This post is sponsored by Similac as part of the Sisterhood of Motherhood campaign.
Hello, hello!
Someone turned 9 months old yesterday! I can’t believe how quickly this little guy is growing, and I swear each month gets more fun and exciting. And Quinn is developing quite the personality! He’s a happy little dude for sure!
I’ve wanted to write this post for awhile now since I get a lot of questions about how we feed Quinn. And, of course, there is no one right way to feed a baby, so I thought sharing what we do might give you some ideas. (And please share what you do too!) Obviously, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know you or your child or your family’s history of food allergies, so please talk to your child’s pediatrician before you start introducing new foods. Also, please keep in mind that what is right for my family might not be right for yours and vice versa. The Sisterhood of Motherhood is all about embracing mothers and nourishing each other the same way we nourish our children””with zero judgment. Ok, now onto how we feed our little peanut. In summary: He likes to EAT.
A brief history about introducing solids to Quinn”¦
At Quinn’s 6-month check-up, his pediatrician asked us if he was starting to reach for our food””and he was, big time””so his doctor encouraged us to start him on solids (stage 1 purees – apples, bananas, etc.). That same week, we gave Quinn his first solid food: apples! And he loved them. We did the whole same-food-for-three-days thing to make sure he didn’t have any sort of allergy and all went well. From there, we tried every stage 1 puree out there. We’d give Quinn his bottle (formula) and then feed him from a store-bought or homemade jar of pureed fruits or veggies until he was full. (I use the BEABA Babycook Baby Food Maker to make his food. It’s awesome and super easy to use.)
Quick note about Quinn’s formula since I get this question a lot too: Around 6-months, Quinn was drinking anywhere from 32-40 ounces of formula a day. Mal and I thought this was kind of a lot, so we called his pediatrician’s office and received two different answers from two different nurses: 1) it was too much formula and we should try to decrease the amount and 2) don’t worry about it, he’ll eventually want less formula and more food. Ok, then. Mal and I kept trucking along with the same amount of formula and, soon enough, Quinn started to become a lot more interested in food and drinking less formula on his own.
At 9 months, Quinn drinks about 30 ounces of formula per day. We asked his doctor if it was too much at his last appointment, and he said it was totally fine, so we’re just feeling Quinn out and letting him eat and drink what he wants. And, truthfully, things still vary quite a bit from day-to-day. Some days, he loves his bottle and hardly eats any food and, other days, he chows down and then doesn’t finish his bottle. We’re not worried about his eating habits at all. He’s gaining weight and growing””he’s super tall for his age”” and he really loves food. We joke that he has a hollow leg because we don’t know where he puts it all!
Ok, back to feeding Quinn solids”¦
When Quinn was 7-8 months, we started to slowly introduce more table food””a bite of this or bite of that. Basically, anything he reached for on our plates or in our hands, we’d give him to try””within reason, of course. It’s not like we’d feed him a hard, crunchy tortilla chip, but if he wanted a taste of a soft, squishy muffin, we’d let him taste it. Around this time, we also introduced “puffs,” little veggie, fruit, and grain pieces. We started by putting a few on his highchair tray at the start of his meal. His pincher grip wasn’t great back then, so he’d struggle to get them in his mouth, but he was determined to feed himself. After that, we’d feed him his bottle and then some fruit/veggie puree. (Around this time, we started on the stage 2 purees””fruit & veggie blends, fruit & grains, dinners, etc. as well as some puree pouches and yogurt.)
As the weeks and months passed, we gave Quinn more and more food to feed himself””in tiny pieces, of course. Some favorites: Sliced banana, blueberries, steamed broccoli and asparagus tops, baked potato and sweet potato chunks, avocado, pancakes, elbow pasta, Cheerios, beans, bread with peanut butter (our pediatrician encouraged us to give Quinn peanut butter sooner than later to avoid him developing an allergy), and pita bread with pasta sauce. We still give Quinn a bottle (usually 6 ounces) and then have him finish his meal with purees and/or oatmeal. Currently, he eats this way 5 times per day. (I’m telling ya, this kid can eat!) Like I mentioned above, some days Quinn is super into his food and, other days, he’s super into his bottle and, some days, it’s a mix of both. We just go with it from day-to-day.
So, that’s our current feeding routine at 9 months. We’ll probably move onto the stage 3 foods once we talk to our pediatrician at Quinn’s 9-month check-up later this month. If I missed anything, just ask in the comment section below!
Questions of the Day
Moms: When did you start your little ones on solids? What were their favorite foods?
