can i give a 7mth old things like fishfingers chicken nuggets and stuff like that help

[babyjjbaby]

either blended or cut into small chunks i give him sausages and he likes them but need more stuff as we can't afford to eat meat all the time i give him chipsif we have them as long as they ain't too crispy and he loves them i'm not talking about giving him it all the time but once or twice a week probably

[oregonianabroad]

If you are serious, you need to learn to cook a few things. Go to the library and use the net to find easy recipes.

your local sure start will have weaning classes too to get you started.

[Phatmouse]

If it's not a wind up then I am sorry i didn't mean to mock, you might want to have a word with your health visitor about sure start schemes in your area, you may be entitled to vouchers for fruit and veg or I heard they run courses to teach you about home cooking. If it's not something you grew up with I guess you would not know.

We used to joke that my mums oven played jingle bells when it got switched on as we lived of stottie, chopped pork, peas pudding and beetroot sarnies the other 364 days.

[NKF]

Surely there must be a whole load of easy cheap recipe threads on here.
Chips are fatty. Not that you need me to tell you that.

[cadelaide]

babyjjbaby, if you're brave enough to come back and sift through some of the thinly veiled condescension you'll find some good tips here.
Good Luck!

[joedar]

I just hope you haven't taken my "TIP" seriously and eaten the baby!!!.....Or the guinea pig for that matter!!

[colditz]

Seriously, go and look on the Netmums website, they have some very good cheap recipes on there.

Apart from that do plenty of potato, pasta, rice and vegetables like carrots and frozen peas (cook them well and mash them with a fork), eggs and cheese are both cheap - you can scramble an egg in the microwave, and cheese, just grate it and mash it into potato.

It's just as quick to zap a potato in the microwave and mash the inside with grated cheese as it is to ovenbake nuggets - and it's healthier to do your own (and cheaper!)

And for all the chip sniders - why is ' high in fat' bad for a 7 month old baby? Remember, a healthy diet for a baby is NOT AT ALL like a healthy diet for an adult - they need fat.

[SantaBeClausImWorthIt]

And chips actually needn't be fatty or processed. McCain Oven Chips are just potatoes and sunflower oil, and per 100g are 4 or 5 (can't remember exactly) of fat. Even if fat was a problem. There is no added salt.

[babyjjbaby]

i will have to be more good at feeding him regards him needing lunch if he won't eat it i can't force him hence why i give him the milk i definitly won't be rehoming any of the pets coz i had them so it's my responisbility to look after them to the dasy they die as it is with the baby i am not very good at cooking as i am a bit thick when it comes to cooking lol i am only 16 aswell so i ain't had years of practise my ma shows me but she's in and out of hospital all the time like at the moment i am just getting him into a rouitne done ok last week and my ma was rushed into hospital again yesterday everything is so hard all the time i am going to give him weatabix for brekkie when he's uproast dinner later and maybe beans and mash or summit later

[welliemum]

Hi babyjj

First of all I'm so sorry to hear your Mum's not well. I think at a stressful time like this it's best to keep meals really simple.

My basic food plan for my girls is to try and make sure that every day they get some of:

• protein (eg meat, fish, cheese, egg, chickpeas)
• a green veg (quickest are frozen peas which you can add to anything)
• a yellow veg (eg sweetcorn)
• carbohydrates (potato, rice, pasta)
• and then as much fruit as they want

You can cover all that very easily if you stick a roast chicken in the oven with some veg.

Having said that, mine are older. Lots of babies don't eat much at 7 months and I think you're absolutely right not to force him to eat if he doesn't want to. Mine loved tasting things at that age but didn't really eat until they were 8 or 9 months old.

By the way, porridge is a great breakfast for babies - porridge oats are cheap and you can make it in the microwave - takes 2 minutes - then just grate some apple into it and mix it all up. Ours loved that at 7 months and still do.

[colditz]

Sorry about your mum that's a stress you just don't need.

If there is stuff you don't know how to cook, just ask here, someone will know.

Like a scrambled egg takes about 1 minute 30 in the microwave. That's something you have to know, and if you don't know that it's hard to ask. Pasta has instructions on the packet and it's very easy to cook - maybe better for when your baby is a little bit older. Potato is a brilliant food for babies, as long as you don't add salt or a lot of salty butter (but milk is fine).

Ring your health visitor and go and see her, and talk to her about the sorts of things your baby can have - she can actually see your baby, which we can't do. But do keep posting because it sounds like you need the support.

[babyjjbaby]

thanks i do him scrambled egg he ain't to fussed on it he eats quite a bit i think advise please he just had one weetabix for brekkie is that enough then he;ll have dinner at night but and he has bout 4 or 5 7 oz bottles aswell i just don't think he's hungery at lunch

[colditz]

He is getting plenty. How about just giving him some yoghurt at lunch?

1 weetabix really is plenty for a little baby.

[colditz]

Keep offering a little bit of something at lunch, because he might suddenly start eating it anyway. I wouldn't bother cooking anything if the chances are he's not interested - but babies often like yoghurt.

