getting the texture right for stage 2

[mrsflux]

i've been a proper good mummy and making almost all DS's puree food. he's ready to move to lumps but i can't get the texture right. the stage 2 jars are really still puree with teeny lumps in and he gobbled one up today. however my lumps are made with a fork and are huge in comparison. he takes an age to get through a small amount and then loses interest.
how do you get the texture right when moving to lumps?

(i can't do BLW and he gags and pukes if it's too lumpy.)

this is going to be hard to explain but I will try.

I read this thing somewhere online recently about a study "they" did into purées v lump etc.

Anyway if food is smooth DC thinks no problem and just sort of slurps it down. If food is a mixture of puree and solid DC doesn't know whether to slurp or chew; invariably they end up slurping at the wrong time and end up gagging. That makes a lot of sense to me.

Have you tried giving him whole big bits of fairly soft food? Also how old is your DC? I'm a nanny and I've weaned a lot of babies in a lot of different ways. I'm currently weaning one who was weaned at 4 months so has had super smooth food for 3 months and now gets all panicky when he encounters a lump - so I feel your pain!

Just to add with the baby I'm weaning he freaks about umps in purées but will happily chew and swallow chunks of pear, broccoli, avacado if he is allowed to "control" the food himself So he is perfectly capable of eating lumpy stuff.

I didnt do a lumpy stage with ds - I just offered finger foods alongside purees and than phased out the purees as he got on better with the finger foods

I've moved onto this stage today with DD - I tried giving her finger foods, which she had a major hissy fit about! I tried exactly the same veggies mashed with a fork and she was fine. I began making the purees thicker gradually, so now the move isn't too drastic.

My 14mo loves hipp jars as lumps are soft but i prefer to give him home made and i'm trying to get him used to mashed lumps. I'm struggling to get this right. He often rejects any lumps especially carrots. He won't eat pieces of veg either. He's great with other finger foods - toast, rice cakes, pancakes, muffins etc. Tried fried chicken strips a la Karmel but he hated them and wouldn't bite/chew them (just threw them on the floor!)

Would love to find some healthy finger food that he'll eat and a way to get him to eat lumps in puree. Feel like I've got a bit stuck and not sure what to try next. Also tired of making batches of mashed puree that sits in freezer because he won't eat the lumps!

Sometimes wshat i do is put half of food through blender and roughly mash other half then mix, Works for us and DS 10mth chews everything. I offer finger food at every meal too.

what about mixing puree with soft cooked rice or little pasta shapes? worked well with dd2 from about 8-9m onwards. Or mix a blended casserole or whatever with mashed potato.

Couscous mixed into puree is working well here.