Baby Food: 8 to 9 months

If you’re just starting out on making your baby’s food, please see these posts with recipes and information on food for 6 months old and 7 months old.

For the 8-9 month age range, here are the main changes I made in Davis’ food, and the ones he made in eating:

• He began to chew, or gum things.  He now has 5 teeth, almost 6.  At the time, he only had 2 and 2 more were growing in.
• He has a better grasp, and can bring things to his mouth.
• We introduced small pieces of food onto his high chair tray.  We started with Puffs.  Working on self-feeding!
• I did not puree his food as much – some things were left a little chunky
• I lightly seasoned some of his food (like a tiny bit of salt with eggs, and salt and pepper on roasted veggies).  I’m talking a very small amount.
• I introduced eggs.
• New foods those 2 months: butternut squash, raspberries, blackberries, mango, pumpkin, cauliflower, white beans, black beans, eggs, green beans, puffs + random things, like pieces of pita bread, a baby “cracker/cookie”

Foods that stayed the same these months:

• We’ve still been doing oatmeal and fruit in the mornings.
• We still give him some sweet potato and some green veggies, mainly broccoli, with most meals.
• He still eats avocado at dinner.

The new recipes I have to share this month are for Butternut Squash with Spinach, Green Beans, Roasted Sweet Potato, and Pumpkin Oatmeal

Baby Food: Butternut Squash with Spinach (8+ months)

Cut the squash into a small dice.  Toss with olive oil, and a little salt and pepper.  Roast for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Save several pieces of the squash for your baby to try off of his/her tray.  This is a good food for self-feeding!  Just make sure the pieces are small.

For the rest of the roasted squash, add it to a food processor or blender, along with 2 handfuls of chopped organic baby spinach (blend the spinach some first, before adding the squash).  Blend until all of the large pieces are gone.

Freeze in ice cube trays.  Thaw and serve when your baby is ready to eat!

This is good mixed with broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc.

Baby Food: Green Beans with a Hint of Garlic (8+ months)

I bought organic, frozen green beans at Costco.  You could start with a smaller bag, unless your family with eat them anyway!  I steamed the green beans as directed on the package.  At this point, you could set some aside to use for self-feeding.  If you do that, just cut them into tiny pieces.

Once steamed, drain the beans, and add them to a food processor.  I also added a tiny bit of garlic powder, and an even smaller amount of salt and pepper.

Blend in the food processor until they are in tiny pieces.  This did not get smooth, because I didn’t add any liquid.  The tiny pieces still freeze in the ice cube trays, but also help babies with learning to chew.

Freeze in ice cube trays and thaw when ready to serve!

Baby Food: Roasted Sweet Potato

This is also a recipe that can be used for self feeding or pureed, frozen, and fed with a spoon.  When I made sweet potato this time, I cut and roasted some, and I also baked some, as I had been in previous months.

For the roasted portion, peel and dice the sweet potatoes.  Toss with a little olive oil, and a tiny bit of salt and pepper.  Roast at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, or until tender.

You can try cutting some up into tiny pieces, and letting your baby try self-feeding.  If you have leftover that need to be eaten, just puree in the food processor or blender, and freeze!

Baby Food: Pumpkin Oatmeal (7+ months)

This is a great, seasonal alternative to banana oatmeal.  I knew that pumpkin would be okay for my son to eat, so I thought I’d incorporate it into his breakfasts!

You’ll need 1 can of pumpkin (pure pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!), 3 cups of cooked oatmeal, and 1-2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon and nutmeg).  Puree all of this in a food processor or blender until it is close to a smooth consistency.  It is okay if it isn’t totally smooth.

Freeze in ice cube trays, and thaw on defrost before serving!

 

Self-Feeding

I’ve been experimenting with what foods I can put out for him on his tray.  He enjoys getting his little fists full of food and trying to get as much as he can in his mouth!  He is still working on the pincer grasp.  He can do it, but prefers fistfuls of food – ha!

I always cut these foods into small pieces.  Think the size of the tip of your pinky finger.  I even cut beans in half.  Here are some foods that have worked for us so far:

• Banana
• Avocado
• Apple, peeled first
• Black Beans
• White Beans (these were some we were having for a meal – they were braised with thyme, chicken stock, etc)
• Butternut Squash, roasted (see above)
• Sweet Potato, roasted (see above)
• Green Beans, steamed (see above)
• Broccoli, steamed
• Cauliflower, steamed
• Carrot, steamed
• Strawberries

Clean Plate Club member!

I also wanted to add some other ideas that have worked for us:

• Buy a bag of mixed, frozen, organic veggies.  We found a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and yellow carrots at Costco.  We steamed, pureed, and froze the veggies in ice cube trays, as we’ve done other things.  He enjoyed the mix of green veggies and sweet veggies!
• Try giving your baby scrambled egg.  We scramble it (cook it well done) in a dry pan – I do not add oil, but I think it would be fine to add a little.  Just try not to use cooking spray.  Davis likes it mixed with avocado.  Mash it all up, and season with a tiny bit of salt.  The picture below shows the avocado and egg (top), along with some butternut squash and spinach (bottom), and some sweet potato (left).  Dinner is served!

• Buy frozen mango, and thaw and puree.  Freeze in ice cube trays.  This is great added to banana oatmeal, or just plain.  The picture below shows mango mixed with banana oatmeal, with some pieces of strawberry. New flavors + chewing practice!

• Buy a bag of mixed, frozen, organic berries.  Thaw slightly, then puree and freeze.  This is great for a “dessert,” or mixed with oatmeal or banana.

 

 

I hope this is helpful!  If you have other baby food ideas, I’d love to hear them!  Please share in the comments section.

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