what can i give 9 month old?

[lyssie28]

Hi my lo is 9 months and loves the jars of baby food. However, i want to start giving her some of our food but i dont know what she can have.  For example, what could i give her for her lunch? Can they eat scrambled egg yet or meat? She only has 2 teeth.  She will eat rusks and biscuits etc.  Should she be starting to feed herself now and use a sippy cup? She will drink from a bottle lying down but doesnt know to tip the cup up when shes sittin up.  I help her with it but she will fall by herself.  Just something i'm wondering about as shes my first.  She has 3 8oz bottles a day but ive been told that at 9 months it should only be 2?

[cuckoochick]

Don't know about the bottles but to answer some of your questions:

1) yes you can give her 'proper food'. I do BLW with some spoon feeding so right from being 6mos I let my baby feed herself. It's messy but really fun too. WIth my first at that age, she had what I had for lunch so sandwiches with cream cheese or tuna or houmous. She loved veggie sticks to dip in houmous too. I gave her chunks of cheese and pieces of bread/ toast. She can have beans, scrambled eggs (as long as they are well cooked). Things that need to be eaten with a spoon eg soups you could spoon feed her or load the spoon and let her dig in herself. Pasta pieces like penne are great.

2) meat is fine too. My eldest loved sausages and ham, homemade mini beef burgers or meatballs etc. Just be careful about the salt and sugar contents of any foods you give.

3) I've always given a sippy cup of water with meals. I'm just starting solids with DD2 and she loves to use the sippy cup and with practice she is beginning to be able to do it herself . She needs the opportunity to practice.

If you're interested in finding out more about BLW look on the support thread on here and I'd recommend Gill Rapley's book and recipe book. Jarred foods are obviously quite expensive so if your baby can eat what you eat then it is cheaper, often more nutritious and provides them with lots of different tastes and textures. To help protect your flooring you can get cheap shower curtains in the pound shop which are a lifesaver when your baby is feeding them selves!

[creations]

At 9 months you can give almost anything. basic rules are no honey, no sugar, low (very very low or no) salt, no whole nuts (choke hazard), hmmm, think that's all.  Why not just ensure you cook healthily for yourself (the family) and give her some on a plate or her high chair tray?  Steamed or roast veg is great in fingers or wedges, slow cooked meat (nice and soft, or roast meat), fish without bones, pasta, all sorts of bread...the list of what not to give is much shorter than what you can give.  I stopped using salt in all cooking so that the only salt intake was from things like bread and cheese and the occasional serving of baked beans in tom sauce or canned tuna (in oil not brine).

Bottles, I would say 9 months is too early to be dropping to 2 bottles. Most people are dropping to 3 at around-ish this age.   In another couple of months perhaps drop to 2, then at 12 months switch the bottles to cups (or don't, many people keep the bottles longer so long as you brush teeth after the BT bottle).

There are some great stickie threads for finger food ideas too.

[weaver]

Totally agree with PPs - she can try just about anything except honey, too much salt or sugar.  You can combine bread and egg very easily by making eggy bread/french toast/pain perdu (whatever you want to call it!) and it is a very nutritious and easy for her to eat.  Just remember that 'food is fun until she's one', don't expect her to eat much, great if she does, but don't panic if she doesn't!  Her main source of nutrition is still milk.

[lyssie28]

Thank you  she does have a couple of pieces of toast in the mornin and she has rusks but i will definately get a bit more adventurous with it now.  She always grabs for my food so i'll give her whatever i have (if it's suitable).

[cuckoochick]

Enjoy it! You'll be able to enjoy a hot meal too if LO feeds herself! I love this stage! My LO is just 6mos and has enjoyed eating bread for the first time today. She finished the crusts from her big sister's sandwich!