again, just persist gently until he begins to get the hang of chewing and swallowing.
   When it is obvious that he has had enough, wipe baby down, praise him and then remove the plate. After the routine of mealtimes has been established in the baby's mind and he has become more attached to the substance of the food rather than the person doing the feeding, the person doing the feeding can change. But they must keep to the same system and be just as firm if nonsense should arise.
   As regards breastfeeds around this time, I often found that straight after a meal was the time when my children would want a breastfeed, almost like adults enjoy a post-meal cup of tea! Gradually this was reduced by offering water to drink, both with the meal and afterwards, and by substituting the post-meal breastfeed for a cuddle instead. This change-over and weaning process may take many months, so don't get anxious and try to rush it. Rather than automatically offering a breastfeed around meal times, let your baby ask for it. Let him choose between the solids he sees and the breast he remembers. If he is crying and not interested in food at first, a breastfeed may be what is wanted, then with thirst and comfort quenched, often they will try some of the solid food.

What to Start on
   The best very first foods are lightly cooked vegetables, singly at first, and then in combination with well cooked grains and pulses. Fruit should be stewed and left unsweetened. Regardless of whether you are eating a vegetarian diet or not, a baby does not need, nor can he digest meat, eggs or cow's milk in any form until after about twelve months old.
   I do not recommend starting with sugary foods like fruit and biscuits, or convenience foods like banana, as this predisposes the child to thinking that food should firstly be sweet, secondarily be easy to swallow quickly and that savoury, chewy foods come a poor last.
   In the very beginning, avoid mixing too many food types and tastes together in the one dish, because, in addition to supplying nutrients, you are trying to educate their palates to the basics of taste and texture, just like learning the primary colours when beginning to paint. Secondary blends come later.
   Preparation of food for baby should always be from the freshest produce available. Tinned, bottled, pre-packaged baby food can never match a fresh home cooked meal containing not only the vitamins and minerals but lots of loving prana from the maker. Because our

family's diet is one based around well cooked grains, pulses and freshly cooked vegetables, I never had to make too many adjustments for a new baby at the table. If ever a very spicy dish was being prepared, I simply put a small portion into a separate pot to cook without so much spices. Rice and dhal (lentil or split pea) is a regular part of our diet so this was easily introduced to the babies without much modification.
   Herbs and spices are used extensively in my kitchen, both for their flavour and also for their digestive and medicinal properties. From a baby's age of about 8 months old, I stopped separating vegetables from the main pot and simply introduced all spiced food to the baby. Even my use of chilli has only had to be a little tempered over the years since I have found that most children have a natural love of even quite hot dishes. Possibly this has come from their introduction to it through the breast.
   Depending on the stage of teeth growth you can expect to be mushing up food to some degree until the baby is at least 9 months old although some babies without a lot of teeth still have a strong chewing capability.

Three Meals A Day Plus
   By twelve to fifteen months of age, most babies have some complement of teeth and are fully mobile with fast pace crawling or walking thereby requiring much more energy to sustain their activities. As their need for solid foods increases, you should increase both the amount of food on the plate at meal times as well as well increasing the number of main meals they share with the adults rather than adding more snacks between main meals. Never introduce in-between meal snacks, even fruit, until a baby is happily eating the 3 full meals. Until that time the in-between snacks if required should be breast milk.
   Not until babies are about eighteen months old, and begin to replace some of their morning or afternoon naps with energetic playtimes do they need morning or afternoon snacks. Certainly any child of any age who frequently refuses to eat a full meal at the main meals times should not be having food in between meals. Should you fail to enforce this, you will find the child plays the game of not filling up with his food so that he can fill up on snacks instead.
   Breastfeeding, as an adjunct to 3 meals of solids per day, may continue for several more months, but during this time breast milk should not actually be needed for nutritional purposes if their meals are balanced and satisfying.