Oats

A smooth oat porridge is a good place to start, cooked soft and well mashed so it falls apart easily. Loosen it with a little breast milk, formula or water until it scoops up softly and still stays on a tilted spoon, thick rather than watery. Spoon it to her as food, not thinned into a bottle.

Once she is taking it, you can stir a little mashed banana through the warm oats for an easy oats banana porridge, or use any fruit mash she already enjoys. The fruit sweetens the bowl on its own, so keep it plain: no added salt before one, no sugar or jaggery before two, and no honey in her first year, since honey can bring on botulism, a serious illness. A little ghee adds gentle energy. Start with a couple of spoonfuls and let her appetite lead.

Now she can manage lumpier oats and pick things up herself. You can offer a thicker porridge she scoops by hand, soft oat balls rolled to hold together, or little pancakes and soft bakes made with oats or oat flour. Picking up these small pieces helps her pincer grasp develop.

Keep the oats soft and moist so they hold together, since dry, coarse flakes can scatter and make her cough. Offer a small amount and follow her cues, a little more as she wants it.

If your kitchen already makes a soft moong dal dosa, a version with oats stirred into the batter works just as well, cooked soft and thin into strips she can hold.

From a year, oats joins the family breakfast, a soft bowl she can scoop with a spoon, alongside oat breads, muffins and other soft bakes made with oats or oat flour.

Keep it soft enough to swallow easily and break up any dry, clustered bits. She decides how much now. The soft dosa she already knows fits into these breakfasts just as well.