12 Transitional Foods for your 8 to 12 month old Baby
12 Easy to Prepare Foods for your Transitioning Baby
So my baby girl is already 8 months old…. waa! And she is going through a transitional time that happens around 8-10 months where she is still too little to really feed herself, but she is too independent to let you spoon feed her anymore. Next thing I know she will be doing fractions and asking me to give her some space....*sob.* I found this transitional time with my first to be the most infuriatingly difficult time food-wise because I couldn’t figure what the heck to give her. They are too independent for purees, but not quite ready for finger foods because their dexterity is horrible, they have like two teeth and they gag on everything. While I definitely do not proclaim to be an expert on feeding babies, I did figure a few tricks out the first time around and they seem to be working pretty well this time too so I thought I would share them with you.
My preference is to give my girls as little processed food as possible for a few reasons. One, they are expensive. Two, they often have a lot of sodium and sugar, even the “organic” brands- don’t be fooled! And, three, they are lower in nutritional value for the simple reason that they have to be shelf stable so a lot of the nutrients are cooked out of them.
The list of transitional foods I’ve shared with you today were not at all difficult or time consuming to prepare. I often prepare foods like the yogurt drops or teething biscuits in the spare time I have during the day (which is extremely limited). The yogurt drops can be prepared in about 5 minutes and I usually make a batch on the weekends that will last all week. I usually double or triple the biscuit recipe and freeze most of them so I only make them about once every couple of months, which comes out to maybe 2 or 3 times during the time that your baby would be eating teething biscuits anyway. And the smoothie pops, steamed veggies, steamed fruits, cashew cream, waffles and eggs can be made as part of a meal for your entire family so you aren't cooking extra foods for one person.
Homemade Yogurt Bites
These could not be easier to prepare. Just line a baking sheet with parchment paper, drop about a teaspoon of yogurt for each bite onto the parchment paper and allow to freeze for an hour or more. Remove the frozen bites from the pan and place into a ziplock bag.
Smoothie Pops using Zoku Mini Pop Molds
I LOVE the Zoku Mini Pop Molds! The mold makes perfect, healthy and easy to hold popsicles for a baby. The molds are extremely to extract the frozen pops from and very easy to clean too. I usually make smoothies at least once a week for the family. So when I make smoothies, I just make a little extra and fill up the mold. They are the perfect size for transitioning babies that want to feed themselves and, bonus, they are great for teething babies! Here is a simple smoothie recipe you can use if you don't already have a favorite:
- vanilla almond or soy milk
- frozen pineapple
- frozen strawberries
- bananas (frozen or room temp)
- spinach
Meal Idea Number 1
- smashed banana and strawberries with yogurt
- smashed black beans
- puffed kamut
- Homemade Teething Biscuits
Meal Idea Number 2
- bread sticks
- yogurt Bites
- steamed carrots
- steamed apples
Meal Idea Number 3
- diced bananas
- waffle with Cashew Cream (recipe below)
- scrambled eggs
Recipe for Cashew Cream:
- 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for 2 or more hours)
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup filtered water
Pour the water off of the soaking cashews. Put the cashews into a high powered blender along with the sweetener, vanilla and water and blend starting at a low speed and slowly turning to the highest speed (about 2-3 minutes of blending) until the cashews are pulverized and the the mixture is a creamy consistency. Refrigerate until ready to eat or eat immediately. The mixture will firm up a bit after refrigeration.
