Protein in weaning diet

[TwigletFiend]

Hello! DD is 6 months and has wen having purée for a couple of weeks now, as well as some bits of toast, fruit, bits of pasta etc. She has never been a good sleeper and HV suggested tying to give her protein rich food at dinner time to see if it keeps her fuller for longer and helps her sleep longer at night. This is great in principle, but we aren't ready for meat yet (no teeth at all) and I'm a bit loathe to stuff her on yoghurt as she has quite a lot of fruit in her diet already and I would like her to have something more savoury a bit more often.

She's slowly getting the hang of food but still gagging and spitting out most textured food. Ideas for protein foods please?!

I wondered about blending meat, like a roast dinner for example, but I never seem to manage to get it smooth enough and after a couple of gagging episodes she won't take any more and we revert to fruit and baby rice!

Have you tried her with any pouches or jars? The Ella's kitchen pouches were the favourite ones here (organic, no added preservatives, 100% natural) when we were establishing weaning.

This is a pretty comprehensive list www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/protein-foods-for-baby

Scrambled egg, frittata, tofu, hummus and grated cheese all go down well with my little one. She also likes fish which is much softer than meat.

Oh yes, and lentil dhal, she loves that!

There's a nice recipe in one of the Anabel Karmel books for a red lentil and sweet potato puree/soup (we still like it as dinner with some chilli and cumn added). Red lentils are protein rich.

Cream cheese on toast, or cheese on toast, spag bol were our first protein foods I think. Meatballs might also work.

I forgot eggy bread and strips of omelette.

Cheese, egg and fish are all soft.
You might not be ready to try it yet, but st 6 months, finger foods are good. Strips of meat can be mushed by a toothless baby - so a long, thin strip of your roast dinner, and cheese, egg and fish are all soft.

What about cheesy mashed potato?

The lack of teeth isn't really a problem when it comes to trying then with meat, those gums are hard! strips of roast chicken thigh meat or just bits of fish might be good to start, although if you're more comfortable with purees you could make a mild curry or spag bol to whizz up.

Little kids also love cheese!

I forgot falafels too. Porridge oats and milk contain protein. We used to give DD porridge at bed time and it helped her to sleep for longer!

Nut butter! My DD has it every day as she can't manage meat all that well.

Eggs I do pancakes or omlettey parcels filled with vegetables. Spinach and spring onion pancakes are delicious. Also any kind of vegetable fritters.

Hummus (made yourself without salt and lots of lemon instead). If you are doing purees then any kind of pulses are an easy addition.

Also could savoury yoghurt type stuff. I make really garlicky and lemony yoghurt for my DC as a dip for things.

Also re gagging. Have a read up on BLW. Obviously do whatever you feel comfortable with but gagging is really natural and not the same thing as choking. I'm sure you know what's whats and of course she's only 6mo so nothing to worry about but just keep it in mind as she gets older as I know so many people who got into a tricky situation where everything had to be perfectly smooth and any kind of lump was rejected (talking about as they get older).

Oh yes fish! Can be lively and soft if you cook it right and easy for babies to eat.

Thanks all! We are not really following either traditional or BLW, doing a bit of both. She's pretty good at getting finger good into her mouth now but she still slurps it rather than trying to gum it in a chewing action. I will try fish and see how we get on as its soft. I don't worry too much about the gagging except that she sometimes follows it with a massive vomit!

Thanks!

DS has had meat since 6 months and he's still got no teeth at 9 months! Strips of chicken, salmon, slow cooked pork and beef so it comes away in soft strings of meat all get gummed down! But otherwise cheese omlettes in strips and lots of peanut butter on toast in this house!