Starting Solids/Homemade Baby Food #5

[MantaRay]

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[Gigi]

just posting to reserve my spot

16 months old bub

long feeds - is this normal at her age?

[Khaleesi]

I've started my Lil girl on solids.
She's doesn't like rice cereal or fruit but loves her veggies.
So far she's eating Broccoli, Zucchini, Carrot, Sweet Potato & Pumpkin.
What other veggies can i try her on & when can we start with finger foods?

[nikbrad]

I've just found the vegie Swede - it makes things taste really sweet and Boston is a sweet tooth. I think it might have something to do with all the chocolate mint biscuits i ate when I was pregnant with him!

[Khaleesi]

Thank-you Kim

[MantaRay]

Trinity, you can give a lot of things as finger foods - pretty much any cooked vegie - steamed carrots, broccolli, cauliflower or roast vegies are some easy ones. Also cherry tomatoes and melon are favourites for my boys. The best plan is to get your little one eating the same food as you early on as it makes life much easier for you, and also sets your little one up to be a good eater as she has been exposed to a good variety of things.

[Khaleesi]

MantaRay can you still give finger food to baby who have no teeth?
Thank-you

[MantaRay]

You certainly can. She might not eat much but then usually getting teeth is a sign they are ready for food, so if she doesn't eat much she most likely doesn't need it. Stick with softer things, like over-steamed vegies to start with and see how she goes.

[Khaleesi]

Thank-you so much, you have been a huge help

[deevadoll]

Manta Ray you answered my question as well...I was going to leave a comment about my 10month old still being picky about eating baby food but his bottom and top front teeth are coming at the same time .So a big thank you from me as well.

[june78]

I have a quick question about cooking with stock. Just wondering if its ok to use commerical stock or should I make up my own. I'm jus thinking that stock is often high in salt, but is this a big deal or not?

[deevadoll]

My lil Jeremiah is 11 months now and both set of teeth are in but now he will only eat his baby food through his infant feeder. Do most babies who are bottle-feed react this way?

[sportychick]

June, I would use the salt reduced ready made stock. We all eat way too much salt as it is, so why not bring up the little one to be used to eating food without too much added salt?

I have also read that you have to be careful with home made playdough - make sure that kids don't eat it because the very high salt content can make them quite sick. I've even heard it said that it is safer for them to eat the commercial, chemical playdough (go figure!). Not that you woukd want to encourage playdough eating LOL, but little children often eat dirt (ours eats cat food if we're not careful!) so what can you do

[Khaleesi]

I've tried M on various foods now & she seems to really love her food.
Just wondering when you can start giving Cheese( what kind of cheese) & things like bread to them?
She's 9 months old

Thank-you

[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