solids?

jackben

hi all, my son is 5 months old and for the last 2/3 weeks he has been having cow and gate porridge in the morning and cow and gate rice in the evenings. This week i was thinking of introducing the cow and gate dinners in a jar, is all this too much in the one day for him, should i stop the rice in the evenings, or just go ahead an see how he takes to it? he is a hungary baby and loves his porridge and rice.. just dont want to sicken him. any advice??

January

Would you not purée your own fruit and veg from him?? Those jars are handy for out and about but I'm sure he'd love your home made stuff!

sillysocks

My little one is 5 months old as well and we also started solids a few weeks ago.
I got the Annabel Karamel book which I find great for information on what to give, as well as receipes and ideas.

My public health nurse recommended introducing one food at a time and only giving that food for a day or two so you know if there's any reaction or allergy exactly what the culprit is.

We started with carrot, pear, apple and sweet potato. I just boil up enough for a few days, liquidise and then freeze them in small portions. Then after a while you could mix them together, eg apple and pear, or you can mix them in with a bit of baby rice for a creamier food.

If I'm going out I just buy the jars/pouches, but I do check the ingredients of them before I buy them - some literally only have fruit/vegetables and water as the ingredients whereas others seem to have other things added in, and I prefer to stick to the ones that only have in them what I would put in if I was making them myself.
The Ellas brand pouches are handy beause you can squeeze them straight onto the spoon when you're out.

I normally feed her the solids at her 12 and 4 o'clock feeds.

bulmersgal

agree with sillysocks. Get the annabel karmel book its brill for when they bit older and your looking for something new for dinner. I think i had elisha on 3 meals a day at about 5 and a half months. She was a hungry baby too, loves her food still not at 14 months and we still use the book as she loves variety

also jars work out so much more expensive, i got a lend of the book off the library and loved it so much i bought it only €10

jackben

hi all again, thanks for your advice... i thought i was to introduce fresh fruit and veg after 6 months. i must invest in a good mixer to puree my fruit and veg so, this will be a whole new experience for me. any ideas where s the best place to get little containers to freeze the food? can i puree meat with potatoes and veg altogether?? like if im cooking chicken casserole for dinner can i puree that chicken even though it was soaked in knorr sauce??or would i be better off to just boil breast of chicken and puree then....sorry for all the questions, just want to give my little man the best.....

sillysocks

From what I've read in my book you're not supposed to introduce protein (so meat, poultry etc) until after 6 months, so for the moment you're probably better to stick with the fruit and veg. And you aren't meant to use salt/sugar etc either at the start so I'd stay away from any Knorr sauces etc.

I have just one of those handheld blenders and find it perfect, it was only a cheapish one. I was going to buy a big blender but someone told me not to bother because you only purree the food for such a short time that its a waste of money (and takes up a lot more space if thats an issue!)

Just something like this - one thing is to make sure the bottom part detaches so you can wash it easier or pop it in the dishwasher.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/4238713/Trail/searchtext%3EBLENDER.htm

For freezing food I got a box of pots called BabyPotz in Dundrum for 20eur and it has 50 pots of different sizes in it. I know a lot of people use the silicone ice cube trays as well but just try get something with a lid on it.

bulmersgal

i just bought cheap handheld blender too. I only bought a few little containers as we eat a lot of veg in our dinners so was easy enough to blend most nights.

When she got older if i was making casseroles and stews i'd take out her portion before i added the sauces. She loves it!

It does get easier as now Elisha will eat everything we eat, so usually normal porridge in morning, sandwiches at lunch and then what ever dinner we're having. Also loads of fruit as snacks. She is 14 months though but you can introduce porridge and weetabix's from 6 months.

liliq

jackben wrote: »

any ideas where s the best place to get little containers to freeze the food?

I'm sure i saw some little containers in Tesco in the hardware section in Dundrum.

jackben wrote: »

can i puree meat with potatoes and veg altogether?? like if im cooking chicken casserole for dinner can i puree that chicken even though it was soaked in knorr sauce??or would i be better off to just boil breast of chicken and puree then....sorry for all the questions, just want to give my little man the best.....

