To not see how I can follow the advice 'feed baby what ever you are having'?

[ethelfleda]

Maybe I am being over cautious- 8mo is my PFB after all and am terrified of getting the weaning thing wrong!

But yesterday was the first time I've had him weighed since we started weaning him. All fine - perfect weight gain etc but the HV is telling me that as long as I'm not giving him honey or full nuts, anything goes!

So... what about the piri piri smoked fish I had earlier in the week? And should I not make him separate portions of chilli with less spice in? Tonight's dinner is veggie omelette - should I just get over myself and give him some of that? Or carry on giving separate food to us?

I feel pretty stupid for finding this so difficult!

Yes always done with all of mine. They are not fussy at all.
If too lumpy just cut very small but by 8 months should be able to chew anyway.
Other then spicy should be eating everything you eat

I agree, OP.

Especially when they are small I think you're best to start with purees. Now DD is 18 months she does eat a lot of what we have, but if we have salads I do her an omelette of something.

Also, you have to bear the child in mind: DD weaned like a dream, DS took ages to be able to manage even small chunks. Took forever for him to eat stuff other than scrambled egg and baby bolognaise.

Why wouldn't you give bangers and mash to a baby? As long as the sausage is cut up?

Avoid honey and whole nuts.
Cut up things that might be choked on ( grapes and tomatoes)
Don't add salt to your food.
I would give absolutely everything else with the proviso that if we had something salty ( unusual) I wouldn't repeat it for a while.
My children are grown ups and this was the advice 26 years ago.
The only confounding factor that I was aware of was about potential allergens eg peanuts and some specific foods if yours was an allergy prone family but as far as I know that advice has changed.

Seafood, pineapple, exotic fruits... all absolutely fine. Strawberries were my DD1’s absolute favourite thing between 6-18 months. Gammon is a bit salty so I probably wouldn’t give for that reason. Good quality butchers sausages... again absolutely fine.
Both my children have thrived on a diet that included all of those things from a very young age.

He eats at 5pm and we eat at 7:30pm.

That’s quite sad.

I recall when DD was about 15 months ex and I went out, had lunch somewhere. We had a beef stew each and simply fed her off our plates. Just potatoes and veg at first but she managed to get a finger in some gravy, licked it and started getting excited, clearly enjoyed the flavour, so we tried her on a tiny bit of beef. She still likes a good beef stew 😁

Both DCs enjoyed trying stuff off my plate when small, they were more likely to try new stuff that way than if I put a bit on their plates.

Of course you can give a baby kiwi,
Strawberries and pineapple. My 8mo loves them all!

My sister did baby led weaning. One of my favourite memories is a friend of mine exclaiming at a party "but I don't understand, that baby's eating a SAUSAGE!!"

I had never heard of BLW when mine were little, but it's astonishing what my nieces would eat.

DS1 was inadvertently weaned on Thai prawn curry when DH mixed up the bowls in the fridge. He is a teenager now and still loves spicy food.

FlyingDandelionSees, I would give mine everything on your list- ironically except prawns. You have to be careful with them because of the iodine content. Not good for the thyroid.

You'll be very surprised what a 1 year old will chew and swallow. My DS happily ate curries, fajitas, roast dinners and burgers age 1.

Just try to rip/cut the food into small bits your LO can grab with 1 hand. And prepare for it to be messy as they tend to explore textures at this age rather then eat a full meal .

Whatever you eat will be absolutely fine for your child, spicy food can be cooked minus the chilli and then you take out baby's portion to cool down and then add in your chilli for you and your DP. You will find you end up cooking healthier too, less salt and fat/oil. My own DS is 2 and I don't boil pasta or potatoes in salt water anymore, we only use a small amount of olive oil on foods and we have fully switched to brown bread.

Yanbu op. I could never understand this. We cook with alot of spices (spicy not just for flavour) and completely not appropriate for my DC at 1yo. We also ate sushi alot and that wouldnt have worked. My ds is 2yo and I still cook a separate meal.

Titty perhaps it's just practical? Our daughter eats around 5:30. We don't get in from work until at least 6:30 on week days so we tend to eat around 8 once she is in bed. We do eat together at the weekend.

You have to be careful with them because of the iodine content.

A bit of iodine in prawns is less of a problem in my opinion than the salt (bad for the kidneys) in bacon, or the alcohol in brandy!! (terrible for the liver)..