60 Comments
Something you ought to try feeding to your little one is bone marrow! I kid you not, it’s one of the most nutrient dense foods you can ever find. 🙂 I still eat them all the time.
Oh what a cutie! That picture of him trying to grab the broccoli is by far the cutest!
I was told by my doctor that our five month old is ready but said its best to wait until six months. So we are waiting and letting mitchell show us what he wants and needs. If there is one thing that’s for sure, it is that every baby is different!
We started on solids right around 6 months, and avocado was their first food. I remember around 6-9 months, Emerson was also drinking almost 40 oz of breastmilk/formula a day too! Little chunkers. 🙂
Thanks for this post! My baby girl is 5.5 months and we’ve been doing stage 1 purées for a couple of weeks now. Question, did Quinn have any teeth when you started giving him bites of your soft food here and there? She is very interested in what we are eating all the time but she’s all gums still.
He did. He had the two on the bottom! 😄
@Tina: Yay! Thanks! I keep looking/feeling for them. Quinn is so precious!
Babies’ gums are pretty adept at “chewing” without teeth. No need to wait for them before introducing table foods!
@Dacon Parks: My 8 month old doesn’t have teeth and we give him table food. I try to stick to really soft or dissolvable stuff like beans, Cheerios, scrambled eggs, steamed carrots, etc. He loves to eat too so he definitely knows how to chew even without teeth!
Quinn is such a cutie! I cannot believe he’s almost a year old already. Time flies!
We haven’t started solids yet but I’m a little scared for when we do because I feel like I have the feeding thing down now!
I have given my daughter a “hard, crunchy tortilla chip” and she’s been fine and loved it. We also don’t give her everything “in tiny pieces, of course.” We do baby led weaning. As you stated initially, there are are different ways to feed a baby.
That’s what we did when we first started Quinn on solids. Now he eats everything (meat, crackers, etc.) and loves it all! I’m glad what you’re doing is working for you and your little one! 😄
@Tina:
I’m sorry–I don’t understand. In the post you said you began with stage 1 purees. But are you saying you did BLW when you first started?
Also, BLW means kids eat everything (that’s the whole idea). Just trying to understand, as it seems like conflicting information.
I have no opinions on how anyone else feeds their kiddos, but I am a little confused.
We’re just feeding our little guy and it’s working great for us. Sorry I don’t have a specific method or label for it.
@Tina: I think this is sort of confusing because Megan doesn’t really note that “baby led weaning” is actually a whole movement about how to feed your child where you don’t start with purees you just start with regular food whenever your kid shows an interest in it and feed him/her as you would an older child. So I think Megan could have been more clear about that because I am not sure everyone knows about that or what it is called. We started with purees because our kiddo had no teeth til 10 months and just now at a year he is eating normal food cut up. He also is not super interested in food at home and prefers the boob. :-S At daycare though he eats all the foods and only drinks a little bit of expressed milk. Kids!
@Megan: When Tina said “That’s what we did when we first started,” she is referring to the fact that she didn’t immediately give him a crunchy tortilla, but now he has progressed to crunchier foods. Does this settle the confusion???
william loves avocado and sweet potato!!! feeding him as been a journey though….
Quinn is so so cute and always seems to be smiling! That’s one happy baby for sure. He looks so much like Mal too, it’s crazy!
It makes me CRAZY that they are now encouraging giving peanut butter early on. With my oldest we gave her peanut butter around 10 months, and she ended up with a severe peanut allergy. I was basically told she developed this allergy because we gave it to her so young. I have always felt so guilty about that. Now it’s ok! Ugh, I don’t know which it should be, lol!!
Looks like you’ve got it all figured out, he has great role models!
My son will be 9 months old in a few days. He drinks 29 oz. of formula every day. We feed him twice a day some kind of puree and sometimes a teething biscuit as a snack. He is still a tiny guy. Last checkup he was in the 21st percentile for weight.
We did baby led weaning with ours on starting around 5 months (now he’s 14 months). It’s so nice not having to make 2 meals, everyone just eats the same thing.
It’s funny with the peanuts how there doesn’t seem to be a simple answer. Our pediatrician recommended waiting until he was one.
What kind of peanut butter did you introduce to Quinn?
Teddie! 😄
Wil Q eat any soft meats on their own? Our little 9 month girl has trouble getting things like chicken or beef down due to the consistency. She’s a bit better if it’s pureed with other things, but just wondering. She will eat a little flaked salmon. Her faves are banana, sweet potato, peas and carrots (frozen) and cantaloupe. She also likes the Plum Organics turkey pouches. We’ve started on stage 3 things. Love the feeding posts!
