It’s been awhile since I wrote about N’s solids progress. When I last wrote he was a few days away from being 7 months, today he is 8 and half months old.

He is not a big eater when it comes to solids. He is still only on two meals a day but does snack on fruits, cheese, and yoghurt at times. Breast milk still provides him with most of his calories.

Food rules:

1)   He eats both meals sitting on his high chair. Initially he went through this phase where he only wanted to be carried or close to me. I was pretty adamant that he was to sit in the high chair for 15 minutes minimum per meal whether he wanted to eat or not. So now he plays with his food at times, or eats quickly at times but is happy sitting in his chair for a long time, sometimes up to half an hour. He now looks happy once the chair is brought out for him to get in to as he anticipates his meal.

2)   He has to eat everything. If he doesn’t like the taste of something and doesn’t eat it, that’s fine. Maybe he isn’t hungry, but he has to eat the same thing that evening, or the next meal time or snack time until he eats it. Babies learn fast. Now he doesn’t put up much of a fight and eats everything he gets unless he really isn’t hungry.

3)   No forcing. If he doesn’t eat after offering food for 15 minutes he just isn’t hungry. He will eat later. In the meanwhile I don’t offer anything else but the same food again. In this way he knows he has to eat what he gets or go hungry,

4)   Lots of textures. His evening meal is different colours and textures. I started offering pieces of food right from 6 months and never gave him pureed foods. So he nibbles most things he is offered and wants to taste everything even from our plates. I let him play with textures and put his hands in his food. In this way he hasn’t formed strong likes and dislikes as he realizes food comes in different shapes and forms and he has to eat them all.

5)   Strong flavours. I feed him spinach and other strong tasting food without masking the taste. In this way he learns to accept different flavours.

6)   Loss of appetite is cool. There was a couple of days last week where N refused food completely. I just nursed him more and hey, there were 2 new teeth the next day, which explained why he was being fussy. If a baby is generally a decent eater and sleeper just follow his lead. If he doesn’t eat and sleep well for a bit it’s probably for developmental reasons and nothing to fret over.

Here’s what he’s been eating and his schedule:

7:30 am: wakeup – breast feed

9 am: 2 egg yolks mashed with a fork and butter

10 am: nap

10:45 am: a medium bowl of fruits with beetroot sometimes. Any fruits – papaya, chickoo, melon cut up in small pieces or apple / pear cooked and mashed. N dislikes bananas.

1 pm: breast feed

2 pm: nap

5 pm: a medium bowl of veggies and chicken cooked in ghee with a pinch of salt. I will do a separate post on recipes.

5:30 pm: breastfeed

7 pm: a snack of cheese or fruit, which he normally does not eat.

8 pm: breastfeed

8:30 pm: bed.

3:30 am: breastfeed.

I’ve cut out the mid morning feed now and am down to 5 feeds in 24 hours.

N loves fish. When I’ve offered him fish, he grabs my hands and pulls them into his mouth as he is in a hurry to gobble.

I am not in a hurry to wean him at night though I know he probably doesn’t need it. In fact I am not in a hurry to wean at all, I’m pretty sure opportunity will present itself and I am not planning to force it.

With regards to night waking’s, I am not going to force sleep either though there are nights when all I want to do is let him cry but I know he will sleep through when he is ready.

N is still 100 percent primal I am gunning for at least a year of 100 percent real food for my baby.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments. Were you nursing less or more at 8 months? Did you have mealtime rules?

Thanks for reading!