it says to introduce only one food at a time...

[Sonilaa]

dd (nearly 6 months) has been chewing on/playing with soft carrot sticks the last few days.
all the books and leaflets from HV say to introduce new foods slowly-one at a time.
really neccessary? can I give her a piece of pasta to play with today?

I didn't worry too much. If there were allergies in the family then I might have been more cautious, but it's rare for people to have allergies to carrots, broccoli, peas etc. so I didn't worry too much about those and just gave whenever.

I was a bit more cautious with the more allergic/intolerance things - so e.g. didn't introduce wheat and eggs on the same day - so that I would be able to tell which of those was having any adverse effect.

The theory is that once you've established one or two foods then you can mix and match ingredients as you know what has not hitherto caused any reaction, and add a new one. After a couple ofweeks you'll realise it is too much faff to do one at a time and have done enough ot chance it, making more of a "meal" ie pasta and tomato/veg sauce !