Yep, he eats chicken, but eggs weirded him out. We’re going to try again soon. It was definitely a consistency thing.
Off topic, but watched Jen win Jeopardy last night. How exciting! Good on her!
She did so well! I can’t wait for tonight! 😄
That was so interesting! I don’t have a baby yet, but I want one soon and I love learning about how each mom deals with a growing baby!
We started to give our daughter solids to experiment with at 6 months, but I went with the attitude that ‘food before one is just for fun’. I tried not to stress about how much she ate. She was breast feeding and having formula so I knew she was getting enough.
We gave her roasted sweet potato fingers(roasted in coconut oil) first and avocado. The sweet potato became an instant fave!
We did a version of baby led weaning and now she’s a pretty good eater, will try anything but definitely has her favorites! Its exciting and fun when they start to eat, feels more like a member of the family at dinner time:)
I don’t have a kid yet, but I know that it’s not too far out for me – what resources did you use to find out what you are supposed to be feeding and when? Was it all pediatrician?
We talk a lot to our pediatrician and the other doctors and nurses in the practice, but we also feel out what Quinn wants to do.
I’m not a mom (loooong way away), but I absolutely love the “Sisterhood of Motherhood” thing you’re promoting! Just like there’s no one right way to eat/exercise/live, there’s no one right way to raise a baby and it’s important to recognize everyone is doing what’s best for them – and to support that! Also, Quinn is completely adorable 🙂
Fun post! We did baby-led weaning with our daughter, following that adage from our pediatrician that any food under the age of one is “just for fun.” We were pretty lucky that our daughter turned out to be a pretty adventurous eater, and still is at three. That’s not to say there aren’t nights where she asks for ice cream instead of dinner 😀 but some of her all-time favorite foods are spicy thai food and smoked salmon, so I figure that counts for something! The great thing about baby-wed weaning is that there is no extra prep, no need to planning, we just gave our daughter some of whatever we were eating (the only change we made was salting our food after it was plated, to avoid giving her too much sodium). We eat local/organic/whole foods anyhow so it was a no-brainer.
Two little bits of advice that I’ve learned over the years – picky eaters develop around 18 months to 3 years, so don’t be worried if your “great” suddenly changes overnight when they become a toddler or preschooler. I know tons of people whose kids ate everything under the sun until they hit toddlerhood and then they became “picky eaters,” much to their parent’s chagrin. It’s also important to remember that toddlers and preschoolers have a much slower growth rate so they need much less food than babies, they may only gain a few pounds a year. And there’s a huge genetic component to pickiness, so although introducing a bunch of healthy foods early on is great, but it may not prevent pickiness later on.
The best resource I found for feeding my daughter is Ellyn Satter’s Child of Mine, a book written to help raise healthy and competent eaters (except for her advice on breastfeeding, which I’m not a fan of, considering the fact that I nursed my daughter on demand until she was almost three!). Satter has a great Facebook page as well. Her division of responsibility (the parents choose what food and when, and the child chooses how much or if to eat) removes any possibility of creating battles or power struggles around food (two of the root causes for many food and eating disorders later in life). I cannot recommend it enough.
We do all the same things with our guy that you do with Quinn. Asher is 9 months too and we started out with baby food at 5 1/2 months and at 6 months started out with soft foods like banana, avocado, steamed sweet potato, etc. Now he eats what we eat within reason. I love watching kids eat and figure things out!
Me too! There’s just something so exciting about seeing our little guy try new foods! 😄
hahah I love how happy he is in all of these pictures! 🙂
i cant even!! how did he get so old so fast!! keep up the good work!
He is so big & cute!! What a happy, healthy baby!
We started L on solids around 6 months & she loved ’em!
I’m curious about the days you send him to daycare – do you send food those days? Or do they provide? Our 7 month old is enjoying food with us at dinner & I am about to start sending some to daycare & interested in your experience with it.
Daycare provides it for him, and he gets to try all sorts of new foods, so we really like it! 😄
It is so funny how varied the peanut butter thing is. We were told to wait until at least 18 months to avoid an allergy! So funny! Luckily, she was fine, so I guess it didn’t matter?
We started Harlow on solids at 6 months and she LOVED all the veggies/fruit purees we gave her, but now she refuses pretty much all veggies (I think she doesn’t like the texture, but she’s totally not into purees anymore because they are for babies…). She’ll still eat fruit like a champ, so that’s something, I guess!
I don’t have kids, so I have no experience in this, but Quinn looks like such a sweetheart!
