Firstly a full disclaimer...I am not an expert, I have no qualifications to do with food or nutrition, I am just a first time Mama figuring this out as I go. Parker is also a great eater, he has been right from the start and we know we are lucky. Each child is different, some of these ideas might be great for some eight month olds, others may not be ready until ten months or a year old and thats totally ok. Have trust in yourself and your baby and you will know when they are ready. Some babies naturally prefer puree foods, others prefer baby lead weaning - there is no right or wrong way to feed your baby (unless your loading them with alcohol and sugar and nasties!) - there is also plenty of information available that you can find on google, your GP or Plunket nurse. I would recommend reading up on ages and stages of food (things like whole grains can be hard to digest) but take it all onboard with a grain of salt, you will know what is right or not.
Another thing I would recommend before starting your baby on solids is taking a baby CPR course and learning about the differences of gagging and choking (Raising Ziggy on Facebook has a great article on this).
One of the biggest things both Dom and myself decided on around food was that we never wanted to make food an issue - we will offer it and if he eats it then great and if not then thats ok. We will continue to offer foods and we are happy for him to try everything (within reason) and so far this has worked well for us.
We have chosen to do a mix of puree and baby lead weaning - The puree is great for convince as its easy to store little meals in the freezer and Parker seems to enjoy the BLW so its a win win for us.
We started out with simple veggies ( I was cautious to add lots of fruit as I know this can sometimes lead to a sweet preference) Carrot, kumara, pumpkin and potato all individually and then later on combining them. We gave him big chunks of steak and chicken to suck and chew on and then also some raw and par boiled veggie sticks - I also started out the 'puree' by not making it completely smooth - I have always made it slightly lumpy and also have always put garlic in. We continued on like this adding different flavours which leads us to now - eight months old!
A typical day for Parker looks like this:
6-7am Morning Bottle
7-8am Breakfast
sometimes a top up bottle before bed
11am-12m Lunch
1-2pm bottle
Bed
sometimes a snack and top up bottle
5-6pm Dinner
He averages out to 4ish Bottles a day - three big meals and more recently has started having snack - I think he may be going through a growth spurt. I am also not super strict on these times, I tend to pick up on his cues if he is hungry and can be flexible if we are out.
Typical Breakfast foods for Parker
Oats - with blueberries and yoghurt
Oats - Plain with formula mixed in
Oats - Coconut and mango (recipe from We are the Watsons) - all oats made with water
Toast - with promite or peanut butter (no butter and cut into strips/soldiers)
Omlette - slices of omelette made with a little bit of cheese and chives
Scrambled eggs and toast - I just give this to him in little lumps
Snacks/lunch foods
I tend to make lunch more finger food orientated (this works for me as I have more time for cleaning rather than in the evening!) I will often give him a combination of these and he can pick and choose (usually all of it!) what he wants....kind of like a baby tasting platter.
I also freeze a lot of these snacks - and they are put into seperate labeled containers and I just pull out what I need and when
Homemade mini blueberry or savoury muffins (I make these with little or no sugar) - can be frozen
Mini Quiches - Eggs, corn and/or frozen peas, grated carrot and zucchini ( or any sort of veggies) and a little cheese - I make these in mini muffin trays - can be frozen
Fritters - there are so many variations of fritters you can make and then you can freeze them and pull them out as you need
Some of our favourite fritters are corn, corn and black bean, corn and zucchini, and veggie fritters/patties
Mandarins - I split segments into 3 small pieces ( nothing that would be the size of a wind pipe)
Organic tinned pears - chopped up into small pieces (easier to pick up too)
Blueberries - I usually squash them a little bit to break them up
Banana- big pieces he can bite off (I watch him very closely)
Apple,pear or carrot - grated (different texture to eat)
Toast - (same as breakfast) or with hummus, pesto or chutney and grilled cheese
Sandwiches - peanut butter, promite, hummus
Veg Pasta spirals - You can get these from the supermarket - I just cook a batch and then freeze in little cubes and then pull out and heat as needed
Raw broccoli florets
Yellow cucumber - cut into strips
Avocado
Shredded chicken or steak (quite big pieces of steak)
Roast veggies - depending on softness he will have them big or small - Can freeze and heat as needed
Mini meat balls - I freeze a batch of these
Cheese
Natural Yoghurt - I sometimes make a coulee (with hardly any sugar) to go over the top
Baby mum mum crackers - totally non nutritional but an easy snack when we are out
Also if we are out he will often have whatever we are having - sushi, he once ate a mini spring roll! - I try to order things like fritters as its easy to share but if I was having something like a burger (restaurant not fast food) I would give him some of the patty chopped up, some bread, some tomato - a deconstructed burger! In the weekend we went out for mothers day brunch and he ate waffles off our plates!!!
He will also usually have a taste of our dinner - last night he ate meatballs and rice! We are happy to share and know that he is only trying these types of foods (not a whole meal!)
Dinner foods
Usually dinner is either a baby friendly (less salt, oil etc) version of our dinner or if I'm unorganised/lazy/wanting to feed him earlier its a homemade baby puree type meal!
These are the types of baby food meals I make for him (I freeze into cubes and he will eat one or two cubes) sometimes I mix in rice or give him the veggie pasta.
Puree and meat
Roast veggies and roast chicken (leftovers from our dinner) blitzed together
Veggies (Carrot, pumpkin, kumara and potato) with garlic and tumeric boiled and then mashed with the potato masher (to keep lumpy texture)
Boiled veggies (mashed) with spinach, and mince (will often do this in the pan with garlic and no oil) - can also swap out with boiled chicken or pork or lamb mince
Slow cooked meat and veggies - blitzed
Mashed potato/veggies and stew ( blitzed stew)
Finger food - sometimes a combination/tasting platter
Mini baked potato with broccoli and cheese
Roast veggies and meat cut up into small pieces
Fritters
Frittata - Eggs and roast/boiled veggies
Boiled veggies (chunks)
Scrambled eggs with chives
Meat balls with rice (pork or beef) with grated veggies in them
Thats all I can think of for tonight...if you have any questions feel free to message
I will post some more pictures of what he eats, when he eats in my stories
xxx