt)
quiche
rice
hamburgers w/grated veggies inside

Basically anything you eat, you can cut small enough for the baby to try. My first was eating pizza really young! Good luck!

look at wholesomebabyfood.com.

my daughter also eats lots of canned beans (rinsed), sometimes tofu, meatballs, and anything we eat that isn't too spicy or a choking hazard.

Just cut up anything you are eating into small pieces. The harder or tougher the food the smaller the pieces. Depends on how many teeth she has as well. It also helps to over cook (to make it softer), such as carrots, string beans etc. Canned vegetables with no sodium work well if short on time. I like to cut up cantaloupe, string cheese (mine not taking much milk lately), yo baby yogurt, gerber graduates (stage 3 really limited), penne pasta (cooked well, cut into quarters), chicken nuggets, meatballs, bananas, all melons, the diced fruit in a cup(no sugar added), and even pizza. I usually cut everything into about the size of a frozen carrot cube in the mixed vegetables. He loves the pizza bagels as he just knaws on them and the same with half a corn on the cob.

When my son was that age, I just started giving him things like french toast, pancake, little bits of chicken, peas, baked potato, pretty much anything I was eating. As he was sitting there eating the finger foods, I'd spoonfeed some baby food into him as well. He's 14 mos now and I still occasionally spoon feed him baby foods while he eats, just because I need to get rid of it! Anyway here's a sample menu that I did:
Breakfast:
French toast and applesauce

Lunch:
Cream cheese on wheat bread, or jelly toast
Yobaby Yogurt

Dinner:
Little bits of chicken and some corn or sweet potatoes
I'd also try and spoon something else into him, like a veggie while he sat there.

Let me know if you need any other ideas! You can email me off the boards.
Good luck!
Lynsey

Hi A., My son refused to eat anything baby food/pureed/fed to him after 8 months. We never got to stage 3 foods (our daycare doesn't do them anyway). I just started offering him food that we were eating and he dug right in. He hasn't had baby food since, and at the time, until about 12 months, he loved everything we gave him. He's pickier now, but that comes with the territory! I would just recommend you start to chop up everything you are eating and start to experiment - but let her feed herself. I'm sure you know not to offer peanut butter or honey at this stage. We introduced peanut butter at 1 year with no issues (we have no family history of any food allergies). Good luck and have fun!

My advice, invest in good knives!!! My son was such a little foodie at 6 months old, that I cooked like never before! If she's interested just start having her try what you eat, just chop it up. Sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, meatballs(his favorite), pasta, sauce, apples, omelets. You can cube up just about anything and steam it a little to make it soft. I would add a little garlic, onion, cinnamon, etc. to add flavors to his diet. Lay off the salt, they don't need it and don't know any better. If she resists vegtables for a little while, puree them into pasta sauce or hide them in a cheese omelet! Happy cooking!

A.,
Start giving her soft food from your plate. You don't want to make it a habit to have her eating from your plate, but it will give you a good idea what she can handle. I would also encourage her to pick up finger foods so she can feed herself. Banana's in bite size form are good for this, as are egg yolks, which are safe (not the whites, just the yolk). Thick mashed potatoes rolled into small balls also work, but tend to be a little messy. This will get her used to foods that have a little more substance to them. You will be amazed how fast she picks up on eating real food, and soon you will be able to give her almost anything that you eat.

Good Luck,
C. Thomson