[JoMarch]

Hi there,

So we started solids with DS just before 6 months (hes now 6.5 months) & he absolutely hated the traditional puree route, so we're taking a finger food approach. I'm not doing full on BLW as I don't feel comfortable giving him the foods we eat (most of what we eat, anyway). He seems to love to feed himself, hes responded so much better with finger foods than awful baby mush LOL. Anyway, looking for some ideas for age appropriate foods? Theres no history of allergies in our families so I'm trying to be flexible in what to give him.

Things I've tried so far: cruskits, pieces of banana & cucumber (didn't do very well with these, too hard to pick up at the moment), toast "soldiers" with avocado, rusks dipped in some of the purees that I made when we started solids LOL...

Another question...I was thinking of making sweet potato/potato wedges, is it OK to use a little bit of oil for a baby so young? If so, just olive oil?

BTW I'm in the process of reading "baby led weaning" but I guess I'm finding I need a bit more guidance as I'm not comfortable giving him what we eat, and that's basically the philosophy of BLW.

Thanks

[noi'mnot]

Steamed broccoli florets, Steamed carrot sticks, capsicum sticks, basically any veggie cut into sticks and steamed if necessary. Even wedges of tomato (though sometimes the skin makes them gag a bit), etc. My daughter's favourite food at that age was cucumber sticks, she went wild for them!

It's great to do dipping too, and any kind of veggie or fruit puree/mash works well for that.

I'd have no problem with the wedges, as long as they're not too oily or heavily seasoned.

We didn't do a traditional baby led weaning approach, but just had certain elements of our meal that would be suitable (rather than the whole thing) so I'd set aside some veggies and steam them if necessary, and give a wide variety of things for her to try. It's more about tasting and trying and experiencing different foods at this stage, so just let your boy have fun exploring what it's all about.

[cuddlebud]

I use a bit of evoo when I roast my veggies for my lo (6.5 months too) and she copes well. Other things I do for her are - - chicken tenderloins pan fried and cut in half lengthways
- pita dipped in Dahl
- large fusilli with a puree vege sauce
- mini quiche things cooked in a cupcake tray with cous cous, egg, finely chopped veggies, cheese (no fat or cream)
- steamed green beans and brocolli are a fave
- eggy bread
- she devoured the inside of a sushi sushi avocado hand roll while we were out last week (def an occasional food)
- tuna and mashed potato croquettes

She does let me spoon feed her some stuff like yoghurt which makes it a bit easier.

[JoMarch]

Thanks guys, keep the ideas coming!

[harryhoo]

My DS loved green beans at that age, just steamed. Also what about pasta spirals as they are easy for little hands to grab. Or making little mashed potato and vege 'cakes' and baking them in the oven. If you've tried eggs etc, you could also do pikelets or zuchhini fritters. You can make a few at once as well and then just keep them in the fridge. I don't think babies are too fazed at that age about eating the same thing over and over again, so if you find a few things they're happy to eat then just stick to them for a while.

[JoMarch]

For those who do BLW, do you stick to the "4 day rule" (only trying a new food every few days) to watch for allergies? Like I said, no history of allergies in our families, but I guess I thought I would take it slowly & just give 1 or 2 new things at a time anyway (first time mum, feeling a little unsure ).

[tick]

For those who do BLW, do you stick to the "4 day rule" (only trying a new food every few days) to watch for allergies? Like I said, no history of allergies in our families, but I guess I thought I would take it slowly & just give 1 or 2 new things at a time anyway (first time mum, feeling a little unsure ).

This is something I struggle with. BLW often means that the baby doesn't actually swallow much .... and it can be hard to tell too! With my first I just ignored that rule because she literally didn't swallow anything until she was much closer to one, couldn't very well stay on the same single vegetable the while time! My second is 7.5 months and much better at swallowing, unfortunately she's also appearing to have some allergies so I'm a bit torn about the whole thing. I'm certainly not doing one food every 4 days though, just sticking to the very low allergy foods to begin with. Steamed veg, low allergy fruits, dairy/soy/gluten free crackers/cruskits with avocado, etc. I'm spoon feeding her a bit too because she'll take it (DD1 wouldn't). Once she's mastered eating a little more and I can be sure she's swallowing a decent amount of what's on offer, I plan to then introduce higher allergy foods and probably wait a few days in between each one too.

[KRT]

I was a bit unsure about leaving time between the foods, and wavered between waiting the full time or just going with something new the next day.

I probably tried something new every two days on average. I was more relaxed about say broccoli and carrot than egg and dairy. I waited longer for a reaction with eggs, and kind of assumed that if DS was fine with carrot he'd be fine with zucchini, for example. It was totally unscientific, but I figured I'd never heard of a zucchini allergy so gave it to DS the day after he'd had green beans for the first time.

We have a family history of allergies, including food allergies, and the advice of our paed was to introduce foods earlier rather than later. Given that DS didn't start solids until 6 months, I wanted to still get in 'early' if possible. DS was on dairy (yoghurt) by 7 months and eggs by 8 months.

[Alacritous~Andy]

They are getting harder to find now, but you can buy large pasta shells (the same as the small pasta shells, but bigger - obviously). I found these to be a fantastic vessel for all sorts of semi-purees.

I found stuffed pasta shells were a great in between food, kind of a cross between finger food and puree. Lol.

[meggs1]

I didn't bother with the 4 day rule. I just made sure that the major allergens (egg, nuts, dairy, seafood) were started for breakfast (so I had heaps of time to watch).