What to Feed a 7 1/2 Mo. Old?

I have a 7.5 month old as well. I've given her a graham cracker which she choked on so now I'm sticking to softer items.
Mashed potatoes
Cheese
Cottage cheese
Smooshed green beans
Smooshed carrots
Yogurt
Chicken very small pieces

Basically my doctor told me to give her table foods at 6 months of age. I still give her baby food for dinner and I share some of my food. I do give her the dairy but in small amounts and it seems to be fine with her. Usually doctors tell you no dairy until they are one years old. Take it or leave it advice. For DD #1 I followed it to a T this time I want to see how it affects her before I change her diet etc.

Hi
Soft fruits are easy to give this time of year. I let them get nice and ripe. I have given my now 9 month old bananas, kiwi, mango (can be bought frozen), avacado, pears without skin, honey dew melon, blueberries, yo baby yogurt(a lot less sugar), rice pudding (sugar free), shredded cheese, pasta, special K, toast, vegtables cooked till they are fairly soft.
Hope this helps
A.

My son is 8 mo. old and I'd been wondering the same thing about the milk. My Ped. recommended 24-30 ounces until age one.

Hi N.,

I have 8 month old twins, and they always eye our food too, however, I suggest not giving into temptation just yet. What your doing right now seems perfect. If he's eyeing your food, give some of his food - with the exception listed below.

Adults usually have a very adapted taste to salt, sugars, and fats (specifically BUTTER here)- which babies don't have yet. The foods you've listed above are generally low in those ingredients - fruits being the exception but are "natural," so ok. The sooner you expose him to our high salt, sugar, and fat diet, the more likely he will be to crave those ingredients in high amounts later in life. I would (and plan to) stick to the basics for at least a year - or give him foods off of your plate that you know are low in the above ingredients - salts and sugars perticularly.

I liked the other posting of giving carrots and green beans - even if from canned, as an idea but with one modification. All canned food contain a high amount of salt OR a high amount of corn syrup for preservation and/or flavor. As nasty as it sounds to us - rinse/soak those food in water so it draws out some of those ingredients. Your son won't know the difference and if you put it on your plate before hand - he'll think he's getting some of your food.

With regards to milk, it's recommended that you don't give straight cows milk until they are over a year. I applaud you on being able to pump this long, as I gave it up a few months ago and we use formula now. So if your tired of pumping, you could try that. Otherwise, our ped and the resources I read all say that the milk is their main nutrient-provider for the first year.

Don't worry. It won't be long and our society will get him used to lots of salt, sugars, and butter, so there is no need rush into it now.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I have twins who are now 6 years old (a boy - Hunter & a girl - Cierra). When they were little they transitioned from formula right into real food. They too wanted to eat what we had on our plates. Their favorite food was avocadoes and they still love them to this day. They are really good for you - especially for children. Some other things that worked well was mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, mushed up peas, very well steamed baby carrots whole (finger food - they love to feed themselves), cottage cheese, yogurt, (well ripened) bananas, very ripe large strawberries (again they can hold themselves). These were all some of my kids favorites. Have fun experimenting!

From a proud mommy of 2 ages nearly 3 and 1 and a 1/2.
My son was on table food (adult food) at 6 months if he wants the food on your plate give it to him, just make sure you keep away from possible alergys that you may have as well as family because he could have them too. My son was also drinking out of sippys at this age just regular crappy cheap sippys from Wal-Mart. Start cutting back the bottles and use juice, LIGHTLY, in the morning use it in the oatmeal instead of breast/formula thats what I did also. Like I said above just keep the food safe, and bite sized pieces, also i dont know if you give hot dogs or not, BUT we found out from experience and our doctor that they can choak on them easier by cutting them up. So give whole hot dogs if you give them at all. As far as breakfast keep it simple. like you already are doing just add a fruit along with a whole grain item and some milk in a sippy. We transitioned our son slowly breakfast bottles were the 1st to go, and so on till he was off completly, 1st night with out a bottle was a nightmare, but they get over it quickly. Children are amazingly fast learners, with in a couple of days he will get the concept of the sippy and will love it. The only reason I'm a hard core sippy fanatic is because bottles are shown to give kids teeth problems, expecially if offerd juice in them. Also the milk that doctors dont want your childrent to have cows milk before 1 is kind of a crock of poo to me, Formula is cows milk just doctored up. I also started this early, at about 7-8 months just 1 cup a day after he ajusted to the diffrence from milk to formula. Just think 2 steps ahead of them and you can and WILL do fine!

Hi N. - I say if he is interested, go for it by increasing his diet. Still give him the rice cereal and Cheerios and gradually increase breads in small pieces. Another thing I did with my daughter, probably about that age was taking canned carrots, peas, and green beans (cutting up if necessary) and allowing her to pick up on her own and self feed. She wanted to self feed and it tasted better to her (i presume). A can of diced carrots or peas was way cheaper than baby food too. you can take a can and separate out into meal servings, freezing in smaller containers for another meal so they don't go to waste. 50-75 cents a can and can make 3-4 meals

ahhh Marquette, MI....lots of good snowmobiling there! LOL

Anyways....7 mos old and table food......I would try things like cooked carrots and green beans...can just do canned...don't even need to cook really...cut up and if he can't pick the pieces up well, give him one into his mouth eery now and then so he can eat it while he try to get one in his hands..work on those fine motor skills. Bananas, pears, maybe mandarin oranges..all these cut up of course to avoid choking...maybe some noodles (my dd loved mac and cheese and spaghetti at a young age and it was funny to see her chase those noodles around on the tray of her highchair but had to handfeed her one every now and then to avoid the frustration!)

We alwasy tried to make sure at least one thing we ate for dinner was something we could modify or cut and give to her. This got easier the older he got. Good Luck!

After going through all the 3rd stage foods, you can transition to table foods. You will be surprised at how fast it will go.
As far as the formula goes you should be able to cut back as you feed more table foods. Make sure you are giving at least 18 ounces of formula or breastmilk a day.

Mother of four
RN J. B

My son is now two, and he never ate store bought baby foods. I started him with homemade baby foods at 6 months and by 7 or 8 months was working toward transitioning him to ground up table foods. I purchased a baby food grinder and slowly introduced him to whatever we were eating for dinner. Now, at two, he eats what we eat and is not even kind of picky. I watch my friends struggle to get their toddlers to eat more than jelly sandwiches and chicken nuggets. I firmly believe that my son eats so well because he was fed what we eat at such a young age.

Keep in mind that at 7 months they still do need to be getting a significant amount of calories from breast milk (or formula) so try not to add too many solids too soon.

I have a book that I love called "Super Baby Foods" that lists out a month by month suggestion of new foods for your baby. I thought it was very helpful when adding new foods to his diet.

Some of the things we were giving at 7 months included:

Cottage Cheese - easier to digest than cow milk
Yogurt - Yo Baby is a good brand
Avocado (a fabulous first food as well)
Egg yolks or scrambled egg yolks with breast milk
Ground up green beans, asparagus, carrots, squash, sweet potato and regular potato
Ground up turkey (not deli turkey, but real cooked turkey breast), ground pork chops, ground chicken, and sometimes ground beef
BLACK BEANS - this is a super easy finger food, buy the cans of cooked beans and serve them slightly warmed. MY SON STILL loves black beans. Very high fiber and healthy food.

Snacking was always Cheerio's for us. Stick to plain old Cheerio's, the others have added sugar that the baby doesn't need.

Good luck!

J. - Mom to 2 year old Charlie and 5 month old Joey