Help! Ideas needed!!

[Bridezilla3521]

My DD is 27 weeks old and has been having porridge/baby rice for around 4 weeks. She has a decent sized portion of porridge for breakfast and a couple of spoonfuls at lunch and dinner. She absolutely loves it.

Yesterday I changed her lunch to a few spoonfuls of carrot and she pulled a few funny faces but ate it all. I am going to try more carrot today but just wondered what other things i could try as she is more than ready for her food. She feeds brilliantly off the spoon and is starting to try and feed herself!! Can't grab the spoon off me quick enough!

Also, when did you start just mixing up what you were eating to give her?

Thanks!

[ilovepowerhoop]

at that age they can have pretty much anything except whole nuts and honey. You could also give things as finger food e.g. strips of toast with butter, bits of banana, broccoli florets, etc.

[ImMarmite]

I found pear & sweet potatoes good to start with. They don't have 'big' tastes & are nice & smooth

[SmileAndNod]

We started at about 27 weeks and just gave her a bit of whatever we were having. Obviously no honey, nuts and watch the salt/sugar. This weekend she's had banana, shredded wheat, roast dinner, avocado, mango, peach, scrambled eggs and toast fingers. She's 7 months now. At 27 weeks they are fine to have most things I believe.

[Pascha]

You can start giving her what you have now if you want. No need to mash up, just make sure its well cooked There are very few restrictions - honey, whole nuts and go easy on the salt.

Both my boys liked omelette strips, roasted veg, toast, fruit etc at this age.

[Bridezilla3521]

Thanks for the replies!

Just another question - Did you try more than one new thing a day? For example, a bit of carrot at lunch and a bit of sweet potato at dinner?

[ZenNudist]

How about buying Annabel karmel baby and toddler cookbook. It's got some lovely recipes.

Early days you could start with most mashed up fruits and veg. I started on carrot. Not baby rice yuk. Then tried butternut squash, sweet potato, parsnip, pear, banana, avocado, apple, potato. All sorts really.

Weaning should be just trying tastes and getting used to food. See if they do a weaning class at your local health centre. They can be helpful.

[ilovepowerhoop]

I dont think there is as much need to give things individually when they are over 6 months. Some people go straight into spaghetti bolognese without giving the ingredients individually beforehand

[Pascha]

I just let my boys get stuck in to whatever was on the tray. A good way to dip your toe in is to eat your meal and just let baby steal food here and there from your plate. They mostly just play with it at this point anyway, anything that actually goes in is a bonus .

I tended to make sure they had a good breakfast and then if they only played with food the rest of the day it really didn't matter at all. Don't forget milk is the main form of nutrition for some time to come so if they don't eat very much at first its FINE!

[ZenNudist]

Yes to trying something different at different meals. I can't remember when I did what. I know I did do puréed and mashed food. I know some people prefer to give whole food which I might try this time round as I have to feed preschooler as well.

It's just so easy to roast parsnips in foil, boil potatoes or micro a sweet potato. Then mash or use a hand blender. I didn't worry too much about lumps as its good to introduce texture reasonably quickly. What is left over I froze in ice cube trays. Handy for lunchtime when I really don't want to be preparing food.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If you only introduce one new thing a day, it will be quite a while before she gets onto family meals

If you want some ideas, have a look at the MN weaning recipes.

Have you thought about introducing some finger foods alongside the purees? As long as you avoid these foods she can have pretty much anything now

[Bridezilla3521]

Thanks guys :) So far today she has had a bit of fruity porridge at breakfast which went down well and I mixed carrot and sweet potato for lunch! She loved it :)