Kids who eat the same as their parents have healthier diets

Eating the same food as parents had a greater impact on a young child's health than any other factor, including social background and snacking between meals according to research at the Centre for Population Health Sciences at Edinburgh University. Researchers said that Britain was almost alone in Europe in "dumbing down" with children's meals in restaurants and at home, rather than encouraging them to eat what the adults were eating. There is growing concern about the rise of ready meals marketed at young children, and about children being overfed with foods that often lack key nutrients.
"If children were eating what their parents eat – and, like the French, eating round the table – then we wouldn't have the iron deficiency problem we have," said Dr Colin Michie, chair of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's nutrition committee. He said children could have problems with deficiencies in iron, vitamin D and to a lesser extent zinc, and he was seeing lots of children with eating difficulties who were fed "sitting alone" by busy parents, and parents who made two or three different meals for adults and faddy children.
In light of the study, which looked at 2,000 five-year-olds, the paper recommends that government advice to families should be kept simple to help establish good eating habits early.
5th May 2013 The Guardian

Review: The Essential Baby Care Guide

The Essential Baby Care Guide is a fabulous new DVD set that has been created by the Essential Parent Company. The 8 hours of content provide comprehensive information on 1. Feeding, 2. Care & Development, 3. Sleeping, and 4. First Aid and Accident Prevention.

The resource has been created with new parents in mind and is designed to provide information on everything you need to know from birth to 12 months, though as the parent of a 14 month old I can confirm that it contains some very valuable information which extends beyond it's target audience.

I have to say that having agreed to review this item I was a tad surprised when it arrived and was over 8 hours long! Not only did I think that sounded very long, I also thought it would need 'expert' reviewers to do it justice. As soon as I sat down to watch, I was hooked. Robert Winston is a great presenter. His gentle voice is easy to listen to and informative. At the beginning of each disc, he describes this resource as a parenting course which you can attend from your living room. That's just what it is: it covers everything, from the very basics, yet without being condescending. The advantage of being on disc rather than a course is that you can watch it again, whenever you wish, or when the information is needed.

If I was expecting my first baby now, I would definitely be buying this. I remember that feeling of getting home with Arthur and thinking, "right, we have a baby - what on earth do we do now?"  Of course I had books, but, well, when you're just had a baby there's not a great deal of time to read books! Watching a DVD is much more manageable. I could have sat in the nursing chair and watched this quite easily. It's also better than a book because you can see what they are talking about, they show you how, instead of just telling you.

Although my son is now 14 months, I still found the resource valuable. For example, after watching the section on sleep I realised that actually we could have a sleep problem. I hadn't noticed because Arthur sleeps well at night and always has, but having seen the DVD I decided that we would tweak his nap times slightly, and rearrange our schedule on a Friday to make sure he got his afternoon nap. He now sleeps even better.

As I mentioned, I am not an expert on any of the topics, but as the resource is advised and narrated by Professor Robert Winston and includes expert advice from The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, St John Ambulance, Midwives and Sleep Experts, Meningitis Research Foundation, The National Literacy Trust, and the Child Accident Prevention Trust, I think we can be sure that it offers sound advice.

I certainly makes sense to me. A great resource.

If anyone else would like to borrow these DVD's and write a review that would be great. We already have an expectant first time mum lined up to take a peek, but if there are any new parents out there (who have the time) who would like to view please let me know.

We are hoping that once the review process is over the resource will be held by the antenatal teachers so that more parents to be get the chance to preview the resource.

There are several  official videos to be found on YouTube, and you may also want to like the Essential Parent Facebook Page to get updates, tips and competitions

If you would like your own copy, it is available nationwide from John Lewis, Amazon and www.essentialparent.com.  This website also has more information about the resource, plus some videos, tips and previews. You can buy the whole set for £35 or individual DVD's for £10 each.

If you wish to buy the full set, you can get £5 off  and purchase at reduced price of £30 by purchasing direct from www.essentialparent.com and entering the code ElyNCT at checkout. For each DVD set sold The Essential Parent Company will donate £5 to the branch.

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Baby-Led Weaning - The end for purees or just the end of your carpet?

