I'm confused about baby food

hev_2

Does anyone know a good resource on the internet (that isn't pushing you to buy loads from a manufacturer) to tell you what feed a 9 month old, what portion sizes etc. I have tried buying books but found the ones I bought unhelpful and I would rather spend money for DS than on yet another book that confuses me.

I have been giving him baby food in jars but no matter how hard I try (and I try every night) he won't touch the savoury food. I won't then give him something sweet in case he sees it as a reward, so he ends up with milk. I am sure that the sweet stuff (fruit purees, egg custard etc) he is getting at lunch time is not a good pattern to set. He has baby cereal for breakfast, not keen on weetabix, would appreciate suggestions for other breakfasts that don't cost the earth.

Can I give my little bunny baked beans? Alphabetti spaghetti? How about how much liquid they should have in a day? (my mother and DH both notorious for forgetting to drink liquid until dehydrated!) What are the recommended guidelines for salt (need to know if giving cheese/tuna etc)?

How much is a portion of fruit and does it include the stuff squished into his hair? How much rusk should they have? How about meat?

My health visitor has just about reduced me to hysteria, and I am desperately confused about how I should be feeding my little one. If anyone can point me to a place where I can find some information I would be really grateful. At the moment I am just about in bits about what I should and should not give him.

BTW he is big for his age, extremely active and enquiring and full of energy. I don't think he is about to collapse from malnutrition, but I want to try and sort out what I should be doing, and I am just not strong enough to try and get info from health visitor.

I would be very grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Becles

Baby food in jars is quite bland and yukky tasting. Try some yourself! It's great for convenience, but I would use jars all the time. They're expensive too!

First try boiling, then mashing the sweeter vegetables - carrot, parsnip, swede, squash etc. You can even mix in a bit of fruit to make it sweeter then gradually reduce the fruit. Once he's happy with those veg, introduce green veg and potato, and then meats and fish.

Both of mine loved porridge for breakfast. Instand stuff like Ready Brek is smoother than porridge oats. You can add fruit purees into it for variety too.

I never liked rusks as they are full of sugar, and there is a lot of salt and sugar in alphabetti spaghetti. If you can make home cooked meals it's better for him.

Can he manage finger foods yet? You could try things like fingers of toast spread with soft cheese (Philidelpia is far superior to Dairylea!) or marmite.

What sorts of foods do you eat? You could try him with little tastes from you plate and he's likely to eat things he sees you enjoy.

tiamai_d

First, sit down and chill!

At 9months he can have pretty much anything you eat, except raw egg and honey, which people don't tend to eat anyway.

He should still be getting baby milk, and it will tell you on the box how much. Offer drinks of water throughout the day as well.

Try to mash a little of anything you make yourself for him, saves money and is better for him.

He should eat a breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and a snack or larger drink of milk before bed.

He won't starve, so don't worry.

You may find that he will have days where he eats very little and other days where he eats like a wee piggy.

If he is soaking through nappies, he is drinking too much, too many dry nappies, and he is drinking too little.

My youngest is now 2, he hated jarred food, and even now he will eat lots at breakfast and just 'graze' the rest of the day.

Will try and find some sites for you, but the best advice is to just be confident in yourself. If he is happy and active then he is getting enough. Don't make an issue out of food, its supposed to be fun.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/baby/weaning/

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/healthy_eating/eating_6_to_12_months.asp

moozikgal

I have lifted this post from a baby community i joined with Nathan when he was born. I started a thread on finger foods when he was 9 months and thought it would be helpful to give you some ideas. Nathan is now 14 months and eating everything he can get his hands on. He loves his food!

Just thought i would do a quick post as i have seen a few mums over the last couple of weeks mentioning finger foods and thought i would let you know how Nathan is getting on with his.

We have been using finger foods and letting him feed himself for at least 6 weeks. Most of the time i do take over and make sure he does eat his dinners but he loves being independant and feeding himself.

For meal times i have tried making him his own potato wedges cooked in the oven, cheese on toast, sandwiches with egg, chopped ham, grated cheese, cheese spread or sandwich spreads, rice cakes, childrens pizzas, bagles, toast, grated cheese (not in a sandwich) pasta, hot cross buns, orange segments, bananas, pear slices and sticks of carrots boiled and cooled. For snacks we also have corn crisps from the organix range which are like big wotists or onion ring crisps. He has also had the kids crisps like quavers and wotists when we have been out and hes been starving.


If it mushes or disolves then its a good finger food i have found! I have not been shy of letting him try new things and find hes such a pleasure to take out to a resturant or out for a meal somewhere as we can always find something he will eat and its good to see him enjoying his food.

Has anyone else got any suggestions of good finger foods? Happy to give any advice to anyone who hasnt started yet and some words of support

redmel1621

One god tip somebody once gave me was to buy a few of the jars and re-use them once the food in them has been used, this solved a few issues for me,

1 - it gave me an idea of portion size (this could work for you)
2 - I could bulk make the days dinners for son/s and keep them in fridge ready for use (saving time and money)
3 - If going out for the day could take out food in jars and restaurants would re-heat it for me, They aren't allowed to re-heat home-cooked food but once it is in the jar they never new the difference.

