What kinds of solids should she be eating now?

[briggsy's girl]

I also have a personal theory (based on my sample size of two kids ) that babies that aren't spoon fed pureed vegetables are more likely to like vegetables as toddlers, pre-schoolers and older kids.

can i add a few more to that sample size for you? lol

my brothers three kids - first was puree all the way - she is a fuss pot now. won't eat anything new, sits there and pulls EVERYTHING apart (can't possibly have a bit of darker meat!). second kidlet was a mix of puree and BLS - he isn't quite so bad, he will eat different cuts of meat, but will also cry like a baby if you dare to dish him up something with extra vegies in it (little does he know what goes in my spag bol lol). third one was ALL BLS - and she is a dream kid to have around. she eats pretty much everything. she doesn't like "orange potato" (sweet potato) but will happily eat pretty much anything else you dish up to her

DD is a funny one - the first time she was served mashed up veg (we were out for dinner and the friend automatically did it before i could say not to do it) - she refused to eat. took a taste and didn't want a bar of it. she ate brocolli and carrot from my plate that night. she still isn't keen on anything too smooth - if we have shepherds pie (for instance) the meat has to be a bit chunky otherwise she turns her nose up. i made shepherds pie two weeks in a row, from left over roast lamb - the first time, she turned her nose up, and i thought myself the meat was a bit too fine. the following week i left more chunky bits, and she add her meal and asked for more...

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Wow thats really interesting and definitely not something i want my DD to be like! I do give her apple, orange, bananas, rockmelon, mango, carrot and whatever else i can get into those meshy looking dummy things LOL sorry cant think of the name.

[luna moth]

I've also noticed through my years of childcare, that BLS babies are just so much better at feeding themselves. I think it really helps their fine motor skills to pick up their own food and shovel it in, rather than sit there and be passive recipients of food.

Tell your ILs to shove it.

[briggsy's girl]

we tried those mesh things - once - she looked at it, threw it away, and cried til i gave her the food properly!

we didn't give her apple til a bit later, and no raw carrot til later either, but everything else she got in her hot little hand and loved it to bits

brocolli trees were a fave, peas (she'd chase them around the tray til she learnt to squish them) - she'd actively search through a pile of peas and corn to pull out JUST the peas... roast spud (we'd make sure there were no sharp bits), roast sweet potato and pumpkin

honestly, if you can, try to give her the same as what you're having for meals. she may not eat much, and you might feel you need to add some puree after her feed, but give her a chance at it. it is part of the nature of a baby to sample lots of things to learn about taste and texture (look at the stuff she was trying to eat at the playground the other week) - so if she is ready to explore, why not give her good healthy alternatives to explore kwim?

[*LittleMissSummer*]

BG thanks so much, you have given me so much great info and i wont hold back anymore! LOL and yes she was after EVERYTHING that day. She wanted that cupcake so much! And shoving leaves and whatever else in her mouth.

I think ill put her in the high chair and give her food and let her go nuts.

whats the go with biscuits, fruit bars and even sandwiches is she still too young for those??

Anything you can tell me is MUCHLY appreciated, im a complete newbie to this!

[briggsy's girl]

fruit bars are something we avoided til much later - mostly from a sugar perspective. she has the occassionally now (they were a life saver on road trip) but i still try to limit the number she has. same with biscuits. we tend to have milk arrowroot or marie type biscuits in the house, and have done all along. she occassionally got maybe half a biscuit but again, rarely - mostly from the sugar factor.

we didn't try bread til about 8 or nine months - mostly because of the fact it tended to go a bit gluggy and sticky in her mouth and she'd be trying to spit it out and we'd end up having to help her. toast she had for breakfast pretty much from 6.5 months, crusts we'd give her - just the soft doughy bread we waited on. we also used grainy bread - we don't have white bread for us, so didn't see the point for her. i have read that some people think grainy bread isn't such a great idea, but E never had any dramas with it (and turns her nose up at white bread sometimes now - my mum has actually got a loaf of grainy bread in the freezer just for Miss E!)

teething rusks we founds were a great idea as she was learning to grasp food and get it in the right place, without having a lot of wastage from food breaking and being too small for her to grasp. she would be entertained for ages while we cooked - sitting in her high chair. we also gave her a spoon at every meal - even before she was eating much - and let her play to learn about hand eye coordination. it helped heaps i believe

have a good read of the BLS thread - one thing that was a sanity saver for me was reading that babies WILL sometimes "choke" - but it's not really choking. it's more that they get food a bit far down and then cough it back up. panicking doesn't help - you just monitor and see if it is a real problem after a couple of seconds, or whether she has cleared it herself (you can generally tell by their coloring if it is a genuine problem or just a reflex action to get something up that went down a bit big). it takes some getting used to the idea of not stressing, and of course, you still need to be vigilant! one of E's first big words was "youright?" i think we said it a lot to her!

i guess the biggest advice i can give you is to trust your gut - and trust K. if you think what you're having seems like something she could handle, give her a go. babies still have a really strong tongue thrust reflex, so she will spit out what she doesn't want.

and if you make spag bol - put heaps of veg in it and let her go to town - it's messy, but the tastes and textures are great for her. E will now eat capsicum raw (straight from the plant if we're not careful) and prefers food with a bit of bite, rather than bland (hence her refusing the sausage roll at the playground - was a really boring sausage roll compared to the ones her daddy makes!)

[*LittleMissSummer*]

I do also give her teething rusks occasionally especially if she is between feeds is a bit fussy and when we are shopping to keep her amused.

I think i might make up some steamed vegies for her to munch on for dinner one night. I was going to buy some milk arrowroot bikkies for her to much on also but i dont want those to be an everyday thing either. We occasionally give her chips off our plate when we go out to dinner or lunch but i make sure theyre not too oily or salty so i suck on them to make them mushy then give it to her and she likes that.

I want to make pikelets and/or pancakes just something soft.

Oh im going to have so much fun lol

[briggsy's girl]

I want to make pikelets and/or pancakes just something soft.

E is a huge fan of these too


TMS i think MR's joking sample size said it all - parental attitudes play a huge part. my preference is for home cooked, lots of veg, minimal meat meals. i have salad every day for lunch (when salad is available) and generally left overs when i cant have salads. DD is not averse to sitting in her high chair while we prepare food, eating pieces of carrot, capsicum, cheese, and whatever else she can convince us to give her. she will even eat spring onion straight from hubby's plate. she knows what takeaway food is (we had to eat far too much of it while on holiday) and she ate it, but the first night we stayed at my aunts place and sat down to steamed vegies, she put my cousins kids to shame with her eating habits...

[FabFiona]

Small corns on the cob and lamb cutlets are favourites around here. The lamb cutlets are good as the meat has a handle for him to hold onto when he eats!

I tend to stay away from biscuits and fruit bars, more because they are very processed. However if you make some stuff yourself that is perfect. The great thing about that age is that they really do eat very little so if you make a batch of healthy biscuits (for example) they last for ages!

Mini vegemite and cheese sandwiches are also a winner.