Soft carrot sticks, broc/caul florets, baby corns etc

[Ready]

How long do these sort of things keep in the fridge after being steamed or do I have to do them on demand? Started with a little bit of carrot puree and steamed carrot sticks with dd today... she was not really fussed by the puree, but though the sticks were interesting... so as I thought the puree would just be for my peace of mind to let her get a taste of each thing... but I want it to be fun for her and offer plenty of the same in hand sized pieces of whatever I puree. But where purees can be frozen and reheated to order what about finger foods??

Hope that ramble made some sense?

I usually keep them in the fridge overnight, offer them again and compost them if not eaten. If you're just starting only do a small amount at a time. Not sure about freezing TBH.

Steamed veg keeps in the fridge for about 3 days and you can microwave it (be careful not to overheat though).

But there's no reason to restrict her diet to just veg at first. Personally I found it a lot easier once I'd worked out that my DD could just eat what I was eating, that way you don't have to cook twice. Then it took me another few days to work out that I didn't have to subsist on a diet of steamed veg either :-)

It's basically a case of adapting your own meals to make them easy for her to eat (and safe). A few suggestions ...

• don't put salt in anything (you can add it to your own food later)
• any kind of potatoes (baked, boiled, roast etc - just cut it into big pieces for her)
• raw fruit and veg e.g. tomatoes, cucumber, bananas, pears
• toast and bread
• big pieces of boneless fish (tuna from a tin is good!)
• big pieces of chicken or meat, if it's cooked relatively soft so they can suck and chew on it
• meatballs, burgers
• pieces of pasta
• lumps of cheese

Good luck!!

Thank you very much for the tips... I will be full steam ahead (no pun intended) in 2 weeks. Started today, but she didn't seem all that keen, so going to wait a bit.

Can she really have toast from 6 months?

They can have pretty much anything, can't they? Except honey and shellfish, IIRC

Yes quite right, most stuff is OK barring salt, honey and shellfish, and anything else you're worried about re allergies. (There is a book by Suzannah Olivier with a useful list of foods to consider if there are allergies in the family).

Some people certainly do have concerns about wheat allergy, but if you don't, then toast is fine - I think most weaning leaflets/advice recommend it as a finger food from 6 months, even the ones that recommend you start on puree.

Is there not salt in bread? Confused.

or more likely just thick rather than confused

Oh I see! Yes very good point, there is salt in bread. But the goal isn't zero salt (e.g. there is sodium in breastmilk). The NHS and Food Standards Agency have some helpful guidelines: "Babies under a year should have less than 1g salt per day, which is less than 0.4g sodium".

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/824.aspx?CategoryID=51&SubCategoryID=167

A slice of bread has about 0.15g sodium so should be achievable to keep within daily limits. Basically you learn to check the labels on everything as there is loads of hidden salt in processed food - particular culprits to watch are cereals and cheese, both worse than bread.

Oh and sugar of course is the other one ... it's a minefield isn't it?!

Thanks Mess, I was confused, I genuinely thought that NO salt was the rule. Phew.

It is a minefield indeed, but an exciting one.