Inspiration / advice welcome for 8 month old!

[Fivebyfive2]

Hi! Just as the title suggests really... Ds is 8 months old and currently has no teeth yet. We started weaning at 6 months and he loves it, but as we've gradually been building up things for him to try and portions, I'm running a bit low on ideas and worried he may not be getting enough or at least not enough variety. We've only just started 3 meals a day and tbh we don't always fit 3 in, depending on naps etc. He breastfeeds and I always feed about 40 mins before food, as advised.

Example of a typical day so far...

Breakfast- toast with butter or peanut butter / croissant or wheatabix or ready brek with fruit puree. Since the hot weather I've been stirring the oats in with natural yoghurt and fruit instead of warming milk up! I tried banana a few times but he either mushes it to nothing or tries to shove too much in at once! I keep trying though.

Dinner is either something that we'd have, but mashed up; lots of veg combinations, pasta in tomatoe and veg sauce with cheese, or with cheese and broccoli, baked potatoes, omelette. Or we do a pouch, like casserole, lamb dinner, fish pie etc.

Lunch, when we do it, is pretty much any combo of the above, depending on what is happening.

About the pouches; I never give any pouch etc that has 'odd' combinations. I'm mostly using pouches to give him a taste of the 'heavier' meals like meat and fish etc because I'm too nervous to make these myself for him; I worry about him choking if he can't break it down enough until some teeth come through... Am I being ridiculous??

We've started giving pasta as whole penne bits instead of blitzing it and the veg etc we are making the mash very lumpy; I've also started cooking them very soft and letting ds eat them with his hands. Mixed results, but we're getting there!

Does this sound OK and has anyone got any suggestions for other bits I can try??

Fish is quite easy to cook. In France we use sole and cod as first fish.
The sole is cooked in butter and then you very carefully with fork and spoon, remove pieces .
Of course, there is the risk of fish bone, so you can try cod instead. Again so easy.
You buy frozen cod. Fill a small pot with cold water, add the frozen fish, turn the flame on, forget about it for 15 min. When the fish is floating on the surface it is ready.
Take it out, break it with a fork, add two spoonful of the water form the pot and a bit of melted butter , If you want to be fancy, add some chopped fresh parsley.

As long as the fish is wet, and not dry it will be easy to eat. Try to avoid fried fish, because it tastes of fried instead of fish.
You can try the meat in a stew (in a pot, you first brown onions, then add chunks of quality beef, a cup of broth, half a cup of diced tomatoes, a bit of garlic, sweet paprika, bay leaves, cover for 40 min then pull the meat with a fork and give it with a spoonful of liquid).

In France, the first rule is not never serve your child something you wouldn't;t eat yourself. So, food is tasty. try the oven for roasting the veggies. Cut your zucchini lengthwise, on a baking tray, brush with oil very hot oven. Pumpkin, cut into thin slices, in oven dish or baking tray , generous olive oil, rosemary and garlic, and very hot oven, for 40 or more until ultra soft

You are not ridiculous, but you seem to forget about gums. Old folks in the whole world manage to eat without teeth.

You need to exploit the tasting window opportunity. You are building his preferences now.
Do some soups , Italian bean soups, minestrone, Asian soups with fish or meat.
Use mince,

1. make very soft meatballs, once browned add good passata and two handfuls of frozen peas, cover for 20 min.

2. Make a meatloaf which after 30 min, you will cook in 3 cm milk and broth for the sauce. Be generous with herbs and spices . I add mustard.

Stew or even any saucy meat, served with polenta squares.
Use a soffrito - tomato base to cook chicken pieces, and add some broth toward the end to make it more moist.

Buy a real recipe book for veggies such as On the side by Ed Smith and try new veggies every week, instead of always eating the same thing.

You are doing fine, be bolt and explore new dishes, and the whole family will enjoy it.

I get the nerves! What you’re doing sounds great and totally normal. I also lack inspiration, as I’m catering for a picky 5 year old as well.

My 7 month old is keen on the following for meat and fish, and manages just fine despite not having a single tooth yet. Gums are hard!

• Cottage pie (my DM liquidised the base for him, I didn’t - he ate both).

• spaghetti bolognese - I cut up the spaghetti with scissors, which is my approach to any pasta I’m not offering for self-feeding. He manages the meat just fine - and it’s a typical home-made sauce with finely diced carrot, mushroom, onions, etc so lots of lumps.

• salmon, with new potatoes and veg. I just bake this in foil for 15 minutes and then it comes off in huge flakes - I find salmon is dead easy to check for bones and if you offer it in flakes, you can check as you go. DS likes to feed himself this.

• I also sometimes mash salmon into crème fraîche with a bit of fresh dill, which works very well tossed with pasta or with pasta on the side. This also works with any white fish.

I actually think fish is ideal for babies because it’s so soft and you can mash it very easily. Mince also cooks down really well in a sauce, as do the right cuts of beef. If your DS can manage omelette, he would be just fine with any of these!

Oh, and scrambled egg is a favourite in our house....