Finger Foods-9 Month Old

I have an 8 month old, and he eats what we do (for the most part). I have a food chopper, just from Walmart, and a food processor. His meals get sent through one of those and put on his plate. He's a happy man with a wide variety of healthy food in front of him. In fact, I don't even feed him myself anymore. He's the 4th, and I've done this with all of them. I have a little one cup food processor I got with the first, so I don't remember how much it was. The chopper was $15 at Walmart.

Really anything soft and cut into small enough pieces. My "can't live witout" tool in the kitchen is kitchen scissors! I use them at almost every meal to cut up my kids' food!
Cut a cereal bar into little pieces, soft buttered toast, scrambled/hard boiled eggs, watermelon, peach, pear, strawberry, soft diced potatoes, green beans, banana, any soft meat (meatloaf, hamburger, turkey, or chicken)

One of my daughter's faves is toast with cream cheese, cut into little pieces. Also, shredded cheese, canned (salt free) veggies, yogurt melts (Gerber sells these and so does Target), little pieces of watermelon, cut up cooked potato, cooked carrots, cooked green beans, ritz crackers, pancakes, waffles, scrambled egg yokes, cheerios, pieces of avacado, noodles. Pretty much anything soft, in small pieces, or anything that can dissolve in their mouths. My daughter doesn't have any teeth and she can still chew pretty much anything. I can't believe how strong their gums are!

Babies gums are incredibly strong, and no teeth are actually required to bite and chew ; ) I like Allie P's answer, and agree with her comment "Pretty much anything soft, in small pieces, or anything that can dissolve in their mouth." Now's a great time to give your son a variety of foods for a balanced diet, some he'll like, some maybe not, but let him explore all the tastes and textures to food.

Foods to avoid up to 12 months:
~ Chunk of food larger than a pea. Vegetables like carrots, celery, and green beans should be shredded or cooked and cut up. Cut fruits like grapes, cherry tomatoes, and melon balls into pea-sized pieces (NO halves) before serving. Cut meats and cheeses into very small pieces or shred them.
~ Small, hard foods are definite no-no's: Hard candies, nuts, seeds, and popcorn.
~ Soft, sticky foods: Soft foods like marshmallows and jelly or gummy candies.
~ Peanut butter: The sticky consistency of peanut butter and other nut butters can make it tough for a young child to swallow safely.
~ Also avoid letting your child eat in the car. It's too hard to supervise while driving.

Tofu
Mashed potatoes
Cheerios
Beans
Noodles
Yougurt melts
Freeze dried fruit (not dried fruit though)
Teether biscuits
Beets
Cooked fruit (apples, peaches)
Canned pears, diced
Sweet potato, cubed
Butternut squash, cubed
Blueberries, quartered (was my daughter's fave)
Strawberries, diced

I second the food chopper. I used my Pampered Chef Chopper to mince up whatever the hubby & I had for dinner...and you can adjust the chunks as your child gets more capable.

You could boil a chicken and give him very little pieces.

I know it is scary. This is my second child and he is 7 months old. We are just getting to the gerber puffs.

At school, they are breaking up a graham cracker into very little little little pieces and he is picking up and eating them.

gerber also has yougart melts that would be good for him. bananas, avacado, peaches. hot dogs (we get turkey dogs) only if you cut them length wise and in little peices not just slices as it is a very dangerous but cut small enough its ok. pasta noodles. real oatmeal. i am not sure about rice as we rarely eat it and our kids were older before they had it .

Just about anything if it's small enough! When my daughter was 8 months old she began refusing baby food of every kind. So I just chopped everything real tiny. Even grapes (a pretty common choking hazard) are fine if you cut them all up real well. I even fed my daughter bits of ham, cheese, etc. She was much happier when she could do it all herself. She's now 7, and not much has changed...

Looks like you've gotten some good answers already, but to add other possibilities:

- orzo
- penne
- macaroni / elbows
- pasta shaped like alphabet letters or numbers (for more challenging pincer grasp practice)
- rice crackers -- break into small pieces (like Suzie's thin rice crackers with spelt wheat and flax)
- ripe grape tomatoes -- cut up
- ripe figs - cut up
- avocado - diced
- tuna mixed with sweet syrupy balsamic vinegar (this will be messy though!)
- ripe mango - diced

i got the french toast sticks from walmart in the freezer section, and heated them and then cut them into small pieces. they soften really well and taste yummy. cheerios. small diced ham, they sell it buy the lunch meat. it's really tiny. i was always paraniod, so it's hard to think of anything else :). i also cut up bologna really small and gave to them.

Those gums are quite strong! I would stay away from the usual suspects- grapes, hot dogs, popcorn, but when my oldest was this age and refused baby food, the dr. said I could give him just about anything. Just make sure it is small enough.

they all use their gums to 'chew' food, whether or not they have any teeth at all, many foods are fine. They might gag at first, but they need the practice.
cubed: tofu, cold cream of wheat, egg yolk, yam, canteloupe, other melons, bananna, white cheese
no salt beans
many kids prefer spears of food, less of a choking hazard to because they knaw on it & don't put too much in their mouth at once: soft fruits are great that way, my son loves the texture of lightly steamed cauliflower...