gravy for 6 month old

[bizzykid]

Hello

Does anyone know when its o.k to give babies gravy, or some kind of stock to mix woth veg rather than having to mak it from scratch every time??????

I gave my ds1 gravy with mashed potato and pcarrots when he was learing to eat more solid food. It makes it easier to eat and more pleasant for your child. You could always use bouillon powder which is a lighter stock and yu can add it to your pan of boiling veg.

Do not give your baby too much gravy or instant mash. There is too much salt in them.

if you make it yourself with low salt and preferably wheat free stock there's no harm in it at all..... ds often has a meat and gravy.

keep away from the very high salt granules though

I didn't use it until about 10 months and then only very sparingly (once a month!) There is tonnes of salt in it and yes, making from scratch is the best one - why not just freeze a few ice cubes of it.

both gravy and bouillion are really salty so should be avoided or eaten in real moderation by young children. To thin food out, use the cooking water from your veg etc which is full of nutrients anyway ...

I would say that gravy is fine, but I would be a bit careful about the salt level - so maybe only use a very small amount of a stock cube because they do have a high salt content. I found it easier to mix alot of my baby's food - especially veg - with cheese sauce (going easy on the cheese for the same salt reasons). I just never added any salt to food for my ds til he was a year (but I am probably neurotic about it)

i wouldnt give gravy to a 6 month old baby

simply because until they were actually 6 months i would only give them fruit / veg

then at 6 months id move over to dairy.... so start incoperting cheese and yogurt and white sauce etc, and bread and pasta

then about 6.5 months id give chicken

then a week or so later id give fish etc...

so baby would be at least 7+ months before id even THINK about it!

I wouldnt add gravy to their food at all for a while (u can make simply veg stock full fo flavour minus the salt) or just use veg water, its FINE!

however by the time i was moving onto bolognese sauce etc (for example whizzing up some bol sauce that another child / adult was having) i wouldnt worry about it.

Im a great believer in no food at all except fruit and veg purees and babyrice until 6 months, and there are lots of food to try before gravy IUSWIM!

thanks. I will carry on doing what i am doing then as I am making all my own foods anyway. I will use the water from the veg. Bubba is 6 months now so I will strart introducing pasta and meat.Also, does anyone know if I can use the pasta sauces, ragu etc when I do a lasange I was going to blend it for dd, but I will prob wait until dd is about 7-8 months to do this.

oh and does anyone give there babies baked beans as I know they have salt in

i don't as they have salt and suger but plenty of people do bizzy

i take it there are no allergies in the family when your introducing wheat already? even so i think the recommended age is 8 months for wheat although you can give other gluten foods from 6 months.

not sure about the preade sauces tbh.... they might have alot of junk in them, i make my own and it's not complicated... why not make big batches and freeze for convenience?

Hey, NannyL, I'm a great believer in no food at all before 6m

You can get Kallo low salt stock cubes - in a blue packet, I think - try those, maybe?

you can make your own baked beans, they're very tasty and then you know exactly what's in them. fwiw, dd has been having tinned beans from 8 months.

Kallo! that's the ones i was trying to describe hunker.... was driving me mad, lol

Heinz do a lower sugar, lower salt version of their baked beans, which the HV told me was okay when dd2 was 8mo.

I am still making low salt gravy at 1yo, which I have only introduced recently anway. The vegetable cooking water is fine for them - I am convinced that babies have no taste buds - have you ever tried the jars - bleurrgghhhh?

THere is so much 'hidden' salt in many foods - bread, cakes, biscuits, cheese etc that I even avoid extra salt for my 3yo.

I am probably too anal about it after that incidence where the child died of salt poisoning.

i will wait witht he pasta until 7 months anyway I think. What about bread, might as wait until dd is on finger food anyway to introduce that. Any good ideas on how to make pasta sauces????

Any good recipies for 6 months plus

the boots store near me sells baby gravy granules, look just like a tub of normal gravy, on the baby foods aisle. also baked beans are fine, handy when you're rushed, get the reduced salt and sugar ones

hang on low salt & sugar baked beans contain horrible artificial sweetners - best off with normal ones at least you know whats what with them

to make a bolognase sauce you just fry some onions and garlic, add the mince and brown it, chuck in a couple of tins of tomatoes and a good bit of tomato purree, leave to simmer and add a dash of lemon juice and a good handful of basil.

you can elaborate on it if you want by adding more veg and seasoning but thats the basic sauce.

if you leave of the mince it's a handy all purpose tomato sauce.

i'm sure the chefs among you will be cringing at how oversimplified it is but i have no complaints round here... in fact when i spent all day making proper ragu dp announced he didn't like it and i should just make the 'normal' sauce, lol

How do you make proper ragu?

delia's ragu recipe

it's really yummy, although i couldn't get my hands on chicken livers so just added a bit of extra mince

can I just add that, although salt is dangerous in excess, children do need some sodium/salt to function normally. I do know however, that there is alot of hidden salt in foods, therefore do not add salt to childrens diet, but IMHO a little gravy does no harm, if watered down. I mince all my roast meat meals for dd who is 15months old, with a little gravy, for taste more than anything, she is getting therefore getting greens/meat/veg with these meals.
However I would be cautious of giving gravy to a 6month old, my dd was only getting fruit/veg until 7months old and then meat/fish etc a little later.
Now she is over 1 she has everything we eat without exception, oh perhaps not wine/beer!!

Thanks for the recipe, il definitely use it.

thanks for the helpful tips, I will make that sauce it seems nice and simple but tasty i bet. I am not going to give bread till dd is seven months. One more thing, any helpful breakfast tips from 6 months?????

can babies have oatsa from 6 months too??
I was told by some yes and some no and I was going to give my baby normal porridge