Hi ladies, im a second time mum to a ds who will be 7 months next week. My question is what do you ladies that have babies of a similar age feed your lo's (as in solids)? My ds is has always been quite a 'big' baby and hv recomended starting him on solids when he was 5months,i do give him home made food sometimes but hes mostly having jared food at the mo and im worrying as to weather this is bad and i should be feeding him more home made meals? I read a post somewhere else where a lady said it was 'lazy' giving your baby jars? And now im worrying,im just unsure as to what he can & cant eat at the mo apart from the obvious things! So thought it was safer to give him jars at the mo. Any replys would be much appreciated, tia.x

Hi Greesh00,

My LO is 9.5 months old & we began weaning at 5+ months as he was just so hungry! From the start we did a combination of traditional weaning (i.e, puree) and baby led weaning. This worked well for us & means LO has good ability to feed himself & manage lumps well. We tried him with pretty much everything apart from the high risk allergy foods (eggs, strawberries etc) which we waited until 6+ months & then left a day or two to see if reaction occurred. Our LO has a suspected egg allergy so we now have to avoid them awaiting testing. Despite this I've tried to be confident in trying LO with new things since the reaction he had to eggs.

We began weaning with vegetables, then progressed to introduce fruit, then wheat (6 months plus) and so on. I have found Annabel Karmel's book helpful as a guide for ideas & how to progress.

I think it's unfair for anyone to say giving jars is lazy - no-one knows another persons circumstances, other commitments etc! I have given my LO jars & pouches either when we've been away or too busy to prepare fresh food on that occasion. Equally I try to have food prep sessions & freeze foods so I have a supply. Also I feel unsure about taking meat & fish dishes out with me if I know I wont be able to reheat them thoroughly so in such situations use jars.

I'm not sure i have helped but a typical day looks like this..

Breakfast - weetabix or rusks or porridge or toast with natex (low salt marmite type spread). Followed by yoghurt or fruit.

mid morning - breast feed or snack (yogurt, bread sticks, fruit)

Lunch - sandwich or rice cakes with cream cheese or ham, or veggie sausage roll, tomatoes, cucumber sticks. Followed by fruit.

mid afternoon - breast feed.

Dinner - pasta stars ith cheese or tomato sauce with chopped veg. sometimes chicken added. Or fish with mashed sweet potao & veg. Fruit or yoghurt.

I offer him water after every meal & inbetween if skips breast feed or weather is hot. I always try to choose low salt versions or food & give wholemeal pasta, bread, rice.

Sorry for all my waffle!

Linds

I feed my 10 month old a mix of everything. We weaned at 17 weeks because she had colic due to a lactose sensitivity and often refused milk. My GP said to wean her because she wasnt gaining weight. We started with purees and then at 6 months introduced finger foods that would melt easily (I was, and still am, terrified of choking). I gave her things like  organix vegetable crisps, ripe banana and fingers of buttered toast. I would love to say that I only give her homemade food but that simply is not possible for us. I did start by making big batches of homemade puree from the Anabel Carmel recipie books but became increasingly frustrated when my daughter would eat one portion fine and then refuse it after it had been frozen and then reheated. I ended up throwing lots of food away. My MIL recommended that I should just blitz up a bit of whatever we have for tea, but I openly admit I am not the best cook in the world and I tend to make things like spagetti bolognaise with a dolmio jar sauce. I didnt want to give my daughter that because of the high salt content. I asked my HV about the jars and she said that nowadays they are well balanced and nutritious because the companies have to adhere to strict guidelines, so giving her a jar is not an unhealthy choice. However, she also pointed out that they are expensive and both adults and babies should really eat fresh where possible. So, with that in mind, if I am cooking from scratch I tend to make a small, unsalted portion for my daughter, but if hubby and I are having something out of a packet I give her a jar. On the average day she will have baby cereal for breakfast with a piece of toast, for lunch she will have a sandwich followed by chopped fruit and a yoghurt and some veg crisps. For tea she will either have something homemade or a jar, followed by a fruit pot. If she has a snack it is usually something like the biscuits you can get for babies or the veg crisps. She drinks water from her sippy cup and still has three milk feeds a day too. I was once told that I was 'stupid' for giving Phoebe baby cereal instead of just giving her regular porridge. But, my view is that baby cereal is made for babies. The companies have to ensure that the salt content is right for what a baby should consume so at least I know it is safe. xxx

we weaned at 6 months and have given mostly home cooked food. However, i do use jars for puddings or ella's kitchen fruit packets when out and about.

