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!

Olives might be a bit salty but why not feta or red onion?

Crossed with Bertie, sorry. Actually, I’d argue that this way of weaning attracts the opposite of ‘meat and two veg’ type of people because if you eat a wide range of foods then you want to pass that on to your kids too. I love cooking and I love food so it’s not a chore for me to make new things for us all. It would be a chore to make bland things that nobody else would eat, but we’re all different.

Miss P, sushi is fantastic food for babies! Why would you not give a baby sushi?

Mine were all put down at 7pm every night from about 1wk old regardless of how often they woke.

Gina, is that you?

Baby taste buds aren't fully developed, so they don't taste bitter things - like cabbage or sprouts. They'll basically eat almost anything, to be honest, at that age. It's not until they're 2 or 3 that their own taste really starts kicking in and they'll reject foods which they previously ate quite happily. So, seriously, don't stress about it.

The only things I'd avoid are the same kinds of foods you should avoid in pregnancy because of the higher risks of food poisoning. And not too much salt, obviously.

Loopyloopy, I wouldn't if it's real sushi with actual raw fish. But rice and veg and tuna and such is obviously fine.

Why avoid spicy food? I've been eating spicy food from weaning age and used to work for a predominantly Asian company where all small children ate spicy food, Asian children aren't biologically different....

Why is raw fish bad?

Loopy
The US discourages raw fish before the age of 5 and guidance in the UK was similar. You also have to consider the mercury content of oily fish.

Yep I’d give baby exactly what you’re eating minus the salt

X post with Bertrand

My understanding is that there is a slightly increased risk of food poisoning from raw fish. The advice seems to be based on the idea that a child’s immune system is still maturing so may be more susceptible.

As long as it isn't mega spicey or salty, I whack a bit in front of them and see what happens! Of course nine times out of ten at that age it just got pulverized and ended up on the floor. You can still give them other stuff too. I found our marks gravitated more towards nursery food as we had more kids, more veggies that mash, less salt during cooking, adding spice on our plates only etc. but this is because I was too lazy to make two separate meals.

Also don't worry about the amount they eat. They still get almost all their calories from milk at that age anyway.

I've given my daughter what my partner and I are having since about 7- 8 months. If it's something like chilli I just gave her a little bit of chilli with plenty of rice and yogurt. Wouldn't give her raw/smoked fish- though but then I don't think that would be on the menu anyway :)

I always found it far easier to prepare a separate meal. I didn't want to feed DC whilst my food was going cold/congealing and prefer my food seasoned during the cooking process. It's no bother to prep a tiny nutritious meal before cooking the main meal for the adults but it's a real faff to prepare a meal for all that is suitable for the little ones. The timing doesn't suit either, my dc are hungry for dinner at 4-4.30, whereas we are not ready until 6.

I thought the concern about sausages was the risk of choking more than anything else, so they have to be cut up properly and any hard skin bits removed. But mash is perfect for weaning

We fed both DC basically what we were having - one still eats anything you put in front of them, the other is an incredibly fussy eater

Tittygolightly if you find it “sad” that a baby eats at 5pm and parents eat separately later you must be of an extremely over-sensitive nature. I reckon the vast majority of parents of children under a year old do not sit down to eat as a family every evening. In our house, on the days when I am not working so DS (23 months) is not in nursery, my husband doesn’t get home till 7. DS can’t wait until 7.30 for his dinner! However I sit and chat to him while he has his tea at 5pm, nothing remotely sad about it!

As to what I feed him OP his favourite meal is curry.

@Tittygolightly Ha! They may have been down at 7pm but they certainly didn’t stay down. The 7pm bed was literally the only bit of routine I ever followed. None slept through before about 8mths (one was 18mths!) but eventually they did and they were used to going to bed at 7. And as they were up so early for nursery a midnight bedtime as you had for your child would have left them exhausted.
Do you only have one? I ask because even if I hadn’t worked then the younger ones would have needed to be up for the nursery and school run of the older ones. So I really cannot see how eating with parents at 7.30 then sleeping from midnight until midday could ever really work for the overwhelming majority of parents either working or not.

Can eat all sorts at 8 months!

• the chilli, yes - just do his first ie put the hot chilli powder etc in after you've taken his portion out

not so sure about smoked fish though as could be salty.

At 8 months mine liked shepherds pie, macaroni cheese, fish pie...

I made tuna onigiri for DS1 when he was about 8 months old. It was a lot of fun and he loved it.

Off topic but please could I know your Piri Piri Fish recipe OP? Sounds interesting as I love fish and peri peri but never tried combining

I wish I could say I made it but it was ready to eat smoked fish from asda
I basically am trying to prepare dinners that are healthy/quick (DS cries and cries when I put him down) that are mainly veggie (DH is veggie) and that we can all eat together! DH gets in at 6pm and I try and get the food ready for as soon as possible after then so we can all eat together before DH gets him ready for bed! It's not always easy!

Anyway- last night I bit the bullet and DS had veggie omelette, toast and carrot and brocolli- he made light work of most of it

Tonight is slow cooker bean chilli!

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Well done, OP!

@ethelfleda since baby is over 6 months, perhaps you could stick baby in sling on your back for cooking? I've done this many times when they're clingy and won't be put down. It's surprisingly easy to get a baby in a good back carry in a soft structured carrier.

Good luck and enjoy weaning :)

I have a fussy eater who will starve himself rather than eat on occasions. I mainly cook him separate things and feed him his main meal at lunchtime like they do at nursery as he eats better like that. My husband is a pescetarian but my son is not keen on fish. Son wont eat salad either. Also DH doesn't get home until 7pm, and I'm not home till 5.30pm in the week so its too late for him to eat with us.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's 'sad' if kids and parents don't eat together, but we always do whenever we can.

SIL has always given her kids their dinner at 5pm and the three kids just eat together, and then her and her DH eat theirs at about 9pm. They hardly ever eat together as a family. Apart from anything else i just couldn't be bothered doing two lots of dinner!

Obviously if you are at work that's different, but then the kids will usually have already eaten at nursery/childminder. On my non work days I always just cooked dinner for all of us, ready for about 6pm.

I loved this stage with mine-watching their faces when something was particularly delicious or horrible or unexpected. I remember dd's first raspberries-she loved them so much she cried as she ate them.
Incidentally, if we couldn't eat together I always ate with the children because the whole process is a learning experience. Then I'd sit with dp later and have a glass of wine while he ate his, on a good day not too shrivelled up, portion.