Baby Food Help - 8 months +

[Snowdrop]

I have been feeding my baby solids for about 3 months and I just need ideas (or recipes even - no matter how simple) for food I can give to my 8 month old.

Also, I really want to know how others have feed or are feeding their bubs. Do you prepare foods just before feeding them or do you cook in batches and then freeze.

How do you defrost? Microwave? Leave it out from morning?

What do you do if you are going out for the day in terms of food?

Also, need to avoid eggs for the time being as DD had a mild reaction.

TIA

[Purple Lily]

Subscribing, I have an eight month old n have been meaning to ask all those questions

Sent from my U8510 using BubHub

[drewid]

DD is 8.5mths. At the moment we do rice cereal mixed with pureed fruit for brekky, yoghurt sometime during the day, and usually whatever we are having for dinner, for dinner (or leftover last nights dinner). She'll eat anything soft and cut up (lasagne, pasta bake, casserole etc). Also offer things like cruskits, arrowroot biscuits as an occasional snack.

If going out, she just eats whatever I eat. If we got to a restaurant, I order something that I know I can pass her bits of. Last week we went out and had lamb shanks with mash and carrots - she devoured it! I tend to keep things like cruskits, rusks and some store-bought pouches (ie all non perishable stuff) in the nappy bag for situations where there isn't anything suitable. If we are picnicing or something, I plan ahead a bit more.

But basically, it's mostly normal food now, just chopped/mashed to suit.

HTH

[Snowdrop]

Thanks Drewid. I have tried yoghurt a few times before but it is not until today that she has accepted it (and I have tried different types).

I usually like to give her what we're eating although we have been having some very spicy food lately (sometimes that I find hard to handle) so that is not always an option.

As for when going out, I meant not to somewhere like a restaurant or food place but visiting others etc. ....just read that you said store bought pouches etc. I have a feeling she won't like this stuff so maybe I should try it before relying it.

Looking forward to hearing from others.

[Daydream Believer]

Hey! There's loads of things you can do, lots of different paths! You can go the spoon fed way, I did this with my first, I did lots of purees, the way I did it was batch cooking and freezing in little pots. I used the decore dip containers from woolies while he was tiny, and as he got hungrier I bought those little Avent containers that come sterilized and ready to go. They can also be used to store breast milk.
His favourite ever meal was bolognese with risoni or angel hair pasta (actually still his fav). I'm a bit hazy now on when I started him on these kind of meals, but I was pretty conservative then, so it might have been older than 8 months. I remember steaming & pureeing each veg individually and freezing in ice cube trays, then storing them in labelled snap lock bags, and then just grabbing a few cubes from a few different bags and mixing. (ETA - now I think about it, this was when he was about 6/7 months, by 8 months I was cooking him meals from a baby/toddler cook book a friend gave me).

To take out for the day, I generally took a frozen portion in a cooly bag or used those rafferties garden pouches if it wasn't practical to take fresh food. If I was going somewhere just before his feed, I would microwave the food til it was piping hot and wrap it in a tea towel and it would generally be the right temp by the time we got to where we were going.

If u are going to freeze it, be sure to factor in the thaw/cook/cool time. A minute with a hungry baby who can see/smell food is like an hour! Can't say how many times I would relent and give him a yoghurt to stop the yelling and then he wasn't hungry!

With DD, we did a more 'BLW' type thing, and she kind of just joined in the family meal from the start (if we were having a roast, she would have a finger of each veggie and a slice of meat to gum). If we were having something too rich I would either dilute it with extra rice, or mashed potato, or she would just have some steamed veggies or a spaghetti from the freezer (I always had some in the freezer as my contingency plan).

I have to say, in my limited experience, this is the way to go. Firstly, it's so much easier and more convenient, and secondly, she is about a gazillion time more adventurous than her brother. She also feeds herself at least as competently as her brother (she's 19months, he's 3 1/2).

It was a bit scary to begin with, I admit. I mistook gagging for choking. They are different, and gagging is perfectly natural. Do a bit of googling and go with whatever sits best with you. If I had a third I would do my same mix of purees and BLW for sure.

This is both too detailed, and not enough at the same time. I know someone has probably already come in and said what I wanted to better than this, and I also know you will get lots of BLW advice too. Just do whatever you're comfortable with and forget everything else.

And most of all, enjoy! These are such fun times!

If I find my baby recipe book I'll come back with some photos

[ilovehats]

DS is nearly 8 months and we do a bit of puree and lots of self feeding. I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but now I feel like I have got into the swing of it a bit more... I do feel like I spend ALL day in the kitchen though...
A typical day would be:
Breakfast - weetbix (made thick so he can pick it up himself with his hands, bit messy but he loves it), crumpet or toast, pureed pears and apples
Lunch & Dinner - crackers & dip (cream cheese or hummus or similar), plus a small or mushed up version of what we are having - if not suitable then something from the freezer or a raffertys packet or only organics jar with added steamed veg like sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, potato etc.
If I make a stew or similar I then freeze in portions for future days and defrost in microwave as required. Same with my steamed veg and fruits which are frozen in ice cube trays and then into freezer bags. My freezer is pretty full!
He also has yoghurt, and fruit with all meals. Fav fruits are watermellon, banana, orange... occasional papaya, mango etc but they are bit $$ at the moment.

Snacks I give him organic rice crackers (organix brand) or home made sugar free banana bread, and homemade little potato & carrot cakes or Sakata crackers.

I really like this website for ideas (you don't have to go down the full BLW route to use them) http://www.babyledweaning.com/recipes/

When we go out I usually pack a lunch box with snacks and a few raffety's packets. With the packets DS will now suck them so it's not too messy.

This site has lots of lovely organic products you could try too http://www.littleorganics.com.au/man...7-organix.aspx

[Elijahs Mum]

We used to go visiting a lot when DS was younger so I had a few lunches/dinners I would take with me to other peoples houses just in case they were serving something I didn't think was appropriate for him -

Homemade nuggets - usually salmon or sometimes chicken/turkey
Mini falafel balls
Mini meat balls
Mini zucchini slice muffins
Cucumber sticks and dip
Fruit - usually mandarins or bananas ( easy to prepare - just peel!)
Snacks: cruskits, happy baby puffs , mini rice cakes

We did BLW so I wanted food that he could feed himself but not make a mess while at someone else's house! I just carried them in an insulated lunchbox or put them in the fridge when I got there

[Von Zipper]

I used to make a variety of pastas for DS, using risoni as the pasta. Some different ones included spag bol, chicken mince with tomato and basil, and chicken mince with bacon and cheese - all meat was mushed up, but not fine - they were good lumpy starters.

[Snowdrop]

Aww thanks for the great ideas ladies!! I'll have to try some of those soon.

When you mean the baby eats by themselves, so far that has been a messy experience for us as everything ends up under her bum and sticking to her clothes somehow. What kind of food do you give??

[mim1]

Wow, what great answers! Thanks Snowdrop for asking, I need inspiration for my 7.5 month old. Clearly I need to feed her more - it seems your bubbas all eat a lot! Time to get myself organised in the baby food department I think . Currently I'm only managing 1 meal a day and some days no food.

As for finger food - my dd loves it and yes, she makes a huge mess! I have a few bibs with long arms (with cuffs) and that really helps with finger food. Having highchair tray in place and close-ish to her helps as well. I always clean her up with a wet facewasher after the meal.

This is all so new to me, as my ds tolerated super thin cans/jars of puree (the type for 4 - 6 month olds) ONLY til he was 10/11 months old and didn't eat finger food til he was over 1 and by then it wasn't quite so messy.