Easy Meal Ideas for Babies 8-12 months – Baby Led Weaning

Easy self-feeding meal ideas for babies and tips for solids with 8-12 month olds. How to get started with baby led weaning for your baby, what foods to serve, and food ideas with pictures for meal time inspiration.

Hi there! I’m a mom of 3 sharing our experience of starting solids and some of our self-feeding food ideas for beginner eaters and easy meal ideas for babies. These meals ideas are what my babies ate from about 8-12 months when they were just beginning to eat solid foods.

NEW TO SOLID FOODS? Start here >> Baby-Led Weaning Food Ideas or Combining Purees and Baby-Led Weaning or 7 Month Old Baby-Led Weaning Meal Ideas. This post is about easy meal ideas for babies for beginner eaters, but doesn’t go into too much detail on how to first introduce solid foods.

If you are looking for more easy meal ideas for babies or toddlers, check out more posts from my feeding series:

• 7 Month Old Baby-Led Weaning Meal Ideas
• 8 Month Self-Feeding Ideas
• 9 Month Self-Feeding Food Ideas
• Self-Feeding Baby Lunch Ideas
• 27 Easy Lunch Ideas for 1-year Olds
• 1 Year Old Meal Ideas – 30 Toddler Meals
• Self-Feeding 1 Year Old Dinner Ideas

How Should You Cut Food For Babies?

One big tip I want to share from our experience starting solids with the Baby Led Weaning (or BLW) approach is to cut the food “correctly” for young babies. A good visual for cutting BLW food is to cut into a “fry” shape about the size of your pinky finger.

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Young babies have very tiny airways and food can easily get stuck. The “fry” shape is great for early eaters because it helps avoid chocking and teaches baby to first gnaw on the food, and then eventually bite and chew.

It’s also helpful for young babies to grasp before they have their pincer grasp to pick up smaller sized things. Once your baby has mastered picking up the fry shaped foods and gumming (and also has developed their pincer) grasp, you can move onto smaller bite-sized foods.

Best Feeding Supplies for Babies

Having the right baby feeding supplies for self-feeding can go a long way in helping your baby self-feed (or at the very least save your sanity and keep your dining room a little cleaner).

These are some of our favorites: find the list here

Getting Started: Easy Food Ideas for Babies

Fruits for Babies

1. Blueberries (smush or halve)
2. Strawberries
3. Raspberries
4. Blackberries
5. Plum
6. Pineapple
7. Cooked apples/pears
8. Grapes (quartered)
9. Watermelon
10. Canned peaches/pears
11. Mandarin oranges
12. Pears
13. Amara Organic Smoothie Melts

Veggies for Babies

1. Cooked broccoli
2. Cooked carrots
3. Cucumber
4. Sweet potato
5. Peas
6. Cooked peppers
7. Cooked cauliflower
8. Green beans
9. Tomatoes

Carbs for Babies

1. Toast strips
2. Pasta
3. Dry cereal or puffs
4. Waffle strips
5. French Toast
6. Mac ‘n cheese
7. Grilled cheese
8. PB&J bites
9. Avocado toast
10. Quesadilla
11. Flaky Crackers

Protein/Fat for Babies

1. Scrambled eggs
2. Avocado
3. Shredded cheese
4. Flaky fish
5. Chicken sausage
6. Deli meat
7. Chicken Salad
8. Baked beans
9. Meatballs
10. Ground beef/turkey
11. Black beans
12. Tuna
13. Shredded meat (the more tender the better)

Even if you start with baby-led weaning or self-feeding foods, baby food pouches can be a great way to supplement or feed your baby on the go. Add purees to sauces, smoothies, inside quesadillas, or serve as a dip!

Here are some of our favorite organic baby food brands:

• Serenity Kids Pouches (Use JESSICA15 for 15% off)
• Amara Baby Food (Use PANDP15 for 15% off)

Easy Meal Ideas for Babies

Here are some photos of meal ideas for babies based on what my kids have actually eaten during the 8-12 month age range over the years!

8 Month Old Self Feeding for Babies

1. Avocado toast – with scrambled eggs and chicken sausage (Applegate brand is our favorite!)
2. Waffle strips – cut into strips for younger eaters to help with grasp and gnawing, side of diced mandarin oranges and chicken sausage.
3. Yogurt – full fat yogurt with smushed blueberries. Add a spoon to practice self feeding!
4. French toast – one of my absolute favorite recipes for babies, cut into strips and served with (canned) pear halves.

