Need more food ideas for my 7-8mo dd!

[nukuspot]

So dd is going along trying new foods. But mommy has gotten to a bit of a stopping point, I need some ideas of new foods to try for her. We are taking it slow, she still gets 99% of all her nutrition from my BM, and we want to keep it that way for a long time. So I just offer her food just once a day,in the evening, while we all are at the table eating dinner. I'm doing mostly purees at this point (don't flame me or tell me to stop purees and to do BLW--We do a bit of BLW-style things like pear slices but she likes the purees and I feel good about what we are doing right now....It's working.)
I make all my own food, all organic, mostly local from farmers if possible. No store-bought jars. We do a 4 day wait period between each new food, just in case (I have ALOT of food allergies and so just want to be careful.)

So far she's had:
delicata squash (loved)
sweet potato (loved)
sugar pie pumpkin (loved)
banana (hated it)
avocado (equivocal)
green beans (hated)
applesauce (loved)
pears (liked)
carrots (loved)
zucchini (loved)

But now I have run out of age appropriate ideas. I would also like to add more greens (she eats pretty much only orange veggies at this point) but read that broccoli and kale should be introduced after 8 months because of tummy upset issues. I also would like to do some proteins, and am curious about when to add additions like kelp powder, ground flax, olive oil.

So I was thinking to try in the next few weeks:
whole milk yogurt
egg yolks
chicken
beets
some sort of green (need ideas)
jerusalem artichokes
additions like kelp powder, olive oil, ground flax
tahini

Does any of these jump out and sound like a no-no for an 7-8 month old? What else would you add or try?

[CrunchyChristianMama]

You could always add some olive oil to the veggies to help her be getting the fats from it.

Have you tried pureeing whatever you're eating? I know it won't work for everything, but maybe try giving her some of your veggie side dish as is and some as a puree?

My DD loves asparagus spears (I think because they are so fun to pick up and gnaw on! I also found that she loved my chicken and carrots out of chicken soup. It's been stewed for long enough that it got really soft and she was able to mush up in her mouth.

We also do scrambled eggs for breakfast and those are lots of fun to pick up and smoosh.

For yogurt, I used to mix her fish oil in it to get both into her. I would also make green smoothies with yogurt, spinach, strawberries, banana, and whatever else and she loved slurping those through a straw.

I wouldn't personally puree meat just because it sounds gross. I heard someone once refer to it as cream of meat and I can't get that thought out of my head now!

[kamane18]

I'd probably hold off until at least 9 months for the whole milk yogurt. Definitely go for the egg yolks, maybe some peas also for a green? As PP said, I never did pureed meats with my first - waited until she was agreeable with picking up soft pieces on her own (I think it was around 10-11 months) - I made chicken soup and she has some small soft pieces of breast meat and loved it. What about something like chickpeas?

[mamamillet]

Black beans!!
Good protein and fiber and iron!
Peas are good for another green veggie. We also did egg yolks for protein.

[LorenaAZ]

for greens, you can make a green smoothie. for a quick one, use some kale, pears, and if you think it needs more sweetness, you can use dates. You can use water to make it thinner and cashews to make it thicker. My DD loooooves green smoothies. If I make it thick, I feed it with a spoon, and if thin, she either drinks it right from the glass or with a straw.

[Bellabaz]

Edamame-aka soy beans- were a big hit with dd1. Good protein source. Peas are still a favorite. I forget when we added flaxseed but it works really well in yogurt. If you want to soften the egg yolks I used to mix them with breastmilk. I can't remember off hand but is it too early to try grains? Oatmeal with breastmilk maybe? It may be a bit early though.

[dachshund mom]

Hummus, oatmeal, gerber puffs, spinach. We started with purees, but at 8mo DD loves to feed herself. She loves black beans and frozen peas. I smash them between my fingers then put them on her tray. She can pick up and eat little pieces of shredded meat and cheese, spaghetti noodles, and rice. I fork mash lots of foods for her to feed herself - avacado, banana, sw potato, carrots, tuna, ground turkey. I still puree fruits.

I've fed her yogurt and eggs with no problems. There's some research that says we're causing more allegeries by delaying foods. It's so hard to figure out what to do.

Also, try feeding her things a few times before giving up on it. DD hated avacado but I kept trying and mixing it with banana, and she loves it now. She would not eat pureed green beans, but will eat them coarsely ground up.

[shell_sea]

red lentils are also a great food for the 7-8mo. I make a thin-ish soup by cooking 1C lentils in 3C water, then mix in rice cereal or another veggie to thicken it up a bit.

