7 month old

[DLWxx]

Hey guys, my little boy is 7 months, totally lost with weaning, I have no idea what I'm doing and it's really getting to be, we started on purées at 6 months (over the last month, we've been abroad twice) I now feel I need to introduce finger foods, I'm terrified about this, scared my little boy will choke. I need to get him use to other thing than purées fruit and veg!!

Any help is much appreciated, as mentioned I have no idea what I'm doing and feel like I'm failing my son !

TIA x

I followed the Ella's kitchen weaning guide, that helped me feel less lost. I'm sure any weaning guide is good, it gives you something to work at.

For finger foods, google the difference between choking and gagging (one is good and a natural reflex, the other is not). I have one friend that literally had to sit on her hands when her DS was eating! But they do learn. Toast and steamed broccoli were early favourites here, but he now can't get enough of strawberries and bananas. Try steaming whatever veg you have in the fridge, it has to be baton shaped until they figure out the pincer grip.

It seems daunting now, but your DS will be feeding himself before you know it!

Another vote for the Ella's Kitchen plan, you can order a free guide from their website with wall charts, etc... Boots have a free version of the purple recipe book too.

My child has a number of allergies and I found the recipes really easy to adapt.

Finger food is great - plus it gives you time to have a cup of tea or a sandwich while they gum on a bit of toast. My LB liked anything on toast, fruit, cheese cubes and breadsticks in the early days.

I started with the kiddilicious wafers; they dissolve as babies are eating them so it gave me a bit more confidence then I started building up from there - toast, sandwiches, baby crisps, soft broccoli. I know the guidelines say you can give them anything and I’m sure that’s true but for my own confidence I started with things that I felt were soft and less dangerous. I could then see that she could manage most things and built up to pretty much everything from there.

There's loads of good weaning charts online as to what they should be eating and when. My LO has been weaning for a month now, and is on 2 purees, 1 porridge a day. He also has some of those melty snacks (giant wotsits) or a rusk whilst waiting for me to prep whatever it is. We've started introducing soft lumpy textures to get him chewing now - smushed banana, avocado etc.

Must admit, he still takes a bottle of milk after each feed so I'm concerned I'm not giving him enough but he eats a full suggested portion or more!