What to Feed 11 Months Olds

My girls ate just about anything soft. And the oldest didn't get her first tooth until she was 11 months old. But she would gum anything soft enthusiastically.
I always gave them a variety of things on their tray and let them pick things up with their fingers. As they got older I would give them a spoon and let them experiement with it. Both were more than capable of feeding themselves with a spoon by the time they were around 15 months or so.

Scrambled eggs
cheese block cut into small bites
chicken/ham/pork chops....cut into small bites
steamed veggies "
soft fruits "
cottage cheese (I fed them this)
pasta "
beans slightly smashed to break the skin
rice
avacodoes cut into chuncks
crackers of all kinds
hot dogs split down the middle and then again to make quarters and then into tiny chunks...no need to peel if you cut it small enough
baked fries
cheerios (all varieties..great for snacks in a bag at the store)
Anything a little too hard but still juicy can be put into the pacifier-net thingy they sale at Walmart. It is a net on a pacifier looking ring. You put the food item in the net and they can chew, gnaw and suck on the net until their hearts content....very messy though...I recommend stripping the little one down to the diaper and letting them have a good time.

Be creative and like I said offer a little variety with every meal.

You've gotten a lot of good advice -- I just wanted to let you know that my doctor said egg YOLKS only until 1 year. For some reason, she said babies under one year should not eat the whites. I would have thought the opposite. It looks like a lot of the other babies ate the whole eggs and were fine. I'd just hate for something to happen and me not to have chimed in.

But just for good measure, here are some of Chloe's favorites:

black beans
avocado
mango
ground turkey (double fists it into her mouth!)
raspberries
strawberries
bananas
very ripe mango
cheese, cheese and more cheese
mini whole grain bagels (especially when teething -- but some will caution you against wheat until after age 1)
Yo Baby Yogurt

I stressed out a lot about food until one day when my nanny told me how much Chloe just LOVED the chicken chili she ate for lunch!!!

One of the best things that my pediatrician told me was, to look at their diet on a weekly basis for how well rounded it is, and not day by day. Just because on any given day they might eat so little or it just seems random. You'll get a better idea over a few days then just the one. That said, I can see without a doubt I have a child who is favouring dairy in a big way!

My 28 month old eats Maddysorganicmeals.com Check it out. Although it's meant for babies, it's yummy pureed/textured REAL food. m

the whole foods house brand 365 has canned veggies and beans that have no salt added. my 1 year old loves the green beans. sliced cheese, bananas, avocado, pears, etc are all great. trick is to put just a few pieces on the tray at once or it gets tossed over. good luck.

Check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have charts you can look at and recipes based on the baby's age, and nutritional advice too.

You can basically feed them anything as long as it is really little pieces and soft enough that they can gum it to death. I would feed them as much variety as possible and don't stick to kid friendly food. My theory is that when you do this you grow picky eaters. My first is, I would get his dinner ready (usually kid friendly, ie mac and cheese, chicken nuggets) and then i would make dinner for my husband and myself while he ate. This was all to keep him occuppied while i cooked. Anyway, the other kids I got very tired of cooking two meals so I just cooked once and everyone ate what was served. Of course, my kids have their favorites but they eat what is served and try many different foods. They eat veggies and fruit and all meats. Of course they all love pasta. I usually have some variety of pasta on the table that is organic and whole wheat. Remember you look at the whole week of a child's diet not just one day.

Dear S., when my boys were little they loved scrambled eggs or soft boiled eggs in the morning. (make sure they are not allergic to eggs of course). They also loved yogurt, chicken, soup with crackers in it, pot pies all smushed up. They can probably eat almost anything you eat. Just make sure it is not spicy and that it is in very small pieces. Good Luck.

Try this book by Annabel Karmel, "Top 100 Purees." My little girl, 11 mo, loves the flavor combos. She starts out with plain purees and graduates to really nice flavors - hubby and I are jealous at the "gourmet" our daughter is eating now! Annabel talks about the nutrition of the veggies, meat, etc. so you feel comfortable knowing what they are eating and that there are no preservatives, etc, in the food. She also has a follow on book "Baby's First Meals"-- I think they are both on this BabyCenter Store page. BabyCenter offers free shipping so it's a great deal - http://store.babycenter.com/category/bottle+-+solid+feedi...

Good Luck!