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My 9-mo-old son is on stage 3 food, and I want to feed him more actual solid food.

What should I start with? I'm terrified of choking, and I work full-time, so I need food that can be prepared quickly. The baby book I'm using (What to expect ... ) has some suggestions, but I'm looking for more.

He also hates formula, but has to drink it at daycare (He's BF at home during the evening/night). How much juice is too much for him at this age, and how can I encourage him to drink formula?

Have you seen the Sassy food bag? I have no clue what it really is called but it's this little bag you can put real food in that they can gnaw on but the mesh keeps the chunks in the bag. I would put strawberries in that thing and let him go to town. And bananas.

Those Gerber veggie puffs were also a big hit. And the usual suspects like Cheerios, those toast bricks and biter biscuits.

My son was a choker probably because I waited too long. We could never do those stage three chunky foods or stews.

Bomle
i'm the mom of an 18 month old boy and we did use those little mesh food bags which worked great for fruits. my biggest advice as a nurse (which i also am) is to get yourself to a Red Cross class and learn infant CPR. it is so important. Even as your child grows up, there is always a chance of them choking (heck, adults do it all the time). since we don't use the heimlich manuever on babies it would be smartest and ease some of your stress about new foods if you knew what to do in the event he chokes. also, try out cheerios, one at a time. they've worked for generations! :o)

bomle - As a Red Cross instructor training childcare providers and parents for 3 years, I highly recommend the training, if only for the peace of mind.

The classes teach you how to respond to all kinds of emergencies, not just choking and CPR, but things likely to happen to kids in general. Practicing your response also gives you something to fall back on when the rest of you is panicked--you still know how to react.

Students in class would often ask me if I've actually ever had to use the techniques we teach, and thankfully, no I haven't, but I've seen them work and just knowing what to do is a huge confidence booster.

Just out of curiosity: why does he have to drink formula at daycare? Are you able to pump a few ounces of breastmilk for him to have in between meals while at daycare? He shouldn't need too much juice at his age, maybe just a taste of juice in a sippy cup of water. Depending on how many teeth he has, see if he will gnaw on a hunk of watermelon.

Agree with Erin on the juice caution. Pediatricians are actually encouraging parents to avoid juice in favor of fruit servings. That way children aren't quenching thirst with sweetness (albeit natural). I know I sound freakishly anti-sugar, but juice is sort of this sneaky problem in children's diets -- it seems like the right and healthy choice but undiluted can provide the same sugar jolt as a soda.

As for food, I really sympathize. After rolling along comfortably for the first year of my daughter's life, I found myself intimidated at the thought of preparing her meals. We found the book Super Baby Food to be a great resource. Like anything, it can be as high or low involvement as you choose to make it. The author take food and unwavering nutrition very seriously, and (despite the paragraph above) we incline toward a mellower approach. What we found indispensible were her recommendations for easily prepared frozen food cubes (everything from carrots, avocado and peaches to sweet potato) and what she calls Super Porridge. Between them both, food prep is quick and very easy.

The porridge makes a perfect meal and can be added to and modified for texture depending upon the child's evolving tastes. At its heart it's ground beans (lentils and/or atzuki, etc) and ground grains (Earth's Best babyfood sells a Lentils and Brown rice that amounts to the same thing). This powder can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 months and prepared in 2-3 day increments. When we fix a serving we combine it with a veg cube or apple sauce. It provides fiber, a complete protein and actually doesn't taste nearly as greul-like as I'd imagined -- my husband actually takes some to work for his lunches).

Hope this is helpful and sorry again if the juice thing sounded a bit draconian.

Correction: powder can stay in the fridge up to a month, not three.

I've noticed that almost all the nurseries featured on this site probably cost a LOT! Are there any nurseries out there that were done on a budget but with the same functionalities and design???

Plain yogurt was a good "real" food for us (she loved Total greek yogurt), avocado, cheerios, small bits of cheese like provolone (we got Applegate organic sliced provolone), Dr. Pragers spinach pancakes can be nice and mushy (in the freezer section), little bits of turkey from the deli (ask for the fresh stuff "on the bone." Applesauce, frozen broccoli heated in microwave with a little water until it is almost mushy, frozen peas & carrots. Applegate farms chicken sausage heated in microwave (loves spinach and feta flavor). I don't cook at all and somehow get by.

Sammy-
My son's nursery was done on a pretty tight budget. Once I get some pictures I will submit them :]

Erin- I tried pumping for several months, but found I wasn't getting enough to really matter at daycare. I couldn't get enough to last the whole day, and they'd end up giving him formula anyway. I had trouble finding time to pump as well. He'll drink formula, just not as much as I'd like (but then, I'm a first-time mom, so I don't really know, esp. now that he's eating.

