[t_kuczy]

LOL! Maybe I'm not the best person to answer. My 7 month old had his first taste of french fries yesterday.

Seriously, if she is able to mash soft items with her gums, then she is ready to advance to table foods. I always fed both of my boys from the table as well as the jarred foods. I often give my youngest Cheerios to occupy him and practice his pincher skills while the rest of the family is eating. At this age she should be able to eat just about any soft food that can be chopped into pea sized bites. Try bananas, carrrots, peas, canned fruits, etc. You can also invest in a grinder for around $10 that you can use to grind up meats and such. I use one for soups and stews and just mix them to the consistency of baby food. There's no reason to waste money on jarred food except for dinners out then. My oldest was feeding himself for the most part by nine months. It's good to start them early if you don't mind the mess.

The juice is fine, too. Just make sure that it is 100% juice for the maximum vitamins and all. I always thought that the V8 Splash juice was 100% juice until I read the label closely. They should get no more than 6 oz. of straight juice a day and I always dilute it, too to make it go further.

As for milk, I started to wean my oldest from the breast to milk at around 9 months because I was pregnant and I had the doctor's okay to start early. He was fully weaned to whole milk by around 10 1/2 months. My youngest is still breastfed and will be until he is at least a year old.

I would probably try to add another solid feeding to her day, too. I just read that to get the recommended daily serving of 5 fruits and veggies, they should be eating about 2 1/2 jars of food per day. I usually feed my little one a jar of fruit mixed with cereal sometime in the morning and a jar of like a simple recipe meal mixed with cereal and a jar of a fruit or veggie for dinner. He's a big eater though.