Introducing lunch for DS

[kbjb]

My DS is 6mths and has been in solids for a month now. He has milk when he wakes uo theb baby porridge or baby rice for breakfast, milk at lunch, milk again at 4ish then a puréed veg dinner. I am going to introduce meat and fish from tomorrow. I would like to introduce lunch but unsure what to give him. It's hard enough thinking of good dinner combinations. Any ideas please?

Also, if I give finger food at lunch my concern is I won't know how much he's eaten.

If he is 6 months you can give anything other than whole nuts or honey. You can just give him what you're having just don't cook with any salt.

Does he have weight gain issues? If not, why do you need to know how much he has eaten?

At that age, Ds would have had: Pitta bread, crackers, soft cheese, humous, cooked carrots, lots of fruit. Basically anything big enough for him to pick up with a bit sticking out of his hand.

What jolly said.

Take a look at www.babyledweaning.com - even if you're doing traditional purée weaning you might get some ideas, but really you can just give whatever you have (bar honey, whole nuts, whole grapes and watching the salt!)

Same here, DD have always eaten what we eat. I really can't be bothered meal plan for two lunches and two dinners! Other than the honey and nuts, I also stir yoghurt into curries to make things a bit less spicy. The only thing DD can't handle are chilli seeds, she'll cry and cry if one slip into her mouth. If you don't eat at the same time, you can leave some left overs to re-heat. I do this for DD's dinner because she starts her bedtime routine at 6pm. Far too early for us to eat.

Thanks all for the advice.

I tried making his dinner a little lumpy today. He had flaked salmon, mashed potatoes and mashed broccoli but kept gagging and crying then just pushed the spoon away which is something he's never done before. I ended up quickly making some baby porridge and giving him that.

For finger food would I give Cooked fruit or raw fruit?

In the early days I would give strawberries or banana raw, but pear or apple was popped in the micro for 30s, with the skin still on. This makes it hold together so baby can pick it up. It obviously takes a while to cool as it is very hot.

The baby led weaning website has the answers for all your questions on this :)

I think it would be very easy for you to add an 'extra' meal of finger food, as he's not used to being hungry at that time so he'll just see it as good fun if you see what I mean.

It sounds like he hasn't learned to chew yet. He has been drinking the solids you gave him like milk. Just keep offering lots of lumpy food or finger food, so he can practise chewing and swallowing.

Also you don't need to buy baby porridge. It is a con. Ready brek and weetabix are both perfectly fine.

Gagging is to be expected too, its unpleasant to see and can be scary but it's OK (it's not the same as choking)

Onelittlebabyterror, thanks for the tip about baby porridge. I didn't know that

I just feel bad when he cries at the lumps and refuses to eat anymore because he is too scared. That's why I gave in and made some porridge because I didn't want him to be hungry

Read Gill Rapley BLW book as will help you with each stage and has meal ideas. He will get used to lumps with the finger food but you could puree new foods to start with so he gets used to having flavour in his food. He may retch a lot but it is all part of the process. Give him spoon to play with or load a spoon so he can practice himself. Start making food lumpy when he gets a bit better with finger food.
Our DS eat almost everything we eat and enjoys meal times so don't forget to make sitting at the table about conversation as well as food.

It's natural you worry he will starve! It sounds like you plan to try fruit as finger food? It's a good plan so he has his normal purée as the main and then fruit as pudding. Then he can get used to lumps and also it will be after he's eaten? Or maybe finger food as a snack at a different time? Toast, fruit, tomatoes, cheese slices are all easy no effort choices.