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Published: January 31st 2010
Tastier than parsnip!
Don't panic, don't report us to the health visitors! It's plastic! (Thanks Zoe for pic!)He's six and a half months old now (really?!) and mummy's milk is making him grow big and strong (about 20lbs and counting), but the fun has really started now as he enters the wonderful world of food!
I know most people will say 'oh, six months is just a guideline, you can start them much sooner than that' but you don't have to, and leaving it till now means he's developed sufficiently that we can skip the usual puree and spoon feeding stage and dive straight into finger foods - which is turning out to be fabulous fun!
We're roughly following an approach called 'Baby-led weaning'
(more info here). J sits at the table and eats with us, ideally eating some of what we're eating, but for now we're easing him in gently with fruit and veg, and just recently a few carbs such as bread, pasta and oatcakes.
We've not found anything he won't eat, although just having gums to eat with (and as of last week two teeny tiny little teeth on the bottom!) means that things need to pretty well cooked to stand a chance of getting eaten.
Broccoli is a favourite, it's easy to
Banana - not easy!
However you present it, it just becomes mushy in the end and squishes through his fingers! hold while he chews off all the little green florets. Steamed courgette is also good. He can strip the flesh from steamed pepper and gum down steamed carrots and green beans easily. Butternut squash and sweet potato sticks are easy to hold, and cool cucumber sticks nice on the gums although not so easy to eat.
Fruit is always a hit. Mango slices, banana, kiwi fruit portions can all be bitten easily. Others, like nectarines, pears (possibly his favourite) and grape halves he sucks and nibbles then spits out the skin. To see him sitting there in his chair, alongside us at the table, diligently working away at a little blueberry, or a tomato is so cute!
This baby led weaning is just brilliant. It's so easy, we had friends over for sunday lunch and he sat at the table with us, tucking into the same veggies we were eating. For dessert we all shared a big plate of melon slices, and J had some too! If I'm out and decide to stop for lunch, I don't have to worry whether I've got purees or jars with me, I'll just order a salad and a piece of fruit
My collection of little bits of food!
To start with we just put food on the table. Too easy to swipe off! An 84p tray from Asda and some blue tack soon sorted that out! and he'll help out with the cucumber, tomato or whatever. At playgroup last week, when it came to snacktime, he sat at the little table with the bigger children and had a little piece of banana and some juice in a tippee cup, I was so proud!
To be fair, more ends up on the floor than in his tummy at the moment, he spends a lot of time playing with the food, picking it up and examining it, squishing it together to make weird combinations - kiwi fruit and swede anyone?! So mealtimes can take a while, but that's no bad thing, and our diet's improved as I'm including a lot more veg and fruit and finally the chickens get his leftovers, so everyone's happy!
Enough of my ramblings, enjoy the photos!
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