Everyone has been telling me so many things that I cant feed my 8mo, so I getting confused about what he CAN eat! Can you please tell me what your babies are eating? SO far, hes eating all cereals, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, peaches, pears, appleas, bananas, and we just started chicken. What else can he be eating and do I have to feed him cereal at each feeding? He is eating 2 big meals a day with a small lunh. Also, Breastmilk every 3 hours. I am so confused with this! ANy help would be appreciated. ALso if you have any samples food menus for your babies day!
THANK YOU!!!

My DD is 9 months old, weighs 16 lbs, 3 oz. She's just an overall small baby....definitelty not too thin. I also breastfeed. DD still doesn't have any teeth yet.

At 8 months old, her food schedule was:
5am: Breastfeed
8-9am:jar veggie, jar fruit, cereal, breastfeed
10:30am: Breastfeed & table food snack (see below)
12-1pm: veggie, jar fruit, cereal, breastfeed
3pm: Breastfeed & table food snack (see below)
6pm: veggie, jar fruit, cereal, breastfeed
8pm: Breastfeed & bed

Sometimes she would get 2 snacks in the afternoon if she got up extra early & her food schedule was up bumped earlier.

At the 9 months Ped visit, my instructions were to focus more on table foods as the main meals, and supplement jar food during snack times if I feel table foods are not enough. I was also given the okay for whole milk...and I'm starting to wean off the breast slowly. I was told I should not be giving more than 20 oz of milk (whole or breast) in a day now...most of the nutrition should now be coming from table & jar food. Those were my instructions...your Ped may be different.

As for table food...DD eats the following (and was eating all this at 8 months old too):

Toast broken up into large pieces. She gnaws on them & eats half to 3/4 of the slice.

Cherios.

Corn & rice chex cereal.

Applesauce (regular stuff...not baby food).

Egg yolks (I made them either hard-boiled or scrambled). At 9 months I was given the okay to start giving the whites. Whites are a potential allergen, and/or could be harder to digest for some babies...that's why they make you wait. My DD isn't having any problems with the whites.

Unseasoned croutons or any bland crackers that are hard & dry. DD sucks & gnaws them. Saliva wets them down slowly so she doesn't choke. I've found hard, dry breads are easier for DD than softer breads.

The Gerber Graduates cookies & crackers. They are made so they dissolve in the mouth more than crumble or break up real easy like regular crunchy cookies.

In the mesh bag: watermelon, grapes, peaches, pears, bananas, oranges (have to be careful about oranges...could be harder to digest).

I can also give DD about 1/3 of a banana left intact...not cut up. She can pick it up and chew on it. She actually eats most of it. Messy, but that's okay.

At 9 months I got the okay for whole milk & yogurt...but I was giving DD yogurt at 8 months old & Ped was okay with it. Just had to watch for upset stomach. She was fine. I give her all the flavors...don't just stick with plain or vanilla. She loves them all. I get low-fat....NOT non-fat. Non-fat has artificial sweetener. I've never tried that Yo-Baby yogurt. It's pretty expensive. They tout the whole organic thing...if that's what you're into. Regular yogurt is fine. The overall ingredients are generally the same.

Cooked elbow macaroni...either plain or out of pasta salads. Yes, with whatever dressing or sauce is already in the salad.

Mashed potatoes. I give DD the same potatoes DH and I eat...made with milk, butter, salt, pepper, garlic, chives. She loves them. The amount of milk that goes into the potatoes is not a lot...I didn't worry about upsetting the stomach with that small amount of milk.

Apple juice (diluted by half with water). I also tried diluted grape juice, but that stained too much, so I'm just sticking with apple for now.

Avocados.

Canned peas, canned green beans, or other canned veggies. I go with canned because I personally like canned veggies better than fresh. Call me weird...I know.

I'll still give rice cereal mixed with applesauce, a jar fruit, or jar veggie if I don't have anything interesting on hand...need something quick and easy...or am travelling & have to carry food with me. Definitely keep baby cereal on hand.

I don't give DD much meat...only what's included in jar food...but I'm not a big meat-eater myself, but that's really the only reason why I limit the meat.

Oh, and I've also given DD homemade chicken noodle soup...just the broth in a bottle. I've been thinking about other soups I could give her...but I havent' experimented any further.

That's generally what I give DD. I know there are other things...but these are off the top of my head.

Every child is different but here is what my 8 1/2 month old eats.
She is only in the 10th precentile for her weight and really doesn't eat very much but she is healthy and growing. My ped. suggested giving her jar food for a couple of months as it has all the nutrition she needs. Otherwise we would have to give her vitamins and I don't want to do that. My ped. also said she should be drinking about 16-20oz of milk so we break it up into either four or five times per day. Here is a typical day:
6:00 Bottle (4oz milk)
8:00 Cereal with fruit (we live in Europe and they have awesome Heinz cereal with fruit)
11:00 She has some yogurt. We give her low fat too with various fruit. We actually found out that she has an allergy towards berries so no berries!
12:00 Bottle (4 oz)
1:30 - 2:00 Half a jar baby food. We give her all the varieties. Here we get the Stage 2 or Stage 3 which are pretty big. She refuses to eat more than half a jar so I don't force her. I have learnt that she will eat when she is hungry. She sometimes has a little bit of what we eat which includes green beans, potatoes, squash, avocados, pasta, rice, carrots, she loves bread too. She loves to taste everything, but particularly the food from mommys plate! Sometimes I put her food in my plate so she will eat.
4:00 Bottle (another 4oz)
6:00 Snack (Gerber cookie, cheerios)
7:30-8:00 We give her the other half of her jar or cereal. She has her two bottom teeth and is getting two upper so she has been very fussy. I try to limit acidic fruit like oranges and too many spices.
10:00 Bottle (4oz)

Generally children like to try different textures and the different colors of food. I give her everything, in small quantities.
Trial and error is the way to go!