I’m so excited to start our little guy on solids…we still have two months to go!
Can we also mention how your sister in-law was on Jeopardy last night? I was cheering her on and LOVED how she was surprised that she got the final jeopardy question correct! My husband and I was excited to see her move on! Looking forward to tonight. You must already know how far along she got?
We actually don’t know how far she got. She was sworn to secrecy, so we were super excited last night! And, of course, for tonight! 😄
As a new Mom I love reading your posts on feeding Quinn! I have a 6 month old and am currently doing stage 1 purees! It is so much fun watching them try new things. My littles ones current favorites are definitely peas and bananas!
So cute 🙂
I don’t have a kid so I know nothing about feeding one aside from the fact that they need food. Always good to read up on the subject 🙂
Another O/T comment, but I wanted to add that it was fun watching Jen on Jeopardy last night knowing she is your sister-in-law. She was so sweet and polite, and I agree with you that she is wicked smart! I’m looking forward to watching tonight.
My daughter is much older than Quinn, but her favorite foods were fruits, and her second favorite was veggies. The only meat she ever really liked was bacon. She knew what she liked at a very early age and those are still her preferences.
My son is almost six months and we just tried oatmeal for the first time this weekend. On Saturday morning he was pumped and couldn’t get enough, Sunday morning he was lukewarm, but ate a few bites. Now he won’t let it near him! I’m going to give sweet potato a shot tonight instead.
It sounds like you went right into stage one foods, right? You didn’t start with cereal?
We tried cereal in the beginning, but Quinn wasn’t really into it. Plus, we figured the purées were more nutritious and he lovvveed them! 😄
We skipped purees altogether. Ours started table food, soft like you said and similar to what you have listed, at 6 months. He loved it and loved being able to fed himself!
We did a few purees with Sienna around 5 months but she didn’t take to it, was constantly trying to grab the spoon and wanted to chew something so we put her onto finger foods quite quickly, we started her with fruits. At 9 months she was eating small shares of sandwiches, sticks of cucumber and a few melt in the mouth chips! x
Kerry @ Lived With Love | Mummy, Fashion & Lifestyle Blog
We did Baby Led Weaning ie start with whatever they reach for after 6 months, letting them feed themselves (no purees, just whatever you’re eating). My MIL and mother were sure he would choke but babies are pretty smart and have a great gag reflex. It was incredibly messy but also fun! The first thing he really ate was a chunk of apple. He’s 18 months now and a great eater, favourite food is probably strawberries, he also loves vegie frittata, salmon and Sherpherds Pie. Thanks for posting Tina, Q is soooo cute!!
I can’t believe he is 9 months!!! Madison will be turning 6 months old at the end of the month and probably slowly start puree foods with her. She is showing some interest now in food but I want to wait until 6 months. I have a feeling she will love to eat too 🙂 Q is soooo cute. I am anxious and nervous to start solid foods with her, but know she will do what she wants and that everything will work itself out. xoxo
I loved reading this! We are starting our daughter on solids in about 6 weeks, so it’s always nice to hear what other moms are doing.
I actually started my little girl on solids at about 4 months and she did pretty good. We mostly just did rice cereal with bananas at first, and then worked our way up from there. 🙂 Now she is 13 months and eats everything like a champ, well as long as they are in tiny pieces so she doesn’t choke ha!
I have two boys. My oldest is 2.5 and my youngest is 4 months. We fed our oldest in a very similar way to you guys and it worked out great for us, so we will be doing the same with our youngest. Carter loved most purees and was a great eater as a baby and I was SOOO happy that he liked veggies! It didn’t last and he got picky as a toddler unfortunately. He doesn’t eat any veggies except for sweet potatoes, so I feed him those a lot. I have tried every trick to get veggies into him – hiding them in other foods (smoothies, sauces etc) and nothing works. I used to be really stressed about it and spoke to our doctor etc and I learned to relax about it over time and now it doesn’t bother me much at all. He is healthy, growing, thriving and I try to make sure he eats a very healthy diet. My hubby and I eat lots of veggies and he is curious about them (but still refuses) and we plan to shop at the farmer’s market in the summer so he can learn where food comes from. I hope that in time he will eat veggies, but I’m against forcing kids to eat foods they don’t like. I love the movement you are promoting where mothers don’t judge other mothers. Being a mom is HARD! We need to support and encourage each other instead of bashing each other’s choices/decisions. I try very hard NOT to do that or participate in any conversations that bash another family or mom. We all have to do what works best for us and our families! 🙂