I guess my OP made it sound like he's not drinking formula at all - he is, but not happily from what the daycare people tell me.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

The nursery stuff at Ikea is extremely inexpensive (changing table for $30) and stylish. We bought our girls, ages 4 & 16 mos. matching bedding from there, in addition to rugs and all sorts of accessories. Another option is to think outside the box. Other than a crib, you don't have to go with official nursery furniture. Mixing and matching will create a more interesting and more flexible room that can grow with your child.

Regarding baby food, the easiest thing I did for my second daughter was to get a mini food processor. Whatever I was eating for dinner, I just ground up for her.

And sometimes with formula, a simple change of brand can make a difference.

Bomle- I personally would stop giving him formula. Pump what you can and send your milk and other foods for him to have while at daycare. If you find you are having supply issues, you can try taking fenugreek, drinking some Mother's Milk Tea, and increasing your daily intake of water. If he is primarily breastfed, the switch between breastmilk and formula might be irritating his stomach. It is also possible that he could be having issues with the artificial nipples, like nipple preference. And like Rachel mentioned, it could be the type or brand of formula.
Just try different options (i.e. your milk at daycare, a combination of your milk and formula, a different type of formula) until you find a solution that works the best for your baby. Best of luck!

I had the formula problem with my child, too. Actually, he even refused expressed milk from a bottle. In the end, he graduated to sippy/straw cups before he was 1 year old. (Initially, they spoonfed him my milk.) Then when he turned 1, I gradually stopped expressing and he went straight to cow's milk.

I'd recommend water as an alternative to juice. Juice can lead to dental problems later, particularly if he's drinking it from a bottle.

My closest friends are german and perhaps it is a european thing but they never fed their daughter baby food. She went from breast milk and a tiny bit of formula to little bits of "real" food. At dinner she gets a small plate of what everyone else is eating...within reason. If it's spicy curry she gets pasta BUT the girl loved pitted olives at 1 and now at almost 2 she eats all kinds of veggies, meat, fish, etc. In the morning she eats smoked salmon on rye toast with her dad, she loves liverwurst, sushi, brussell sprouts, etc. In speaking with co workers who are parents I have definetly noticed a differance between styles.Alot of the kids who were raised on "kid" food have experienced difficulty switching to "adult" food. If anything.... perhaps allowing your child to eat what you eat will reduce a couple of meal time issues.... the feeling that they can have anything they want and make you a slave to their moods forcing you to cook them seperate things every night, tantrums at restauarants because they are so used to not eating "real" food that they are scared of it. Plus just thing of havinga kid who LOVES veggies....and pork roast and pasta bolognese... how easy is that?!

bomle I would highly recommend this book, "The Everything Cooking Book for Babies and Toddlers" -
http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Cooking-Baby-Toddler-Book/dp/159337691X/ref=sr_1_1/002-3975025-3205664?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173973442&sr=8-1

I looked at a lot of different baby cookbooks, and I also own "super baby food" which is an OK resource but drove me sort of nuts (the author is VERY opinionated, and some of her opinions are kind of suspect - like that her kids don't get stomach flu because she feeds them yogurt - oookay). the "everything" book gave me more ideas for finger foods and purees, even simple things like grating carrots and adding them to mini pancakes - great finger food plus gets more veggies in.

also, my husband and I try to trade of sunday cooking duty - we try to make a big meal that works for all three of us, and then freeze portions of it for my daughter to eat all week.

(by the way my daughter is 14 months.)

good luck, I thought 6 months to 12 months were stressful for feeding baby - they still need a lot of formula/breastmilk, aren't really on table foods, etc. - it gets easier!

My son also went from breastmilk to "real" food - no baby food. I cannot claim the wonderful results reported by Michele. My 3 year old son does NOT eat vegies. He's a typical picky toddler, but I have faith this too will fast and someday he will eat broccoli again, as he did when he was a babe. But I do not cook special meals for him; since he has no special dietary needs I believe if he's hungry enough, he'll eat.

Anyway as Klo said, that 6-12 mo period is rough. I remember breastfeeding was not fun in those months. Hang in there.

I find if you wait the recommended 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding babies tend to go into solid food relatively easily.
Both my daughters went into solid food after about a month of baby food.

PS I think that food bag thingy is totally gross! Sorry to all who stand by it.

mi.jo.... yes, this little girl is remarkable. I have already told her that I plan on yearly trips with her to a children's culinary camp I heard about in France. I believe the starting age is 6 or 7 and runs through mid teens. She is fearless when it comes to food.