Emma McCarthy, Horsham & District Branch

This summer, as soon as our son, Dan, and his NCT buddies hit that magical weaning marker of six months, all talk seemed to centre on this next challenge in our fledgling careers as parents. Suddenly everywhere we looked we were surrounded by weaning paraphernalia; brightly coloured spoons, bowls, bibs, trays, pots and a multitude of books, chairs, foods and snacks. Health visitors were advocating a speedy transition to solids and the race was on to wean.

Looking down at my little son who was still breastfed on demand, I couldn’t help but think that he seemed very young for all this! My instinct was not to start feeding him pureed foods but to let him lead the way and learn to feed himself. I’d heard about baby-led weaning (BLW) but needed to find out more about it.

The more I read about BLW, the more it made sense - it really fitted with the baby-led way we had found ourselves parenting until now. The idea is that the child shares the family mealtimes and eats the same food as everyone else, so you don’t have to puree, spoonfeed or cook separate foods. BLW allows babies to explore, taste and play with food long before they really eat it or rely on it for all their nutrition. They can go at their own pace and gradually make the transition to solids, growing in confidence and experiencing a wide range of tastes and textures. I was convinced that this was the way for us.

We bought Dan a high chair that could be adjusted to allow him to sit at our table, with a tray that sticks straight onto the table top. Armed with good advice, I also invested in a large piece of plastic tablecloth to cover our beige carpet - more of this later! Dan had a selection of whatever we were having on his tray and we all got on with it.

Realisation quickly dawned that this was not for the faint-hearted! In those early days, we wept with pride as Dan ingested a bit of grated cheese or spaghetti bolognaise, little realising that the novelty factor was largely behind it. After a couple of weeks of curious munching, things seemed to completely stall. All food put in front of him was played with with interest and then swept to the floor. When you feel like you’ve spent all day worrying about what to give your child to eat, this is dispiriting to say the least!

Alongside me, the other NCT mums were reporting huge appetites amongst their offspring for pureed goodies and new taste combinations were being discovered every week. It was really hard at this stage to keep the faith and remember that we were at the start of a process and we really weren’t starving our baby! Some days he would eat, others he wouldn’t, and the amounts were very small, which can be hard if you‘re the kind of mum who needs to know how much your baby is eating.

I will say it was difficult to find other mums who were taking the same approach and you can feel a bit out on a limb and unsupported. Your mother-in-law will also think you are utterly, utterly mad! BLW does take time, and I just had to trust that, in the meantime, the breastmilk was doing its work. (It’s important to add that bottle-fed babies can also be successfully weaned this way).

Gradually though, as the weeks went by, Dan grew in dexterity and interest. He got better and better at handling different foods and working out how to tackle slippery, soft or crunchy textures. I didn’t always notice the changes happening but other people who saw him less frequently did. He began to have a go at everything and we have yet to find a food that he won’t eat. It often looks as though he’s not consuming much at each meal, but you always have the most reliable indicator in the world - the nappy! How proud we were to see his first ‘human poo’!

BLW does create unimaginable mess though. Dan is particularly skilled at the ‘spoonful-of-yogurt flick’, sometimes achieving coverage in two directions before the floor-impact spatter. Other far-reaching substances include mackerel, peas and soup… Readiness is all; a damp cloth close at hand and a willingness to divest yourself of all pride in your appearance! Again, we have to trust that this will pass.

At nearly 11 months as I write, Dan has three meals a day with me plus as much breastmilk as he wants. This has meant that I’m breastfeeding longer than I thought I might be, and this choice has its implications too. Over time though, the balance will shift - hopefully before he’s ten!

He can handle tiny crumbs, whole apples, steak and everything in between. We’re thoroughly glad we stuck with it, as the whole process has generally been very relaxed - if Dan’s not hungry right then, he’ll eat later and there’s no stress.

A hidden benefit is that you might lose a few pounds as you go, as BLW forces you to think really carefully about how healthily you are eating! He has never choked or come close and we don’t worry about this. On the odd occasion he has literally bitten off more than he can chew but he has to learn how to deal with it (it’s not pretty!).

So if your baby can sit up on their own, reaches out for things and puts them in their mouth to chew and, more importantly, shows an interest in taking food from your plate, it could be time to give BLW a try.

