Low allergen recipe ideas for 8 month old

[Jaimee]

We practice baby-led weaning with our 8 month old- feeding him slices of whole foods and letting him self-feed. now that his repertoire has expanded I'd like to branch out and start making some prepared foods for him to eat. But, I am a bit at a loss as to what I can cook/bake for him since we have not introduced many grains or eggs. I'm thinking there has got to be something creative I can make with what we have given him.

I originally posted this in the "Life with a Babe" forum, but I got a lot of "just feed him whatever you're eating" and "what about rice?" type responses. After going through dd's allergy issues I know how important it is to introduce low allergenic foods, slowly and watch for reactions. So I thought I'd ask you creative mamas for some help!

Any ideas with the following food items? Some sort of fritters or pancake type items that he could self-feed?

Pear
Carrot (cooked)
Avocado
Quinoa
Tapioca
Yogurt
Sweet potato
Blueberries
Zucchini

Thanks!!

[danipoppins]

Do you have a food dehydrator and/or a good blender or food processor? I think you could take a number of those things up there and combine them. For example, soak some quinoa or millet overnight, steam/cook some carrot or pear, grind each of them up and combine them until you get a workable dough and then dehydrate or bake little rounds for him to handle and feed himself (with supervision of course to watch for him getting big chunks).

Any of those foods can be softened and mashed for him to finger feed himself (dip in food, suck off fingers, messy but yummy). Peeled zuchini can be steamed until softened, cooled and he should probably be able to pick chunks or circles of those up and eat them (maybe a bit slimy). Or you could grate and then gently steam the zucchini, fold into some soaked and ground grains and made into patties like I suggested above.

If you have a highly allergenic kiddo already, then I'd probably avoid dairy since it is one of the "big 8" allergens. He doesn't really 'need' yogurt at this point.

Hope that gets you off on the right foot. There's a great yahoogroup called "foodlab" which is a great resource and support for families dealing with food intolerances.

[Jaimee]

Thanks for the ideas! The foods I listed are the foods I have already introduced to him without reaction. Yogurt has been fine! All the rest of the foods I've let him self-feed. He's quite the accomplished eater! I'm just going slowly because of his older sister who was allergic to just about everything I fed her. So far, he hasn't shown any reactions and I couldn't be more thrilled!!! But, I'm cautious nonetheless.

I tried quinoa, sweet potato patties with little bits of carrot and broccoli (and new food) mixed with tapioca. I baked them and they are crumbly so he couldn't feed himself well. I ended up dipping them in some yogurt and handing the resulting mess to him to try. He had a lot of fun, but not so much for me when it came to cleaning up! So, I think maybe I'll try frying or baking thinner patties of grated veggies next time as you suggested. Maybe that will stick together better. A friend also suggested tapioca flour to help bind things (I was using pearl).