hey mamas and daddies, what were you feeding your 8 almost 9 month old baby

it has been a while, but it seems to me with both my children by that age i was feeding them an oatmeal breakfast with a fruit folded in. a lunch with a couple jars of meat and veggie. and then a dinner with any left over but a meat and veggie along with the bottled milk (didnt breast feed).

i ask because today is the second time i have seen my nieces baby and spent some time with her at this age. she is not eating much (if any) jar food and seems like mama is sticking with milk and juices. today i got the feel that mama is "worried" about all the fat kids and looking to keep her baby trim. she tells me that her baby just is not that hungry.

but as i say, has been at least a decade since i have had a child at this age.

thanks for any info.

as if the juice is really good for the kids.

Water is fine, and if you must give them juice, cut it by half or more with water.

Milk is good for them too.. and not the 1% or 2% stuff, that's for the adults.

And a 9 month old should be eating some semi-solids.

with a little bit of cereal, mashed beans, soft vegetables and soft fruit. I never fed her any jarred food. I didn't start feeding her any type of food that she'd have to chew until she had teeth to chew with.

she was breast fed, also. we would try a food and if she tolerated it, fine. Peas, rice, thin cereal, mashed banana

however when she started a new tooth, everything but breast milk would come right back up.

Ditto both my children what you recall with yours; alas, it's also been a while.

However, even as of my youngest grandchild (now 2-1/2), the advice was to hold off on the solids until SIX months. This child should actually be transitioning from the super-strained varieties into slightly more textured "junior" food by now, I think. Small amounts, but a varied diet of some solid foods three times a day.

And only highly diluted juice should be served-it's very possible that the straight stuff could be messing with her appetite.

Here's the fundamental obstacle for you...it's her child and ultimately her call. So maybe it's your brother or sister (her mom or dad?) you need to speak with about your concerns, if theirs is a trusted influence on the niece.

Or, perhaps the next time you see them and the food topic arises, ask her what the baby's DOCTOR says about the child's "lack of appetite" for solid food.

Some things are important enough for a little meddling. Good luck.

both babies were breast-feeding, although not terribly interested anymore. They were eating cereals, fruits and veggies, and IIRC some meats, turkey, chicken (no beef, it stunk) I don't think they can get enough protein from a simple diet of milk at that age, and juices should be a treat, not a regular thing unless you wanted rotted teeth. But hey, it's been over 23 years since I was in that phase. I have seen articles though that babies drink way too much juice and they would be better learning to develop a taste for water.

I fought with my doctor because my 2nd daughter was born at 9lbs. and then dropped to 7lbs in the hospital, she was very petite, and weighed only 15 lbs at 1 year. She ate well, but the doctor wanted me to supplement her with formula at 3 mos. because "she wasn't big enough." I refused to do it because I knew it would be the beginning of the end of the nursing. I perservered, she's always been petite, to this day, age 24, she is about 5'4" and 115 lbs. Doc finally admitted that she was probably never meant to be 9lbs at birth, and her weight normalized.

and concerned about your niece's baby.

Gee, my kids are in their late 20's and mid 30's now, so I had to search my brain to remember.

I breast fed both of my babies, weaned them to a cup, and never fed them canned or prepared food. I had a small baby food grinder that pureed small amounts at a time, and gradually started introducing those pureed foods at around 6 months. The only juices they got were from a cup when they were weaned. Juice, especially before they fall asleep, can cause damage to their new teeth due to the high acid, and sugar content. The high sugar content can also depress appetite.

As for your niece's baby, it's ultimately the parents decision. Gentle concern, and teaching can be helpful, but some parents become defensive if they feel they are being criticized. Hopefully you can share your experiences and concerns with her in an open, and helpful way.

Good luck!

my ex-wife (then wife) left me with our daughter when she was 6 months, and not yet weaned. By 9 months, she was on solids (more mushed-up than solid, but you get the picture). I had problems producing milk.