Absolute essential reading is ‘Baby-led Weaning: Helping your baby to love good food’ by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett, which explains everything in a very accessible way and far better than I have. The clip on YouTube of a baby eating a whole chicken leg is also worth looking up!

We’re pleased that we’ve let Dan take control of the process and that mealtimes are fun and relaxed; hopefully he’ll grow up with a good appetite and a healthy relationship with food. 




Below, Arthur demonstrates that BLW can be messy, but fun! Luckily we don't have carpet where we dine, as this was his first attempt at dahl and rice!

They are what they eat

 Jodie Black, Peterborough branch

Jamie Oliver has done a great job in highlighting the inadequacy of school meals. However, the subsequent media attention devoted to children’s diets in general has left many parents worrying about what their children eat. I am no exception, and at one stage became almost obsessed with my son, Nyall’s, diet. I was writing down everything he ate and freaking out if he hadn’t eaten a portion of pulses on a given day.

I soon realised that this was an unhealthy attitude to have and I am now a lot more relaxed, but I still follow a few basic principles to ensure he eats a balanced and varied diet. My efforts have been rewarded as Nyall, now 25 months, will happily eat a wide range of different foods (though like all toddlers he has his moments) and I am often asked what my secret is.

I am not a nutritional expert, but I think that variety is important in order to ensure that Nyall gets all the vitamins and minerals that he needs. I cook a wide range of foods and am always on the lookout for new recipes and ideas. It helps that I am a vegetarian and my fiancé, Chris, is a big meat eater as it means that Nyall is exposed to a huge range of different meals. He is just as happy eating lentil bolognese as he is tucking into roast pheasant with all the trimmings and I hope that this is something that will continue as he gets older.

I also plan my family’s meals carefully; before I go shopping I draw up a meal plan for the week ahead, taking into consideration any commitments or activities we have planned. Not only does this reduce our food shopping bill, it also means that I am less likely to arrive home after a busy day with no desire to cook a complicated meal and end up getting a takeaway pizza! ‘Busy day meals’ in our house could be baked potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn and a side salad or a supermarket bought pizza base loaded with mushrooms, mixed peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, olives….

I accept that as a full time mum I have more time that some parents, but many meals can be batch cooked and frozen. Chilli con carne, shepherd’s pie and sausage casserole can all be cooked in advance, frozen and then defrosted as needed, and all three go down well in my household, especially in the winter months.

If you have a fussy eater, never underestimate the power of ‘hidden food’ to give their diet a secret boost! Homemade soup is a great way to get a variety of vegetables into fussy little tummies, and with a bit of careful blending they’ll have no idea that they’re happily wolfing down carrots, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, potatoes or whatever else you choose to add.

Finely grated carrot can be smuggled into almost anything including bolognese sauce, baked beans and grated cheese sandwiches – trust me, they won’t even know it’s there! Raisins and sultanas can be added to chocolate cornflake cakes, fresh fruit can be added to jelly, and mashed banana or pureed apple can easily be stirred into a bowl of Ready Brek. Potatoes and butternut squash mashed together always go down well in our house and stewed fruit with natural yoghurt is one of Nyall’s favourite snacks.

In order to ensure that Nyall’s meals are well balanced and that his energy levels are consistent throughout the day, I try to stick to at least one portion of protein (e.g. meat, quorn, cheese), one portion of carbohydrate (e.g. bread, pasta, potatoes) and two portions of fruit/vegetables for lunch and dinner. I apply the same principle to breakfast but aim to include at least one portion of fruit and vegetables rather than two. This isn’t as complicated or difficult to achieve as it sounds.

Breakfast could be porridge with dried apricot or scrambled egg on toast followed by a banana. Lunch could be soft cheese and grape sandwiches followed by a tangerine, or pasta with red pepper, peas and cheese, while dinner might be sausages with mashed potato, carrots and broccoli or grilled chicken with rice and stir fried vegetables.

In addition, Nyall has two snacks a day and, although I do allow him cakes and biscuits, they are an occasional treat and he doesn’t eat them every day. Instead, I try to steer him towards healthy snacks such as oatcakes topped with peanut butter, bread sticks, raw carrot sticks and cucumber strips with dips, dried/fresh fruit and natural yoghurt.

