Table Food?

This is one for baby that I put together from other people's recipes: http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=93107

And her is one for toddlers (for when she gets older because that does happen..LOL!): http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=93092

You could take a home-made muffin with you out to dinner and she can chow down on that... or a couple home-made baby cookies.

Have fun!

I highly reccomend Gerber Graduates, They look like little TV dinners and you know they are good for them. I would keep Angelina (beautiful name) on healthy Gerber food as long as possible so she doesn't develop bad eating habits and have a weight problem. Restaraunt foods aren't good for adults too many preservatives. Good Luck
N.

It's been a REALLY long time for me (my daughter graduates HS this year!), but we made a lot of her food. Broil a chicken breast, then cut it up into bite-size pieces. What does your little girl like so far? Ask the server if they could prepare carrots and green beans with NO salt, or other additives. This is a great time to really teach good food habits. It does take a little planning, but packing her dinner is no different than packing her diaperbag with snacks. You don't really want her to make a colossal mess at a restraunt you might want to go back to without her someday. Right now, you might even get a sitter and go out yourselves (Mom & Dad need a date night OFTEN!)--this lowers stress all around.

anything mom can eat she can eat as long as its not tough. most veggies if u give her sweet peas make sure to smash them with a fork because they are a choke hazard round. carrots that kind of thing should be fine. from the salad table try some cottage cheese and fruits. all my kids loved cottage cheese at that age.

Hi, I have 2 girls now in to their late 20's but I had a book that I used all the time. It is called Feed Me I am Yours. You can get it on E-bay real cheap. When you get this book you will see it is great as it go's by age ie at age 18 months give these foods. Buy it is will be the best thing you have ever seen. M.

Well, at home is easy... whatever you are having you can cut up tiny pieces of and put a couple on her plate to see what she does with them. Eating out you'll probably want to take food specifically for her. Cheerios are IDEAL for this sort of thing. Banana pieces, cut up grapes, goldfish crackers. She might even like sliced/cut up olives(from your salad or the salad bar -- or maybe just ask your server if they have some) (our kids both LOVED green and black olives- and still do). The "baby" cereal bars are also very packable and great for eating out. She might like a thin slice of American cheese torn into pieces. At home dice some cooked chicken, give her small pieces of scrambled egg, help her learn to use a spoon with some grits or oatmeal. Give her small pieces of overcooked green beans and diced carrots (overcooked so they are close to mush-no choking). If you try not to stress about it too much, you will find that she is slowly learning to eat whatever you eat. That's what babies are supposed to be learning. When our son was very young and we would go out to eat, we would sometimes go to Cracker Barrel (where breakfast is available all day).. we'd order a scrambled egg for him and cut it up and let him eat the grits too. Of course he didn't (and she won't) eat a LOT, but they do eat and it keeps them occupied part of the time. You may also consider teaching her baby sign language so she can tell you when she wants more or is all done (it's really pretty easy to teach and cuts down on fussiness b/c she can communicate with you). Good luck and have patience...

Don't hesitate to pack your own foods when you go out. Fruits (my son loved when I handed him a whole nectarine) and veggies (cooked or raw). My experience, meats are too difficult for them to chew at this age and can get stuck.

I started packing foods for my son when we would go to restaurants from the days he started on baby food and have never stopped. As a mother of a 2 year old I can not find anything HEALTHY on restaurant menus ~ Every restaurant is the same...Mac n Cheese, Burgers, and Chicken Strips or Nuggets. Some (but few) have PB&J but I just can't bring myself to pay $4.00 for a PB&J sandwich (plus I put just enough Jelly to have a taste but it's tons less sugar than what they would serve).

The one restaurant I can speak strongly of is Ruby Tuesday's ~ The manager said they put MSG on EVERYTHING that is on the salad bar. MSG is a preservative but can make your heart race and I believe, is full of salt.

