Feeding 7 month old baby
By the time baby turns six or seven months, he may be ready for something a little coarser in texture and that is when you can experiment with mashing food instead of straining it. At this stage, potatoes can be introduced. Remember to boil them such that they are soft and fluffy when mashed. Mashed potatoes can be rather dry to swallow so it is a good idea to mix 40 to 50 ml of infant formula with it. Alternatively, try creamed corn (available as baby food in bottles) which goes delightfully with mashed potatoes. This combination supplements the largely starchy potato with the vitamins found in cereal-type foods.
Another tasty vegetable that makes a great soup is winter melon (the one with a light green skin and a crisp white interior). Boiled with chicken bones, the winter melon cooks to a tender translucent colour, after which you can mash it up with a fork and mix into cereal or rice cereal. Sometimes, for variation, you can boil washed, cleaned florets of cauliflower in chicken stock until they are soft and tender. Well cooked cauliflower is easy to mash and is a tasty complement to the flavour of meat or fish in baby’s meal.
Between seven and nine months, when baby has sprouted a few teeth and is ready for minced meat, you can use the same vegetables but give baby that little extra to grind his teeth on by grating carrots, melon, pumpkin or other hard vegetables instead of mashing them. Bear in mind, too, that you will have less difficulty dealing with this stage of feeding if you serve baby mashed food prior to moving on to this stage.
Tomorrow we shall discuss on Feeding a one year old baby
