what age can i give my baby rusks

my daughter will be 6 months in 1 week, is this 2 young to give her a rusk 2 chew on? and if anyone has any suggestions of other foods i can give her at this age other than the veg an fruit purees i make 4 her aleady.

thanx rach xx

Hey rach

i think 6 months if fine to start giving your little one rusks but would go for the reduced sugar ones because of what has been on the news recently. i also used to break them in half to make it easier to eat.

Other things i tried were baby rice. Not sure if your little one has teeth yet but if so and you think she is ready i used to give sticks of cucumber without the skin which is also brilliant for teething as is cool on the gums.

As she gets used to one thing you have tried introduce another one every few days. My son first had rice cakes, carrot sticks, yogurt, whole cooked vegetables like carrot, broccoli, rubber beans. If she doesnt like them after a couple of days leave it and try again later. My son will eat anything now without a fuss.

Good luck but dont get stressed if it takes a while and if she will only eat 1 or 2 things thats fine. At this age its about experimentation as milk is still their main staple

Donna and a greedy William

thanx very much, im just worried about her choakin, say if she swallows a big piece of rusk or cucumber. is that very likely? she has no teeth yet so should i wait til she cuts a tooth before tryin anythin other than puree or is it safe now? x

My son was ready for food before he got teeth as milk wasnt satisfying him. Without teeth your daughter wont be able to bite off chunks of food very well yet. Rusk is perfect because it dissolves really well and she will suck it mostly. Cucumber is the same if you make the chunks too big to swallow she will suck the goodness out.
i didnt try too adventurous food until my son had at least 1 tooth but i did try making the food a little thicker sometimes. You can add warm water or milk to rusk for meal and i added baby rice to that to make it thicker.
You do have to watch them when you first start giving them food to chew until they learn but my son got in a couple of goes.
Try introducing yogurt with fruit bits as they are quite soft and shouldnt cause many problems

ok thanx very much for ur advice, il try her with a few things, see how we get on. shes trying her 1st solid rusk a we speak and shes enjoyin it! take care and thanx again x

Hi rachel - just thought i would add, you can give her soft waffer biscuits, mine all loved the "pink panther" ones you can get, they can gum them to their hearts content and they just disolve in the mouth if bitten off!!!you could also give her really hard veg such as sticks of carrot for her to gnaw on to help her teething.  You'll have little mishaps dont get me wrong theres always that one time when they literally bite off more than they can chew, but they do learn that they have to chew!!! Mango is another good fruit as they melts in the mouth too. When you have chips (chunkier the better) give her one or two of those too, my kids loved it!!! You can get childrens buscuits both savoury and sweet (have seen them in both asda and tescos) my kids all loved those too.  Hope that has given you abit more info, i wouldnt actually do lumpy food tho until she has a few teeth!!! LOL take care and enjoy the messes to come hehehehe By the way, just so you dont think i'm talking out of my bum with info for you, am currently expecting baby no.7 so i do have a little experience!!!! xx

Hi Rachel,

My little girl stared having half a rusk at about 6 months. Now she's 7 1/2 months she happily eats blueberry's, strawberries and rasberries that are all halved, not to mention toast and bread etc (like a human bin at the minute! ). I hope this is a little help though i sure more people will be able to give you more advice.

Paula & Kayleigh

Karen baby number 7! You must be wonder woman. Just wondered if you were ignoring the latest research thats been on the news about the baby foods? i have stopped giving my son the baby biscuits but have carried on with the rusks. As you are a mum of many what do you think? Is it just another scare tactic?

Paula. My son is 10 months now and eats everything literrally. He was even chomping on raw onion yesterday

hiya i am mum to ashley who is nearly 3, i gave him farleys when he was 6months but i put a bit of warm milk with it, and it softened up and i fed it to him with a spoon, he enjoyed it and then when he was a tad bit older i gave it to him as a finger food, he enjoyed it, but he enjoyed hipp organic custard and even lil tubs of ambrosio they are good, some of the food is defiently overpriced, and you can find our food is much better for them.

good luck from mummy of ashley

karen- thanx for the advice, will bare all that in mind, its so helpfully to get advice off experienced mums like urself. congrats an good luck with number 7, very brave lady lol x

paula- thanx 2 you 2, i did try her with half a rusk the other day, she was ok with it but kept droppin it bless her, practice makes perfect tho i suppose! x

donna- what news was this about biscuits? i havent seen anythin,is it 2 do with rusks or normal biscuits, like u say somethings u have to take with a pinch of salt but do you think its anythin 2 worry about? x

Rachel- there was a report a couple of weeks ago on the news that baby food has too much salt, sugar etc. Apparently the baby biscuits have as much fat as a double cheese burger from MacDonalds. The rusks are as bad as a chocolate digestive.

i buy the reduced sugar rusks now but have stopped buying the other biscuits. They are going to change the guidelines for baby food to make them healthier.

