Once she is on solids, we can start her on well-cooked soft minced mutton, slow-cooked until it is fall-apart tender, then minced or shredded very fine. Goat meat can be a bit dry, so a little of its own unsalted gravy loosens it until it is smooth and easy to swallow.

An easy everyday way is to stir that soft mince into a mild vegetable mash or other soft food she already eats. Dry, chunky or bone-in mutton is the choking worry at this age, so keep it soft and finely minced, with no whole pieces, cubes or bone-in bits. A spoonful or two is plenty to start, and let her appetite lead.

If your family starts mutton a little later, closer to eight months, begin the very same way, with the same soft minced mutton in small amounts.

Around now the easy form is small, soft shreds of well-cooked mutton, on their own or mixed through rice or another soft food she already takes. A little gravy keeps the drier meat easy to swallow. If you want to offer pieces at all, give only very soft small ones that squash when she pinches them, or a soft meatball or patty broken into little bits, never ordinary chopped or curry pieces. Stay close and watch her while she works on those, and if you are not comfortable yet, soft shreds are all she needs. Picking these up helps her practise the pincer grasp, thumb and forefinger meeting, that she uses to feed herself.

Keep her away from firm chunks, cubes, kebab-style or bone-in pieces. Keep her food free of added salt while she is under one.

By a year, she can share the family's mutton from a mild, soft-cooked curry, shredded or finely chopped into small pieces she can manage herself.

Keep checking for and taking out every bit of bone, and keep her share soft, light on salt and spice, and still away from whole chunks, cubes or kebab-style pieces she could choke on. A little gravy keeps it moist and easy to chew.