Weaning - ready made 7m +

[ecossegirl91]

Hi
possibly a silly question but I’ve just started weaning and I’m doing mostly single veg mashed with a fork so it’s lumpy and not smooth like a purée alongside the whole version of the veg where possible as a finger food.
im planning on moving to actual ‘meals’ or at least mixtures of flavours shortly and whilst I’ll mostly cook at home or give modified versions of my own dinner I did wonder about the ready made meals eg casserole or spag Bol in the shops.
these are all labelled 7m+ or perhaps even 9 or 10 months. Is there a reason for this? Or is it purely because it’s lumpier than the stuff marketed for 4-6m? Surely there wouldn’t be anything in it that a 6m couldn’t have (I thought 6m could eat most things with exceptions like honey). What’s peoples knowledge or experience?

It's just lumpier :) in the UK there aren't any different recommendations between 6-12 months. You can give the 10m+ stuff if you want to and your baby is happy with it.

In theory the ones for older ages sometimes have more complex flavours, but in practice baby food all kind of tastes like baby food to me.

For the ready made meals, i found only the hipp ones are any good. I tried the own brand ones and they're just like jars, very bland.

Yep, HiPP for the win! When it goes to 12+ months it’s simply that the size is larger. But some of the snacks are more strict with age because you can’t give a younger baby veggie straws with the hole in the middle, for example :)

Yes they're just lumpier/more like actual meals

Watch the 12 months + snack products like bars or biscuits because they’re sometimes sweetened with honey and as you say under 1s definitely shouldn’t have that. But the difference between Ellas Spag Bol 6 months and 10 months will just be the texture. So fine if they’re happy with it!

Basically the 4/6 month ones are smooth purées, the 7 month ones have small lumps, and the 10/12 month ones have big lumps.

The age brackets are just a marketing ploy to keep you coming back for different products.

Baby can just eat what you eat in an age appropriate size/shape. Id recommend giving Solid Starts a follow on insta and download their free app which tells you how to prepare hundreds of foods depending on age.

Sorry I know it's not what you asked but I just think they're absolutely brilliant and give them full credit for my confident eater.

@Scroobydoo thanks for the recommendation - all help and tips welcome 🤗

Why not?

Idk, I figured it was cos they’re likely to have less teeth to break it down - so if it went into their throat as a whole straw, it might get stuck and they’d have to breathe through a tiny little hole 😂😂 I’m definitely an easygoing, breezy kinda gal.