Just wondering how many of you have gone down this path?
We have been chatting about it in our baby thread and i was hoping that you all in the know could impart some knowledge and wisdom to us all that are soon to be starting solids.
Any pointers?
What did you start with?
What was good about it?
What was hard
I sort of went down this path. We did a mix of solids and spoon-feeding.
DS decided he wanted solids and started himself - his first taste was an apple I was eating and he kept coming back for more! I tried baby rice but TBH that tastes foul so we did a mix of solid fruit, like pears, and mushed up fruit, such as apricot or banana, for one "meal" a day, usually at our dinner time and we all ate together.
We progressed to DS eating basically fruit and veg that we were eating, he would finger-feed, then we would put a little plate on his high-chair with a spoon and he could play with that and finger-feed, we also gave rusks and baby packet food that were finger-feeding (they usually say "not suitable for under 12 months" on but that's because they're solid, not because of ingredients). Then we started with just mini portions of our food and tbh I can't remember ages because we just watched him and took our cues there. He now eats a half portion of our food every meal and eats pretty much everything. If he doesn't like something he leaves it (or squishes it on his tray). No fighting, no fuss, we can all eat together! You will need a "splat mat" under the high-chair though because it can be messy.
DS is really skilled with cutlery now and if I'm being lazy and giving him a baby meal - or if I do a cottage pie (I am a good mummy, honest!) - he doesn't use his fingers. He has learnt by copying us, we've never pushed anything, although I think nursery were keener on cutlery than we would have been.
You can start putting solid food in front of babies when you want, they won't eat it until they are ready. You can wait until you are ready too, either is fine, and you can do a mix of styles of feeding depending on what suits.
We started DD a little early on solids (5 1/2m lol) and by 6m she was eating finger foods. I gave them at the end of a spoon meal, kind of like a treat, then it didn't matter if she actually ate any.
Some of her first ones were: avocado (nice big chunk that can be picked up), broccoli (a favourite for ages, I just bought frozen ones and zapped one at a time for about 40secs with a little water), watermelon or rockmelon (blotting them on paper towel makes the outside a little drier and easier to hold), sweet potato chunks, steamed/poached chicken in very small pieces ( I like thigh meat as it isn't as dry and seemed to go down easier), pumpkin/ zucchini/carrot/squash cooked really soft are also good. Hmm, that's all I remember of the first foods. I did try banana but she just didn't like until recently.
She took to everything really quite easily (and without teeth!) You probably know that you must supervise of course, but also, if they start to gag a little give them a moment to get it up on their own before panicking. This happened to us occasionally, but I never once had to help her.
I would say be careful of sultanas as they can be quite hard really. I still don't give apple any way except grated You will know when your child is ready for something.
Like Rosehip said, it's messy! (But oh so great when you can give them something to munch on in the stroller/shopping trolley/car seat! LOL)
Good luck. Oh and if you google wholesome baby food there is a good site with lots of info.
Oooh, something else to add - some children like cooked food, others raw. DS will come and "help" me cook by eating any raw onion and garlic he can get. He was screaming for raw butternut squash the other night... and ate it raw. He will have raw brocolli but not cooked.
I usually wedge his apples now, but he still goes in my bag to grab MY apple and eats half of it even with the skin.
Don't over-react to every cough. My mother does and DS will look at her and cough the second he goes in his high-chair now, and it takes AGES to get him out this habit after every visit.
DS started himself around 5m old. I was VERY slow with it though because I wasn't comfortable with that, I was aiming for maybe 8-9m if possible. He was breastfed before every meal until 7m too, then he had a feed an hour before breakfast and dinner, then by 12m just 2 feeds a day. At about 9m I let him eat without a feed first and introduced more finger foods as snacks - he had started walking alone at this point and wasn't keen on sitting still for me.
So what were the first things he had??
I had some broccoli, potato, & carrot cooked, but he fell asleep. I'll give them a go when he gets up though - if he does.
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Baby Led Solids
You will know when your child is ready for something.
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