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EAT => Feeding Solid Food => Topic started by: Pannee on July 01, 2012, 18:23:14 pm

Title: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Pannee on July 01, 2012, 18:23:14 pm
Hi Ladies,

This may sound silly but how do I feed my 7 month old pasta?  I keep reading recipes for pasta and I'm not sure which size to buy and how to offer it?  There are heaps of great recipes which I am keen to try once I can work out how she will eat it with no teeth!

Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Shiv52 on July 01, 2012, 19:31:35 pm
I used penne pasta and cut it up in to smaller bits.  With DD1 I did use annabel karmel pasta stars which were tiny but DD2 preferred finger foods so penne suited great.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: ~Carly~ on July 01, 2012, 20:27:21 pm
We used Orzo- it is kind of like large rice, so it was easy to mix with veggies without him choking on it.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Papaya on July 01, 2012, 20:37:45 pm
My LO liked spiral pasta - easy for her to pick up. Just cook it a minute or two longer than you usually would for yourself so that it's nice and soft and she'll be able to gum away at it fine with no teeth ;) Pasta is a great finger food at this age.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Buttonbobs on July 01, 2012, 20:43:52 pm
I've been giving my LO pasta spirals & penne & she loves both. She has no teeth either and that doesn't seem to be a problem at all.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: creations on July 02, 2012, 21:04:10 pm
My LO liked spiral pasta - easy for her to pick up. Just cook it a minute or two longer than you usually would for yourself so that it's nice and soft and she'll be able to gum away at it fine with no teeth Wink Pasta is a great finger food at this age.
This.
I found spiral and twists were easier for DS to pick up.  Penne can be a little slippery with sauce on.  When the pincer grip is good enough shells are great because they hold so much sauce/filling.
LO's are very good at eating without teeth, almost anything can be gummed down.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Shiv52 on July 02, 2012, 21:18:35 pm
LO's are very good at eating without teeth, almost anything can be gummed down.
For sure.  My DD2 didn't have a tooth in her head until 14 months and she ate everything from very early on. 
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Pannee on July 03, 2012, 10:10:09 am
Thanks so much ladies, my only other concern is that she will inhale a piece and choke on it?  Sorry, its a bit of a phobia of mine!
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Buttonbobs on July 03, 2012, 12:30:33 pm
I know it can be worrying at times, but I truly believe the best way to prevent choking is to allow the LOs to experiment as much as possible with finger foods. The occasional gagging on a bit of food is part of the learning experience & may actually help to reduce choking.

I have a vomiting phobia and was really worried about how I would cope with E eating solids. I don't enjoy it when she gags on food but it is happening less & less as she experiments more with foods. I'm sending you good thoughts do you can be brave enough to give it a go - you might surprise yourself :-)
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Papaya on July 03, 2012, 12:43:57 pm
I truly believe the best way to prevent choking is to allow the LOs to experiment as much as possible with finger foods. The occasional gagging on a bit of food is part of the learning experience & may actually help to reduce choking.

This. Also, bigger is better in terms of avoiding choking - so bigger shaped pasta pieces are good to start with, rather than macaroni or similar. If your LO can pick it up herself, put it into her mouth and get a good sense of what it is, how big it is, etc, she's very unlikely to choke :)
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Pannee on July 03, 2012, 17:33:29 pm
Thanks again ladies, I appreciate all the advice and the encouragement.  Means a lot!
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: creations on July 03, 2012, 18:05:48 pm
Popping in to agree with pps regarding choking and to add that a LOs gag reflex is much further forward than an adults so the chances are that she will gag first (and more frequently), this is totally safe and normal and means she is doing exactly the right thing, bringing the food back to the front of her mouth where she can chew and gum on it.  Gagging is a bit scary but it is not blocking LOs air way.  Stay calm so that LO doesn't get upset.
It's also not advised to try to pull food out of LO's mouth with your fingers (in case you feel tempted) as this can inadvertently push it into a choke position.
I went on an infant first aid course to find out what to do in case of a choke, you could probably just as easily watch a free video on line to get the info.
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Lemonthyme on July 03, 2012, 18:26:30 pm
I used smaller pastas.  Tesco do one called farfalline which is basically meant for soup.  Not specifically for babies but absolutely fine.  As they start to be able to get a pincer grip too, using this kind of pasta means they can not only feed with a spoon (if you're traditional weaning) but also self feed at the same time.

Here's a post from my blog (my second post!)  My son was bang on 8 months when I wrote this and I must have been giving him this kind of pasta for a few weeks.  The picture though was taken much later when he was on bigger pasta.

http://mamacook.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/joy-of-cream-cheese.html
Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: aisling on July 03, 2012, 19:12:23 pm
We are Italian and all babies myself included, begin with pastina. They are small little ball like pasta that mushers up like baby cereal consistency. We use organic butter and fresh parm cheese to mix. Adding in grated carrot or other veg for variety. Another popular way is to use it with homemade chicken broth. I gave it with my home made tomato sauce (we have no allergy issues) at 9 months.  You can google pastina to see the brands that offer this and you can get it at better supermarkets or gourmet/ethnic shops.  Another shape is ancini di pepe and they are small ball shapes or stellina (little stars) or alphabet shapes that are small and mush up into mashed consistency nice cooked.  My favourite Italian brands are LaMolisana, Fili di cecchio, delverde or Barilla.  So versatile and great way to get in your veg. Pasta rules! Xo

Title: Re: Pasta for my 7 month old
Post by: Pannee on July 04, 2012, 12:08:38 pm
Awesome, thanks again!  I was thinking that boiling pasta and then blending it seemed a bit pointless but the idea of mushing and mixing with cheese and sauce sounds good, especially the little shapes.  Thanks also for the advice on gagging, I was getting worried but now I will stand calmly by (outwardly at least!) while she works out how to get those pesky lumps around!