For all with babies around 7 months to 8 months

[ammanda]

Just wondering what your babies were eating?  Anything new they were introduced to, or any ideas whats next?

Cole has had all the fruits and all the veggies. he gets about 6 oz of solids a day, between oatmeal, veggies, fruit and Rice.  and he gets about 25-30 oz of formula and is 7 months and 1 week old...

when do you introduce finger foods like puffs and stuff..  I let DB give him some mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy the other day.. he loved it!!!!

[Kaylee_Frye]

Oh, one more thing.  Hayden also gagged on any new texture the first time (or even two) I gave it to her.  She was just figuring the eating thing out.  I just watched her, smiled to reassure her things were OK and was right there to sub out for something mushier if she got frustrated.  If she didn't get frustrated, I would just let her figure it out.

And, she always did :)

[Kaylee_Frye]

My daughter is 15 months now, but when she was 7 months, the only limitation was her teeth, or lack of.  The research I read alerted that milk (or formula) only for the first 6 months was needed to reduce the risk of open gut while the intestines matured.  Baby intestinal walls are so thin with holes that can theoretically allow BITS OF FOOD through and hurt the child until they mature.  That happens anywhere from 4-6 months.  So, to be safe, we call it six months.  

After that, they can have anything (with some rare exceptions like honey, etc).  Gerber is making a killing selling mushed up real food to us, when we all have blenders :)

Obviously, she doesn't have enough teeth to cut into chewy steak, and still needs her food ripped up to bite size.  Well, I never actually tried the steak, but I know one poster said that's fine -- so maybe I was overly careful.

I gave Hayden one or two new foods a week.  She ate: canned fruit, rice cakes, pop tarts, frozen vegetables, pasta (she loves pasta), even bagel with cream cheese.

She loved anything spicy.

[tiredbuthappy]

I agree to go with what the baby can handle. My first gagged on everything, so until 12 months we had to stick to purees (never could handle stage 3) and some finger foods like the dissolving puffs and cheese.
My second WAS eating steak by 8 months. And that was without any teeth. This kid could handle everything and LOVED everything savory (greens, meats, etc...) She didn't start to eat sweets and fruits until after 12 months and therefore refused most fruity flavored puffs. She never liked anything bland like plain rice cereal. Her first solids was avocado, which is said to be a perfect first food.
So, basically, follow his cues. I do recommend the dissolving puffs as the first trial of a finger food. They truly do dissolve so quickly that the chances of choking is very slim (however a baby with a sensitive gag reflex may still gag on it). I actually found the walmart Parent's Choice brand to dissolve even faster than the gerber ones. If he handles them well, you can feel more confident in trying different foods.

[30something13]

I gave mine the puffed rice, you find it in the cereal isle. If he  likes the pureed foods the\n you can put meat in a food processor. I gave mine the gerber graduate meat sticks but after a year I think. Barley is a great one too! They also ahve small noddles you can buy, an can get spinach noodles at whole foods.

It all as to do with theri gag reflex. I have one that would gag on everything seemed liek till alomst three and one that cried for steak at a year. I had to take off the skin on the meat sticks for the one.

You can also get one of the mesh feeders and let him get acustomed to differnet tastes and things without worring about choking. That way he starts learning to be independant.

[Ladybugbc]

I have introduced a soup with red lentils, green beans, rice and carrots to him. I have substituted carrots with potatos or sweet potatos. (I mash the soup with a bottom of a spoon). My son who's now almost 8months old has never been interested in eating pureed baby foods so the consistancy works for him.

His ped has given a list with certain foods and the age so I have pretty much given him all kinds of food with the exception of sea food, eggs, or so far no meat except some turkey.

I have also given him grated organic cheese, and organic rice puffs. He loves both these. Rice puffs melts as soon as it comes in contact with saliva so it makes a great finger food for my son as he has no teeth yet. Cheese I always press between my fingers before I offer him.

And he loves to eat rice too..just wish we could offer him the mashed version of what we eat. But we eat very spicy food so can't do that for another very long time.

Hope this helps..