Recipe ideas for lumpier meals

[wibblyjelly]

I'm currently weaning 6 mth old ds. Currently on purees, as the idea of blw scares me .
Can anyone suggest some meals I can make and freeze that I can mash to a slightly lumpy texture, to get ds used to chewing? I'm hoping once I see him eating the lumps, it will give me the confidence to move onto finger foods. If possible, I'd also like it to contain milk products, to help with his milk intake. tia.

I found the best approach was to get some very-low-salt stock cubes (they sell them in baby stores) and do casserole/stew type dishes--just normal ones like I'd do for the family. And mash a bit with a fork, and give soft pieces of food just as they were, once we were a bit more confident.

Regarding milk: do you mean cow's milk? I think the recommendations are that it's okay if their food contains a little milk or cheese mixed in, but that really, the less cow's milk they have at this age, the better. It's not easy for their stomachs to digest at this age, and large amounts can lead to anemia. If you mean that you're having difficulty getting him to drink enough formula/breastmilk, you could try mixing some into porridge or ready brek in the morning....

Thanks Statesman. I spoke to HV yesterday, and she said I can cook with cows milk. I'm off to a baby weaning group today, so will double check that

Mashed potatoes/ jacket potatoes can be mashed to any consistency. Fish pie is a good one too as you can leave lumps of fish which are still lovely and soft but will encourage chewing. Meat balls in tomoatonsauce sauce? Again u can leave sauce lumpy but the meat alls can be left while to eat as finger food or mashed into the sauce?

Left whole

Mashed bananas can be prepared to any consistency and mixed with formula/ebm/cows milk. We did most of our lumpiness testing with banana but then, ds loved them!

I am weaning DC2 at the moment and doing a mix of BLW and purées. I don't add salt to our food when cooking as our 3yr old eats the same food, so have been roughly whizzing up lamb shanks, bolognese, casseroles etc. Last night we had haddock, so I poached some, made a quick cheese roux (with cows milk) and mixed the flaked fish in. Enough to put some in freezer. Annabel karmel has good recipes - as does Faye ripley when you're ready to start giving your baby the same food that you're eating (earlier the better IMO).

Its actually easier to chock on a soft lump in a puree-type dish than on a chunk. Baby is much less likely to just swallow down a whole chunk than a lumpy puree. Just make sure you give soft things and never whole grapes, cherry tomatoes our nuts.

Yes, you can cook with full fat cows milk and use in cereal etc from 12 months. Cows milk just shouldn't be their main drink.

Agree too that it is easier to choke on purees and mashed food. There seems to be a belief that babies fed purees don't choke, its simply not true. Have a read of this on gagging and choking and if choking does worry you, I'd really recommend going on a baby and child first aid course. Ask at your children's centre or your local British Red Cross or St Johns Ambulance may run local courses.

When you say you want the food to contain milk, is Los milk intake an issue?

As for lumpy food, have you just tried massing your own food like lasagne and fish pie? Those low salt stock cubes are available from most supermarkets now

The MN info on weaning is very good and there are some good weaning recipes here.

Sorry, don't know why I put 12 months. It's 6 months for cooking with full fat cows milk

Thanks all. I've had issues getting milk into ds in the past, and figure as he is enjoying food, I'd try to make sure it doesn't drop again. I've got cooking on the stove cod with peas, and I'm doing meatballs with tomato sauce. I've also bought bananas, that I'll try ds on. Thank you for all the advice.

If he's a reluctant milk drinker, just try to follow the guidelines, which are to offer the milk roughly an hour before the food.