8 months and in a rut!

[peachandpear]

Any ideas? DS3 is 8 months and I am in a rut!!! Can't seem to think of what to give him! He is having lumpy foods and finger foods but I seem to be really unimaginative about what I am giving him. Any ideas? Needs to be quick and easy.

What sort of foods does he like now?

Have you tried pasta, with various sauces? Nice big pieces of pasta might work well at his age. My DS2 really liked chunks of meat or chicken at that age (if you're doing meat or chicken). And he always likes spicy food.

He has marmite toast and sticks of steamed vegetables. Roast dinners, chicken cas, err err ... see, in a rut!!!
Pasta is a good idea. Where can you get small pasta from or do you cut up big pasta? What sauces do you use? He seems to choke on big pieces of meat at moment.

I use penne or fusilli, big pieces that he can hold in his fist. At 8 months, he'll probably just bite off the bit that sticks out of his fist. In a little while, he'll learn to open his fist to eat that.

A simple tomato sauce to start with, maybe? Or a cheesy sauce? He might just suck the sauce off to start with.

Oh, we never really fed DS2 - everything is finger food, it turns out.

At this age I did things like couscous with veg and maybe chicken, shepherd's pie, fish pie, cauli cheese, risotto, beef stew etc. All of these we could also eat because I don't use salt anyway more likely herbs for flavouring or maybe could adjust slightly. I also did various Annabel Karmel things that I can no longer remember.

Rigatone's a good pasta shape for them to hold.

That Finger Foods book is good. Ds used to like quorn pieces as we don't eat meat. They find spaghetti hilarious and you can cut it up very small if you actually want it to end up in their tummies. Oven baked potato or sweet potato wedges (just cut up and spray / brush with oil)? Homemade baked beans (really easy, have recipe if you want). Sweetcorn and peas very popular when they can pick them up with finger and thumb. Avocado slices, pitta fingers to dip in a sauce?

god no don't feed them
I'm sure you have other things for your hands to do...
noodles are good, with lots of different vegetables and lentils in there, I used to cook the whole thing together
thick soups with hunks or bread and croutons
falafel
bits of bread/pitta/naan whatever with hummus or taramasalata
coucous is great and really quick
home made chicken nuggets (i.e. just bash out bits of chicken then coat in breacrumbs and bake them)

sorry being stupid but do you just give these food to you baby or mash them or make smaller?
dd 7 and half months and no teeth
so i assume what you are all talking about is the baby with teeth and can chew these food?

I gave all these sorts of foods, before my boys had teeth. The first teeth that come through are the front ones, and those are only really useful for breaking off bits. The real chewing is done by the molars, which babies don't have for ages. And they can do that chewing with their gums, before the teeth come.

DS2 still only has four top teeth and two bottom. And he eats our food, no mashing or fuss.

DS3 only has 2 bottom teeth and he seems ok with most things (can't cope with lumps of meat though). Tried him on pasta with cheese sauce, he just looked at me and laughed!!!! Very cute but very annoying!

My DS (8 months) was quite a good eater but now is refusing to open his mouth to have a spoon put in. He will open wide if I'm putting bits of food in his mouth (toast, fruit, chicken, fish, vegetables) but just will not take food off a spoon. Not sure feeding him from my fingers is a good habit and whilst he can pick bits of food up from his tray himself, he gets it into his fist and then can't transfer it into his mouth.

Do you think I should just make up some of these finger foods and leave him to it? I'm worried he's not getting enough food, although he still has four milk feeds a day and is sleeping quite well.

Any advice (and sorry to highjack thread )

Quite alright! funnily enough my DS has just started doing the same since starting this thread!! So ANYONE out there.... heeellllp us ......!

Well, busywhizzy, looks like its just me and you kid!

What happens if you give him a spoon of his own to hold?

much the same< sticks it in his mouth and refuses to move it! very frustrating!

P&P, I started another thread on this and got lots of reassurance about just leaving him to it, he won't starve etc. Someone also recommended a good book on finger foods which I've bought called Finger Foods by Jenny Maizels.

So, I am trying to give him a small quantity of 'his food' each mealtime which sometimes he eats happily (not very often) but usually he takes 6-8 mouthfuls at best and then won't have anymore. I'm then supplementing this with bits of food I eat, which means I'm trying to eat suff I can pass onto him.

Yesterday, he had all his ready brek (we seem to have made the most improvement with breakfast) followed by some scraps of wholemeal toast, chicken and butternut squash for lunch which he ate about half of followed by scraps of cheese sandwich and pasta and sauce for tea wich he ate virtually none of, followed by scraps of fish pie which he couldn't get enough of

I'm giving him a spoon to hold which isn't making any difference, I'm trying to eat something at the same time as him (not really sure if that's helping) and I'm also putting the bowl of food on his tray so he can reach it This lunchtime, he had cauliflower cheese and I just let him put his hands in it if he wanted to. Lots ended up on his face and hands but he also ate a fair bit so an improvement of sorts.

I'll let you know how I get on with the finger foods.

pita bread hummous and olives and cucumber spears

chicken in all its guises

poached salmon and brocolli spears and carrot batons

pasta and pesto (fusilli)

pasta and tomato sauce

spaghetti bolgognese

rice and chicken korma

rice and meatballs and sauce

Wow! Can we come and live with you!? You do nice stuff.

Well we seem to have had a bit of a breakthrough today. DS ate all his ready brek, all his chicken and vegetables at lunch and all his parsnip soup for tea followed by a petis filos yogurt. I don't think he's ever eaten so much in a single day - it's like he's making up for lost time.

Seems like the day I stopped stressing and just took the food away when he wouldn't open his mouth, was the day he decided to eat (hmmmmm, manipulation skills coming on nicely at only 8 months)

How are you getting on P&P. Is your DS still only wanting sweet foods (I saw your other thread)