Mel x

hev_2

Thank you for your input.

I think I just got frazzled by the Health Visitor. I've been giving him chunks of banana, some of which he ate and the rest he used to decorate me and himself. I have also given him some baby biscuits/rusks/breadsticks.

The thing is, I kept giving him just milk to 6 months as HV said was best, then all the guides were saying at 4 months he should be having... I didn't want to introduce stuff too quick, but it looks like I've been a little slow. Sigh.

I will be cutting, pasting and printing your hints and following any links. The only thing is that I am a little wary about cheese. DH is mildly lactose intolerant and my mother was strongly lactose intolerant so I worry that if I give it to my bunny then he will be poorly. Really, there is only one way to find out. I am just so nervous to try it.

Talk about overprotective mum! The trouble is that both my mum and MIL have passed away, I have no close friends with little ones and I get confused and stressed every time I get near a health visitor.

Thank you so much for your help and hints. If you want to keep them coming I will be really grateful.

Hev

Bun

Aw, health visitors do that to lots of us! Sounds as if you are doing well but just need a bit of confidence.

My portions are seriously off whack (now I use put a third of what I cook for two in the freezer or as little portions for ds) but I although I didn't want to waste food, I always used to put a bit extra on as I'd rather ds had enough rather than not enough. Said that if he ate all he could that was great, and it worked well for him, just had to catch the point before it started travelling everywhere! I used to batch cook a basic casserole once a month in the slow cooker then add different cooked things into parts of it to vary it.Asda do some lovely little pots called takealongs or somethng(10 for a pound) I used to use one serving spoon (slotted spoon but without the slots if you know what I mean) of dinner to start, then up to two etc, that way when I froze them they were standard. Spag bol was good, as was pasta with salmon and spinach. I used to do a lot of hidden veg (eg mince with six types in) and gradually the bits got larger but tasted the same, and now ds eats casseroles and also the parts seperately. Casseroles are very good for this sort of thing, and you can also put fruit in them (pork and apple, lamb and apricot) Also if you introduce herbs you can cover up new things as they can hide them. I also used to freeze a spoon of pasta or rice and then I just had to defrost the whole thing and microwave for a few minutes and it was done.

Annabel Karmel is quite good for variety if not portion size.
On the subject of cheese, if you have allergies in the family, and you are worried about it, just give him other sources of calcium and wait until later, when he is eating more and your confidence has improved. If he is ill now it may put both of you off.
Good luck!

Bun

redmel1621 wrote: »

3 - If going out for the day could take out food in jars and restaurants would re-heat it for me, They aren't allowed to re-heat home-cooked food but once it is in the jar they never new the difference.

Mel x

Ooh, that's a good one, may do that for number 2 when we need to!

tiamai_d

Sounds like he is doing fine.

Good tip about re-using the empty jars.

Health Visitors can give very conflicting advice, they have to go by the book. Your best bet is to have a look at what he can't have, then try him with everything else that he can have.

Remember that as he is still getting milk, he doesn't need that much food. Though his appetite will increase with a growth spurt. So if he eats a bit of something, then squishes it in his hair, it doesn't mean he doesn't like it, or that he is bored with it, it means 'mmmm, this is good, now what does it feel like in my hair?'. Babies learn to eat food by experimenting, and all that squishing, squashing, mashing, painting, throwing is part of the learning process. They also eat small but regular, so getting good healthy snacks is as important as 3 meals a day.

hev_2

Thank you so much for the advice and suggestions.

I think the net effect is going to be that me and DH eat a lot better, because I won't feed my DS the rubbish that we eat.

Tonight I am going to let him help us eat my version of ratatouille, with beans in, squished up a bit. For his snack this afternoon I have some rice cakes and I will try a chunk of apple with it.

I think it is opening up a new world of shopping, cooking and eating - will be very good for me.

Thank you again for all your suggestions and help - he is the light of my life and I want to do right by him.

mrsmcdade

Bloomin' health visitors just make everything worse sometimes! My son is 6 months and I bought "baby snack pots" from asda and tesco, they hold about 4oz of stuff which is about half a regular adult sized bowl.

He loves porridge for breakfast, I put some porridge oats, chopped up apple (or anything really) and a handful of raisins in a pot and cover it with water, cook for 5 minutes then give any big lumps of apple a mash. I put it in the snack pots and freeze it, I make about 2 weeks worth at a time and take it out the freezer at night.

As for dinners, he loves spinach lasagne. If you go to that link and click Annabel Karmel's name underneath the recipe, there are loads of other bits by her too. You can never go wrong with a pot of soup either, just chuck loads of veg in and puree it all up, DH and my son both love that!

I go to our local LIDL and buy whatever fruit or veg they have half price that week and let my son try it, its more often than not stuff I wouldn't normally buy but he likes most of it. He likes a bit of avocado for finger food and a mashed up mango and banana mixture for pud.

Remember that as long as there isn't salt (inc stock cubes/gravy granules/etc) in it or raw egg/honey, you're fine. At this age it's all about educating their palette rather than having them eat loads, so as long as he's tasting things, he'll get there eventually!