With the 5 older kids, when they were around 8 months old, we used to feed them porridge every day, with some meat and vegetables thrown in (the grandmothers said that was what all babies ate). It was always difficult to feed them and I thought they were fussy eaters. Looking back, I can imagine how boring their meal times were! With Kate, I try to make her meals as varied as possible.
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We can now add more food to the list in Feeding Baby 6-8 months. After introducing these new foods one at a time, rotate them with the previous list so that baby is eating something different at every meal. A common mistake is that when parents find that their child loves eating a particular food, be it banana or yoghurt, they will keep feeding baby that every single day. Soon, they will notice that baby doesn’t want to eat it anymore. They are probably so sick of that same food day in day out! Wouldn’t we react the same way? It happened with my kids too. One of them loved eating mushrooms when she was young. At every opportunity, we would give her mushrooms. Even till now, she hates eating mushrooms!
Vegetables:
- Peas, Green beans, Leek, Beetroot, Spinach, Cabbage, Parsnip, Celery
- Peach, Honeydew, Grapes
- Fish, Chicken, Beef, Tofu
- Millet, Quinoa, Maize, Spelt, Amaranth, Wholegrain bread
- Yoghurt (plain)
Some other pointers:
- Most fruits can start to be eaten without steaming. Just use a spoon to scrape directly off the fruit. Examples are apple, pear, banana, peach, watermelon.
- Purees should start to gradually be made lumpier, so that baby can get used to coarser textures.
- When baby turns her head away or shakes her head to mean ‘no’ or refuses to open her mouth, stop feeding baby. We have to let them learn how to listen to their bodies and to know when to stop eating when they feel full. Nowadays, there are many overweight children and one reason for that is that parents tell them to finish everything on their plate. One way not to waste food is by putting a smaller portion onto their plate and offer them a second helping.
- Some babies start to be fussy around the age of 9 months. It could be the texture they don’t like. Try to offer the same foods, but in different forms. Kate used to love broccoli or carrot puree. However, now she will only eat them steamed and cut up into small pieces. They will also start to be interested in finger food after 9 months. You can chop their vegetables into small cubes, steam it, and serve it as finger food.
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| Concentrating hard on picking up the pasta |
Save tip: Now that Kate can eat more or less what we eat, I just pinch a little of what we’re going to cook that day and cook it separately for her – steamed and sans salt and pepper.