Feeding the 9 month old (1037)

Does your baby hold most foods while eating? Drink from a cup with a little help? Hold and lick the spoon after it is dipped into food? These are the first steps in learning how to eat by one's self. If baby always grabs for the spoon, you can make meals easier by using two spoons - one for you and one for him. While baby practices, you can feed him a few spoonfuls.

Let your little one try out the new skill of picking things up with her thumb and forefinger. Sometimes baby will chomp down on the spoon with her new teeth--so hard you can't remove it from her mouth. She's playing a game. Laugh and offer her another spoonful of food. If she's hungry, she'll let go of the spoon in her mouth.

There are many finger foods baby can feed himself:

- Small pieces of soft, mild cheese. However, big chunks 1/2 inch or more can cause choking.

- Small pieces of toast, soft flour tortillas, cooked rice, and bagel halves.

- Graham crackers.

- Unsweetened breakfast cereals like Kix or Cheerios

- Cooked vegetable strips such as potato, carrot, peas, green or waxed beans, zucchini, and sweet potato.

- Peeled soft fruit wedges or slices such as banana, peach, pear, plum, or melon with no seeds.

- And soft, tender, small pieces of cooked meat or chicken.

- Praise baby for feeding himself, even if baby is very messy. If the mess bothers you, spread newspapers or a shower curtain under the high chair to catch dripped food.

By now baby can eat most things the rest of the family eats--just take his portion out before you add salt and other seasonings. Don't give baby round and slippery foods, such as grapes or hotdog circles, or small, hard foods such as nuts, seeds or popcorn, that could choke him.

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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