Bet On Dinner

It’s time for a baby food update (here’s the 6 months post if you missed it)! We are officially in the finger food phase, and it rocks. (For my girls, picking food up and feeding it to themselves seems to be endlessly entertaining, and they’ve been pretty receptive to a variety of foods and textures. I know that I’m probably spoiled in this area!)

I like to start with puffs, since they’re a little easier to pick up than softer foods and basically melt into nonexistence after being gummed for a bit. (If you have an older kid, be prepared for puffs to suddenly seem like the most desirable food on the planet. Also be prepared not to give them any, since puffs are $$$ for being mostly air!)

Once my daughter got the hang of those, I started adding little bits of other things – ripe bananas, avocado, and baked sweet potatoes. Those three foods are pretty much the holy trinity of finger foods around here. She just turned ten months (how??) and eats all three of them most days!

#nakedmeals

We also typically do either cheese or yogurt each day, and sometimes both.

These are the cheeses we usually have in the fridge – our doctor recommends full-fat dairy products for babies, but I buy the whole-milk mozzarella anyway because I love the way it melts. Love that Cabot cheddar for everything!

Neither of my girls has been a fan of plain yogurt (and honestly, I can’t do it, either). Everyone in the family likes an equal mix of these two kinds from Trader Joe’s, though! It’s a good compromise so there’s less added sugar but it still tastes sweet. I just do a scoop from each container and stir it up.

When my older daughter was this age, I didn’t even think about cooking dinner until after she went to bed, and so she ate on her own – sometimes leftovers, or something I fixed just for her. (Sweet, lonely?, peaceful, so different first child life!) Now we all eat dinner at 5:30 most days, and so this baby gets to try whatever we’re eating! In the last week she’s had waffles, pork tenderloin, beans and bits of meat and veggies from chili, pizza, squash casserole, and broccoli and green beans (sometimes I’ll cook her veggies a few extra minutes so they’re super soft). She has a Definite Preference for feeding herself, so I think we’ll eliminate purees soon. (She currently still does one or two pureed foods a day – usually something like applesauce or peas.)

For on-the-go, I keep these applesauce squeezy packs in the diaper bag and a container of Cheerios! And by on-the-go, I mean when we’re out of the house, but also when people are really cranky after nap time and we need a little blood sugar boost. :o)

RESOURCES

Baby Center’s age-by-age guide to feeding your baby is a favorite of mine, and also this article about starting finger foods.

Annabel Karmel’s books and website were recommended by our pediatrician – here’s a link to her recipes for 9-12 months.

Modern Day Homemaker has a great post called “What Does My 10 Month Old Eat In a Week?”.

Chaos and the Kitchen has a list of 100 Finger Foods for Infants if you need more ideas!

What are your favorite baby finger foods?

Please consult your child’s doctor about starting finger foods and what to feed your baby. Every baby is different, and I’m just sharing what is working for us.