B) Good for you, stepping up & doing the hard work. A lesser man might have outsourced to an aunt or grandma. .

Putting them on a low/no fat diet is detrimental to their long term development.
Why doesn't anyone compare the ingredients in breast milk with what is and isn't in infant formula?
There is so much bull shit about how to treat and feed babies. No wonder this country has so many health problems.

His mama is still breastfeeding. At 6 months she had just started to introduce rice cereal. She then started to transition him into veggies. She was a regular at the farmer's market & made all her foods. Peas, green beans, carrots all big hits. By last winter some sauteed chicken.
The kiddo is an adventurous eater. She limits any sweets. He will try just about anything.
As far as juices, not so many. She feels there's too much sugar in them. When she does give them, she dilutes them.
Is he fat? No way. Just enough chumb on the belly & leg to be squeezable!

My kids were both breastfed and got solid food far later than their bottle-fed counterparts. The first wasn't much interested in food until he was about a year old. With the second, I decided not to offer food until he seemed interested--which turned out to be at about six months.

I was still bf'ing, plus baby food and some table food. She's allergic to milk, but I'm betting she'll grow out of it, I did. She does get juice, cut with water. She's 19 mos. old now, and eats table food now. I stopped bf'ing when she was 13 mos. old.

They had fresh fruit and no juice, only whole milk. Babies need fat for brain development.

and I started them on soft finger foods/cheerios. When they hit 12 months, I moved them from formula to whole milk, for the fat content, and started feeding them more "normal" foods and less baby food as their teeth developed. I agree with other posters who say kids are getting too much juice--constant empty calories and sugar, and it fills them up so that they don't want less-sweet, more nutritional foods.

and continued that for a year. Doctor said they needed the fat for brain development. They were both experimenting with solids starting at about 4-5 months with rice cereal, then after a couple more months I started with the different jarred foods, and cheerios. I don't think they began eating "real" foods until they were about 10 months old or so. I never gave them much juice because it killed their appetites.

mashed banana, a few pureed veggies (or out of the gerber jar).

It can be tricky at this age, because doctors are worried about obesity. Fruit juices are a dessert, IMO. Oatmeal cereal is okay, but veggiesand pureed meat is better. The child needs to be able to hold his head up, show interest in foods, etc. The tongue thrust reflex should be absent, also.

One is 11, the other is 9, just to give you an idea of how old the information is.

got bottles of formula (wife couldn't produce enough milk to satisfy, although many nipple nazis tried to tell her we were killing our little girl), apple sauce, organic baby foods (she hated peas, loved carrots all fruit). She didn't eat much if any meat at that age.

on edit: she also ate many, many "cereal" type bars.

taken into account for the developmental age of the infant. The infant may not be developmentally ready to feed on solids.

Infant feeding has been leaning towards more breastmilk and formula during the latter part of the first year. Introducing foods isn't really a switch over at this time, but as I said, an "introduction". Breastmilk is recommended by WHO for the first two years if mother and baby desire, with pureed foods being introduced sometime during the middle of the first year.

mushed up versions of whatever the rest of us were eating. My youngest who is pencil thin to this day used to pick up a stick of butter and nibble on that whenever she had the opportunity!

I have 4 kids, from 1-10, and each ate vastly different foods at that age. One was still nearly exclusively breastfed, she hated solids, constant trying with all kinds of food, and barely ate any until she was nearly 2. She's rail thin. 2 of mine ate whatever we ate at that age (plus were still being breastfed). My youngest, who is nearly 16 months old, ate a lot of jarred pureed food at that age, as well as baby cereal, and, of course, breastmilk. She loved pureed food, anything with texture - not so much. She still isn't crazy about texture, but I think it has more to do with her molars still aren't in and she can't chew very well.

Now, I'd mention that juices probably aren't very good for a baby of that age. But as long as the mom is still trying other foods, and the baby gets breastmilk/formula, then she's probably OK. I would be worried though about any mom who is concerned about her BABY being fat, at that age. Way too early to be concerned, imo.