Layah is 10 months old now.
Let me just catch my breath for a second while that sinks in….
Whew!
Anyway, she has certainly developed an appetite at this point. Sometimes I ask out loud if someone traded Layah’s stomach for that of a teenage boy. And I’m only half-kidding. She LOVES to eat, and she really loves to feed herself. While she still eats pureed baby food, I can tell that she is growing a little tired of it, and wants to have more of each meal be foods with more texture. I’ve been in need of some baby food ideas for her as an older baby.
Baby Food Ideas
In addition to finding new finger foods for Layah to sample (like bits of olives!) and I’m still making good use of all that baby food I have made and purchased by making it more appetizing to her.
Want to know my trick?
Whole grains! I love to add brown rice, quinoa or bulgur to Layah’s purees. If I ever have cooked pasta on hand, I’ll chop it up (usually in my food processor) and add that to her baby food, as well.
She is also really enjoying the stage 3 foods from Earth’s Best. They have a soft chunky texture that she absolutely loves.
I’d love to hear how you transitioned your baby away from pureed food and over to solids. Any tips or tricks to share? Any ideas of other things I can start adding into her baby food?
I am a blog ambassador for Earth’s Best, and as such I have received complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All thoughts and opinions express here are strictly my own.
Is there a trick to getting brown rice pureed small enough that my child doesn’t spit it out but not so over-processed that it turns to paste? Please share if there is because I haven’t discovered it yet on my baby food making journey!
Hi Renee! When the baby was younger I used brown rice cereal b/c I just didn’t know how to replicate something that was ground up so fine. But for homemade baby food, I just put it in a food processor after it is cooked (let it cool down a bit first so it isn’t quite a moist). It is mushy/pastey, but then I combine it with other foods and it turns out fine. By this point (10 1/2 months) Layah will eat rice by itself if I put it on her tray to pick up, or she will eat it when it is mixed in with other food.
I love the idea to add rice or noodles to purees! My daughter never really cared for them, she always wanted to feed herself, so we have been doing baby led weaning since about 8 months old.
I’ve never had kids but my sister uses her Vitamax to make baby food (can make it smooth or chunky)
We loved those Earth Best’s meals with our little one too. It was nice giving him a better variety of foods and when we didn’t make our own this was the brand we reached for.