Baby Led Weaners ideas please!

hey, I'm getting a bit stuck for ideas for Fred for food. He really won't eat purees although I keep trying. he has the odd mouthful, but then starts to cry! I don't think he's yet worked out that food fills him up like milk does. He's fab with finger foods and has yet to refuse anything, but I feel I'm getting into a rut with what I give him.

My HV said not to bother with purees at all if he's not interested, but sometimes it's the flavours I want him to have. For example I don't eat lamb, so I always wonder about buying a lamb chop for him to suck on just for him to throw it on the floor!

He always has Weetabix for breakfast, tho have just read in my BLW book that he should have a variety of things at breakfast too!

Then we have lunch together and I try to give him what I'm having, but I find I tend to eat similar things all the time and i want him to experiment with tastes so these are the things I've tried.

veg - in sticks roasted or boiled/steamed. So far he's had, broccoli, carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, ordinary potato, butternut squash, cucumber, peppers, baby corn, celery, avocado and mange tout

fruit - again in sticks, but he has had puree on his porridge when we first started, Just not had porridge for a while. he's had apple, pear, banana, plum, melon, mango and papaya

Hummous on rice cakes, bread sticks or bread, cream cheese on the same, mashed avocado on the same. Sticks of cheese, pieces of chicken (he struggles with meat but will suck it), sausages, beef burgers, turkey, fish fingers with the crumbs taken off, beans (low salt and sugar) on toast, peanut butter.

Then for tea, he tends to have toast or crumpet and jam (the no added sugar stuff), egg on toast, rice pudding and some fruit again. We don't eat our evening meal til about 8pm cos of hubby's work, so I do try and save him the things that we eat if it's not too high in salt etc and let him try it the following day and at weekends he eats with us. He's had paella, soup, pasta and sauce, but he's really not interested if it's spoon fed or resembles puree in any way (eg pasta sauces).

he has snacks including the Organix carrot sticks, baby cookies, low sugar rusks etc.

Bizarrely he's happy to be spoon fed weetabix, yoghurts and rice pudding (tho he does like to hold the spoon himslef and wave it around).

So, getting to the point!! (I had to list everything so you know what I've tried!) I'm running out of ideas of things to give him. He rarely seems to have a warm meal unless the veg or meat are still warm from cooking. Does that matter or am I being old fashioned? What else can I give him that's nutritious and that he can hold on to? I'm happy to cook for him, but a bit disheartened as I have a freezer full of purees I made enthusiastically that he won't eat!

Any ideas gratefully received!

x



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