6.5 month baby what foods?

[sparker22]

hi, I'm new to mumsnet, hoping to find some good advise and even friendship!

I've just started weaning my phoebe but the pureed foods aren't going down to well. its usually a struggle and a lot of trickery, singing and dancing (from me!) to get her to open her mouth. which makes me feel useless and as if I have got no clue what I'm doing :-(

sooooo I'm gonna try actual real food, fruit/veg/etc.

I know they say baby can eat what u eat providing no extra salt/sugar added, but what can I actually give her in the way of foods, she's had a few carrot sticks today, I've bought some broccoli and cauliflower for her to try and a variety of fruit. but what else can I give her? especially for breakfast?

many thanks for your help in advance

[ExBrightonBell]

If you can get a copy of the BLW cookbook by Gill Rapley from the library (or you don't mind buying it), there are loads of good ideas there. Also try www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/ for ideas.

You can basically give anything at all - no added salt, avoid honey (botulism risk) and whole nuts or similar (choking risk). So for breakfast I might have given toast, muffins, pancakes, eggs, weetabix, porridge etc. Babies can eat things like weetabix and porridge with their hands if it is not too runny.

Good things to start off with are vegetable batons that are the length of your finger. Easier to pick up and munch. Veggies that have been steamed/boiled/roasted so it will squish when gummed.

You could make savoury muffins too. Any thing at all really. The only thing that I didn't give in the early days were very hard and crunchy things like raw carrot or apple. I would finely grate them instead which was very entertaining for my ds.

HTH

[DorothyBastard]

My DD is 6.5mo and we've been doing baby-led weaning for about 3 weeks now.

For breakfast she either has toast, weetabix with just a bit of whole milk dribbled on it so she can still pick it up, hard boiled egg, fruit, yogurt (full fat greek), or a combination of all those things! With the yogurt I load each spoonful and hand it to her. It gets MESSY but it's great fun.

[DorothyBastard]

Ooh, or eggy bread, which she loves

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Some great suggestions on here already. Just wanted to add that you don't have to stick with just fruit and veg, that was the advice given when babies were weaned at a much earlier age. So if you want to try her with a sandwich, savoury muffin as mentioned above, or even a roast dinner, there's nothing stopping you

Welcome to MN, I hope you find the support you need . Don't forget to join MN local too

Almost forgot, my DC loved these

[mrsmartin1984]

Everything. The skys the limit. Loves curry, sweet potato and yogurt

[sparker22]

thanks for your suggestions and help!

how do you give them egg? a whole egg so they can pick up? or cut up in to bits?

thanks

[grotbags1]

Hi Sparker

My DS is exactly the same age. DD loved purees but DS seems to be fussy about them so like you I've been looking for alternatives. Here are some things I've tried that have gone down well.....

Sweet Potato - peeled and cut into sticks drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with cinnamon roasted until soft.

Half a banana - literally just in his hand. This is esp. good at breakfast as have to be out the house for 8.15 for school run.

Buttered toast fingers.

Cauliflower cheese - just left the pieces of cauliflower whole for him to pick up.

I also got some great little mini ice lolly moulds made by Annabel Carmel - perfect size for little hands and you can fill them with yoghurt of any fruit puree. Favourites so far have been Banana and Papaya and Peach and Yog. My DS can manage these with no help really and his fine motor skills leave something to be desired!!

He also liked rice cakes spread with houmous / cream cheese.

Hope that helps!! If you come across anything great let us know!! So hard to come up with new ideas all the time!

Oh - and I scramble eggs for DS - give him toast fingers then shove a spoon full of egg in when I get the chance. Might try boiled next though!

[DorothyBastard]

I hard boil an egg and then cut into quarters with a crinkle cutter so they're not quite as slippery and she can get hold of them.

[sparker22]

thank you all for you help! I've been totally clueless on the whole weaning bit but you've given me lots of ideas to try.
I'll let you know if I find anything else and let you know how my phoebe gets on

thanks again !!!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Try eggy bread too, my DC love it and you can always add fruit on top. There's a really fancy recipe for it here but I just use whatever bread we have in and roughly one egg to one slice of bread. Don't forget omelette too, if you cut it into strips it should be very easy to pick up.

How about beef stew? Try curries too, if you think something is going to be a little too spicy you can always add natural yoghurt

[sparker22]

well...she's had some toast, carrot sticks, goodies tomato slices and half a Petit foulis yogurt!!! that's the most she's ever eaten!! so proud! will be trying out some of the other ideas over the next few days!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Glad she is trying new things. Don't be too focused on offering finger foods, she should be able to eat virtually anything. We've had spaghetti carbonara tonight, bet she would love something like that

[DorothyBastard]

Great news Sparker, now she's showing an interest in food the sky's the limit! My DD had sweet potato and butter bean curry for dinner tonight, extremely messy but great fun. She surprises me with the strong tastes she likes - feta, sundried tomato etc. Try her with anything and everything and enjoy watching her enjoy herself!

[sparker22]

him absolutely thrilled! I've been trying for 3-4 weeks now but today's the first day I just gave her real food instead of pureed stuff. thought I was pushing my luck with a yogurt and spoon but she opened her mouth for the spoon and closed her mouth round the spoon several times!!! sooooo happy!!!!!

[sparker22]

I've gone off giving her toast! I swear she almost started choking on it this morning

[noblegiraffe]

Gagging on food is quite common, babies need to learn to move it around their mouths and their gag reflex is much further forward than an adult. Basically, if they can make a noise (coughing etc) they are not choking, just gagging, in which case watch carefully and baby will normally spit the food out by themselves, otherwise you can give them a little help.

[sparker22]

what do I do if she does get into trouble? I'm hoping to do a first aid course soon so I know exactly how to help her if she's in trouble

[noblegiraffe]

You need to remember 'head low, back blows'

Instructions here
www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2300.aspx?CategoryID=72

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Can't do links at the mo but if you google babyledweaning choking you should get some useful info in choking and gagging

[sparker22]

thank you both, I knew you patted hard on the back but didn't know about keeping head low.
wish I'd done the first aid course before I started weaning, didn't really think about it then though. I also think some basic first aid should be given to you at antenatal classes or something like that.

[sparker22]

progress! DD wolfed down eggy bread for breakfast, loves yogurt (even tries her hardest to feed herself with the spoon!) loves homemade cheesestraws, rice cakes, banana (nappy was a shock after the banana!! didn't know about that!! Lol). seems to like strawberries too getting there slowly but surely!

also bought the baby led weaning recipe book, looks fantastic!! can't wait to try some things in it!!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Oh sparker that is all so positive! glad you are feeling better and dd is enjoying her food

[sparker22]

OK, in the baby led weaning recipe book, there's lots of salads, some even listed in the early weaning weekly meal planner...can babies pf 6/7/8 months really eat a spinach/lettuce leaf???

[ExBrightonBell]

Yes! I have pics of my 6 month old happily munching watercress!

[sparker22]

hmmm didn't think they would be able to break it up...I'll try it see if DD likes it