help! what else can i feed my six month old?

[wigglebumsmum]

just started weaning my son, who isnow nearly 7months. We have done all the purees and now on acombination of mashed food and staerted to introduce more finger foods. So far I have been following recipes in Annabel Karmel, which is fine, but I find i am spending hours making up batches of food. My hv keeps telling me to give him what we eat, ut how far can i feed him the same as us. I eat a balanced diet lots of fruit and veg. The only thing is that you hear so muc about what to give/not give I am paraniod about everything. Any advice out there?

Do you have any history of allergies in your family?

Assuming no allergies, pretty much anything other than what loopymumsy has said. There is a book called Finger Food for Babies and Toddlers which has some good ideas. Ds loves mini-quiches and meatballs!

Agree with avoiding honey, peanuts and chokey things like whole grapes, and watching for salt content.
If you want another recipe book, try Finger Food for Babies and Toddlers

Where did you hear that about pate and soft cheese Loopy? Thought they were only off the menu for pregnant mums?

ooh, interesting - not heard it but can see the sense in it

will keep the Brie to myself in future .

gruel?

When my ds was weaning, he never much cared for the pureed baby food, so I just gave him what I had - always a good place to start. Carrots are great, broccoli, pasta, cubes of cheese ... generally things that they can pick up easily. Avoid gravy for obvious reasons! Interesting thing about peanut butter though (providing no family history of allergy), is that it's great for curing ongoing nappy rash due to the zinc content. I think the fear is about choking on whole peanuts, rather than there being a problem per se, but smooth, organic peanut butter after 12 months is a good thing to do once a week or so.

thank you everyone!!Up until now i have been very chilled out as far as ds is concerned. Bf from the start with hardly any problems and he took to first purees like a fish to water. You hear so much conflicting advice though, that it's hard to know what to do for the best. We are having shepherds pie tommorrow but someone was telling me not to give any to ds because the oxo cube which i would use would be full of salt and he shouldnt eat it. Likewise with any jar of bought pasta sauce. I can understand how bought foods would often contain more salt than neccessary but surely they will have to have some salt/sugar in their diet at some point? Its not as though he would have the same thing every day!

Ooh and no allergies to anything in either mine or dh family so we're very lucky in that sense

If you eat lots of fruit and veg,try him with some of yours.Don't be paranoid,just go for it.

I think you're right, wigglebumsmum. Children do need some salt in their diet at some point, and I don't think it's helpful to ignore that point. My ds (2.5 months) is so sweaty that I've caught him licking the salt pot before now because he obviously needs some intake. I don't add it to his food when cooking, but I do sprinkle a tiny amount of low salt on, say, chips. Likewise with sugar ... kids expend so much energy in a day, they simply have to have it.

Yes they do need some salt in their diet, but breast milk already contains some . They should have a maximum of 1g of salt per day up to age 1 (2g afterwards), and it's very easy to go over this if you use any pre-prepared foods (a crumpet, for example, contains around 1g of salt). Stock cubes are VERY high in salt, and that's why it's generally advised not to use them. You can get low salt cubes though (Kallo).

It's also very easy to make a pasta sauce yourself from fresh veg and tinned tomatoes, which would avoid any salt issue.

Agree about the stock cubes, chocolate. I love salt, (I take low salt), but they're far too salty for me. No need to buy pre-prepared pasta sauce, either. Steam down some tomatoes and get on with it. Breast feeding and salt? I agree - but mine is 2.5 now, so don't breastfeed any more.

My lo had ripe melon today.Wow what a hit,it's so soft,it just breaks up and melts in the mouth.