My son is 6.5 months old. We are doing pretty well with the cereals and the Gerber pureed foods, despite his initial allergic reaction to oatmeal which is gone now. I have moved to Gerber stage 2 but I feel that he's ready for something more advanced. Have tried small pieces of mozzarella string cheese (which he loves), bananas, and avocados. Looking for some ideas how to transition to more advanced foods. Not really pushing this quite yet. Mostly would like to have some ideas for the future.
Get out your cheese grater! Grate cucumbers, carrots, and anything else that will go through it.
why dont you steam fresh fruit/veggies (some can use frozen kind) and you can puree it but not puree just chunky textures thicker than puree :o) dont rush your 6.5 mos old... baby usually move on to chunky texture at 7 mos :o) 100 top puree baby foods by anna karmel (sp name right?) good book homecooking for baby foods.
R.,
Steamed veggies cut into pieces (over cooked and really soft), over cooked ziti pasta, cheerios. Basically think soft and bit sized pieces.
A word of causion on the string cheese. I know chunks of cheese are OK but I recently heard of a 3 year old choking on string cheese so be careful with this.
Good luck,
L.
How about little cubes of French toast and pancakes - you can actually fill them with a lot of nutrition, freeze them between sheets of wax paper, and pop out what you need.
Try sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, cubes of butternut squash and pasta - the curly ones with ridges are easier to hold than smooth elbows or spaghetti. You could try small cubes of meat loaf if it's soft enough. Try bits of egg too (scrambled or hardboiled), or tofu - the extra firm is easier to pick up but anything will do.
No hot dogs or grapes - choking hazard. I'd be very careful with the string cheese - if they get a big enough piece of it, it can get stuck.
Marshmallows are a huge hazard - even for older kids - they shove too many in their mouths, and then the marshmallow gets gooey from body heat, and the throat is blocked. You can't get it out of there either - kids have died, even at the age of 7 or 8 if they put too many in.
Only introduce one food at a time just in case there is a problem so it's easier to identify. You are very wise to seek out info in advance of when you need it, so you can have time to take notes and plan!
Enjoy your little one!
Any sort of over-cooked veggie is great. Baby carrots, green beans, asparagus...even over-cooked pasta with the sauce. just make sure it is really cooked down so it's super soft. I would definitely stay away from the mozzarella though. Even when its the cold string cheese kind they can choke on it. I did a lot of steamed apples with my son too.. without the skins of course. Enjoy when they are this little and don't push him growing up too fast. That is pretty much what i did. Enjoy the not talking/walking.. big boy food/bed. For me, i pushed a lot of things to try and keep up with other kids, and now i miss him being my little tiny thing. My son is only 18 months and i miss it so much already.
Here are some ideas of finger foods I have seen. Ziti, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french fries, all manner of crackers-animal, graham, saltine (though animal and graham have a better disolving than saltines)-waffles, french toast sticks and canned fruit are great for kids before they get any teeth in. They are easy to chew and swallow. Veggies are slightly frustrating until they learn to use utensils as they can be hard for little fingers to pick up, especially carrots (they mush very easy in comparison to corn, peas and green beans). Hope that helps.
