Two things before I get into the meat of this post:

1. If you’re interested, read the previous posts in this series first: First Foods, Favourite Foods at 6 Months and Favourite Foods at 7 Months.

2. This is a JUDGEMENT-FREE POST: Please note that this not how you *should* do things. This is just a window into how I did things, and I relied mostly on my instincts. Do what feels right mama. *Should precedes shame* so I strongly encourage you not to *should yourself*! Parenting is hard enough as it is. You’re doing great!! 

 

Favourite Foods at 8 Months

After 2+ months of solids, Baby H had developed some solid chewing/eating muscles! She started eating a bit more and actually digesting more, as in less vegetable matter was found in her diapers (I credit high quality food, ferments and a focus on gut-health!) At this point though, meals still had no impact on her nursing frequency, and we could skip meals without an impact. There weren’t a lot of changes from 7 to 8 months, although she did become quite good at feeding herself, and mostly refused to be fed with a spoon. The arrival of upper teeth meant we could no longer give her a hunk of meat, because she quickly learned to tear a piece off, that was usually too large and resulted in some gagging. So we chopped her food into baby bite sized pieces.

At this stage in our solids journey, Baby H is eating almost everything that we are. The only foods we exclude are grains (we only eat white rice once or twice a week, so that’s not a big deal, but it also means no GF foods), dairy (we both tolerate goat cheese on occasion), things that are too hard (plantain chips) or leafy greens because she didn’t have the molars to grind them and they made her gag (except for blended into eggs or a smoothie). 

 

Go-to Foods (in order of priority)

1.Proteins

Egg yolk – fried overhard and ripped into pieces

Ground meat – beef with taco seasoning, pastured sausages 

Fish – salmon en papillote, sardines direct out of a can (I had no expectations going in to this, and was pleasantly surprised when she loved them!)

Meat – she will eat little pieces of pork chop, steak or chicken, but it’s still a little tough for her to manage

Chicken – slowcooker thighs

 

2. Fats and Superfoods

Whole-food animal sources – sardines, salmon, egg yolk, fatty pastured meat

Whole-food plant sources – avocado, olives, coconut milk

Clean oils & fats – coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, pastured lard, grassfed tallow, duck fat

Ferments – at least once a day! Sauerkraut and kombucha are the most common. Occasionally fermented pickles if we have them!

Bone broth – as we enter summer we’re using bone broth less, so I try to make dishes over noodles or rice, like Instant Pot or slow cooker beef/chicken with bone broth (like this Thai Curry Beef recipe!)

 

3. Carbs

Root veggies – sweet potato, white potato or carrots, cooked in broth or a quality oil

Fruit – with an emphasis on berries (blueberries in particular!)

Plantains – ripe and fried in coconut oil