It may sound as though I am too strict with Nyall’s diet, but I am careful not to ban certain foods or label some food as bad and other food as good. I simply explain to Nyall that our bodies need lots of different types of food and that some foods are more important than others.

I know there will come a time when Nyall is asking for takeaway junk food, but I hope that by setting a good example at home, it will be easier to limit such food to an occasional addition to an otherwise healthy, balanced diet. 

Sources of Weaning Advice

Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett

(Laura Leach)

As my son approached the age of 6 months I hadn’t given weaning very much thought.  I dutifully pureed the odd bit of leftover carrot and played about with some ice cube trays in preparation. I started with some baby rice which Thomas happily ate… on one condition- he must hold the spoon and put it in his mouth himself.  If I put it in his mouth he was not going to play along.  I realised that we could be at the start of a battle of wills that could last for years so I decided to look again at baby led weaning which I had heard of on the internet.  

Published in late 2008 in response to a growing number of families taking the alternative path to purees, Rapley explores the theoretical and practical reasons why feeding babies a diet that is roughly the same as that of the whole family can be a good alternative to spoon feeding.  She explains the background of weaning techniques and dispels the myth that babies need to learn to move pureed food in their mouths and swallow it before they are ready for any proper solid foods.  

The general idea of baby led weaning is that you don’t give any purees and the baby only has foods which he can pick up himself. One of the main draws of the book is the mix of both theoretical and practical information.  Although you can start the baby eating most things that the family eats, Rapley gives lists of suggestions for the sorts of food a six month old can manage, such as sticks of cheese or steamed vegetables. She also discusses how to go about reducing milk feeds as the baby eats more. 

Rapley addresses the two main concerns many families have about baby led weaning: choking and not knowing how much the baby has eaten. Using both a scientific basis and a more anecdotal series of family case studies, she explains why choking is actually less likely with babies who are given finger foods at 6 months because the gag reflex moves back in the mouth as the baby gets older.  She also discusses why it doesn’t matter if the baby only eats very little initially as the main source of nutrition is milk until about a year.  

Thomas is now three years old and we are still reaping the benefits of baby led weaning. I think that it has made me much more relaxed about mealtimes and about what he eats.  I'm sure a lot of it is luck but we have not had any meal time battles at all and he has a good appetite and will eat most things. While we have rules about manners at the table and he will not be given an alternative meal if he doesn't fancy what I have cooked, I will not insist that he eats everything that is on his plate. 

We now have a ten month old, Elizabeth, who has also been mainly weaned with finger foods. Meal times are great fun and we are able to watch her fine motor skills progress quickly and watch her enjoying being part of the family by eating the same meal as us at the table.  Rapley’s book is simply written and clear. By reading it I gained the confidence to wean my children without purees – the single best parenting decision I have made so far. 

The website is also good

 

Megan

I've got Gill Rapley's baby led weaning book and was given an Annabel Karmel one with my first but, to be honest, they're both a bit 'purist' for me. I kind of prefer the idea that actually I'm just feeding my baby and want to get on with it. I got lots of good advice and ideas from  And I like the River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook. Sensible and food you'd actually want to eat.

Gillian

Annabel Karmel's book was great, I found it the other day and had totally forgotten it had lots of toddler meals too so am giving it a go again.  I also joined a BLW forum which was very supportive and gave me lots of ideas.

Nancy

I have two weaning books. They both date from before baby-led weaning, and when health visitors advised weaning at four months. The first is Annabel Karmel’s ‘New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner’, the other is Lorraine Kelly’s ‘Baby & Toddler Eating Plan’ (co-written by a nutritionist, Anita Bean). From the titles, they sound quite similar, and both books combine recipes with charts telling you what to feed your baby and when (in terms of at what age, and also on a meal-by-meal basis). I found the charts of limited value except, I suppose, with my first child when I lacked confidence and paid a lot more attention to what I ‘should’ be doing. As in life, the Annabel Karmel is a lot flashier than the Lorraine Kelly, with colour drawings throughout and more exotic ingredients required, compared with no illustrations, and more down-to-earth recipes. Both books contain some great recipes, but I tend to favour the Lorraine Kelly ones. My favourite is ‘Cheesy Lentil Savoury’, and my seven-year old still loves the ‘Home-made Chicken Nuggets’. 

