Hi ladies,
My 9 month old son has about had it with jar foods. He would much rather feed himself then be spoon fed. At only 9 months feeding himself with a spoon is obviously not an option. We are practicing but it's a MESS :) I currently offer him cheese, bread, crackers, diced carrots, peaches and apples, eggs, some of the Gerber snacks. He still likes to be fed oatmeal. Maybe the issue is that he's had some of these table foods and the jar food just doesn't taste as good. He is completely off of bottles and drinks formula, water and juice from the sippy. Any different ideas of foods suitable for him that I can offer for dinner and lunch in place of jar food? Most of the foods I listed are more snack foods. Thanks in advance for your help!!
C.
Ladies, thank you so much for the great ideas. We have already tried some of these foods and they have gone over well, making meal time enjoyable again. It is comforting to know other babies at this age are having the same reaction to baby(jar) foods and no longer want them. He also still gets at least 20 ounces of formula a day, he drinks it right out of his sippy. Typically takes less than 5 minutes to drink it, he loves it.
Thanks again!
C.
Get a can of Veg-All. It's (already cooked) mixed vegtables. Just drain the juices off and cut up the green beens. It will give him differant vegetables to try.
Finely diced or ground meats like turkey, ham, or hamburger would be good. You could also do fish like tuna or a flake fish or fish sticks (as long as there are no bones in it). Diced fruits like bananas, plums (no skin), strawberries, pears (fresh or diced canned)& mandrin oranges. And when they come in season: cantalope, honeydew and blueberries. For vegetables, I would do anything you normally have for dinner peas, grean beans, beans (kidney, red, pinto or refried), corn, diced potatoes, brocolli and cheese, etc....if they are too bland get some of the spray butter to add a little more flavor and not too much mess. Of course you can also go the route of noodles or macaroni and cheese. I've heard of mom's doing soup for kiddos and letting it cool enough that they can use a straw to suck the juice out of the bowl and then eat the rest of the goodies...so you could try a vegetable or chicken noodle/stars/rice. If he likes veggies well enough I would even make a stew and give him cut up veggies from that (although maybe not the meat).
I found that once my kids started trying the regular food they absolutely refused to go back to jar food. If you are looking for ways to use up what you have on your shelves, look for recipes online of how you can incorporate them...I've seen muffins made with applesauce, carrots and even some green veggies. As for the Gerber snacks...my kids all time favorites were the freeze dried fruits in the Graduates program as well as the puffs. My kids even wanted those items 2 years AFTER they had completely given up all kinds of baby foods just because they tasted good...who was I to complain...they were better than most other snacks out there.
I'm assuming your little guy has teeth. I used to cook frozen mixed vegetables for my little ones at that stage. They loved the bright colors. They also liked grilled cheese sandwiches. I'd cut them up in small pieces. You might use your blender to grind up any meat you have for supper, along with some broth or gravy. If you have roast beef and gravy, grind it up for him. I'm sure it's a matter of he got the taste for regular food and jar food is too bland. I even took turkey and gravy at Thanksgiving, and ground it up for my grandkids. The mac and cheese idea from another reply is good too. If you make the roast idea, you could even mix in some noodles for more texture... beef and noodles!
Listen, don't worry for starters. I am a mother of 4 and every one of kids has been different. I am now with kids ages 12, 10, 5 and 7 months. the 5 year old is adopted so I am unaware of her early childhood habits, but her sister is the 7 month old and she does not want jar food if there is an option. She will yell at the top of her lungs if we sit down to eat and our food is noticably different from hers. So since it had been a while I asked her doc for suggestions. She said all kids are different and if the baby is wanting "real" food to give it to her. So that is what I do. Whatever we eat she gets a small portion cut up teeny tiny and then followed by some jar food and formula. My daughter is also starting with a sippy cup. She just wants to sit up and it works better for her than a bottle. So long as she sees it through and gets all of her formuila I am fine with that also. Just keep it healthy, and small. You should be fine.
hmm, I would ask the doctor about "at home" things you can make for him. I thought babies under a year were not supposed to eat anything with cows milk in it or eggs. I dont think he should be feeding himself already for choking reasons. Im sure you are right there, but it sounds like he might be a little ahead of himself with the food. I think formula is still very important right now for his little brain, putting it in a sippy cup means just that, hes just taking sips of it at meals and not getting all he needs? Just my opinion, take it or leave it, but I would ask the doc for sure.
Hi C.,
My daughter is almost 11 months old and we are starting to go through the same thing. I give her canned green beans(low sodium)cut into small pieces, mashed potatoes and most of what you already mentioned including almost anything we eat that is soft because she only has 2 teeth. I just stay away from dairy because they say she is too young to digest.Good Luck!
Hello C.!! I recommend the book "100 baby purees" or any baby recipe book by Annabel Karmel. There are some great recipes in there for your little one. A lot of the recipes can be made ahead of time and frozen for future use! I hope you check it out and I hope it helps!
L.
You can always give him mac and cheese, or any kind of noodles, very soft for him to eat. He actually eats carrots, figured that would be hard for a 9mth old to eat. I didnt start giving my son carrots until he was 2 1/2 unless ur talking the ones in a can that are cooked.
I echo the responses about giving smaller portions of whatever food you're eating at the table (potatoes, veggies, bread, etc). Our son just turned 10 months, is cutting his 6th tooth...and if we are eating something, he wants some of it and won't even hear of baby food. After we are done eating, if he still seems hungry, I follow it up with baby food and later a bottle of formula. I think it's a combo of him wanting to be the "same" as us, and tasting the difference between real food and baby (bland) food. lol Mac & cheese is one of his favs, and he loves that he can pick it up and put it in his own mouth...same with small pieces of cooked veggies, etc. Hope this helps! Good luck!
At 8 to 9 months of age, my middle son decided he would not eat even a bite of baby food from anyone! So what ever we were eating that was soft enough to be gummed to shreads is what we fed him. We used the kitchen shears and cut everything down to cherrio size or smaller for him to eat. He ate everything from toasted cheese sandwhiches, to hot dogs to cooked broccoli. Just remember to watch what he eats and watch for any allergies.
Good Morning C.. Our DIlaw gives Zane 14 mo. chicken nuggets, diced ham, steamed veggies. They are more tender. He loves french fries though. I'm not sure the brand of nuggets she gets but she warms them in micro. and they stay tender. Tiny pieces. He won't eat ground beef though to crumbly. Zane has 12 teeth though, and he won't use a fork or spoon yet. We still feed him yogurt's, puddings and jello our selves. He loves Pasta's also.
Hope you get some great ideas for your little guy
God Bless
K. Nana of 5
I saw that someone mentioned grilled cheese sandwiches, and putting the soup in a bowl with a straw...a better way to do the soup I think, would be to put it in his sippy cup after it cools. It sounds like you've gotten some other helpful ideas here so good luck :)
Cut up in small pieces hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fish sticks. Just make sure they are small enough so he won't choke if he doesn't "chew" it all the way. He'll be fine, have fun with his food selections. Good luck and God Bless.
