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Infant feeding

6 months old food

3 replies

FashionMommy · 07/09/2017 14:19

My baby will be six months in few weeks and I am already thinking about solids. I only breastfeed at the moment. Could you share your experience how did you start feeding solids? Any advice, recipes are welcome. Thank you.

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Breastbottle0 · 08/09/2017 22:09

If your baby is sitting well unassisted, I think baby led weaning is a really fun way for them to discover different textures and tastes. Some babies get it straight off and some spend several weeks more interested in playing with the food than eating it, but the key thing to remember is that, under 1 year of age, food is more about fun and exploring than anything. Your milk will support your baby well for the first year, ie they need milk, they don't need solids. Infants can survive without solid food in a way adults can't.

That said, I certainly wouldn't encourage you to not bother trying to feed your baby (there are lots of vitamins and minerals and good things in solids that will benefit baby very much)! Just not to worry too much if they're not massively interested in being weaned the first couple of months as it WILL come eventually.

I also think it's a good idea to do SOME form of spoon feeding, even if you go down the baby led route, just to introduce the idea of cutlery and also because some things are just too sloppy for a baby to feed themselves and here's no need to avoid giving them healthy soups and such just because they can't feed it to themselves.

My baby took ages to sit unassisted so we started with smooth veg purees only (root veg, broccoli etc) introducing a new type of veg each day, then started including fruits and doing different combos. Some fruits and things like onions etc are more likely to cause allergic reactions- with these I gave a longer trial period.

Once I felt confident that he was digesting things ok, I introduced meat, pasta, rice and basically started making normal home foods, just scooping out his portions before using any salt (or sugar), then mashing it a bit or semi blending (things like minced beef are too chewy for break down without molars). Since he started sitting, all his snacks and his lunch are 'baby led", sometimes dinner too (depending what we're having). Fruits, veg, cheese, pasta with sauce (fusilli is easiest for them to hold), roast chicken plus various shop bought baby wafers and things (not very nutritious but easy for when you're out and they're quite fun! Also a good way of starting with finger foods as they melt in mouth).

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Breastbottle0 · 08/09/2017 22:18

Also, I wouldn't bother with baby rice and baby cereals- old fashioned fillers and not particularly healthy to be honest. I'd stick to standard porridge made with either expressed milk, formula or even the occasional cows milk won't do any harm (though I might not suggest cows milk for every day as the alternatives are better for them). Can chop up/mash up fruit to throw in- a much more nutritious breakfast than processed baby cereal!

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EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 10/09/2017 14:11

Agree that there's no need to start with purees. We've weaned one with purees and one bow and the bow was so much easier.

Have a read of this on Bfing and starting solids [smle]

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