Graduate food for a 9 1/2 month old

[mami1323]

So Jayden's been doing really well with eating solids.  I give him rice, pastina, farina, pancakes, cheerios, puffs, zwiebacks, bitter biscuits.  My question is, I picked up some graduate solids, like chicken sticks, mac and cheese and spagetti in meat sauce, it says on the packaging for toddlers but I'm wondering if I can give it to him.  He's very good about chewing his food before swallowing, as long as I make sure that it's in pieces would it be ok to give to him?  He's got 7 teeth so he's capable of chewing up his food.  Thanks ladies.

[DaniWants1More]

sorry i can't help mami.  but your lil one is a sweetheart!!!!!   ~d

[mami1323]

Thanks Dani...lol.

[Jenny100]

I give Jameson the Gerber Graduate meals. He will be 1 in a week. He HATED Stage 3 baby food.He would NOT eat it. I have a baby food grinder, and just heat up the little meal as directed and then grind it up. I have been doing this for a couple of months now.
I see no reason why it isn't okay--- some babies hate the "stage" baby food because it is so bland. He LOVES these little meals. They actually taste like FOOD!! lol
Jameson has 8 teeth and is also a very good chewer.

[GNicole]

Avery ate the mac and cheese and spaghetti. She liked them. She liked the Gerber Graduate meals also.  I think it is fine to try them now. I would just cut the pieces of noodle up small (which I know you will do, lol!)

[Jenny100]

On the package of the little dried apple pieces--Gerber Graduates brand--it says for toddlers. But at the bottom of the package, it says "For 12+ months"

So is that when a baby is considered a "toddler"?  12 months?

I dont want Jameson to be a toddler yet!!!    lol I want him to be my little BABY!!!!

[GNicole]

I meant that it would be fine to try the stage 3 foods now-maybe hold off on the Gerber Graduate meals though, unless you grind them up like Jenny said.

[GRose]

Only you know what foods you baby is capable of chewing up, I started giving Noah the graduate meals around 10 months. His pediatrician said that by 10 months her children were eating table foods, she just made sure to cut the food up in small pieces.

[mami1323]

My pediatrician said I could give him anything as long as he was capable of eating them.  He hasn't had any stage 3 foods yet so I was scared to give him graduates.  The only thing he said to not give him yet was cow's milk, although if a food was cooked in Cow's milk it was ok, but not straight out of the bottle, raw tomatoes, eggs and peanuts.  

[Jenny100]

Very true, GRose. One of my daughters didn't chew her foods at all, even when she was one year old. She would literally swallow it immediately.So obviously she was not ready for chunks at all, even though she was one. Now, Jameson is the cutest chewer.:) He does it very well.

I still don't give him the Gerber Graduates meals just like they come though. I grind it up cuz he doesn't like big chunks. If I were to put a half of a green bean in his mouth, he'd spit it out. But if its ground, he likes it.
He will eat small chunks of banana or peach, but thats about it. Probably cuz its soft. He doesn't like any foods that are firm.

[girliegrl1723]

i skipped stage 3 baby foods almost completely and went right to the gerber graduates meals around that age. 10 months or so. edward liked the mac and cheese and chix noodle stew. i didnt have a food grinder, but would mash it up even more than it already was to make it easier for him to eat.

[kjbutcher]

right around that time AJ started hating the baby food and loved regular food.  I gave him all of what you were describing and target has a gerber pasta pick ups which are ravioli that they can just pick up.  I cut them at first but he still picked them up.  He loved them!  I would say go for it.

[CYW]

every child is different and like you've said before.. jayden is the size of a 1 year old...try it out if its good its good..i will give cam some table food now..depending what i make but unlike jayden, he isnt very good with chunks

[babyscience]

Wow 7 teeth!!  Ethan is finally cuting his upper teeth. He got the bottom 2 at 5 1/2 months and nothing until now...almost 9 months old now.  I give him little things to chew on, he figures out a way to eat it...plus I make the pieces so small he could swallow them whole if he wanted!  So I think that Jayden is probably ready, just start off small then get the pieces bigger and bigger!

[New Mommy 2 Be 2007]

i give carmine the graduate tv dinners he only has 2 bottoms just got them now his two tops are coming in he also eats all table food chicken nuggets hamburgers and all