[burnlie1]

Hi my bub will turn to 6mths very soon and I know is time to introduce solids to him. But I am not sure what should I buy - the pureed fruit from Heinz or the Farex baby cereal? Or anyone knows any better brand than Heinz? Or should I make the puree/cereal myself? THanks

[HurryUpAlready]

Um, other than rice cereal... why can't you make the food instead of buy it??? Puréed veges are easy, healthier and cheaper than buying packaged food.

You need to introduce food one item at a time to your baby (to check for allergies) - its a bit hard to do this when feeding baby packet food that has a whole heap of stuff in it.

Do you ever visit a clinic where you weigh the baby etc? They should be able to give you good advice re what foods to introduce to your baby, and when.

If you are only prepared to give your baby packet food instead of making it yourself, Rafferty's Garden is a good brand (completely natural, no additives etc).

[duckasorus]

Make your own.

We started with boiled sweet potato but then switched to baby led weaning.

[AvadaKedavra]

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

All you need to know about mushy baby food

[Blingy]

We started with steamed pumpkin, mashed 'adding some extra water to make it smoother as needed'
Moved onto carrot, zucchini, spinach, broccoli ... All steamed and fork mashed with water added as needed

DS hasn't ever had rice cereal, once he was eating veggies okay we started on porridge in the morning
Then fork mashed cooked beef with his veggies at lunch and tea time

Once he was eating those really well I added fruit for dessert, started with blueberries and raspberries

Hope that helps :-)

[knottygirl]

i would reccomend starting with pureed vegies, like pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato ect. If you start with fruit you risk them refusing vegies when you do introduce them, as they prefer the fruit.

I got mine established on vegies, then introduced the fruit as 'desert'. they knew they had to have the vegies first or they wouldnt get the fruit or custard.

[CallMeProtart]

I used the raffertys rice cereal, it seems to have a bit more flavour than the farex ones which are like mashed cardboard - and everything else made myself (at least for first bub!). Look up baby led weaning - even if you don't go the whole hog, you'll realise that full pureeing is unnecessary, just chuck a sweet potato/carrot/apple/pear/etc on the steamer for a few minutes and then fork mash it. At the stage where you are just trying single things at a time, it's just so easy. Later on when you are doing combos, made yourself can be more time consuming, but not at the beginning.

If you do end up going bought, try the raffertys or the mothers organic or one of those other ones that come in tubes - SO much easier when out an about if they've learned to suck on the tube rather than having to get a spoon etc. Mine (4yo) still have the tubes as a snack now and then.

[belindarama]

I also recommend making it yourself. It is very easy and it is much easier to move onto other foods if you get the baby used to your cooking.

Also a lot of the packaged foods are pretty sweet and use a lot of apple.

You can make a portion of something and freeze what you don't use. This is especially good once you move onto combos. Freeze veggies separately and mix up different ones to get them used to different tastes.

The Annabel Karmel books are really good for ideas. You can get them at Big W for a reasonable price.

[Dylan's Mummy]

I first gave my bub Rafferty's rice cereal. Then he had puréed sweet potato. He also likes mashed/pureed carrots, pumpkin, cauliflower with carrot, carrot with spinach. I have also made some recipes for a book by Annabel Karmels and a Women's Weekly. His favourites are sweet potato/peas/spinach and caulifliwer/carrot/tipomato. There are a few other books on baby and toddler food. Be sure to get one that is written for starting solids at 6 months.

Also try mashed banana or avacado or these 2 mixed together.

I have also given him puréed fruit (strawberries, blueberries, pear) with yoghurt.

I have stopped giving him rice cereal as it tends to give him excema. I am going to be trying him on porriage as a breakfast meal.

I buy the Heinze cans of pears for him too. These also help with constipation.

I've just started giving him toast fingers, but he hasn't quite figured it out yet.

The best thing I found for freezing baby food is a set of 3 trays with lids. Each tray has 12 one tablespoon volume spaces for the foods. I bought them frim Big W but I have also seen them at Woolworths (Safeway in some states). Once frozen, I put the cubes (they are kind of half circle shaped) into a zip lock bag with the contents and sat written on it.

I've only been giving solids for 2 months so am still getting used to it and not really sure when/how to move onto finger foods.

[jdevine]

I gave my bub porridge first. I didn't worry about buying baby cereal I just make extra when I cook mine in the morning (i only use water) and puree it a bit to get the right texture. I add a bit of EBM or formula to it aswell. I then tried pear, apple, then potato, carrott, sweet potato and pumpkin. The veggies I just steam and mash with a fork. Fruit i boil with a little water and puree. I have just been making 3 day batches at a time but now we know that she likes it all will make bigger batches and continue to introduce new foods.