How to... Solids

I've been finding it really difficult to find information on how to start solids. Just like sleep training, the information is all over the place: Don't start solids before 6 months, start after 4, start by 7 or they'll never eat food. Give them a teaspoon once a day, feed them as much as they'll eat, feed them three times a day, purée it, babies need to eat lumps or they'll won't respond as well to food, only feed them some foods, pumpkin is okay at 6 months, unless it's U.K. pumpkin- then you need to wait until 8 months....

Where on earth to start. We ended up giving Pi rice cereal as a first food, and are slowly introducing veggies. The baby food making class I went to suggested buying a wooden pestle from the dollar store and boil the veggies and then putting them through a strainer in order to purée it. I went down the western route and steam my veggies and then have bought a hand blender (from Yamada Denki- here) to purée the foods. Nice and easy.

As for how much though, the best place I have found information was from 'Healthy Alberta'- click here for the link. I figure a Canadian government initiative might have it's head screwed on, and seemed to be taking a nice middle ground. The PDF contains lots of great information, including how to prepare and store baby food.

So, how many meals a day does baby need? For 6 to 8 months I should offer 1 to 3 meals per day, so I am going the middle route at 6 months by offering 2 small meals a day. I am giving him about a tablespoon of prepared food (either cereal or veggies). I have cooked a lot of veggies the other day, and have puréed and frozen them and then sealed the cubes in plastic bags in the freezer. When it is time to eat all I have to do is defrost a cube out of the freezer and voilà- instant yummies. It doesn't taste too bad either. At least, Pi hasn't been complaining.