Weaning inspiration!

lauren2007

Hi
I think as long as you are careful with salt content etc if you are making your own meals from scratch then just blend/mash a small portion of whatever you are making for yourself.
At that age my dd loved a slice of toast and butter or slices of melon to suck/chew on if you are looking for ideas for finger food.
Annabel Karmel website http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/babies-6-9-months has lots of recipes that could give you some ideas, there is also a section on family food which gives advice on how to tailor your own meals to suit baby too.
Hope this helps
Lauren

Fruball

I would give him what you have but leaving out salt where possible.

The sooner they get used to eating the same as you, the easier life will become and the less likely they will to be fussy!

Enjoy

adelight

Squash is great. They also keep for extremely long, you could buy butternut squash now or at the end of season and they will be fine for ~2 months. Other varieties of squash keep for up to 6 months!

Hellyboo

I was a great fan of baby-led weaning with my first, and I'll be doing it with my second too. It basically means you give them what you're having, don't bother mashing it or anything, and let them get on with it! Messy but fun, and time-saving! If you google baby led weaning loads comes up (or see here http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/startingsolids/babyledweaning/ ) As you've already been giving purees I would add a mushy cereal like weetabix to keep your baby's intake up as at the start not much goes in!
If you do want to carry on with purees/mushed food, once babies are 6 months there isn't a lot they can't have. Obviously not too much salt, and seafood, peanuts, honey and unpasteurised cheese isn't recommended until they're over a year. But other than that, just mash/blend a bit of what you're having and see how it goes!
If you do go the baby led weaning route some good finger foods are chopped hard boiled egg, brocolli spears, carrot sticks, cubes of cheese, sliced pear/apple, banana, plain pasta like penne or fusilli - basically anything they can grab and hold! And don't worry if he doesn't have teeth yet, you'd be surprised how good a chomping babies can be without them!
Hope I've helped x

debtmess

i used to give my boys after 6 months of age whatever we had, it was also a great way of having no waste as it will all be mashed/pureed down and frozen in plastic containers we never used to add extra salt to our food so it was ideal for the boys. as they got bigger it was chopped instead of mashed/pureedchi
my ds 7 and ds 5 eat anything put in front of them, they turn there noses up at things like chicken nuggets and chips and prefer what i call proper cooked food, ds1 favourite vegetable is broccoli

Caterina

Mashed avocado is good for babies. You can also give him pieces of cooked fruit (apple, pear) or also cooked carrot in sticks so he can hold them in his little fist and learn how to eat it himself.

Have a look at this link, in case you are interested: http://babyledweaning.com/

Best wishes with feeding your baby, above all, try to keep it fun and relaxed!

Edited to say: sorry I just saw that it has already been suggested!

Charliex

The Annabel Karmel book is amazing, but you can really just adapt what you eat to make it smaller/softer for your baby and its much easier for meal times. Also freezing portions of pureed/mashed food is really easy and great for lunch times.

readybreak,
weetabix,
fromage frais,
soft fruit like bananas,
bit of toast, breadstick or rusk to chew on,
fruit puree with yoghurt
Mashed potato with flaked white fish mixed in, sometimes with cheese sauce (can freeze this in cubes as goes well with loads of dinner recipes)
Spaghetti hoops
Butternut squash/sweet potato/broccoli/carrot mixed with mashed potato.
Scrambled egg
Baked beans
Finger sandwiches to hold and gum lol
Small pasta pieces with sauce
Omlette
Dried (but still soft) apricots my dd absolutely loved.

I actually have pureed/mashed a roast dinner too! Just watch the gravy as very high in salt.

Good luck!

Gigervamp

Isn't baby led weaning what generations of mothers have done? It sounds the same as the way I weaned my children over 20 years ago! I've been wondering what it was having seen the term used a lot recently.

Penelope_Penguin

Like others, I'd give him what you're having, mushed to a consistency he can eat Mine ate everything at this stage, including lightly spiced food. They did start to turn their noses up at certain things a bit later, though but now that they're teens they'll eat everything again :T

As this has fallen from the front page of OS, I'll add it to the existignt thread to give you more ideas.

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

Thanks so much for the help guys - being a first time mum you do need to pick people's brains every now and again, and as much as I love my MIL, Sister and Mum, I am a bit loathe to feed him what they suggested - instant mash, white chocolate buttons, milkybar yoghurt to name a few!! LO loves mealtimes at the minute as I do try and keep as relaxed and smiley mum as possible and give him lots of praise, so lets hope it continues!!

I've never actually made cheese sauce, is there a foolproof method and can it be frozen?