Can you give too much fruit? 6.5 month old diet questions...

[violagal]

Hi, my DS turns 7 months on Friday. We have been feeding solids since he was 6 months. He seems to be quite happy to take all manner of veg purees, protein purees and porridge but he LOVES any type of fruit - will grab the spoon off me and slurp slurp slurp! So I give him a bit at every meal but am wondering if it might be too much sugar?
He gets currently:
Breakfast - 3oz porridge with 2oz fruit puree (usually apple, pear, banana or mango)
Lunch - 4oz jar of something with protein in so spag bol, chicken and squash, cheese and spinach etc. Then another 2oz of fruit puree.
Dinner - 4oz portion of homemade green veg puree (broccoli, courgette, leek or green bean). Followed by 2oz of fruit puree again. Sometimes he gets more than the 2oz fruit as he gets so excited - I'm sure he'd eat another 4oz of it!
He also gets 4 x 8oz bottles

Does this sound like a balanced diet or should I reduce the fruit? What should I tweak or introduce once he is 7 months?

Thanks so much

[*Kara*]

Is it homemade fruit puree or jarred?  The reason I ask is that the actual amount of fruit in jarred vs. homemade is vastly different. 

That said, this wee man has quite the appetite!  Have you considered adding in things like yogurt?

[violagal]

Hi Kara,
I know doesn't he just! He'll be eating more than me soon!!
Ah I didn't realise there would be a difference, it's about half and half to be honest, the mango and pear I do at home but usually have a few jars on standby of apple and pear and banana rice pudding. Is one type worse in terms of sugar?
Yoghurt is a good idea actually, is it ok to just give live yoghurt? Or some baby fruit yogurts? Hard to find some of these things without added sugar! And would you suggest giving the yoghurt instead of the fruit after lunch or dinner?
Thanks!

[creations]

It's much easier to find yoghurt if you don't look for the ones aimed at babies and children. There are several natural yoghurt packaged for adults which have no sugar.  You could buy a larger pot and put out a portion, if you want to add fruit you can switch up the flavours yourself by adding purée.

As for what to introduce at 7 months, some finger foods?  The guidance in the UK is to introduce finger foods at 6 months, some hold off a short while as they begin with purée foods but introducing finger foods is recommended.  There are lots of suggestions on the baby recipe boards, fruit or veg wedges/sticks steamed or baked is good, toast fingers, even large strips of meat to gnaw on.  You can just offer something from your own meal as finger food, it prepares LO for joining in with family meals.

My LO was a bit of a fruit monster too.  I didn't really need to limit it at 7 months but there have been a couple of phases later on where I felt I needed to be quite strict with fruit so as to ensure a balanced diet.

[*Kara*]

^^  Wonderful advice

[violagal]

Thanks both! Tried some organic live yoghurt but it seemed to upset his tummy a little, might try again in a few days to make sure it wasn't a coincidence. So Kara what was the answer to fruit purée vs jar? I assume more fruit in homemade? I had a look at the labels (I get Hipp or Boots organic) and they seem to contain fruit, fruit concentrate and a small amount of rice.

[*Kara*]

Yup - homemade has much more

[Lemonthyme]

I used to make my own fruit purees and mix with plain yoghurt. That way it's not quite so much natural sugar and no added sugar. I'd skip the fruit puree with breakfast and give more porridge too.

[violagal]

Thanks Lemonthyme, that sounds very sensible.

[*Kara*]

I used to make my own fruit purees and mix with plain yoghurt. That way it's not quite so much natural sugar and no added sugar. I'd skip the fruit puree with breakfast and give more porridge too.

Agreed!