My children are 15 & 9... but when they were little ones & we went out to eat at a resturant.. My son which is my 15 year old... I would give mac and cheese (just a few noodles at a time) it was cute to see him try and pick them up... it also kept him entertained while I was trying to eat. I have cut up almost anything into bite sized pieces and allowed them to feed themselves. My son LOVED getting chicken drumlets with bbq sauce. I would take the chunks away from him if he actually suceeded with getting them off of the bone. My daughter, which is 9 now loved feeding herself veggies. Again, I just cut things up into small sizes and let her have at it. Just giving her a little at a time. 4 or 5 pieces until she ate it. This also helped keep the mess to a minimum. Finger foods at this age. Once they are a little older around a year to year and half.. I started actually giving them the spoon with some thicker foods like mashpotatoes, brocalli and cheese sauce, applesauce, yogurt, spagettio's. Again, small portions. For now, you are safe with small bite sized pieces of almost anything except meat. Let the baby feed herself until you eat and then she should feel satisfied, then once you are all done.... then you can give her the part that you would not trust her giving to herself. IT WORKS! AND you get to enjoy your dinner! I just placed the food right onto the highchair tray and didnt worry with plates, utensils etc. Good luck! ~T.

Hi P.!
I'm also in Valdosta! My husband was with the 71st.

My advice to you about table food is to purchase the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It is chock full of ideas for healthy food you prepare yourself. It is SO unbelieveably simple and inexpensive to do! When my two were babies I would take some homemade food out to eat with us....my husband and I would eat the unhealthy restaurant food but my boys were protected! lol Some ideas, though, if you don't want to go homemade, is to offer whole grain bread, unbuttered, torn into small pieces. If you can order steamed veggies those would be good. Or take a jar of gerber food with you (like diced carrots or apples). I always just had one or two jars of those in my diaper bag for emergencies. Many restaurants offer sweet potatoes, and if you order that (again without condiments) you can fork-mash it and giver her those. If it's a restaurant that also serves breakfast or banana splits you might be able to order a raw fresh banana. Please look into the Super Baby Food book, it's so worth it! Commercial baby food costs almost $2 per pound...making it yourself costs 1/4 that. Plus it's fresher, higher in vitamins and nutrients, convenient, less pressure on the enviornment (because of packaging, transporting, etc.), and it takes literally 20 minutes a week. Check amazon for the best price on the book. Good luck!
H.

Don't feed your baby any restaurant food! Take your own for her, so you can quality control. The longer you hold off salty and sugary foods, the better. My advice is to never give her fast food or pizza, and she will eat better than 99% of her friends-and she'll never know what she's missing! (seriously) Talk to your MD about what she should be eating at this age, or else some of your older, "been through this" mom friends. Make sure she has a variety and try real hard not to let her tell you what she'll eat or not eat (as she gets older.) She needs to learn to eat it all (when she's old enough to.) I have too many students that will "only" eat certain things and mom is relegated to cooking several meals because the child refuses to eat what is on the menu. But for right now, she's experimenting with texture, taste...it's a fun time!

Hi P.

When my second daughter was your little girl's age she was the same way. I would put her in the high chair and put green beans on the tray for her also macroni that I had cooked by it self some green peas cooked chicken pieces. I am married to a Air Force MSGT retired here in Valdosta about 4 miles from Moody is so I do not have small children any longer but remember the days of trying to figure out what I could give my daughter to eat at that time she was just like yours wanted to eat all by herself.

I am finding it very hard to meet people here in Valdosta and find myself wondering how to meet new people. I have a email address if you would like to communicate and give me some idea of how to meet friends here in Valdosta I would really appreciate it. My e-mail is ____@____.com name is L. I am not working my hero is working full time which leaves me a lot of time by myself. Let me know how it works out with these ideas for your little one to eat all by herself.
L.

i always gave my girls homemade foods, as they got older i just did't puree it you can take steamed veggies, cheese cubes, mini whole grain muffins that you make with your to restaurants

avocados are great source of omega fats for brain development. Guacamole is very healthy at Mexican restaurants. Refried beans too.
At Mediterannean places hummus is good. Dipping, easy. Locally in Tallahasse there's Sahara and they also have a pureed lentil soup.