Thank you both so much! That really helps!!!

my ds is almost 11 months now, but since he has been about 8.5 months he won't eat jar food, he wanted textures, so I have been slowly adding more and more table foods, he does not like the stage 3 anymore, nor has for over a month now. I give him the gerber graduates, he loves the ravioli's but now he is getting into this bit, that he does not want to be spoon fed, so I have to give him things he can eat himself, and I don't hold anything back accept for the stuff we are told not to, such as eggs, milk, yogurt, nuts, fish etc... he will eat pretty much anything I do, I just break it up small and give it to him. All the fruits and veggies, chicken, turkey, burgers, etc..... i don't do steak yet though, he just popped 3 teeth, so not ready for that chewy stuff. He gets 2-3 6 oz bottles a day, now he is weaning himself off his one before bed, he just doesn't want it. With fruit and veggies, I just cut them small and he eats them, that has to be his favorite though, fruits and veggies, I made orzo pasta and mixed in a little butter, and a can of mixed veggies, he picked out all the veggies and left the pasta lol. He LOVES ice cream and ice pops, oh and ice lol forget the puree baby stuff lol. Anyway good luck, and have fun, its fun to introduce new things. oh and he loves sucking on lemon wedges too.

This has been a helpful post to me too. My dd is almost 9 months and I realize that I have been way too limiting. This has given me lots of good ideas, Kennedy should like her meals tomorrow:)

One questions I do have.... I have been told to hold off on the whole milk till age 1. I figured this was a dairy thing so I have stayed away from cheese and yogurt yet I see a lot of people feeding these?? Any insight?

Gayle, I just have to say that your lists are awesome!!! You have helped me through so many things beginning with what to bring to the hospital and what to buy for my newborn, and you probably didn't even realize how much help you are to everyone. I appreciate your thoroughness and the time you take with your posts.

Thanks, also, to the other ladies for your wonderful info. I look forward to the next stage in my baby's menu planning!

Does anyone have an opinion on the stage 2 desserts? I was not planning to serve them at all due to the sugar content, but my MIL keeps buying me TONS of them! Every time she visits, she loads us up with more desserts! It's a constant battle. What do you think? Too sugary or ok?

emmabean...that's really nice of you to say. I appreciate that very much.

As for the stage 2 desserts...I don't give them to DD for your same reason you don't. They seem to be sugary & have all those extra ingredients. I'd rather give DD applesauce with my own cinnamon & sugar (not that I do this...it's just an example) than one of those manufactured desserts.

I feel the same way about the Dinners too.

I stick with the jar foods that are fruits & vegetables. If they say dinner or dessert, I stay away.

FLAnggel...about the dairy. The way I understand it, milk products can be harder to digest in SOME babies, and are potential allergens in SOME babies, so we're supposed to avoid them. My Ped gave me the okay to start whole milk at 9 months if I wanted to. I wanted to! I'm definitely ready to wean off the breast.

As for the yogurt...I tried small amounts at 8 months. I was experimenting with table foods for DD. I started giving her 1-2 spoonfuls out of my own yogurt just to see if she liked it. Once I saw she liked it, over the course of a week, I'd give her progressively a little more each day or every other day. I watched for allergies and I watched her dirty diapers for anything funky. When everything was normal, I decided she's fine with yogurt...and she has been every since.

I gave DD oranges to suck on ever since 5 months old. Citrus is also harder to digest in SOME babies. My DD was fine with them, and she has been eating about the total of 1 whole orange about every week for about the last 4 months. My Ped is fine with this if I'm not noticing anything with allergies, stomach problems, gas, or strange bowels.

I stayed away from cheese...only because DD has no teeth & I can't think of a way she would gnaw it down easy without choking. I found the string cheese in the store & got her those, but haven't tried them yet.

I give my ds little bits of all kinds of dairy, yogurt, cheese, ice cream etc....
just in small amounts. The cheese I just give him in tiny pieces that he cannot choke on, my ds just got 3 teeth in the past 2 weeks, he is almost 11 months old. I have not given him milk yet, and plan on waiting til 1, but I am pretty sure he is fine with dairy. I have not given any kind of citrus yet, and the ice cream and whipped cream I been giving him since he started eating solids pretty much, prolly like 5 months after I knew he was ok with all his foods. But again, only in tiny amounts. good luck hope this helps

I'm beginning to think my ds is a freak of nature. heh jk. I hear everyone talking about teeth and my ds is ALMOST 9 months (27th) and he has 8 teeth. 4 on top and 4 on bottom. They don't seem to help him too much as far as eating he still likes to try to swallow things whole. He likes to try to choke on things and dh can't handle seeing him even act like he's choking so its hard to give him things. He did eat some french cut green beans last night with our meal and devoured the sweet potatoes I made for us.

He definitely prefers adult foods over baby food. We almost can't eat around him even if he JUST ate. He always wants food.