is home cooked food better for weaning compared to the organic jars you can buy off the shelf?

[spogs]

I am about to begin weaning my 5 month old I am hearing mixed views on cooking weaned food from scratch and jars which is beat please help

ok many thanks supermonkey

do i need to cook it or can i grate it raw as someone mentioned earlier

Again up to you. At 6 months you can offer finger food (NHS guidelines again), so if you want to you can offer (say) sticks of carrot steamed till very soft, and sticks of very ripe pear. You'll need to cook most veg, and it's up to you whether you mash, puree or leave it whole. I would not offer sticks of raw apple, by the way, as that is a choking hazard.

Hi

I am new to this forum but here's a rough idea of what I did.

My daughter is now seven months and she eats everything that we do with a few exceptions.

At first (I started weaning at 5 months) I introduced the first solids after her bottle at 11am. I started with just baby rice. After three days I gave her the same after her 3pm bottle. Once she was established on that (a week or so) I introduced pureed apple and pear. I mixed this in with the rice. I then moved onto pureed sweet potato and carrot etc.

Please do not worry about the choking aspect. I know it can be a nightmare worrying about this happening but you may find that your child does 'gag'. I think this in normal and as long as you are keeping a close eye on them it should be fine. I have had one occassion where I have had to pick her up and pat her back where it looked like she may have been choking but she was totally fine! (I, however was a wreck!!)

Remember - enjoy this phase as it is so lovle introducing them to different things.

Just to let you know that my daughter now eats lots of finger foods including cucumber, toast, french toast, peppers (red and yellow) brown bread and butter, rice cakes, and apple (not cut into the shape of sticks but in circles) She really just sucks the apple - I think she likes it as it seems to help her gums.

I really believe that home cooked is always best , but seriously, who can do that 100% of the time?! My first 2 got fed mostly home cooked food (i used to freeze supplies to mak eit easier) my new lo is 9 months old now and I have tried to do home cooked as much as poss but this time round I have be known to buy a couple of ready made pots just in case (mind you I am picky - Plum Baby food is the only brand I trust!)

xx

Back to subject of OP... I avoid buying jars unless for days out or emergency no-food-in-fridge/freezer situations, as agree with others about lack of taste and texture, but today at tea time when was feeling knackered and just gave DS (8.5mths) a cream cheese and cherry tomato sandwich, I did wonder whether I would have been better off giving him a jar which would at least have had lots of veggies etc, rather than processed salty food with no vegs!!