What to cook for Seven month old baby ?

photo by jhecking/CC BY

Nothing much different from a six month old,only less pureed ;more lumps and textures and more finger foods.By 7 months u may give ur baby 3 meals a day ,but it all depends upon parents choice and babies interest.

Mashed and lumpy foods
Its good for ur baby to get used to lumpy and chopped foods by now if u have not started by six months.If u wont introduce some lumps and give only purees,


it wud be difficult for baby to accept lumpy food later on. One mother told me abt her problem that her 8 months old can only eat kichdi only if it is pureed after cooking using some blender.u may guess kichdi can be mashed a bit but pureeing it...........

Shifting to chopped food from purees

Till now if u have given only purees,and want to shift to chopped foods,do it gradually,mash them well with fork or spoon initially.later on can mash less and less once baby get used to it.
Don't be scared that ur baby can't handle lumps coz they don't have teeths,
I can tell u with my experience ,they are quite good in mushing up lumps of cooked vegetables and fruits with their gums and tongue,infact they do a better task than us without teeths !
Don't put too much of lumpy food in ur baby mouth all at once ,can let him  pick small pieces of cooked food by himself too. 

 

Finger foods

Is ur baby started grabbing food from ur plate?some loves to do it..... By the time babies are six or seven month old,they can use their whole hands to grab food and  can put it into their mouth,this is hand to mouth feeding.

 

If u haven't given finger food before,this is the time u shud give ur lo some finger foods so that she can try feeding herself.Hand to mouth feeding prepares baby to spoon feed themselves.  

 

Foods to be given at seven months

Below is the chart which is same as at six months only with little bit more freedom,

 

what u experienced mothers have to say on this,pls do tell if I have forgotten some fruits or vegetables?

What I added to my baby's diet at seven months?
I added broccolis, cauliflower,onion and cucumber ,continued giving lauki, torai,beans,potato,sweet potato,pumpkin in vegetables,

started giving Daliya,but mostly she spatted it out,only taking the juice.
introduced mangoes,melons,plums and peaches.It was month of june and mangoes were in season,so I gave her then otherwise she wudn't have tasted it till now.plums  peaches and cantaloupes  are also available during summers only so I went for them. continued with apples,pears,bananas and apricot.

Also started egg yolk,paneer and yoghurt as it gave me more options for baby food. my baby likes these three addition in her meal and can digest them well.though there is no hurry ,u can start these three by 8th month.
 
food timetable of my baby

Breakfast- I usually gave fruit and cereal or egg yolk in breakfast.
I love to have cereals in my breakfast.......,oats,daliya,upma,porridges,so I found it easy to give my lo cereals too in breakfast with some fruits.....

Lunch-lentils with vegetable,rice and curd in lunch.
we usually have dal and rice in lunch,so same food for my lo.

Dinner-soups and cereals or cereals with veggies /egg yolk /paneer/curd
dinner is the only thing that is little more timetaking as our dinner and baby's dinner is little different ,she can't handle roti and spicy sabzi that we usually have in dinner. 

Though the order changed  on day to day basis,depending upon my lo's apetite and what I have cooked for us.

here are some food ideas.......dishes that I gave to my LO at 7 months

Breakfast with cereals and fruits

oats with dates puree or dates
rice or brown rice porridge with aple ,pear or banana
daliya and one fruit
suji porridge with papaya
gur atta porridge and one fruit
wheat dosa and banana
atta porridge and papaya
egg yolk and mango lassi
yogurt and fruit dessert

lunch  and dinner with lentils ,cereals and vegetables.

kichdi with vegetables like carrot/,beans /potato/cauliflower and onions in it
curd rice  and a vegetable (cooked and chopped)
rice and dal
yogurt and vegetable salad
yogurt and cucumber salad
lentils with lauki or torai in it
upma with broccoli,carrots or beans in it.
vegetable soup and egg yolk
mashed potato and yoghurt
sweet potato and lentils
few bites of moong cheela and paneer
few bites of stuffed aloo paratha and yoghurt

Finger foods

bread toast
vegetable sticks like ....sticks of well-cooked carrot

bite sized pieces of soft fleshy fruits such as musk melon, water melon, sapotas (cheeku), ripe papaya, pear, mango or banana

bite sized steamed vegetables -such as peas, beans, sweet potato, cauliflower

rice cakes or mini idlis

unsalted breadsticks

boiled potato wedges

small pieces of paneer

 

P.S.  not all 7 month old can handle all above foods
        consult ur doctor if ur adding new food 
        always be near ur baby while offering finger foods.

      

post next week what to cook for 8 to 10 month old baby?