stage 3 & 4 – 10+ months upwards
S
o you and your baby have made it through the gooey stage, you’ve mastered the mush and the lumps, and you’re adept at removing stains from bibs and clothes. But what happens when your baby insists on feeding themselves? Well, things get a whole lot messier that’s for sure!
This stage of weaning is all about your baby’s growing independence, developing their biting, chewing and self-feeding skills, and all the fun of finger foods! This can be anything from eight months to a year depending on your child, but when they begin to take control you know you have a baby who is curious about food, and that can only be a good thing.
As your baby is developing and acquiring new developmental skills, she may be impatient when you attempt to feed her yourself. Try to strike a balance by giving your baby a spoon and having one yourself, so you can be offering her the odd mouthful along with her own attempts! Try to rise above the mess and the challenges, it will get easier, we promise.
did you know?
Babies don’t need teeth to chew, their teeth are under their gums, making their gums very hard, so they can manage more complex textures even if they have few, or no teeth. Chewing helps development of speech muscles too. Around ten months is a good time to introduce thicker purees, mashed or grated food. Try combining your child’s favourite foods with some fish or pulses, whizzed up into a thicker paste. If your baby is teething around this time, they will naturally be wanting to bit and chew more, so make the most of it!
variety is key
Your aim at this stage is to encourage your baby to develop a varied and exciting repertoire of tastes and ultimately a love of food. Work towards three meals a day and give them a wide range of family foods. Use a combination of foods in each meal such as rice or potato, vegetables and some fish, meat, dairy or poulse. You can offer minced rather than mashed food and slowly introduce harder finger foods such as raw fruit and vegetables. If they’re eating well you’ll find they do not want to drink as much milk and this is perfectly normal – babies generally decrease their milk intake themselves as their food intake increases, but some milk lovers do need to be encouraged. Talk to your health visitor if you have any concerns about how much food or milk your baby is taking.
Plum’s top tips – nutritional super stars
- Red meat
- Egg (well cooked
- Oily fish
- Pulses and grains (such as quinoa used in all Plum recipe)
- Cereals (try Plum’s four grain porridges or muesli)
- Green and orange vegetables
- Dried fruits
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