I'm in exactly the same situation Jola... Hannah is ready for "proper" food and i'm at a loss, even though i have an eight year old!!!...( honestly can't remember how we got Joel started on the proper stuff )

Some of the mother and baby magazines that i read suggest that you give them finger food to begin with, like raw carrot, apple slices, stuff like that.. toast spread with dairylea cheese... etc.

Hannah has a proper sunday lunch, where she has potato, turnip, carrots and some chicken pureed down so she can eat it.. if you're feeling adventurous, how about something like that?..

There's stuff like fish fingers.. why not with some mashed potatoes?... i think its a case of trial and error.

Best of luck Jola, let me know how you get on!!!... and i'm open to some pointers too!!

This is where you all run and shout eekk. My kids have all been brought up on "exactly" the same food as me, so what I have they have ie: Currys, Chinkys, kebabs etc etc ... they do however love their roasts their bangers and mash and fish fingers etc.

Just give her basic foods to start if thats what you feel happy with... Fishfingers etc, make sure you cut it up small and then just let her get her hands in and scoop it up, I think most babys tend to enjoy that part the most, even if most mums don't

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by Jola
All my Health Visitor says is give her what you eat..... well considering we don't eat until late and its all convenience food - I don't think that is sensible for a 1 year old!

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I remember my health visitor saying that to me and I was in the same position as regards to convenience foods and late eating.

Mine used to like small sandwiches, pitta bread with something for them to dip them into, omelettes or boiled eggs and soldiers, cubes of cheese, pasta and bolognaise(you can buy special tiny kiddie pasta shapes), soup and chicken finely chopped. They refused to eat veggies until I tricked them by pureeing a load up and using it as dips for breadsticks etc and as a pizza base. They would also eat veggies if they were in cans of that Heinz "Big Soup".

The trick is not to overload their plates as too much can look daunting. Remember they only have weeny tummies. Make it look pretty (star shaped sandwiches always seemed to taste nicer than regular squares) and when all the "proper" food is eaten reward with a yogurt or fruit. I also found that with my 2 they went through phases of eating the same same stuff for weeks. The health visitor said this was fine as they were getting everything well balanced. Just seemed a little boring to me.

Even now Sam has to have the same things in his lunchbox everyday and will still only eat a very limited range of foods. Luckily he'll eat lots of fruit 'cos I can't trick him with the veggies in disguise anymore. Billy on the other hand will eat anything. Also there is nothing wrong with a quick trip to McDonalds

Hope everything goes well.

(Edited by Teresa 16/04/2002 12:40)

I've been giving Ben stuff like little chunks of cheese, cherry tomatoes cut into quarters, cucumber chunks and a slice of bread and butter (in quarters) for his tea on a Sunday, and he loves it. Takes him ages to eat it, and he knows the difference between the crust and the inner bread, but he likes that he can feed himself. As mentioned by others, fish fingers are good, chipolatas (but we had to take the skin off because he couldn't chew it very well)... he likes pasta too, and garlic bread (but not too garlicky). Beans on toast (messy, but he loves it), cheese on toast, stuff like that is good.

Good luck !

Apparently (read it somewhere, written by an 'expert') the more different tastes children are introduced to at a younger age, the more accepting of new flavours, and the more willing to try new things they will be when they get older.

A huge saucepan of vegetable casserole with lentils/barley in can be frozen into ickle portions, and then served with some veg (frozen broccoli, peas etc to give colour) and if they are feeling a bit lazy it mashes up easily, whereas if they want to chew you can just cut the veg into chunks.

Mash potatoes and fish fingers and peas were a big favourite with both of mine when they were little - the carpet liked it too!!

Thanks everyone

I know its basically what we can eat now but I do worry about Georgia choking - ie - is the skin too hard, how small is a small lump without it resembling baby food etc etc.

She had scrambled egg on toast yesterday - ate the toast not keen on egg. Today we tried tuna mayo sandwich (yuk!) - that was quickly replaced with a bit of the cheese dairylea lunchbox - ate the cracker not the cheese. I don't mind the mess she makes as long as she eats. Our flooring can take it

So really I suppose its a bit of trial and error then and lots of patience and perserverence?

Any more suggestions - greatly appreciated

I am trying to think what I was fed when I was litle but I honestly can't remember! (Too many years ago ) Instead I will have to fall back on what my little nephew was fed when he was going onto solids

My sis in law used to do him proper veggies which he would pick up & nibble, sometimes cooked sometimes raw depending on what was on the rest of his plate.

Also the good stuff like fish fingers, chicken nuggets, fried eggs, sausages, mashed potato (A firm favourite), spaggy bols, chillli, curry (all homemade as my brother is a really good cook

Good luck in the Adventures in Food Land parents

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by Green_Amber
Apparently (read it somewhere, written by an 'expert') the more different tastes children are introduced to at a younger age, the more accepting of new flavours, and the more willing to try new things they will be when they get older.

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Actually that could be very true, I don't think my parents were too adventurous with my food when I was younger and along with being tortured with hospital foods during my early years my food tolerance is limited.

Even now you can't beat mashed potato and I'll never forget one of my brothers parties when the wall was littered with mash and jelly Good luck Jola