Introducing texture & variety
From this point on variety is key, so be sure to introduce lots of new tastes! Texture-wise, soft lumps are the order of the day.
Welcome to the ‘honeymoon’ period of weaning – a few short months in which babies are developmentally primed to be more open to new tastes and textures. It's a great opportunity to introduce your little one to all the delicious, healthy foods out there before the 'picky' toddler years begin!
A few tips to help you make the most of this time:
- Offer as wide a variety of foods as possible. This will help develop healthy eating habits for life, and gives your baby lots of different vitamins and minerals.
- Sometimes you might need to offer a food more than once – and sometimes even 10 times - before your baby will accept it, so don't give up! If a particular food is a total no-go, try it again on another day, maybe in combination with something else, to give your baby plenty of chances to develop a taste for it.
- It's also time to introduce foods with more texture to encourage chewing. You can continue to give some pureed foods, but offering some foods that are fork-mashed to contain soft lumps will give those little mouth muscles a good challenge.
Ideal finger foods
By this age, most babies are quite keen to get in there and have a go at feeding themselves. Here are some great finger foods to get them started.
Great foods to try from 7 months
HiPP has some great recipes to expand your baby's culinary repertoire at this age.
A word of caution
Babies are much better at dealing with lumps than you might think - but it's still very important to never leave them alone whilst they're eating.
Your questions answered: Introducing lumps
Lots of parents - and babies! - find this the trickiest part of weaning. Luckily, our experienced nutritionist and health visitor have answers to all your most pressing questions about moving on to lumpy foods.
