"Finger Foods for a 9 Month Old...??" - Aliquippa,PA

We also did Baby Mum Mums, cooked pasta, Cheerios, puffed wheat, cheese, cooked dices veggies, toast strips and Heinz biscuits.

My son is nine months old. He eats anything we eat that isn't junk. Sliced veggies and fruits of all kinds, chicken, turkey, fish, pasta, rice, beans, cubed cheese, and scrambled eggs. He loves meatballs made with pureed vegetables to make them more moist and flavorful. He also enjoys soft shell tacos and burritos, but they are super messy! My pediatrician says the only thing to avoid is honey. They have found that waiting to introduce foods tends to cause more problems unless your family has a history of anaphylactic food allergies.

By 9 months DS was eating everything we were (with the exception of honey due to the risk of botulism). However everything did need to be the right consistency to avoid choking. So carrot sticks were steamed to a soft texture, peanuts only in sauces since babies can have real issues with the sticky texture of peanut butter. We cut grapes and slightly squashed peas, chick peas and other round foods. We did eggs, strawberries, dairy and nuts long before a year of age. If you are planning on feeding hot dogs (we didn't), be cautious, even cut up they are a major cause of choking. Have fun- now is great time for baby to try all sorts of new tastes- no reason to hold back on herbs or spiciness.

Honestly, by 9 months, my kids were eating just about everything my husband and I ate. My pediatrician had advised us to "open the cupboards and have fun" when it came to feeding solids. I would cook their food a bit longer to be sure it was a little soft, and I would dice or puree (food mill) what I was giving them until they could handle bigger bites, but they ate everything.

Some favorites: bananas, avocados, yogurt, scrambled eggs, toast (plain or with thin layer of peanut butter), cheese cubes, frozen peas (still frozen), black beans, sweet potatoes, grated apples, salmon, ground meats (beef, chicken etc.)

As far as allergenic foods, the most recent resaerch seems to indicate that it is actually better to give kids those foods sooner rather than waiting. We have no family history of allergies, so we offered peanut butter and strawberries, and all the others well before one year of age. The only no-no was honey. Talk to your pediatician about this.

we gave baby cooked peas and carrots. cooked corn, cooked diced zucchini, potato. "soft beans" like black beans, and black eyed peas. We gave him banana slices, apple and pear cubed. small bits of orange, melon (honey dew, canteloupe, watermelon). we gave him bits of bagel, cubed soft cheeses, cubed ham, turkey, roast beef, meatballs.

after some time with mushy diced foods, we graduated to fingerling foods. i.e. cooked carrot sticks, cooked zucchini sticks, cooked fingerling potatoes, or french fries. french toast, bigger pieces of fruit. three bites of meat, or a whole meatball. dunking sized pieces of food.

good luck to you and yours,
F. B..

the only things our ped told us were off limits before 1 were-
1. milk
2. honey
3. eggs
4. peanuts

My daughter's favorites were small soft pasta and cooked broccoli with parm cheese -- it's still one of her favorites.

My go to site was wholesomebabyfoods.com. I made all my own baby food so i got most of the recipes i used from there but they also have a ton of beginner finger food recipes on there too. some things i never would have thought of! lots of options.

As far as allergies, stay away from eggs, peanut butter, honey, strawberries, kiwi. I would stay away from those foods until at least 1. Even if there is no history in your family of allergies (we have no history at all), they can still be allergic. My son had an egg allergy that thank goodness he outgrew, but that was an awful 2 years until he did outgrow it. There are plenty of options so I would just stay away from the ones mentioned.

My kids loved most everthing..

Most any foods cut in chunks are great finger foods.

Peas
green beans
Avacado cut in chunks
chicken cut in in chunks
cherrios
ham
cheeries-pitted of course
etc..

I guess stay away from Peanut butter until a little older.

My son had allergies, my daughter does not. she is 19 months and eats everything under the sun.

lets see by 9 months my daughter ate what i ate (and she still ate jarred food and formula).
i gave her cherrios, cooked carrots (diced), peas, melon, grapes (quartered), saltines, cheese, puffs, diced fruits, diced prunes.

you can give them just about everything with in reason as long as you watch them.

Foods you can give...
cheerios
cooked diced carrots
cooked peas
cut green beans
diced peaches
diced pears
peeled/diced apple slices
cut up cheese slices (think kraft)
cooked macaroni
graham crackers
nilla wafers
seedless watermelon

I think you're doing fine. She needs to be able to develop her finger grasping ability and she doesn't need a lot of food because her formula or breastmilk should be meeting all her nutritional needs. I would say that Cheerio's has always been our go to snack food for the little ones.

I gave my son a lot of table foods at 9 mo. We made our own baby food though, so it wasn't too new to him. Any type of veggies you can cook/steam and cut up into small pieces. Peas, green beans are also good/easy.

I also cut up bananas. I cooked/steamed apples and cut those. You can try canned peaches/pears. Sometimes pears can be hard though so watch that. Mandarin oranges are good/easy, but can be acidic so keep an eye out for diaper rash after those.

Peanut butter is recommended to wait until AT LEAST a year because of allergies and choking hazard (if you pile it on like some people do). My son had strawberries earlier, but like everything else, we kept an eye out for allergy symptoms.

Eggs shouldn't be given until baby is a year old.

For our son, we gave anything that was soft/could be cut small enough. The sooner you introduce those things, the less picky they will be, in my opinion!

My boys cannot get enough butternut squash. I buy it frozen already cut into pieces. When cooked, it's extremely soft and easy to chew. I can't keep it on their plates. They also love pears and peaches. Pancakes, waffles and toast are another great thing that can be quick and easy. But for the most part the eat everything that we eat, with the exception of honey, peanut butter, and shellfish.