how to mask veg and meat taste in puree!!

[enidlowrij]

my son is 7 months started weaning at 5 and a half months his first meal was avocado, i was told he'd eat around 3 spoons but he ended up eating half of an avocado, i thought great hes going to be an amazing eater, that was probably the only successful meal we've had. i did batch cooking... beef stew, cod with sweet potato, salmon with potato and pea and many other meals, nope he wont have it, he'll eat his fruit blueberry, pomegranate,apple,papaya, pare and also yogurt okay, so i was thinking i could somehow mask the meat taste with fruit and the same with the veg, apple and chicken, salmon with apricot, what others are good combinations especially with beef and lamb? im excl breastfeeding so i know iron stores are low by now esp as im anaemic and had iron infusions during pregnancy so i really want beef and lamb in his diet, he doesn't like oats or rice ive already tried to cover taste with rice. also was wondering how do i then give this to baby do i cook apple and chicken separate, freeze then defrost then re-heat the chicken then add then add the cold apple to the chicken? is that the process? same with veg? I know it takes 10 to 30 times for baby to take to a new taste but ive tried them all around 15 times and no better than the first time.... although hes not gagging hell happily swallow it if i put it on his dummy but that is just a very long and messy process...if only my son knew how much it cost to do batch cooking . my fault really but first baby. lesson learnt. also ive tried baby led weaning, he takes a little taste then chucks on the floor. ffs.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

I wouldn’t try and mask it because they will end up only eating fruit-based food. You could freeze it in tiny portions and keep trying- maybe at times when they aren’t going to be offered fruit afterwards as they will assume they can fill up on that instead. You have to present new foods quite a few times with some babies (and children) to get them to eat them. Meat texture is quite different.

[PhilODox]

Just keep trying, it will take lots of times for him to get used to the tastes.
Don't mask with fruit- he will never eat savoury if you do that, and you'll be battling about food his whole childhood.

[Doje]

Agree with pp, don't try to mask any flavour. He's still very little, so no rush at all. Just put some food in front of him every time he awake and let him have a play with it. Every time you eat (if he's awake), pop him in the high chair and let him eat with you.

I would say cut down on the fruit stuff for a bit, and let him get used to things that aren't sweet.

[toomuchhappyland]

Firstly, stop panicking. 7m is still very early weaning days and he’s not going to become anaemic overnight. BM is still his main source of nutrition until he’s 1.
Secondly, you’ve tried finger foods, not BLW. BLW means giving your baby total control over what goes in his mouth. You present the food to him, and it’s up to him if he tries it. You don’t do purées or spoon feeding. He will throw loads on the floor - that’s fine. Some of it will go in his mouth. Just keep offering food and stop worrying - it’s way too early to say he doesn’t like certain foods and he’ll pick up on your anxiety.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

To help with the iron you can use 6 months plus formula to mix into foods (unless you are avoiding for some reason) as that has extra iron in it. There is a saying that ‘before age 1 food is for fun’ as they are still getting most nutrients from BF or formula so try and enjoy despite the mess

[NannyR]

Try giving it as finger food - the six month old I look after will happily suck and chew on a chunk of beef or chicken.

[jaimelannistersgoldenhand]

The only flavour you should mask is of medicine that tastes bad.

The eating one bite and chucking it is very normal. It's because they can rather than their opinion on the food. Same with if they just squish food in their fist. It creates a big mess but it's a learning experience for them.

[enidlowrij]

I know he wont become anemic over night, and i have tried them around 10 to 15 times , i get hes still very young. Ill keep trying and next time when doing batch cooking ill do a lot of diffrent recepies. He has aprox 5 more of each meal left. I think ill give him fruit every other day and see how that goes..starting from sunday (already put tomorrows fruit brekfast in the fridge) i really dont want to give any formula, its why im pushing on the meat. Im just not going to even try with the blw again, he wasted so much food doing that, and chunks of food just on the floor. Thank you for your suggestions. I deffo wont try and mask it now. Just my health visitor cinda freaked me out saying i should forget trying to feed him and give him a vitamin. X

[NannyR]

I know you said you didn't want to do finger foods, but if you change your mind a good tip is to use a wipe clean mat (a shower curtain actually works really well as you can chuck it in the washer) under the high chair, then when food gets dropped its clean and you can just pick it up and put it back on the table/tray. Less gets wasted and its a lot easier to clean up.

[InDubiousBattle]

You are over thinking this. Breast milk is absolutely fine for you baby to live on for now. Weaning is a long and messy process and there will be some waste, that's just the way it is. I think you're making this harder than it needs to be (and that is not a dig - you should have seen the bloody schedule I had for dc1!!). Just take a bit of what you're having and out it on a plastic plate on your baby's high chair and let them have a go. If you're having a Sunday roast put a roastie, some chicken and some broccoli on a plate and let him have a go. I bought an oil cloth table cloth from the market for about a tenner and put that under the high chair to catch any bits and it made it much easier to clean up.

[pastabest]

Are you batch cooking just for him?

Just give him whatever you are having anyway (or in my case leftovers from the night before as we eat too late in the evening to shared with DD) and let him eat it with his fingers. He will squish it, throw it, mash it in his hair BUT he might also have a chew on it and some of it might even get swallowed.

Eating or not eating is one of the few things they have control over at this age, so make food fun for him, don't worry about how much or what he is actually eating and give yourself a huge break.