Solid Food/Table Food

What kind of solids/table food did you give your 8 month old other than the jarred baby foods?

[ladymoreta]

My 15 month old would probably be happiest still only eating pureed foods, so I may not be much help... But I've found that cut up fruit is good - he likes the sweet flavor, so it was incentive to eat it. We started by giving him pieces that were about the size of half a pea, and he still won't usually eat anything larger than a pea.

DS likes strawberries, bananas, mandarin oranges, pears, mango, rasberries, blueberries, and peaches. He still prefers applesauce or pureed apples. For vegetables, he still mainly eats purees, but sometimes we can get him to eat peas and corn. They usually just come out whole in the diaper, though... He is just now getting into puffs, teddy grahams, and graham crackers, but most of my friends started with those. After awhile, we just started giving him bites of whatever we were eating, cut up really small. If we're eating it at the same time, he is more likely to try things. Spaghetti was a messy hit, and he really liked salmon and shrimp. Egg yolks are good for most babies (no whites until a year old), but DS doesn't care for eggs. Same with cheese - it's usually a good food to feed themselves as long as they don't have lactose intolerance.

Besides those, we also give him applesauce and yogurt. There are some fun flavors of applesauce. I just make sure they don't have added sugar or HFCS.

[scrub-jay]

First off, ask your pediatrician, there were some restrictions for us until 9 months (most dairy products, wheat and eggs, I think) and then 12 months (milk and honey). Our 14 month old loves to eat whatever we are eating, so we try to make meals that she can share with us. I say start with fruit, at this point my dd can inhale (not literally) whole, giant blackberries, but we used to cut them up bite sized. She likes to eat raw garlic and will only eat jarred food if we spice it for her (well, the kid eats jalapenos). She is a huge fan of couscous, rice, beans, etc. At 8 months though, we were mostly doing homemade purees (often mixed with bm) and soft things in bite sized pieces (fruits & veges). I don't think she liked meat until she could eat it in chunks, but we tried anyway with pureed chicken and beef. We really let our dd let us know, we just tried a variety of things. Keep your eyes out for allergies though, this is the time they may start to arise. Worth noting - it took a while for our dd to get the hang of chewing, so if something got caught in the back of her throat, she'd vomit (boy were those fun days!!) She has been doing great now though, so we now let her grab a whole (ginormous) blackberry and eat it (under close watch mind you).

My rambling advice is this - ask your ped what are okay right now and then give things a shot. Don't forget to retry things that may have been hated at first because texture issues do go away/change, at least they did for us. It is all trial and error right now, try to enjoy the ride and remember to just enjoy the whole process (I struggle with this right now with the "I'm ah-da (All done)" so now I must throw everything else on the floor stage).

[SoonerTexan]

I thoroughly enjoyed the pics of LadyM's baby discovering solid food on Facebook. Makes me want a Beaba Babycook too. You do a great job L.

[ladymoreta]

I thoroughly enjoyed the pics of LadyM's baby discovering solid food on Facebook. Makes me want a Beaba Babycook too. You do a great job L.

Aww, thanks! My MIL bought it for me, but it's definitely paid for itself. Baby food is so expensive! And I think the purees taste much better. Although, if you already have a food processor, you don't *need* a Babycook - it just makes it easier to steam and puree in the same container.

[spotty_dog]

We did baby led weaning/solids, so Natalie never really had purees. At 8 months it was fall for us; she was eating French onion soup, Brussels sprouts, beets, winter squash chunks. I don't know about where you are, but here it's strawberry season, with peas and carrots and new potatoes being some of the latest availability at the market. Broccoli is just coming up in our yard too, and the end of the early spring kale before it bolts. If I had a 8 month old it'd be strawberry mania, plus lightly steamed carrot sticks, lightly steamed and smushed peas (with the occasional hilarity of raw peas on the high chair tray!), steamed or stir fried broccoli, roasted potato wedges, baked kale chips, and whatever the family was eating at dinner time (she was a huge fan of baked or grilled salmon at that age if I recall, and of chicken legs on the bone).

[moonlight]

At that age I also did: Applesauce, I would get the Healthy Harvest... blueberries, country berry mix, and peach verities. And the YoBaby organic yogart.

[Michele]

I'm on the third one and Phedre (10m) eats little bits of whatever I'm having. She loves Cheerios too so I keep a stash for her for when we go out. She likes to feed herself so we skipped the purees. I'm really lazy and don't like to spoon feed. . I am not worried about food allergies or intolerances since we have ZERO history in our families. I also don't wait between introducing foods. She gets what she gets. It's still really all about the breast milk for her at this age and food is just for fun and exploring.

[L.Jane]

The little one I nanny for is like Phedre and is not a fan of being fed. He LOVES cheerios. He is a odd little being who loves his fruits ad veggies. We cut up into itty bitty pieces all types of melons. He eats cooked carrots, peas, sweet potato, broccoli. He also enjoys avocado. The last little one I nannied for LOVED black beans.

[DCJenn]

At nine months when we met the dude, the Russians had him on slices of brown bread (you know that cocktail sandwich bread you can find- the rye version of that would be the closest to it) clear broth soups, mystery meat patties, mashed veggies and they had oatmeal for breakfast every day. Dude would still eat oatmeal for breakfast every day if I'd cook it. They also got a TON of yogurt and kefir. They were also given tea. Straight up caffeinated tea. He was not a happy camper those first few days without it.

Jenn

[moonlight]

I could have given her more solid food at that age because she had a good number of teeth... I think she had about 7-8 teeth at that point. But she didn't really like to chew, even tho she had lots of teeth. Once she got the hang of things I started buy those Gerber puffs. They really do just melt in their mouth.

[alison]

So jealous of your good eaters! Mine subsists on a handful of Goldfish crackers and pediasure!

[ladymoreta]

Hugs, Alison!

[Pollyanna]

I let our kids eat jarred food as long as possible. They always had issues with texture so table food usually did not appeal to them plus our kids never had teeth until 9 months or so. Plus choking freaks me out so I'm a big Gerber fan