I'd be careful of things like casserole where you've used a Knorr sauce type thing... Check the salt content first as I think they can be quite high.
Like a previous poster said- I'm not sure about protein this early either, but I don't think there should be any problem pureeing potatoes and veg together!!

reeta

January wrote: »

Would you not purée your own fruit and veg from him?? Those jars are handy for out and about but I'm sure he'd love your home made stuff!

Typical reply !!!

lonestargirl

I make my own, freeze in a silicone ice cube tray and transfer to ziploc bags when frozen. Its really easy as once you build up a few different things you only need to cook 1-2 times a week. I introduced most flavours individually but once it's been ok you can then combine them e.g. carrot and parsnip. The ice-cubes are also good for knowing the volume of food your child is eating - although in my case he would keep going as long as you continued to feed him!!

liliq

reeta wrote: »

Typical Economical/ Healthy option reply !!!

jackben

thanks again, i heard about the ice cube trays alright, so think ill start out wit those and as you said its easy to see how much he is eating of each. i doubt the pureed food would take long to defrost, so time enough taking them out of freezer few hours before using im sure??
have seen the small hand held blenders so ill pick that up and just start on the fruit and veg for now, i wont introduce meat till his over the 6 months.
thanks again to all. advice much appreciated.:)

sillysocks

lonestargirl wrote: »

The ice-cubes are also good for knowing the volume of food your child is eating - although in my case he would keep going as long as you continued to feed him!!

Sorry to hijack but just wondering how much you do give your little one for each feed? As I said my daughter is five months, and she never says no to more! I give her mayb half a jar if I'm feeding from a jar but no idea if this is too much or too little or what.

jackben

sillysocks wrote: »

Sorry to hijack but just wondering how much you do give your little one for each feed? As I said my daughter is five months, and she never says no to more! I give her mayb half a jar if I'm feeding from a jar but no idea if this is too much or too little or what.

hi sillysocks, i no my son is the same he would keep eating if kept feeding him, he would normally eating about the same half a jar roughly he would keep his mouth closed if he has enough sometimes:). i try not to overfeed him though incase it makes him sick. but he seems to happy enought with what his getting.. the olderr they get the more they eat i find, so i would increase it as they want it......

January

reeta wrote: »

Typical reply !!!

If you've nothing helpful to add to the topic then don't add anything at all

It's far cheaper to blend a few veggies together and freeze them for the week than it is to buy a few jars of baby food.

lonestargirl

sillysocks wrote: »

Sorry to hijack but just wondering how much you do give your little one for each feed? As I said my daughter is five months, and she never says no to more! I give her mayb half a jar if I'm feeding from a jar but no idea if this is too much or too little or what.

Liam shouts if the spoon is not going into his mouth quick enough. He usually gets 5 cubes of veg for dinner, at breakfast 3 cubes of fruit mixed with baby rice. He's almost 10lbs over birth weight by now!!

bulmersgal

Elisha was double her weight at 5 months but loved food and milk, i followed her lead when it came to eating as she knew when she was full. When she was 5 months she was so chubby!

Now she's as skinny as she runs around all day. Just follow baby lead has always worked for me.

jackben

thankhe ice cubes for all the replies. im going to puree my own fruit and veg an use the ice cube trays as i think they will be handy to start off with to c how much he will eat. thanks for replies:):)

upinthesky

ok i have to add i buy the cow and gate fruit pots and i have to say the ingredients are excellent what you would but in your self like a hole apple half a pear and some juice and there not that pricey as fruit can be expensive

op id feed 3 times a day my lad prefers the Heinz jars to the cow and gate ones but as the other posters say its allot cheaper to cook your own and some baby's prefer it but they are handy if your getting a take away or having rice etc

jackben

hi, i actually have the cow and gate fruit pots too and he just loves them, i will still use the jars along side pureeing some of my own stuff as i do agree the jars are very handy at times and quick.... once the belly is full were all happy:):) thanks

January

jackben wrote: »

hi, i actually have the cow and gate fruit pots too and he just loves them, i will still use the jars along side pureeing some of my own stuff as i do agree the jars are very handy at times and quick.... once the belly is full were all happy:):) thanks

We used the fruit pots for lunch time too, I even liked them