Should my 8 month old baby be eating real food?

Yes.... I would start him with some tables foods. My son has been eating lots of table foods since 8 months old. He is now 9 1/2 months old. Obviously he isn't going to be able to eat everything right away..... but try and cook dinners around what he can eat. As far as those cookies..... my son eats just about everything we eat yet still chokes on those cookies and bitter biscuits and such. They are hard... and harder to chew. Forget about those, I don't even know why they market those towards babies.... I guess to freak moms out.... lol.

Okay anyway... ways to incorporate table foods into your sons diet. Start off by steaming a veggie every night for dinner. My sons favorites are carrots, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, sweet corn off the cob. Steam them longer then you normally would. Keep cooking until very tender and easily mash-able between your fingers. Then cool a little ..... dice.... don't mash.... you want to teach your son how to chew.... but its good to begin out with very soft easily chewable foods. Also cook a side dish that is easy for him to eat... he will have no problem with mased potato's... we eat these alot, but also other styles of potato are fine.... such as scalloped, gratin, and so on....... they are softer..... just dice into smaller pieces... and he should be fine with them. Squash is also great.... I can't stand eating it.... my husband and son will eat it.... and its sooo easy. For a acorn squash... just cut in half.... scoop out any seeds...... place in a baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water.... cover.... and bake at 350 for about 1 hour. IT comes out super soft .... scoop out insides and feed it to baby.

As far as meats.... these are harder to incorporate. I usually stick to easier meats for my son..... such as chicken, or turkey, or ground burger. I chop this super fine.... and then usually will mix it into something else..... such as I will chop up chicken really fine and then mix it into his mashed potato's..... he loves it and it also makes it easier to him to chew and swallow the chicken. When you feel your meal is lacking some cheese is always great..... Dice up some soft cheddar or mozzarella cheese. He will really like that. Cottage cheese also makes a great side dish. Ideas for morning cereal is add some fruit into it... such as a chopped banana.... and a little Cinnamon. Just get creative with it.... and don't be scared.

Also.... its a good time to let your son try and feed himself. At dinner... start by feeding him some of his food to insure he is eating some.... and then give him some of the diced stuff. It may be messy at first, its not easy being neat when your learning how to eat.... but the more you do it more and more will make it to his mouth. My son always needs a bath after feeding himself. Our routine is..... we all eat dinner together..... daddy takes baby to bath and gives him his bath.... I do the dishes then..... then we all play on the floor.... then my son has his bed time bottle and then he goes off to bed. ITs a great routine and my son does great with it!

8 Month Old Food

If he can't cope with pieces yet then mash it up, or even puree it!

There is nothing magical about commercial baby food. It is selected table foods mashed up, put in a jar, and given a fancy label and price. No baby EVER needs it.

But your baby will learn to eat pieces by eating pieces. If you scoop everything out of his mouth the moment he tries to eat a piece of something, he'll never learn.

I remember when my son was 8 months old I was sitting at the air port waiting for my parents to come in to town and another little 8 month old boy was sitting with the lady next to me eating gold fish and cherios. I remember seeing him and feeling really inferior because my son would choke on those sort of things still. He even choked on those star puff ones that are supposed to dissolve in their mouth. Start out with those Gerber stars, they might work better for you and they are good to get him used to chewing. They break down with saliva so it's okay if they don't have teeth. But keep a close eye while he's eating :)

At his age he definitely should be eating table food. He can't get used to something if he doesn't try it. If he has never had any table food I wouldn't start him off with cookies. Try anything mashed and since he has teeth he'll probably be ok. I have my third baby on the way and trust me they put alot of food in their mouth just keep an eye on him but give him food trust me he'll love. Oh and if you want to give him a baby snack try the Gerber veggie/fruit puffs. They help babies trying to feed themselves and they melt in their mouths so not too much of a choking hazard.

Anything soft. Think about the baby food you feed him. Try mushing up soft fruits and veggies. You could steam carrots, apples. Babies seem to love little bites of toast and cheerios or gerber puffs. Or try macaroni or corkscrew pasta. Anything he doesn't have to work too hard to chew is fine really.

I'd just start out slow with Cheerios & Gerber Puffs (when we started those I still broke them up because I was worried about my son choking). Once he gets the hang of those, I'd start more with little pieces of fruit & stuff. My son just did that until 10 months, and then he made the switch to all table foods basically overnight. If your son is on stage 3 foods though, he can probably handle more table foods. Other good starters are baked beans, soft cheese (like Kraft singles), pasta, & cooked veggies like peas & corn.

No worries about the Gerber cookie. My son is 14 months and I still can't give him whole crackers to snack on or else he puts the whole thing in his mouth. Just keep working on it slowly, but I'd say it sounds like he'd be ready to try out some more table foods. Good luck!

He's probably ready for 'real' foods (table foods) but you don't want to be giving him things like cookies. As you've discovered, he can bit off big pieces that he can't then chew up.

You want to start with small pieces of food -- fruits or veggies or meat or cheese or pasta -- cut up small enough for each piece to be easily gummed up and swallowed.

Yes but make sure it's mashed up and not big pieces. Make sure it's soft food.

My daughter was eating real food from like 5-6 months on she didn't like any baby food, or the cereal i mean she wouldn't even eat the fruits but if i cut everything up really really small she would it anything i was eating granted i didn't give her a t-bone or anything but she had lots of mashed potates, bananas, mixed veggies, anything that i could cut up small but was also still had a soft texture considering the fact that my daughter didn't even get her first tooth until the week of her first birthday.

Not cookies. Try the Gerber Puffs, teeny diced cheese, bananas, pasta, peas. Anything soft and tiny so he can't choke. Those teether biscuts always break into big chunks so I don't buy them.