Babys first xmas dinner

[Darnsarfupnorf]

theres probably been a million of these threads but...

dd will be 9mo on boxing day so we're planning her xmas dinner. I want her to have pretty much the same as us so shes having a small piece of melon for a starter, a small xmas dinner (all her veg and potatos cut into finger foody strips and maybe a yorkshire pudding to chew on) and a gingerbread snow man for pud.
shes good with foods and has a healthy apetite so i think shed be ok with all of this an of course will leave what she doesnt want BUT i really dont know what to do about her meat, we're thinking of having pork or beef and dont know how shed deal with just a chunk of meat (im presuming not well!) but it seems a little bland without so how are you tackling it?
any ideas welcome, im all out!

tyia x

[blackoutthexmaslights]

my dd will be ten months, i'm not giving her meat as she has trouble chewing it and then tries to swallow it whole.

[Darnsarfupnorf]

thanks blackout do you give her anything instead or will she just have veg and potatos?

[EdithWeston]

Your DD won't have any preconceptions of what an Xmas meal "should" be like. And I think Christmas Day would be a really bad time to introduce any new food. I'd stick with what you know she eats.

[CherrysOnTheNaughtyList]

i would shred any meat with a fork. all mine managed christmas dinners at this age, and ds2 even younger, he was 6 months old for his first christmas dinner and wolfed it down. (he is nearly 11, and was weaned at the time as advice then was weaning from 4 months) even dd2 managed her first one at 9 months despite having no teeth.

[Darnsarfupnorf]

aww cherrys :) that sounds like a good plan i might try her on that before the big day and see how she gets on, thankyou

edith she eats all this already so shes well used to it, shes just not eaten this amount of food at once before so ill have to make them really tiny portions, its just the meat she hasnt had as its always been blended up

[olibeansmummy]

Ds was 7 months on his first Xmas and had everything we had chopped up really small. We didn't do blw but he could already use a spoon so we could enjoy our meal at the same time

[Tigresswoods]

DS 21m can't get his head around eating and then waiting for others to finish so he's having lunch then at nap time we will all have quiet Christmas lunch. We figured it's the party of the day he'll enjoy least so he may as well have his nap then. He's having every other meal with us in that period tho.

[perrosc]

DS was 7 months yesterday, and he is just going to have a mashed up version of our dinner, maybe with mashed potato rather than roast. He can't feed himself but he can still enjoy his dinner at the same time as us.

[Theas18]

Just a little trip down memory lane. Dd1 was 6 mo at Xmas 18yrs ago. She had mushed Xmas dinner and then rolled a single sprout round the high chair tray for ages whilst the rest of us ate!
Aww !

[attheendoftheday]

DD is nearly 7 months and has had chunks of both pork and beef before, just cut into fingers so she can hold them. She sucks them more than chews them, but seemed to enjoy both. This christmas we'll give her a bit of everything and she can pick what she wants.

[Darnsarfupnorf]

theas that might be the cutest thing ive ever heard! and ive very impressed with olibeans ds using a spoon!

attheend does she cope ok with the 'meaty fingers'? dont they break up in her mouth?

[olibeansmummy]

Lol darnsarf he's very independent and anything being done for him! His favourite phrase now (he's 2 1/2 now not 7 months!) is ' my do it on ma OWWWWN'!

[BloooCowWonders]

Seem to remember mine all slept through their first Christmas dinner! Nap time was more important to them so the adults just got on with it :)
But they always had a taste of everything eventually.

[attheendoftheday]

DD manages fine with meaty fingers. Sometimes lshe manages to scrape little bits off with her 2 teeth, which she moves round her mouth for a while before spitting out. She's never choked.

[ruddynorah]

Mine managed fine with chunks of meat. Dd was 7months for her first Christmas dinner and she had just the same as everyone else.

[Flisspaps]

DD was 9mo last Christmas and had exactly the same as us. Meat included. Cut it into strips, and be amazed at the damage those gums can do. What was a strip of lovely, tender rare-ish beef ended up a grey mushy blob on her plate after she'd gummed and sucked all the goodness out of it!

[blackteaplease]

I'm planning to do the same as Tigresswoods with dd who wil be 2 on Christmas day.

OP, can you cut the meat into fingers so your dd can pick them up and chew on them blw stlye? If you're not happy with that I would shred it with a fork.

[HappyCamel]

As Flisspaps said, the goodness and flavour in meat is mostly in the juices. DD is 8 mo and chews and spits or I fish out chunks. Some chunks get swallowed, especially if I cut strips of rare beef or cooked chicken across the grain so it sort of flakes like fish would.

You just have to think through the veg a bit. Parsnips and carrots a easy, so are broccoli, caiuliflower and beans. Cabbage too tough though and peas tend to go everywhere.

I'll serve veg, roast pots with the crispy skin off and meat for dinner. She'll have Christmas pud and custard for dessert. I'll pre load the spoon and she'll guide it to her mouth or she'll have chunks of pud, whatever she prefers.

Let him practice with roast dinners for a few weeks before hand.

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

DS2 is 8 months and he eats roast dinners. We just chop things up into finger shapes and he muches through it.

[Tigresswoods]

Oh thank goodness blackteaplease I was feeling a bit mean. However I know we will all really enjoy Christmas dinner and DS will be bored out of his mind! He will get a version of it for his tea of course!

[hophophippidtyhop]

dd2 didn't have any teeth til she was 14 months recently, hasn't had much trouble with meat since 8 months -we went to a fiftieth party, when she was 8 months and she was snaffling strips of gammon quite happily.

[oranges]

Mine ate three sprouts - biting into them as if they were apples.

[Darnsarfupnorf]

thanks everyone! love all your storys, oranges made me laugh :)

i think ill try her on the meaty fingers, shes quite good with chunks and chewing and sucking on things so its worth a try isnt it, therell be plenty of adults on hand to scoop bits out if she has any trouble!

bloo i slept through my first 5 xmas dinners, much to my dads disgust!

[Lindax]

We gave ds (10 mths at the time) turkey for Xmas day dinner shredded and mixed with mash potatoes/gravy which he's had a few times before and was okay-ish. He struggled with a bit and threw up all over the table. Kind of put everyone else off their dinner after that!

She wont know what she's missing if she doesnt have meat, give her what she enjoys/can easily eat with no problems so everyone can relax.

[Flisspaps]

Can I just say please don't ever use a finger to scoop food out if a baby's mouth - you're more likely to push it further in and it increases the risk of choking rather than decreasing it.