Homemade Baby Food Transition from Puree

Just let her lead. Mine just wanted in my lap and to grab food out of my plate. She showed me that she was very interested in moving on from purees by showing more interest in what mom and dad were eating. She progressed on the early side, not only wanting solids early but wanting more complex flavors by 7 or 8 months. by 9 mo she had all but rejected her smoothe cereals and purees (even milled portions of our food) in favor of finger food. But if your baby does not show an interest stick with purees introducing a taise here and a taiste there off your plate when texture allows. It will either spark an interst or it won't. I think I milled her up some of our spaghetti at around at the 8 month mark and she loved it so much I think I should have done it a week or two sooner! Mine is 11 months now and eats bite size peices of pasta, toast, or most any bread product including tortilla. She eats fruit chuncks, including halved bluberries with skin. She eats textured purees such as refried beans and applesauce. Beans, corn, to list a few. Last night she stole a peice of iceburg lettuce off my plate and ate it! Again, I think she has progressed on the early side (she has 3 teeth). FYI ricotta cheese is a great way to try out a soft finger food with mild texture.

I also made all of my daughter's baby food. At 9 months I started making full meals for her - I didn't add dairy yet, but I would roast some meat, then puree with another veg like roast beef & sweet potato & peas. Or roasted chicken with butternut squash & spinach. I'd give it to her as one dish then have a fruit on the side, like roasted mango with organic cinnamon or roasted apples. I made a bunch of meals on the weekend and froze them for use during the week. I didn't introduce daily until she was a year old, except for the baby yogurt products (yo baby mostly). I started working on her fine motor skills with finger foods at your baby's age. By 8 months both of my kids could pick up a cheerio. You have to be careful at first since they aren't used to eating anything hard like that, so I soaked the cheerios in a tiny bit of breastmilk or formula before giving to them to begin with. You can also use the Gerber puffs - they dissolve when wet. And you can start on baby mum-mums pretty soon too. In terms of chunkier foods I was making her, I just started easing up a little on the full puree and left a little more texture than I had in the past. Just check her food to be sure you didn't leave any chunks that are too big. If that happens, just chop manually instead of continuing to puree it to liquid.

Great job mama!!

You don't need to wait on dairy or meat (as long as it is fully cooked). I believe the only thing they shouldn't have before a year is honey due to the risk of botulism. Everything else is fine as long as it is in a physical form that is not a choking hazard. We started with chunkier purees/soft pieces for hand feeding at probably 8-9 months. We might have started earlier if DS had been reaching for food. We started using real spices and grinding up whatever we were eating just as soon as he had tried the basic single ingredients (so we started grinding up chicken & dumplings once he had had chicken, carrots and celery). We bought 'The Baby Bistro' which wasn't bad but was not great either - we used it mostly for the early puree stage. Good luck - exposing her to a variety of foods now is so important to her later experience with food.

I've been making all my food as well (she is now 11 months). She would still gag on chunkier applesauce (so I pureed it down) at 8 months. I tried again at 8.5 months and it went much better, though it was nearly smooth :) By 7 months I'd already added a dash of cinnamon to her applesauce and some other fruits. I also made many concoctions such as apples, roasted parsnip, and carrots, with a bit of cinnamon, which she loved. Roasted bananas. Pears, peas, and roasted parsnips. Sweet potato and pears w cinnamon. Blueberries, pears, apples. So she was used to different flavors (I like the cookbook, Lovin' Spoonfuls, I picked up through the library) and also often referred to Wholesome food.

The real turning point was when she saw her little friend eat everything and then she wanted everything right at that time. We started with shredded cheese (I chopped a bit smaller), steamed bits of apple and pear, a bit of strawberry, guacamole. She would choke on cheerios, so I've only been buying organic Happy Baby puffs (Target, BRU).

She eats everything now, and I'm just occasionally giving her pureed applesauce, pear sauce, or mix of berries with either of those.

This is a fun stage watching them experience all the new foods. Have fun!

So far, my babies have led that parade--my first two got sick to the gills of being spoon fed...so we introduced finger foods! Very early on, they were working on feeding themselves. It was a great way to buy a little time at the dinner table for us. When they were young (5-6 months) we did only a few things--a Cheerio, easily dissolvable--every now and then. We slowly worked up to solid forms of puree--bananas, for example--and then to teeny tiny bits of what we ate. By about 10 months, my babies--who did have teeth--were eating most of what we were eating at the table. My latest baby, who is now 6 months, is MUCh more interested in table food than her brothers were--probably because she has older brothers to keep up with--so she will probably start chunky foods sooner.

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So far, my babies have led that parade--my first two got sick to the gills of being spoon fed...so we introduced finger foods! Very early on, they were working on feeding themselves. It was a great way to buy a little time at the dinner table for us. When they were young (5-6 months) we did only a few things--a Cheerio, easily dissolvable--every now and then. We slowly worked up to solid forms of puree--bananas, for example--and then to teeny tiny bits of what we ate. By about 10 months, my babies--who did have teeth--were eating most of what we were eating at the table. My latest baby, who is now 6 months, is MUCh more interested in table food than her brothers were--probably because she has older brothers to keep up with--so she will probably start chunky foods sooner.