9 month old meals

[Mumtobe202310]

Hello everyone,

my son is 9 months old.

I am a first time mum, and I have PND too.

I wanted to do the best for my baby all the way from pregnancy to now but PND makes things harddddd.

Lack of confidence and family around doesn't help. Bless my mum though she gives food over with my dad and helps sooo much even when i go and stay over which is not much.

Anyway, I am trying what I can with my other health conditions.

So, he wakes up 9.30am and breastfeed a bit and around 10am I give him ready brekk with half mashed banana.

around 2pm I give him carrots, sweet potatoes, brocolli, rice and lentils boiled and then pureed. I keep enough for evening time.

5/6pm I give him 1 whole mashed banana and a petit filou yoghurt or 2 heinz banana biscotti and yoghurt.

9pm I give him dinner which is what I gave for lunch.

I breastfeed him in between those meals too.

He drinks plenty of water during the day too.

I used to mix feed but my son stopped bottle few months ago. I tried many different things such as changing teat size and different bottles, mam worked best but he stopped it after a while again so now I'm just breastfeeding.

He wakes up couple times during the nights to have my milk too.

Some days I give him ready made aisha's kitchen lamb roast dinner pouches, sometimes two times a day on days where I am really strugglinggg.

I am feeling bad though as usually often times I have started hearing his tummy rumbling and it makes me think is he hungry?? then I will breastfeed him, sometimes my boobs are even leaking so it makes me question as to he must deffo still be hungry and he has also started putting his fingers in his mouth a lot and all this breaks my heart cos I'm here thinking he is not satiated.

Can you please advice me in terms of does he need more food? more often? any ideas for meals please and snacks so it's different than his usual all the time?? Will be very much appreciated.

I'm so sorry that you're suffering with PND

Has your HV been able to tell you about any local groups for Mums with PND or have you spoken to the PANDAS Foundation?

If you think that baby is hungry, have you had him weighed in the last month? Is he following his weight centile? Is he bright and alert at times? Hungry babies tend to be very sleepy and drip in the weight centiles.

Sorry posted too soon.

One thing you could try is a bit more protein?

So at their snack around 5 pm try some cubes of cheese as a finger food along with some halved grapes or halved cherry tomatoes.

You could also try making some savoury muffins to offer LO. These should freeze easily too.

Scrambled egg with some veg on the side or cheese, smooth nut butter or avocado on toast would all help to increase the protein.

If you want some more ideas on food and a rough idea of suggested portion sizes, this guide from The Caroline Walker Trust should help. You'll probably need from page 39

Forgot to say that waking twice a night to feed at 9 months is perfectly normal too. If you want to, you can do some gentle night weaning once they've reached 12 months

Fingers in the mouth could be teething or just exploring!

At 9 months I think it would be good to introduce more 'normal' food - it doesn't need to be all mashed and puréed at this age. Try things like long bits of banana, toast fingers/squares with cream cheese/hummus, there's lots of recipes for oat/egg/banana pancake that you can make a batch of and freeze. Bits of fish, tuna pasta.

It's good to let them self feed as you can tell when they lose interest - and that means they don't want to eat anymore! If you're breastfeeding he will get the rest of what he needs from you. It's normal for it to very in terms of what they eat.

If you're worried about choking have a look at the solid starts app - tells you another how to serve by age. Gagging sounds are normal - they need the practice of moving stuff around in their mouth, chewing and swallowing.

Gagging sounds are normal - they need the practice of moving stuff around in their mouth, chewing and swallowing.

Totally agree and it helps them to develop muscles ready for speech.

If you're worried about choking OP, have a look at the Solid Starts App as mentioned above.

This Video from the St John's Ambulance is very good.

This article shows the difference between gagging and choking and explains what to look forr*.

And you could always look for a Paediatric First Aid Course in your area

I also would focus on more whole foods that are not necessarily mashed. He can have what you are having generally eg normal porridge oats. I’d skip the petit filou which can have a lot of sugar in and go for full fat Greek yoghurt. Also the banana biscotti will be full of sugar too and not very nutritious. Above posters have some good ideas. Does he have the same lunch and dinner everyday? Ideally you want to introduce him to a wide variety of whole fruit, veg and main meals to increase his palate. Eggs are always great.