Transitioning to Textured and Solid Foods

My daughter just turned nine months and she is busy and moving all the time. While she is still growing very well, at her 9 month wellness checkup I was informed that she had dropped from the 50^th percentile for weight to the 25^th percentile for weight while maintaining her height at the 50^th percentile. While I am not too concerned yet since children do grow in spurts I do feel that we need to start increasing her total calorie intake by adding more healthy snacks to her daily routine. I spoke about my concerns with my child’s pediatrician who then encouraged me to increase the texture and variety of my daughter’s diet. We have already pretty firmly established a variety of fruits and vegetables in our child’s diet and aim for 5 servings each day and to have a variety of colors and textures. However, when it comes to snacks I thought this might also be a good time to start introducing our little one to dairy products such as yogurt (not cow’s milk though until at least one year) and independent eating but starting solid foods such as cheerios and whole grain puffs.  The transition to other solid foods, such as more textured purées, finger foods and table foods eaten by the rest of the family, usually takes place around this time around 8 to 10 months because infants are ready to chew and need more texture in their foods. Some infants go from semi-liquid cereals and puréed baby foods to finger foods and table foods in just a few months. Safe finger foods include bread crusts, dry toast, pieces of soft cooked vegetables and fruits, soft ripe fruit such as banana, cooked meat and poultry, and cheese cubes. At this time, most infants are developmentally ready to feed themselves and should be encouraged to do so. Today was the first day that my daughter was able to get a broken whole grain puff into her mouth without assistance and was so proud of herself. Other feeding behaviors at this time include taking food from a spoon, chewing, self-feeding with fingers or a spoon, and independent drinking from a cup or bottle. By 1 year of age it is recommended that  the child’s diet includes of a variety of foods from the different food groups represented by USDA food pyramid.