My son also decided that he had enough of baby food at 9 months so I had to get creative. I would cook very well done pasta with sauce or very well done vegetables such as carrots and broccoli. I also started making pancakes out of baby cereal to get the extra boost of protein. Everything else, the fruit, cheese, chicken cutlets, etc was just cut to small pieces. I found it all very liberating because I was able to make him creative meals that were very healthy and well balanced and he loved them. As for going out, I'm sure anything on the kids' menu could be cut into smaller pieces that she could handle and you could always ask them to cook the protein portion of the meal plain.

By 8 &1/2 months old all three of daughters would ONLY eat table food. My middle one was a green food junkie....she absolutely loved broccoli and to this day (10 years old now) still loves green veggies. Just watch her while she eats....she can probably handle just about anything that you eat if you cut it up small and monitor her closely.
Good luck and healthy eating to ya!
V.

I had the same issue when my daughter was younger! I ended up packing things in her diaper bag to feed her. I was a walking kitchen... Ha ha ha.. It did take a lot of preperation. Good luck!

P.,
My son did the exact same thing. He's 13 months now and will eat anything I put in front of him. I think it depends on how many teeth she has. If she is still toothless I'd say bring your own graduates with you to the restaurant. Pasta such as mac and cheese,cooked veges, little tiny pieces of chicken. I always smash the food with my fingers before putting it in front of my son. That way it's easier for him to chew and I know if the temperature is too hot. Try putting a few bites of applesauce in when she busy checking out the atmosphere. Good luck!
A. C.

I pack sandwich bags full of dry cereal like multi-grain cheerios or kix or brown rice puffs ~ all healthy alternatives with lower amounts of sugar than most cereals...If the restaurant has it, I will order a side of rice, or broccoli or the macaroni and cheese. Cutting fresh fruits into small bite size pieces are good to bring along to...but I would wait until Angelina is a little older for grapes. I would NOT recommend hot dogs at all. Gerber makes many nutritional snacks that actually "dissolve" so there is little to no chance on choking on them...at this age...that is just as important as the health. That is fantastic that Angelina is so independent...as long as you as Mommy control WHAT is going into her mouth...you and she are going to do great! God Bless.
I am SAHM of 3 yr. old b/g twins.

My daughter was the same way. Did not want to eat from a spoon that I would feed her, she wanted to do it herself too. If we went out to dinner, I would fix her a plate at home to take with us and didn;t really give her restaurant food other than maybe a bit of what I was having if it was OK to do so.

People in the family support at the hospital or Chmpus/Tricare could help

Hi P.!

At 9 months old EVERYTHING is a finger food isn't it? Semi steamed vegetables, Cheerios, chicken breast pieces dipped in ranch or something else she likes, and almost any fruits. (The reason I said semi steamed is so its hard enough to hold in her hand - soft enough the she won't have a hard time with it) Most restaurants will accomodate you - they're used to it. Keep wipes in your purse, I'm sure you already do! My boys are almost grown and I still keep wipes and a Tide Pen in my purse!
Good Luck - don't sweat the small stuff!
M.

ps. I read some of the other responses....maybe I'm not remembering correctly, but I think my kids were on table food at 9 months and had quite a few teeth. Might I be senile?

Hi P.! Her primary nutrition still needs to be breastmilk or formula but soft cooked veggies, canned sweet potato (rinsed), low sodium cheese, cheerios, cooked egg yolk (avoid the whites as these can be an allergen at this age), soft fruits are all good choices. Not sure about cottage cheese and yogurt since those contain cow's milk and you don't start cow's milk till after 12 months. As far as restaurants, I always brought my son's food with us until he was probably close to 2. I used those small containers with lids and usually packed some cheese and veggies or fruit. But at her age you aren't going need to bring much. I always avoided giving him food from restaurants just for your reasons-way too much salt, fat and sugar! Every time he stayed with the in-laws (who eat out almost every meal) his tummy would be messed up for days! Everything just needs to be in very small, soft bites.

Hi, I have an 11 month daughter and around 9 months she wanted to feed herself too. I just started taking carrot sticks, squash, and whatever vegatable we eat for dinner and feeding it to her. She can feed herself with the little chucks instead of me feeding her baby food puree. That has seemed to work well for us. We don't go out to eat much but when we do she just eats a side of vegtables or a little off our plate. It seems our daughter will eat anything as long as she can feed herself. I hope that helps.