We're coming home from our travels in a few days (thank goodness - I'm tired of moving around all the time), and DD is doing really well with her solids, I think. So I want to move on to trying some new things with her.

She was 7 months yesterday.

Things she eats (not all of everything goes in, by any means, but a little bit of everything goes in now, I'm pretty sure. A lot gets dropped/smeared/sucked too.):

- bread (usually white bread, which is what's generally available here, or dried breadstick things kinda like rusks). I do actually limit the bread, but it's her favourite, and handy for if we're in a situation where a big mess is too much to handle

- cooked carrots, broccoli, zucchini, pumpkin, potato, flat beans. All cooked to softness and cut into fingers or chunks.

- raw tomato, apple, orange (she made a face at that - very funny to watch!), lettuce, spinach, watermelon, kiwifruit

She's eaten some cooked fish and sucked some chicken but I don't think any of the chicken went in because it was too dry and tough to chew. She's sucked some red meat once, and slimed away at some jamon with great delight (not that I'd give her that often because it's really salty.

QUESTIONS:


1. I'd like to get her eating more meat, as I worry about her iron levels. So I'm planning on cooking chops and giving her the bones to suck, as well as strips of steak or whatever. Any other suggestions for this? Do rissoles or similar work?

2. I'd like to give her different cereals. Pasta for sure. What about rice? Is it safe to give her granulated things like rice? What about weetbix for breakfast?

3. I'd like to give her yoghurt or cheese. Are these safe? Does it need to be particular kinds of cheese. Cheese is mostly salty, so small amounts, I guess. I'm not sure if the cow-products are OK at her age or not.

4. I'd like to add another meal: breakfast would make sense. She's currently having "lunch" with us most days. Dinner is hard because she goes to bed to early. So I was thinking of cereal+milk (cow milk or breastmilk?), toast fingers (buttered? With a spread on? What spread?), and of course fruit. Would you give stuff on a spoon, or let her get her hands into cereal etc?

I'd appreciate advice on this. I think we've gotten the cooked-veggie-fingers thing down pat, but I'm not very confident about where to go next.

Thanks!