Sorry... more weaning questions!

[Lolly17]

Morning all,

(I'm sorry in advance if this post makes me sound incredibly stupid but I think I'm what they call a "paranoid FTM" 🙈).

So, my little one is seven months old in a few days time.

He's taken to food VERY well and gets excited at meal times (still also drinking 4-5 bottles every day too).

For breakfast we give him a bowl of porridge and sips of water. I'm often "on the go" at lunch times so I've had to resort to packaged jars of baby food but very much want to avoid this at dinner time as he moves to 3 meals per day. I would like to get him on a "what we are having" diet.

Meals like chicken roasts, I'm aware he can have the veg mashed up and come potatoes. How do I serve chicken? As it is in tiny pieces? Or do I have to purée it?

Can he eat mince? (From spaghetti bolognese).

Is he good with cheese sauces?

What other "what we are having" meals can you please suggest we can give him?

Other than being careful with salt and no honey you can give him what you are having.

I did blw so my little one had the same as me from the start so I can’t help with the blending questions.

Your little one should be having finger food from 6 months.

I've tried to give him finger food but he just plays with it! On the other hand, anything that ISNT food goes in his mouth!

When out and about I used to take a banana, a small bowl and a fork + spoon!!

He's still drinking plenty of milk so if he doesn't eat very much solids for a while oit's not a problem at all.

With chicken I used to tear it up into bite size. Pieces and let DD pick it up and put it in her mouth. Playing with it is part of the development process so don't worry if he does this rather than eating it. More goes in than you realise and they really don't need much at this age.

I never bothered mashing the veg etc either, (unless we were actually having mashed potato!) just cut it in to pieces easy for her to pick up.

DDs favourite meal from an early age was spag Bol. Again, she eats it with her fingers. It's messy but it does go in!

They can pretty much eat anything you just need to watch the salt content of gravies and sauces and things and try to add salt to your food after cooking (if you want it) rather than during the cooking process.

Yes we would tailor the meal a little but in general , porridge for breakfast/ sandwich and finger foods or thick soup and bread to dip in for lunch and 'normal'evening meals; I used penne rather than spaghetti for pasta meals for a while, any sort of rice and curry or stew, roasts with meat in smaller chunks, fish and veg ( check for bones) etc. Baby to eat with the family.

I assume any sauces must be made from scratch?

Also, can he have toast with butter?

This all sounds like hard work. Just give him whatever your having (within reason - dont be giving him Chinese takeaways laden with salt). You don't need to purée anything, totally not necessary. Just give him bits to play with and he'll work out where his mouth is. Good for dexterity, good for independence and better if he's self motivated finish meals when he feels full

Exactly. Hard work. Which is why I want him to have the same as me. That's the point in the question 😂

Chicken - cut / ripped into strips on his tray
Bolognese - spoon feed or plonk on his tray for him to pick at / shovel handfuls into his mouth
Spaghetti - cut up smaller or put whole on his tray

1st baby was spoon fed mush / purees

2nd baby - bit of the above plus scraps of whatever from our plate.

Watch out for salt intake but other than that just go for it.

There's also probably baby led weaning videos on YouTube that may be useful

Enjoy the mess

We found meat/fish and veg type meal very easy. I used the steamer for cooking everything really easy. Cut everything into ‘chip’ sized pieces and leave them to it. If we were having takeaways etc I could still do a small meat and veg type meal in the steamer for just the baby. As pp said penne pasta is great. I would avoid processed adult jars for sauces as they have a huge amount of salt and/or sugar. A tin of tomatoes and herbs/spices works just as well. Couscous is a nice and easy accompaniment as it squishes together easily. Avocados were very popular with my lo and I initially steamed or stewed apple pieces as they are notoriously easy to choke on. They go into shards instead of mush when you bite them. Also cut grapes long ways and halve cherry tomatoes.

You don't need to mash or puree veg hence my hard work comment. Just make a smaller plate of what you are having- cut in to chip sized pieces as a previous poster has said.

Playing is how children learn to do everything so keep giving him finger food.

When out and about just throw a tiny bit of food in your bag if you won't be eating something yourself (because you could just share that with him), so bring just a banana, a pancake or porridge fingers made in advance, natural yoghurt and some berries, leftover dinner etc. Yes he can have toast with butter, and yes just give him little bits of roast chicken. No need to mash up or puree his veg unless having like that yourself too.

You don't need to make everything from scratch, just watch the salt content of jars etc. I'll give these to my daughter (she doesn't eat much anyway) but not more than once or twice a week.

Chicken is easiest for them to manage if you give it in strips cut with the grain so it doesn't fall apart to easily. In a month or two he'll be gone with chunks or however you're serving it for yourselves.

He gags at literally EVERY piece of food we give him other than "baby food" 😩

I know gagging is horrible but it's all part of learning what they can and can't manage, so that they don't choke in the future.

It's terrifying! 😩

Gagging is normal and good, it means his reflex is doing what it's supposed to and keeping food out of his airway. The only way he'll learn to eat proper food is by being allowed to do this important part of the process. Also baby's gag reflexes are much further forward than ours so it's not the same for them as if an adult started gagging, they do it more easily than we do.