Are we behind with weaning?

[TeaNCupcakes]

Or does "every child is different" apply to this to?

My 10 mo eats the following:
Sticks of banana, pear with skin, strawberry.
Slices of orange, kiwi, fig
Pre chewed apple, grapes, dates
Sticks of cooked broccoli, carrot, parsnip, swede, soft bit of cucumber.
Slices of tomato with skin
Potato
Egg (scrambled and boiled)
Salmon, cod, haddock
Seeded/multigrain bread with dairy free butter (due to cmpa) or mayonnaise
A whole range of supermarket jar and pouches
And baby snacks like puffs, crackers, rice cakes etc.

I keep trying home made dinners but they're not taken massively well, like chilli concarne with hardly any chili, yet they eat the Ella kitchen one no problem

So I just give them half a jar/ pouch plus finger food from the above in addition to 6oz milk x4/day.

Oh and recently dairy free cheese slices

That's a good, varied diet.

Jars/pouches are fine, but you don't need them. There is enough there for meals to be made.

Do they eat pasta? Sausages? Things that are not 'mixed'.

Every person is different applies to every single thing from birth to grave. It's always good to remind yourself of that when parenting!

This sounds fine. I weaned very slowly with dd1 because I was terrified. Dd2 much faster but, she has a way more teeth. I think dd1 cut one tooth at 15 months, dd2 is 14 months and has ten.

Can I just ask? Prechewed? What does that mean.

I dice lots of things as well. So a grape into a million little bits, slowly reducing it to a thousand bits, then toddler age 3 now gets four bits

@Peasandcabbage like, I'll chew it to make it softer

@NuffSaidSam thanks. This is now my current anxiety 😂! They'll eat pasta from pouches/jar but turn their nose up at mine Need to try sausages! They really don't like the texture of mince and porridge ☹

That all sounds fine to me. It’s been a few yrs but from memory they were ready to eat mostly what we ate then. I’d keep trying with the homemade stuff as it’s all about ongoing exposure, personally I’d not be keen on all the jars and pouches as the less processed the better, but life has to be lived and know it’s demoralising cooking stuff that doesn’t get eaten. Also a bit at the prechewed idea…

I’d.. perhaps not prechew their food 😬 you could steam the apple for a few minutes instead of the hardness worries you? Although their guns are designed to be almost as hard as teeth so if they don’t have any teeth yet I still wouldn’t worry.

Grapes cut long ways into quarters, they’re soft enough not to be chewed surely?! Same with dates.

Otherwise - sounds like a really healthy varied diet and I wouldn’t worry. Mines 2 years old now and she had mostly finger food and some shop brought baby pouches, she loves any of the Ella kitchen things with salmon in but like yours she never seems to fussed on the main meals we ate, especially once with mince meat (must have been texture) but she’s a star with eating now, eats whatever we cook.. the only food I can hands down say she won’t eat is beetroot. Everything else is enjoyed thoroughly!

I’ve also read children need to taste something 10 (?) times before knowing if they genuinely like or dislike the taste. So try not to give up on something after a couple of goes, reintroduce it in a week or two :)

Although I doubt your baby has any heavy artillery I would just like to correct guns to gums 🤣

You don't need to pre chew the food

My boys are late teens now and we weaned dead early, like 12-16 weeks! But aside from that, by 10 months they were eating a whole range of normal meals, not just items of food individually.

If i remember correctly, there were a couple of favourites that i would make for the rest of the family and then freeze in ramekins or little sandwich bags for the babies. Basically shepherds / cottage pie in tiny ramekins and the mince cooked for a couple of hours so its all soft and melt in the mouth and also bolognaise (minus red wine) and you know those tiny little pasta shapes that you put in soup. (Like these). Used to be very loved. Basically anything that you make, like stew, casserole, roasts, paella etc can be fed to babies if made with less chili / salt etc. I would expect a 10 month old to be starting on these things, regardless of when you started weaning.

Yeah you don’t need ti chew their food

Otherwise sounds great. I was terrified of choking but actually DD got it super fast and was eating way more confidentially than I was comfortable with.

Stuff like apples - you could steam it to make it mushy, or slice in to very thin slices, or grate up

I used to chop pasta very finely or mash with the back of a fork to get same consistency as Ella’s and she’d love it

Sounds like a varied diet OP. Don’t stress it too much, just keep offering a bit of whatever you’re having, much cheaper and easier to do that.

And you definitely don’t need to ‘pre-chew’ 😂

Thanks everyone ☺ Yeah I was shit scared about choking and read it was something you can do. I don't mean heavily munched, more like gently crushed once or twice, l guess a pestle and mortar would have done the trick!

"The behaviour was common throughout human history and societies and observed in non-human animals. While premastication is less common in present-day Western societies, it was commonly practised, and is still done in more traditional cultures. Although the health benefits of premastication are still being actively studied, the practice appears to confer certain nutritional and immunological benefits to the infant, provided that the caretaker is in good health and not infected by pathogens."

Just incase anyone was concerned

Sounds good to me, have you tried making these home cooked meals and then just blending slightly (so still chunky ish but not as an adults portion) I find that the Ella's kitchen stuff was always reasonably smooth.

My DD (now 16mths) loves the Picolo pasta sauces, especially the pumpkin and cheese one!

You're way ahead of me! My 9mo just isn't interested in anything that's not breast milk.

@TeaNCupcakes thank you. I did also Google, I have to say that had I heard of it I would likely have done it!

Well tonight was a success, Chicken, sweetcorn, peas and brown rice with a piccollo stock cube to moisten the crumbs/teeny cubes of chicken all on the tray very much enjoyed lots of yummy noises 😂❤

My daughter is almost 9 months and is nowhere near eatting like that. She gets 4 6or7oz bottles a day along with porridge for breakfast, a custard/yogurt snack thing, toast (she plays with mostly). Banana & strawberries - again she plays with it mostly aswell. Most stuff i try her with she turns away from (even alot of the ellas kitchen pouches). I be worried she isnt eatting enough through the day.. but she sleeps all night everynight, so she's obviously getting enough to keep her down. She doesnt get 3 set meals a day - its just what she will take. They are all different, I just hope she starts eatting more soon enough 🤞

Also the choking 👀 scares the absolute cr#p out of me - she does it regularly🥺

Prechewed

It's the first time I have ever heard of pre-chewing a child's food. 🤣

I'd maybe steam the apple briefly, but wouldn't pre-chew it.

I've done my spot if prechewing..! Hadn't thought any of it tbh.