I have been lucky as my LO loves food and has never refused anything. Im not a great cook either, and we eat after LO has gone to bed as my OH isnt back till late. If we have meat for tea ill save some for LOs lunch the next day. I put meat and any veg we have in the slow cooker with (i will admit) a casserole mix packet and water. but casserole packets are only herbs, spices and a tiny bit of salt and pepper. it cooks it really slowly over night and lO loves how tender it all is (especially the meat).

A typical day for us is weetabix/porridge with chopped fruit, lunch is meat/fish mashed potato, vegetables or pasta and meat/fish with vegetables, yoghurt and chopped fruit. Tea is something on toast, yoghurt or rice pudding and fruit. LO sometimes snacks on rice cakes or baby biscuits but his portions are quite big at meals and in general he doesnt get hungry, He breast feeds first thing, mid morning and bedtime, and has sips of water not just with meals but throughout the day.

My HV did tell me some of the baby products have lots of sugar added to get babies hooked on them - it seems like we're all told different things and can only go with what information we're given. it just seems easier to me to give lo the things we have anyway, but i find the snack products for babies helpful. im lucky in that when im at work, my mum or lo's nursery give him yummy home cooked food but i totally understand its tough to prepare everything - especially if you're lo refuses frozen food. The freezer has become a good friend to us!

If I give a jar I always go for the organic one because they do not add extra sugar.The cereal is very sweet but supposedly lower in sugar than an adult cereal. It is hard to know what to do for the best I agree, and every health visitor gives you different advice. Some of the HV's at my clinic stick very firmly to the government guidelines. When my daughter suffered from constipation as a smaller baby, one such HV told me under no circumstances was I to give her water and instead to go to my GP and ask for a suppository. My GP was horrified and instead told me to give her a few sips of cooled boiled water before a feed. I have found that they HV's that have had children of their own tend to be a little more flexable with their advice. One meal that my daughter really likes that is quick and easy to make is cheesy pasta with brocoli. I boil some baby pasta and brocoli, then blitz up the brocoli with a big spoon of soft cheese in until it is a sauce like consistancy. Then just add the pasta. It is easy to cook just one portion of this and only takes a few minutes. x

i might try that glitterbug. i bought some annabel karmel pasta sauces which LO seems to like, but they look and taste disgusting to me so i just dont like giving them! what soft cheese do you use? LO likes pasta so much, i have on occasion chopped some ham and mixed it in with pasta and tinned chopped tomatoes and melt cheese on top, very simple and he loves it.

crazy advice about the suppository, poor phoebe!

I pick and choose the advice from hv's tbh, i listen to everything they say but i know some of their very insistent advice in the early days would have stopped me breast feeding if id listened, so since then i take it all with a pinch of salt. I agree there is lots of sugar in some adult cereals, but plain weetabix and plain ready brek (not one of the flavoured ones) have no sugar whatsoever. So i stick to these and i always have a bowl with him! Im ashamed to say i have always had sugar on my cereal and feel i need it more than ever now (lol) but LO has chopped fruit and its a great way to get that into him to. I feel like whatever else he eats he's had a good dose of grains,dairy and fruit straight off (he eats two weetabix and a big handful of chopped fruit, little piggy xx

I use dairlylea as it is fortified with calcium and my monkey doesnt drink much milk. The salt content is comparable with other soft cheeses too. I tried Phoebe on weetabix a while back but she wouldnt have any of it! I might try her again or try the ready brek. She enjoys her toast much more than her cereal I think - like me! I cant eat cereal in the morning because it makes me feel sick. x

oh will try dairylea, henry loves it on toast. im sure he's cut his milk down too, he's bf so cant tell what he has but find it very hard to believe its the pint they say they should be having x