Another similar recipe: 3 Ingredient Baby Banana Pancakes for Self Feeding

5. Hashbrown breakfast: Hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and avocado
6. Dry Cereal: Cheerios and diced plums
7. Whole grain waffle: Waffle strips with a thin layer of peanut butter
8. Peanut Butter Toast strips: Peanut butter toast strips, scrambled eggs, avocado

9. Hard Boiled Eggs – cut hard boiled eggs into quarters for baby self-feeding, sides of cooked carrot sticks and quartered grapes.
10. Turkey – turkey deli meat, strawberries, mandarin oranges, and full-fat greek yogurt.
11. Pulled chicken – deconstructed fajitas with pulled chicken, cooked bell peppers and cheese.
12. Pasta w/ squash sauce – cooked pasta mixed with a squash pouch from My Serenity Kids (Use JESSICA15 to save 15%)

13. Chicken sausage: chicken sausage, sweet potato fries, riced broccoli
14. Flaky white fish: white fish and green beans
15. Baked beans: baked beans, avocado, hamburger
16. Ground pork: ground pork and broccoli

Read More > 8 Month Old Baby Self Feeding

9 Month Old Meal Ideas for Babies

17. Pancakes – pancakes are a great option for babies because they are soft and easy to eat, side of scrambled eggs and raspberries.
18. Sourdough toast – whatever kind of bread is fine, but we love sourdough! Peanut butter toast, scrambled eggs, and strawberries
19. Avocado toast – cut into strips with bananas, halved blueberries, and scrambled eggs.
20. Banana French toast – one of our favorite recipes for easy banana French toast, side of halved blueberries and raspberries.

21. Chicken salad: homemade chicken salad made with chicken, avocado, and veggies, and a side of halved blueberries
22. Sweet potato tots: sweet potato tots, grapes quartered, and peas
23. French toast: french toast with raspberries cooked in (similar to this recipe)
24. Jelly toast bites: jelly toast cut into bites, scrambled eggs

25. Broccoli littles – Dr. Praeger’s broccoli littles, grapes quartered, and string cheese
26. Turkey & puffs – deli turkey, cucumbers, berries, and pumpkin puffs from My Serenity Kids (Use JESSICA15 to save 15%)
27. Teething biscuit with hummus – level up your teething biscuit and spread hummus on top, with cooked carrot sticks, and smushed blueberries.
28. Sweet potato littles – Dr. Praeger’s sweet potato littles, diced beets, oranges, and blueberries

29. Fruit & veggies: Cook carrots cut into strips, pineapple, string cheese, avocado
30. Spinach Littles: Grapes quartered, string cheese, peaches, cooked apples, crackers, Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Littles
31. Chicken Sausage: Chicken sausage, grapes quartered, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado, string cheese, watermelon
32. Avocado + Lunch Meat: Deli turkey, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado

Read More > 9 Month Old Self-Feeding Food Ideas

10 Month Old Meal Ideas for Babies

33. Oatmeal Bites – Dr. Praeger’s oatmeal littles, full fat yogurt, and raspberries.
34. Toast with cream cheese – toast strips with cream cheese and jelly, mandarin oranges
35. Bananas & PB – diced bananas topped with a drizzle of peanut butter (too much can be a choking hazard), blackberries quartered, cucumbers and cooked carrots
36. PB&J – peanut butter and jelly cut into very small pieces, oranges, and cucumbers

37. Veggie corn dog: Morningstar Farms Veggie corn dog, grapes, peas and carrots
38. Chicken meatball: KidFresh chicken veggie meatballs, string cheese, grapes quartered
39. Mac ‘n cheese: Annie’s Four Cheese penne, and grapes quartered
40. Grilled cheese: grilled cheese bites, peaches, peas and carrots

Our favorite silicone toddler plates & bowls: EZPZ Fun  (Use code EZPZ25LOVE for 25% off $75+)

41. Ground Beef + Beans – deconstructed taco plate with ground beef, refried beans, cheese, tomato, and smushed avocado
42. Rotisserie chicken – pulled chicken, berries, cucumber with hummus, and pumpkin puffs from My Serenity Kids (Use JESSICA15 to save 15%)
43. Pasta with Alfredo sauce – pasta with white sauce, cooked broccoli, and quartered grapes
44. Quesadilla – quesadilla strip, strawberries, grapes, cucumbers, and avocado

45. Meatball: ground beef meatball, sweet potato fries, green beans, peppers, carrots and broccoli
46. Deconstructed Taco plate: Spanish rice, avocado, shredded cheese, black beans
47. Pesto Pasta with Veggies: pasta with pesto sauce, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli
48. Tuna salad: tuna salad, tomatoes, avocado, mandarin oranges

Related post: Lunch Ideas for 10 Month Olds

11 Month Old Meal Ideas for Babies

49. Oatmeal – make your own with one of these recipes or use pre-packaged from Amara (use PANP15 for 15% off)
50. Jelly Toast – jelly toast strips with a side of diced bananas
51. Bananas with PB – scrambled eggs and bananas with peanut butter drizzled on top (too much peanut butter can be a choking hazard).
52. Zucchini Scrambled Eggs – scrambled eggs with diced zucchini and cheese, banana, and Veggies Made Great blueberry muffin

53. Hamburger – diced hamburger with cheese, tomatoes, string cheese, and raspberries
54. Mac & Cheese – add thawed frozen veggies to mac and cheese to get in some veggies, cucumber hummus, and quartered grapes.
55. Pizza – pizza made on Naan bread, asparagus, and diced pineapple
56. Grilled Cheese – grilled cheese cut into strips with sweet potato, black beans, and tomato

Looking for 12 month meal ideas for babies? Check out this post: 12 Month Old Meal Ideas

More toddler meal ideas: ToddlerMealIdeas.com

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