What to Feed a 9-Month-Old

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Andrea Orta Mashburn and today I am going to discuss how to feed a nine month old. When feeding a nine month old the most important thing to remember is that you need to discuss your child's diet with your doctor, your pediatrician. Once you and your pediatrician have come to terms or come to an agreement on what is acceptable food then you may begin introducing new foods to your child. One of the first foods that you are going to introduce to your child between the ages of six to nine months is going to be rice cereal. Make sure that you feel comfortable in feeding your child solid foods or getting their way to solid foods before you begin. You can pick up any type of rice cereal at any of your local grocery stores or any kind of food chains. It doesn't typically matter what kind of grain of rice cereal that you purchase, just purchase one that you feel comfortable with. Once you have chosen a rice cereal make sure that you thoroughly read the directions when preparing the rice cereal. It is very simple to prepare rice cereal and typically when you make the rice cereal you are going to be using water or rice at the very beginning. Follow the directions closely and once you have prepared your food you can begin administering it to your child. Also at nine months you can begin introducing oatmeal to your child's diet. Make sure that they have begun with rice cereal prior to beginning with the oatmeal stage. Oatmeal is a thicker consistency and so it is important that your child has the ability to swallow foods before you introduce oatmeal. Once again follow the oatmeal instructions directly when preparing it. You again want to make sure that when you are feeding your child oatmeal that you are feeding about a quarter to a half a spoon at a time. You and your doctor may also agree that this is the correct time to start introducing baby foods to your child's diet. Baby foods are going to consist of the greens at this time, typically your green beans, your squash, your peas, and other vegetables that you may find in your store. Your doctor may also suggest that you begin introducing fruits into your child's diet. What I would suggest to you first though is to make sure that your child is eating the greens first. Many times the sweetness of fruits will distract your child and he'll no longer want or she will no longer want to eat vegetables. They'll only want fruit so please start off with the vegetables first and then move into the fruits. When preparing the baby foods for your child you may want to warm them up in the microwave. Make sure you are using a microwave safe bowl before putting the baby foods into the bowl. Place the baby foods into the microwave into the microwave safe bowl and then turn on your microwave anywhere between 10 and 20 seconds. Typically this gets it warm enough so that you may introduce the food to your child. You wouldn't want to eat cold food either. So make it a little bit warm so that it is soothing to their throat. If by any chance you microwave it for too long you can always put an ice cube into the child's food and into the baby food to cool it off immediately. Make sure that the food is cool enough to introduce to your child. You definitely don't want to burn your child when introducing green beans or any kind of fruits and vegetables into their diet. So remember be patient, be safe and always put your baby's needs first."