Healthy snacks BLW

[maybaby17]

LO is 7 months and getting there with my shamefully inconsistent approach to blw.

Any advice on baby snacks such as organix crispy things? Are they processed rubbish, what is strawberry powder, is corn starch very bad??

Looking for the healthiest least processed there is, purely in order to provide more variety and exciting healthy foods. Feel like all he eats is the same fruit, veg and yoghurt and just want to mix his snacks up a bit.

If you want to buy pre-made snacks then the organix ones are good and we do use them. Problem is they cost an absolute fortune if giving regularly!

Baby led weaning cookbook is a great investment if you want to make some snacks of your own - I do a bit of batch baking every month or 2 and stock up on lots of different snacks for my one. Then just freeze and defrost as needed. App cost just under £5 and definitely worth it in our house.

These Cheese Straws are really easy to make, well they must be if I can make them . They will keep in an airtight container for a few days or you can freeze them

Hummus and veg sticks are a good snack and try Scottish Oatcakes with cream cheese or slices of apple spread with smooth nut butter. Cold boiled eggs, cheese cubes, raisins, homemade lollies all make good snacks too.

I like the Ella's Kitchen melty puffs - they're a good size for a baby of that age to hold. However, I find that they go stale really quickly so a lot gets wasted.

I actually use more prepackaged snacks now (at 15mo) than I did at 7 months. They're handy for DS's nursery lunches (he was at nursery at 7mo too but mainly on milk and a few purées/porridge etc).

Back then I mostly gave him fruit, crackers and cheese cubes for snacks. I also made those horrible cookies from Pinterest that only have two ingredients - banana and oats. They're crap but I cut them into bite size pieces and DS loved them. I also made sugarfree savoury and sweet muffins.

Nowadays he mainly gets raisins, crackers, dry Cheerios, breadsticks, pancakes, and other stuff like that, but I send a cereal bar into nursery with him (he likes Ella's and Organix) and sometimes a packet of baby crisps. That kind of thing has saved our skin on many hungry occasions so I keep some in my nappy bag.

So I think they're great but a lot of the time there are cheaper alternatives that are just as good.

They are fine in moderation, just nothing to them nutritionally and expensive. But if you just want a new texture and something for him to play with, they are fine on occasion.

There are loads of fruit and veg to try though that are probably a bit more interesting. Maybe make an effort to pick one new thing each time you shop that he's never tried before. You can also offer things like breadsticks or boiled egg or all sorts of things spread on toast, like hummus, mashed avocado, nut butter, etc. Grated cheese or cheese cubes, crackers, which he can gum, etc.