Suitable food for 6 month old

[PeppermintPatty]

My DD is six months old and I'm wondering what sort of food I can feed her if I want to avoid jars, baby cereal and the whole baby food shelf at the supermarket as much as possible.

I've tried giving her pureed fruit / vegetables and a bit of baby rice just to get her used to the idea of food. She has also got the hang of feeding herself small pieces of food too.

Now I want to move on to more normal meals so..

Is it ok to give normal breakfast cereal (ie. weetabix, porridge)?
Or is it not suitable (someone told me you need to buy baby cereal as it's fortified with iron)?

Can I give normal full fat yoghurt?
What sort of bread is best at first?
Is butter / margarine ok?
What else can you put on bread / toast?

Any other ideas?
Sorry for all the questions, tis my first child and I'm a bit clueless!

Porridge is great, formula milk or I sometimes get full fat milk and then DS shares mine!
He loves gumming toast to death, even with marmite on, and fruit bread is a special treat. DS has had seedy bread because thats what we have, but plain white might be better if you're worried about lumps. Try unsalted butter, I haven't given him jam yet, honey is a no-no till she's 1.
Little yoghurts and fromage frais are always popular.
Stuff you're having for tea can be whizzed up so bolognese or even curry and rice, stuff in a sauce is easier for making mush, or meat potatoes and veg are better as finger food.
He's my first too so it took me until half way through the pasta and sauce to decide it wasn't the best idea I'd had for finger food! DS didn't mind though.
Twirly pasta is easier for little fingers to hold than macaroni.
The problem with using grown up processed food, even bread, is the salt content, don't knock jar food - its ideal when you're out and about, although in this health and safety conscious age packet mix is easier because some places won't warm food for you but most will give you hot water!

Hi! I waited until 6 months too, she's now almost 8mths and it's going well. Ideas...........hope I can help!

I occasionally use jars too when out, but at home she really enjoys the mashed foods I make up from Annabel Karmel's book (Baby and Toddler Meals or something). It's a clear, straightforward book which explains a lot and yes, making the recipes takes a little effort - 2/3 days of making batches and freezing little portions (try breastmilk storage bags from Boots - £8 - they're great) but it's not too much hassle at all for a few weeks peace! Would recommend it highly. Each meal I grab a veg/meat/fish/lentil portion and a fruit portion from the freezer and a couple of bits of finger food too. I wanted to start with full-on BLW, but she just dropped things, uninterested, so I'm doing a combination of finger foods (strawberries/soft pear/steamed veg/toast/rice cakes, etc.etc.) alongside mashed stuff and she enjoys both. If I run low on fruit I try mashed avocado/banana/papaya from the fruit bowl.

Toast - use butter, marg is full of weird ingredients, but use unsalted. Sometimes I give her a little Marmite, try hummus/cream cheese on it too.

Breakfast - I give her (on rotation!) weetabix, Ready Brek, real porridge or baby cereal with full fat milk/warm water from kettle (they need the fat of whole milk) with fruit puree mixed in/mashed banana, and if she's hungry toast too. I've read in different places that it's best to use white or brown bread (take your pick - I use both) but not granary as it's apparently a choking risk with the little grains - guess it could be.

I offer her water with each meal. Someone told me too not to give protein (meat/fish/lentils etc.) at teatime, only at lunch, as they're hard to digest, so keep this meal veggie.

Hope some of that waffle helps! (Oh, and have a look at that Ann.K. book - it's worth it - honestly - even though some people think you're mad for cooking and freezing, I find it dead easy!)

I'm doing this cos I'm too lazy to mash.

This tells you what is safe for a 6 mth old to eat which thankfully is most things.

she can just have normal food. not proessed ready meal stuff, or anything high in salt, but normal everyday food is fine. no need at all for anything specially marketed or made for babies. a sandwich is great for out and about convenience, rather than a jar.

a lot of cereal has salt in it. we give ds shredded wheat or porridge cos they don't.

plain yoghurt is best as opposed to flavoured yoghurt cos they are very sugary.

i always think unsalted butter is preferable to margarine cos of less crap etc.

ds likes cream cheese and pate on toast. (not together)

DS loves triangles of wholemeal toast with butter on for his breakfast, or porridge mixed with his formula.

He has vegetables - carrot sticks, asparagus tips, green beans, chip-shaped sweet potato and parsnip, that kind of thing. If we're out he has whatever I'm having, as long as it's fairly plain, not spicy or very sweet or covered in salt.

DS is 7mo by the way.

Yes I forgot butter was salted. So basically anything as long as not to sugary / salty.

Thank you everyone.

Just one more question - is stock cubes / powder ok (in soup / stews etc) or are these too salty?

you can get unsalted butter very easily. and i don't use stock cubes for anything, just use other flavours herbs, spices etc.

You can get salt-free stock cubes (can't remember the brand name).

Rachel's Little Organic Yoghurt doesn't have any sugar in so is ideal for LOs (DS has it for breakfast).

DS loves a handful of cheerios as finger food and it helps practice his pincer grip.
I don't add salt to anything now, but use stock cubes in bolognese etc but tend to make in large batches so its diluted more than the instructions anyway

remember that even if yoghurts say they are sugar free if they have fruit in them they still have sugar.

Just wanted to add that Weetabix has iron added and if you sweeten porridge with dried apricot puree or blacstrap molasses you'll be adding more iron than there is in baby cereal anyway.

Personally I avoided all "baby" foods as they are just a marketing ploy IMO, much better to get your vitamins from real food. Also a lot of the baby stuff tastes awful, either very processed or cloyingly sweet (even the stuff without sugar added), not good IMO for educating your child's palate for real food later on. My DD has always been fed "adult" flavours including spices (obv no salt) and at 2.5 eats a wider range of food than a lot of her contemporaries.