[motherbirth]

My 9 month old loves black beans, lima beans, broccoli, chicken, turkey, and beef. He's had teeth early, so we don't puree meat. His first meat was boiled meatballs, those are pretty soft to chew.

[MamaPhD]

Tofu. DD loves it. Eat it straight out of the pack, it's already cooked.

Eggplant. Sautee and it kinda falls apart so you won't have to puree. You can mix with a little tomato sauce, too.

Oatmeal. I make mine (regular adult oatmeal) a little dry and make tiny teeny "meatballs" the size of raisin with it.

Hummus. I just blend garbanzo beans with water. Creamy!

Sweet peas.

Cucumber.

BTW, you should not make your own carrot/spinach/beet baby food as these foods contain large amount of nitrates that you cannot remove at home.

[paulamc]

Originally Posted by MamaPhD

BTW, you should not make your own carrot/spinach/beet baby food as these foods contain large amount of nitrates that you cannot remove at home.

I'm not the OP, but wondering, do you mean our babies shouldn't eat carrots, spinach or beets? Or have I misunderstood something?

[FeminineFigure]

I follow a primal/paleo modeled diet, and I'm feeding my son these foods as well. So far, he loves everything. I'm not exaclty doing BLW, but I'm not doing purees, either. He has no teeth, but he "chews" his food carefully and doesn't choke on anything. I give him little bits and pieces.
-chuck roast - tender from a crock pot. And grassfed, so I gave him plenty of the good fatty parts, which he loved.
-Bits of soft carrot from above chuck roast.
-Bits of grassfed ground beef
-ostrich (yes!)
-small bits of steamed spinach. I fed it with the ostrich. If he got too big of a piece, he shuttered like he didn't like it, but still kept reaching for more.
-Chicken--the fattier dark meat. He LOVED this. I daresay it is his favorite food as he kept reaching for more.
-Egg yolks

I've also fed banana, avocado, and a few other random bits here and there. I started very, very slowly at 5.5 months because he was grabby and acted very "put out" when we were eating and not giving him anything .
He gets small amounts each day (maybe a tablespoon or a little more?)

He basically is eating what I'm eating, and I give him tiny little bits as I'm having my meal.

[Katico]

DD has been eating broccoli since 6 mo and loves it - no tummy problems here!

Also, yogurt has been a HUGE hit (I sometimes mix in applesauce). Ditto with hummus and oatmeal.

Go for the chicken but give it BLW style (pureed meat...ewww), DD loves it. Also try making little meatballs.

We give her the egg yolks mixed with a bit of butter or cream cheese on pita

Sauteed spinach was well recieved here too.

[nukuspot]

Thanks! I'm printing this out to refer to. Hey...Some questions. For the PP who talked about nitrates, I give my dd homemade carrots all the time. I read that nitrates are not a problem unless it is all she eats, or if she was under 4 months. I plan to give her beets and spinach too. What do the rest of you think or have heard about the nitrate issue?

Peas...I want to try peas but how do you do it? Just buy a bag of frozen peas and steam and mash or puree? The organic brands I looked at all had added salt...Is that a problem? I thought it was that is why I haven't tried them. I wish it was fresh pea season, I wouldn't have this concern.

Soft meat. She doesn't have the pincer grasp yet. Can I still try this? How would you recommend giving it?

Why wait on yogurt until after 9 months? I read that other dairy milk should be after a year, but yogurt and cottage cheese and other cheese are exempt from that, they are easily digested and not allergenic as they are cultured.

I am going to hold off on grains for a bit more at this point, but I really appreciate all the other ideas. I can't wait to try some ideas but I just have to get over the fear I have of her choking to try things like meat. That is why I want some hand holding guidance on how to offer it!

[bscal]

What I've done with all 3 of my kids is let them have a little of whatever we're eating. I do keep an eye on introducing new foods as my dad and my sister both have ana Food Allergies. Other than introducing new stuff slowly, the baby always got a bit of what I was eating. At first I'd take a bit of my dinner to one side of my plate and mash it a little bit with my fork. Once the baby was eating a bit more then I'd take a little baby bowl and put a bit of fork mashed food into their bowl and let them self feed.

I didn't stress about it. And when my middle child handed a peeled apple to little brother and he managed to eat the rest of it down to the core that was fine (he was about 8 mos old and held it in 2 hands much like an otter does - so adorable!) He only had 4 teeth so he was basically scraping off little bits at a time. Took him about an hour to eat that apple but he really enjoyed it! And at 2 1/2 he will grab an apple out of the fridge and eat the whole thing still.

Beth