They like mashed banana too!

[ithappenedinourfamilytoo]

A good point to remember is that a baby's stomach is only as big as their fist, so it wouldn't take too much food in one sitting to fill that!

[babyjjbaby]

yeah i suppose i could give him a yogourt for lunch when we are in i never knew there stomacs wereonly the size of there fist he eats more than that i'm sure

[revgreen]

Ask your HV if there is a course in your area for cooking for babies and children. There is one near me, I think it is run by sure start and its free. If there isn't, ask her to ask a more experienced mother to visit you and give you some tips. HVs know everyone and there will be lots of people in your area who will be willing to help you out if you show willing. I don't want to be indelicate but you are obviously on a tight budget and you need to learn to cook some nutritious cheap meals as low budget processed food is really poor quality. You will saveloads of money if you can cook.

[colditz]

A lot of babies do eat more than that, but don't expect him to, because he will have had enough to make him feel full after only a tablespoon full.

Yoghurt is good because you can buy a yoghurt anywhere, and borrow a spoon at anyone's house or in a cafe (or I think Boots have plastic ones) but you have to make sure it's not a low fat one.

[welliemum]

You could just have him sitting with you when you have your lunch - chances are he'll see you eating and want to try some too. That way he can try different things, but you won't have had to make food specially for him.

[colditz]

Where are you in the country? I will see if I can track down a cookery course near to you.

[welliemum]

I agree with colditz by the way - yoghurt is a great idea for lunch.

[sandcastles]

I also heard that about their stomaches.

Dd used to eat more than that, but not much when you added up all the mess around her face & what ended up on the floor & iin her bib!

Make your own nuggets, I do & dd prefers them to shop brought. Just piece of chicken coated in breadcrumbs. You can buy breadcrumbs or even toast some bread under the grill & whizz it up in a processor to make fine crumbs. Roll in flour, then in beaten egg & finally in the breadcrumbs. Oven bake for around 10 minutes, or until the breacrumbs are golden, check cooked thru before serving. (The flour makes the egg stick, the egg makes the breadcrumbs stick).

You can use the same method with larger piece of fish, then cut once cooked. Although it is often easier to fry the fish in a non stick pan (if not non stick just use a little oil)

As others have said, there is no reason he cannot eat what you all do, in fact this is better & cheaper (as long as you don't have chips everyday, of course ).

Mash & beans is simple, beans on toast, cheese on toast etc. You don't have to cook elaborate meals for a baby.

[glaskham]

he sounds like he's eating enough in the way of food to me....my dd didn't swallow a single bit of food until she was 10mths, i'd puree all sorts of foods for her only to get it all spat back out....then at 10mths me and daddy had treated ourselves to macdonals for tea after ds had gone to bed (sneaky sneaky!!haha) and daddy popped to the toilet and she crawled accross the room and picked up his burger and took a massive bite.....she hasn't stopped eating since....and we do now allow them a bit of macdonalds or other junk food every couple of months, just because without that burger who knows when she'd have started eating....and my breasts were getting sore from all the feeding of a 10mth old!!!

anyway as to healthy meals....what about fish goujons you can buy from tesco/asda...i get my 2 dc's the ready coated lemon sole goujons from the fresh fish section in the fridges....they love to eat them with a bit of mash and tartar sauce...i'm sure when he's a little older he'd love to just have a couple of them and you could have an adults meal if your not keen, the birds eye fish fingers are good as its 100% fish so my two get them with a baked potato or something....i also make a bug spag bol that feeds the 4 of us and them makes a lasagne out of it the day after too....i'm sure if it was cut up enough it could be fed to a 7 mo...

2lb lean mince steak (costs me about £4 from my butcher)
4 tins chopped toms
about 15-20 mushrooms diced small
4 med onions diced small
bit of garlic puree/crushed or chopped garlic cloves
pinch mixed herbs (i use dried)
tube tomatoe puree
spaghetti pasta

(for lasagne next day: grated cheese, white lasagne sauce, lasagne sheets.)

brown off the mince in touch of oil, add onions and muchrooms, add garlic and herbs, stir, add tins of toms and tomato puree and leave to simmer for about 1hr stirring occasionally.turn off when ready to put pasta on to let sauce thicken. do pasta as the pack reccomends as some are different times, taste a bit before serving to make sure its fully cooked. serve with a bit of cheese on the top if you like.

for lasagne the next day you should have about half your bolognaise sauce left from the night before, put half into a casserole dish, put a layer of pasta sheets all over the top, put half the white sauce on top, layer the pasta over the sauce, put the rest of the bolognaise sauce in, top with another layer of pasta sheets and the rest of the white sauce then top with the grated cheese and put in the oven for around 30mins....serve with a side salad and garlic bread (maybe just the lasagne for the baby though)

and there you have 2 scrummy teas for within £10!! using fresh veg and meat that all of you can eat!!

[colditz]

I wouldn't even bother making nuggets for a baby, to be honest, because they really don't care.