TW but starting more "solids"--any suggestions?

[SierraJourney]

We've just been feeding LO purees since he was 6 months. He's 7.5 months now and I'm thinking of starting some other foods. What's something easy and good to start him with? I was thinking about cooked green beans mashed a bit on his tray so he can pick them up? Or should I leave them whole? Or maybe steamed broccoli--but how big of pieces? Any advice for the next step would be appreciated! Thank you!

 

[jd83]

Green beans would be good, cut them into bite size pieces that he can pick up. Soft meats like meat loaf, tender pieces of chicken cut in bite size pieces, toast cut into strips that your lo can pick up and bite pieces off of, broccoli cooked tender and again cut into bite size pieces, pasta ( I cook a lot of small shell pastas so its easy for him to eat). Pretty much anything that isn't tough to chew. Soft cooked foods are best when they are learning to eat regular foods, IMO. Then when they are better with those textures and have more teeth to chew with, you can move on to other things.

 

[MindUtopia]

I'd start with things that are easy to pick up and won't break apart too easily into big chunks (since he's used to eating purees, a big chunk might be a lot to manage at first). We found cucumber sticks (with skin on) and roast chick (sliced into strips) are really easy to pick up, but don' fall apart right away. So he can practice picking things up and sucking on them and getting little bits. Also, banana might be good as well (just a whole banana cut into a length that's slightly bigger than his hand). It mushes up easily in the mouth so will be more like a mash or puree going down, but he can practice picking it up and getting it to his mouth. You might find roast veg like carrot and parsnip sticks is good too. That was actually one of our daughter's very first foods - roast carrots and parsnips with rosemary. Easy to pick up and they can suck the mushy bit out of the center easily. And yes, steamed broccoli is also good. But really anything is good as long as it's something he can pick up easily, stick shapes slightly longer than the hand are ideal to start.