Just wondered what everyone elses veiw on it was

OK ladies - im on me soap-box LOL - my kids range in age from 20, 18, 6, 4, 3, 1 1/2 and due in october 09!!!!! i have always given them what i believe to be a healthy nutritious diet, if we listened to everything these bloody do-gooders say, we would neither eat, drink or breath sometimes!!!!! first wine is bad for you, then its ok in moderation, then its eggs, then you have to be careful how much fish you eat!!! AAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!! makes my blood boil.  I suppose they would blow a gasket if they knew my kids drank goats/cows milk straight from the animal and it WASNT pasturised or fiddled with (shock, horror, gasp!!!) I take EVERYTHING they say tongue in cheak, they change their minds like the wind! my kids have all been bought up the same and they try anything - yes they even eat the oddy too, ie flamin' chicken food or guinea pig fodder!!! LOL but you know, it all goes down the same way and ends up at the same end!!! They have never fell fowl or had stomache aches etc from anything they have eaten, they know the country and know not just to take fungi from the fields etc without checking its ok to eat first, fruit is still washed before being eaten but then i know where its been and that it hasnt been sprayed with anything horrible anyway! As for baby foods - mmmmmmm  - yes i do buy the odd can/jar as a back up if we eat something that the tiny ones cant, ie. chilli con carne (bit hot!!) but to be honest even my littlest will try anything now from curry to kebabs to chinese!!!! she loves it all, if you are finicky with what you give them then they are faddy eaters in my mind, i respect that the guys have likes and dislikes and incorporate that in what we eat, and, when im pregnant i do try to cut out things that i know are not really any good for me - ie alcohol, but i dont deny myself the odd glass of wine if the fancy takes me, the same for the kids (not for booze!!!!) I must admit from as soon as they are weaned they eat the same as us, i dont add anything to food, ie no salt etc but they do have chip-shop chips at times etc. So i guess - after all that - my views on baby food havent changes, nor biscuits! Sorry for the loooooong post!!! LOL Enjoy your food and your little ones!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Rachael

 my little boy was not being satisfied with milk from very early so we weaned him on to baby rice from 12 weeks. by 6 months old, after we'd gone through the fruit and veg puree stage we were basically giving him all our meals whizzed up really fine. i have been adamant form day 1 that he was not going to be fed on baby jars and was going to have all home made food and its worked really well for us.

At 6 months you can give your baby fruit, veg, meat, fish and start introdusing eggs and dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt. A i say Theo was on full adult meals blended up by this stage - his favourites were and still are roast dinner and spag bol! just make sure that you add alot of milk or water or even gravy to the food when you blend it and it will go in to a puree - we followed his main meal with a desert such as apple puree and custard or banana and custard. Theo will eat almost anything and is the least fussy eater i know.

rusks are ok every now and then as a snack or treat but there are healthier options like strawberries or banana to suck and chew on.  dont worry about the teeth - Theos first two hve only just come through at 11 months and as i say he has managed fine. as long as you stay with your baby it will be ok.

hope this helps some x

My son kind of skipped the puree stage as he refuses to be spoon fed anything. i managed to give him puree for about 2 weeks before he fell quite ill where he didnt eat anything other than his milk for 2 weeks. Since then he will only feed himself. It is tricky to make sure he gets a range in his diet but he has never had chocolate or crisps. Mostly he will eat apple, strawberrys, cheese chunks, as snacks and will have normal meals baby size without the gravy or sauce.

He is not fussy at all and at nearly 11 months i am just going to start giving him cows milk.

i didnt completely do everything they said on the news because rusks have been around for years since my parents were children so they cant be too bad lol.

Karen- i take it you live on a farm or something similar. In which case im very jealous! i live in a maisonette with no garden but the nearest park isnt far and we spend a lot of time there when im not working.

milk isnt enough for my 3 week old baby girl any sugestions on anything else i can give her ?

Rusks are yummy   I believe it's at 6 months, but check the packaging to be sure!