Every time I get a handle on things...

So... is 9 months really hard? Like... really really hard?

In the past month, the boys have gotten teeth, sat, crawled, pulled up, and cruised. So I imagine that answers my question right there. But there's also a few other problems I could use some help with.

Like... they stopped eating purees. Foods they LOVED before. Just sealing their little mouths, swatting at the spoon, and turning their heads. We went from them eating like 4-6 oz of puree (each!) at each meal to a few meagre spoonfuls. Of course, this means they're nursing all. day. long. They DO like finger food, but of course it's just not as efficient, you know - they don't eat as much of it. So we've been trying to get them more stuff they can feed themselves - avocado, carrots, banana bits, etc. This is much harder than pulling a thing of puree out of the freezer, though, since there's some amount of prep involved, and lots more cleanup! Is this normal, though? OK?

Also... the sleep. Or lack thereof. They nurse and nurse and nurse, but never fall asleep. So then we're trying to snuggle them or rock them to sleep and they just scream at us. Holding them or not, they scream. We're like one night away from CIO.

So... I dunno, reassure me. Are things going to be ok? Is there something I can do differently?

 

As far as the food issue, yep my guys definitely hit the "don't want pureed food anymore" point at around the same age. And I agree, it means more prep work for us! I started doing a couple of things to help us out. I steam the veggies/sweet potatoes a few at a time and just mush them up. So I'm still spooning it to them, but they're getting more texture out of it. I also have a little cheap food processor (hand crank and all :laughing: ). So, I threw food in there and spun the blade until it was fairly mushy but still had that big kid texture they wanted.

And, then we just pretty much moved onto finger foods. Fish Sticks, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, sweet potato fries, spaghetti. At this point, I'm trying to fix food for our dinner that they can eat most nights so it's easier for me.

As far as sleeping, I don't have much advice, but are they just starting to pull up in their cribs? My guys started doing this about 2 wks. apart from each other, so they both had a bout of not being able to fall asleep. THey were so busy practicing their new skill, they couldn't settle down to sleep. Luckily, it passes once they master the pulling up, but it is frustrating while it's going on.

Good luck!!

Laura

 

By nine months old-all of my kids were done with purees. Annabella probably at birth, but that's a whole other topic! So-at nine months, what did I feed them? EVERYTHING we ate. Everything. Just cut up really small. Boys were nine months old when we were in Italy, and it was just easier to give them pasta-and they CHOWED down. They loved it! So we've given them:

meatballs
pasta
chicken/turkey/pork
deli meats
cheese
various veggies
potatoes
mashed potatoes
most fruits cut up really small
meatloaf
mac-n-cheese
fish sticks
waffles
pancakes
cereal-cheerios/kix

I didn't worry about the mess it may make-the kids learned pretty quick to feed themselves and enjoyed it. I can give Annabella mashed potatoes and she scarfs it all down. She loves it! She's now just over a year and I've introduced the spoon to her. Give it a try-you might be surprised! And if you are looking for more options/ideas, there is a FY sticky that can help you out: FY Handbook

I'm not much help in the sleep department. The boys were STTN at six months-regardless of teething, illnesses, etc. We did one night of CIO at six months old and that was the end of that! Annabella was a different story! You may find that once they start eating better-with solids-they may start to sleeping better. Good luck!

 

Yeah, at 9 months my two were eating regular table foods. Pancakes were a huge hit. And pastas, peas, raisins, shredded cheese, pretty much everything they eat now.