As you may remember, hubby and I were determined to avoid industrially-made baby food for Sophia. Since our decision, we have purchased several brands and several types of baby food. We buy Earth’s Best oatmeal cereal and prune puree because Sophia cannot chomp down on homemade oatmeal just yet and we like to keep digestion regular. Aside from that, the remainder of our purchases, Ella’s Kitchen and Plum Organics Just Fruit, have more or less been experimentation in order to see what we could use in a pinch while on-the-go. I am not surprised that so many people have challenges getting their kids used to texture. The store-made baby food is so pureed and so pasty that it resembles nothing of the original product. This is great for a fast meal, but I cannot imagine trying to get Sophia to eat anything that has texture after she’s been savoring these types of purees.
Industrially-made baby food is also quite boring in its menu offerings… prune, squash, banana, apple, pear, blueberry, carrot, etc. The most exciting thing I have seen there is mango. We’ve started to experiment with more exciting offerings such as fresh rasberries (with seeds) and baby kiwi. They’re so little, so cute and so delicious! Passed through a food mill they are never farther than a few minutes from being offered to Sophia for degustation.
You can also try giving her real food, not pureed, just very soft. Things like prunes, cooked carrots, even very ripe strwberries, eggplants can be easily mashed inside toothless mouth. Check this community for some ideas – http://babyledweaners.livejournal.com/profile. I don’t fully practice this approach, but still find it very practical in helping a baby getting used to the real food.
The ideas look great. I tried roasted and pureed cauliflower, but I guess it was still too textured and Sophia quickly gagged. Did either of your kids gag?