But we all make decisions as parents, so im not in any way criticising your choice. The point is we'd both think things were not ok for babies that are ok for adults (even if we disagree on what exactly those things are), so 'just feed the baby what you eat' is over simplistic bollocks. (Much like the previously mentioned 'just sleep when the baby sleeps').

What did you have with the fish? I wouldn't have given the fish but I'd have given whatever veggies etc that you were having and perhaps some breadstick as well. Omelette is fine! Offer as much as you can as finger food it's much easier! If you make anything with mince don't use supermarket, only butchers, it's much finer and easier for them to eat. I am just mindful when cooking of salt and try not to use jar sauces, but a bit is ok! I wouldn't offer anything ready made as they are usually full of crap. Mine have had shepherd's pie, spaghetti bolognese, chicken korma, fish pie, pasta bake, to name a few things, all from 7 months + I find the quick cook fusilli is much softer for them.

I really struggled with this, mostly because I am a shit cook. I have a crap repertoire of meals, and I work long-ish hours, so if it takes longer than 30 min I am not doing it. Add to that a DH who turns up his nose at anything his 80s school dinner lady DM would have cooked, and a vague desire to lose weight. I seriously have no idea what I should be making half the time.

I currently make stuff that suits no one very well - DH tips Tabasco over everything. Pre-schooler fights over every mouthful. It always winds up 300 cal more than I wanted. The baby eats it happily enough then plasters the left overs across the kitchen .

Pre - DC we ate at 9pm and relied on jars of sauces. Now we try to eat together, and I'm slowly getting there I think, but it has taken a long time.

DC3 (10 months) eats mostly what we eat. I don't add salt to cooking but tbh I don't stress too much about the salt in bread/cheese/ham.

Some things - weetabix, yoghurt, curries, casserole, soup - I spoonfeed. Other things like fruit, veg, pasta, toast, cheese, boiled eggs, strips of burger or fish fingers she can feed herself.

My toddlers ate loads of varied food, especially if I added some Greek yoghurt (high fat/protein, no sugar) or tomato puree to dilute spiciness and help hold rice etc together. I remember once sharing leftover rogan josh with ds and he thiefed the lot...
Omelettes cut into chunky strips are still a staple. Fingers of roast meat, carrot batons etc worked well. The odd salty item isn't a problem if the diet as a whole is low in salt.

I should point out that eating well as babies didn't stop ds severely restricting his diet by 18 months and still only eats under 10 items age 10, and dd is a bit fussy too.

@BertrandRussell Unless you have a thyroid problem, the body needs iodine to keep your thyroid healthy.

So I am confused about why you have said that iodine is bad for the thyroid.

Please could you tell me if there is any information that you have seen that says that iodine intake should be kept low please

Of course you can give the baby those things.

Since the Government changed the minimum age for weaning I think that there is no need for either buying or making pureed baby food.

I would have thought that this would make it easier to feed babies the same foods as the rest of the family.

Just be sensible. Smoked fish contains nitrates, I would feed it to a baby. Avoid salt and intense spice.

Hi op,

Regarding the baked potato, bake one for baby. Scoop out and mix with filling, things i have are

Cottage cheese
Cheese
Butter (no salt)
Tuna
Low salt and sugar beans
(Not all together!)

Sometimes finely grate a raw carrot or beetroot in

Then put back in skin and baby can hold and suck

Could blitz up mackerel (to get rid of bones)

So the main thing of cooking potato is Done and maybe go a bit different for baby depending on your filling but nothing that’s too much hassle.

For your piri piri fish if cooking from scratch just bake/ steam or however you are cooking fish without the piri piri. Mynlot love fish baked in parchment - or salmon done anyway.

We just went no added salt in our meals which were all home cooked and used low salt stocks etc. That was 6 years ago and I now have 3 D.C. and it’s all gone ok.

I remember I got Faye Ripleys family food cookbook from the library once and it has recipes that you all eat and tips like “leave chilli out and add it at end” etc

Nothing earth shattering

Good luck and you’d be surprised what baby can eat!

Titty, lots of parents aren’t home until 6-6.30 and babies often can’t wait until then to eat. Are you suggesting keeping an exhausted baby up to eat with its parents at 7-7.30? My dh was usually home between 6.45 and 7.15. I was picking DCs up from nursery at 6pm and they’d already eaten at 5pm. We ate together at weekends and holidays. Now they’re older they have a snack after school and we eat at 7pm but they weren’t able to do that until about 6yrs.