Age related food list - help please

[Gem13]

Does anyone know of a comprehensive list of foods explaining when you can give them to your baby?

DS is getting to the age where books recommend he shares in our food but a lot of the things we eat aren't listed in the traditional cook books like Annabel Karmel. Pesto? Bacon? Bio-yoghurt? Also, after having given DS pulverized sweetcorn the other day I came across an American website which said it shouldn't be given until babies are 10 months!

On a related note, does anyone know where I can get a mini/travel blender so that if we have a suitable meal in a restaurant we could smush it for him?

Thanks.

Lindam do a mini blender which is in teh blooming marvellous catalogue. Or Lakeland do a combined steamer/blender which is wonderful - both require electricity. But I would think that most restaurants would be able to do this for you.

Don't have a full list, but I have given dd (9m) all the above. I think pesto and bacon should be kept to occasional small quantities because of the salt levels though

Thanks Prufrock. I'm really after a battery one though. I suppose restaurants would oblige but it's also for times like visiting grandparents (the hand operated mincers they used have long since gone!) and just the general gadget buying satisfaction.

I agree about the salt levels but those are the ones I'm kind of aware of. I suppose what I'm after really is a list of store cupboard alternatives (for some this will be common sense but I seemed to have chattered my way through home ec ) like is the cod which is on special offer in Tesco fine for recipes which call for plaice? and for days when you have to feed them right now and all you have is a cucumber, a tin of kidney beans and some cornflakes...

gem13 - you could try something like this from Lakeland - product reference 5506 which is hand operated so no need even for batteries.

Just a wee note to say that my ds LOVES Pesto!! i wasn't sure about giving him it, but when he started begging it from us at 14 mths I gave in. I also have a book called Good Food For Kids (can't remember the author) and it has a recipe for Pesto in it. It also has loads of recipes which are great for certain illnesses/conditions and fussiness. And it has some fantastic tips and info.
I'll get the name of the author and post tomorrow.

I find a fork a very handy and inexpensive instrument for reducing food to mush

To be honest, I agree with the fork idea!! By about 8 months this is all I did, rather than pureeing. It is amazing how quickly they go onto finger foods, by 10 - 12 months mine was doing this, therefore how much use would you get form a blender thingy.

Bio-yoghurt if it was wholemilk should be fine, I bought kids yoghurts as I eat Muller lites, Pesto and Bacon are perhaps too salty.

Aloha/Crunchie - I hadn't even thought about the fork idea! Honestly, you get so programmed into needing special equipment for them you forget how to cope without it. Then again maybe it's just me - was stressing the other day when all of DS's bowls and spoons were in the dishwasher. Didn't occur to me for a good few minutes that I could take them out and wash them up!

Mum13 - look forward to getting the details of the book.

GillW - might just indulge myself with the food mill anyway. Thanks for the link.

If you want to get slightly more gadgety than a fork you could try a potato masher. But it might not be great for small quantities.

Thanks Bozza. Was thinking about eating out abroad - not sure what the x-ray scanning people would think to us carrying a potato masher in our luggage

Here (CH) you are advised to give natural bifidus yoghurt after 7 months of age, assuming no allergies, in preference to any flavoured or sweetened kids varieties. Also mashed adult foods after 9 months (unsalted)and ,after 10 months, natural fromage frais and cottage cheese.

Do the pinenuts in pesto provoke same reaction as other nuts ? If so might, advise going easy on that.But would have thought even bacon in small quantities would not be a problem. Haven't come across any problems with sweetcorn except it seems to pass through undigested.

hth

LizS

Gave DS yoghurt for the first time yesterday and he shuddered! He eats absolutely everything (he's had cold food before) so both of us were surprised! Tried several times but didn't want shuddering to become a great game so we'll give it a miss for a while.

Interesting about the cottage cheese as he had that at 6 months with papaya (in Annabel Karmel). Come to think of it (having said he eats everything!) he didn't like that either!

Good point about the pinenuts.

Maybe stick to the fork then Gem13.