Starting Solids/Homemade Baby Food #5

[sportychick]

I have given both cheese and bread by 9 months. Cheese spread sandwiches are a convienient finger food - I started off cutting the sandwich up into 1cm sized cubes and made sure the bread was well squished together - DS is now 11 months and eats his sandwiches cut into fingers now. Cream cheese is even better than cheese spread because the salt content is not as high. Cheese sticks are also good because they are soft and the ones that don't need to be refrigerated are convienient for going out (although they can be a bit messy). DS loves pasta as well, so I cook stelline or risoni and stir sun dried tomato pesto and grated parmesan through it - he oves it and its quick for me to prepare. I must admit though, DS is a big eater and has been eating meat since 6 months (!!!!!) so he isn't really your "average" child

[Mad Scientist]

Hi there,
my bub is just starting on solids and hates rice cereal and I tried apple today and she hated that too. She'll open her mouth for the first spoon and then when she realises it tastes funny she won't open her mouth again and gets really cranky. Do I stop trying with solids for a bit or do I persevere with offering once a day? I'm a bit disappointed because all the mums I've spoken to, their bubs took to solids really easily....any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :-)

[MantaRay]

Nik, definitely hold off on solids for a while. My first DS was just like that, no interest in solids at all until 8 or 9 months. Unfortunately I did persist with trying to get him to eat, and I am quite sure now that that is part of the reason why we had really big problems with him eating later on (and he is still not a brilliant eater).

Babies get most of their nutrition from milk until 12 months, so there is no need to rush them to eat food. At that age it is just experimentation with taste and texture. And TBH, I know you are excited and looking forward to this, but the novelty will soon wear off. Pureeing food (if you are going to do that rather than start with finger foods) is a PITA, and the worst part is the extra mess babies make when eating, and the extra inconvenience of having to take food out with you. Believe me, life is much easier before solids so having BTDT twice, I highly recommend not starting any earlier than you have to. I suspect you will know what I mean soon .

[Mad Scientist]

Hi mantaray,

Hahaha. Most of the mums I speak to have started their bubs on solids at 4 months! I didn't even contemplate that, mainly because the bottle was so easy and I knew that solids were a hell of a lot more work! thanks so much for your advice. It's so nice to have someone that's real about stuff and not putting any pressure on me. It's so easy to feel like a failure when it comes to kids because you just have no control over a lot of what is going on!! Amy's really good with a rusk so maybe I should give finger foods a go. She's got her second tooth coming through.......hmmmmm 'food' for thought! hahaha

[MantaRay]

It is easy to feel like a failure hun, but please try not to. You are doing a great job. And it does get easier.

You could try finger foods too. Check out this thread for information on starting with finger foods.

[mako]

Hi I was just wondering when to start giving DS weetbix for brekkie?
He is 8 moths old and has been gradually starting to eat solids for the past 2 months.He doesn't like rice cereal(who'd blame him) but he eats many different vegies and fruit.He's not to fussed on meat atm but I'm guessing that'll come with time.He also likes to taste food off our plates which I'm ok with.He eats 1 main solid meal a day(either veg or fruit) and he has a 1/4 piece of toast for brekkie(off my plate) and tries bits and pieces of our food at other times and he's bf.
Thanks

[sportychick]

mako, I would give weetbix now then! My DS was eating weetbix with a mashed up banana and some full cream cows milk at 6months - If your DS is BF I'd put cows milk on his cereal - you don't want to get formula just for the bit on the cereal. I have had plenty of advice that says cows milk is fine to put in food, but not for bottles at this stage. You could also try some raisins mixed in with the weetbix - and I heat up the milk and give it to him warm. Anothr handy thing to try is those ready made sachets of instant porridge.