Sarah

How was it for you?

I asked local NCT mums what experiences they’ve had with weaning. This is what they said:

What age did you start weaning your babies and why this age?

Laura: I started weaning my first at about five months as most of my friends were starting and I didn't want to be left behind! I knew the guidelines but started then anyway.  I initially started with purees but about a week into weaning I read 'Baby Led Weaning' by Gill Rapley and became an instant convert.  I stopped weaning until 6 months and gave him only finger foods. With my second I didn't start until 6 months and was keen to do baby-led weaning (BLW) again.  Her manual dexterity was not as good and she was not yet sleeping through the night so I wanted to get a few more calories into her. I did not give her purees because I didn't want the hassle and I don't believe that there is any place for purees in weaning but I did spoon feed her some porridge/yoghurt/soup etc until she was able to manage herself. 

Megan: 6 months with all three children - it was the advice from the World Health Organisation. By the time I had my second it was also the advice from the UK government. I read quite widely (I always like researching things before I do them) and came to the conclusion that this was the best advice available.

Gillian: I held off with both of them for as long as possible to the recommended 6 months as I wanted them to have as much exclusive breastfeeding as possible, particularly due to the evidence about allergies. Baby #1 was weaned from 5.5 months - he was sitting, grabbing food and, frankly, desperate for solid food. Baby #2 was weaned from 6 months - she sat earlier than baby #1 but didn't seem as bothered by solids. Also, she turned 6 months in mid January and I wasn't going to start weaning over Christmas as we were travelling a lot and I couldn't deal with the mental effort of weaning, plus travel with two small people in tow!

Nadia: I let them both lead the way. When they started to stare at us eating and opening their mouths asking for food I started to give them solids. It was at about 5 months for both.

Vicky: I weaned both my children at six months, simply because it was the recommended age, and they hadn’t shown any need to start earlier (markedly increased appetite, noticeable interest in other people’s food) as can be the case for some babies. They were both mixed fed, with breastfeeding ending around nine months. I’m vegetarian, whilst my husband is not, and we agreed early on that we would give our children meat and fish, and let them decide for themselves when they were older whether they wanted a meat-free diet or not.

Sarah: I started weaning my first child onto solids at 4 months as that was the advice when she was a baby, although she did also seem ready (able to sit up, had teeth, was straining to try to reach food). By the time I had my second child the advice had changed to wait until 6 months, I did decide to try her on baby rice at 19 weeks (in a desperate attempt to get more sleep!) but she wasn’t interested and it didn’t make it into her mouth. At about 24 weeks she grabbed my hand when I was eating and steered the food into her mouth. For my third child I was happy to wait until 6 months before introducing anything other than breastmilk, but by 18 weeks he was desperately trying to drink from my cups of tea and glasses of water, and gnawing on apples, so I decided to push on the open door and introduced solids.

Nancy: I started at 5 months but not in any significant way, just trying lots of different tastes of food. Literally, I don't think she had more than a spoonful a day.  I started then as I had read they should be on 3 meals a day by 6 months and I was worried that I would be rushing and worrying that she wasn't eating enough by then.  Juno could sit unsupported by 5 and a half months so I felt she was physically able to have a go at eating.

How did you start weaning?

Megan: With my first I did the puree stuff and even used an occasional jar when cooking seemed like hard work. Because I waited til 6 months I didn't have to avoid many foods, but for the first few weeks I gave her single vegetables pureed, in order to spot any allergic reactions. After that she was having the same dinner as us, but whizzed up in a little hand-held processor. The second one probably got fewer jars but still purees - when what we were having was unsuitable I'd mash a banana or avocado with a fork. The thrid was baby-led weaned, which was much less hassle (I hadn't heard of it when I had the first two). He didn't really ingest anything until he was about 8 months (you can tell by what comes out the other end). 

Gillian: Baby #1 - 'traditional' spoon fed purees but he had different ideas and within about a week was grabbing bits of food (pitta, hummus, cucumber, banana). Baby #2 - more baby-led as I couldn't be bothered with the purees. I do usually spoon feed yoghurt and her breakfast (normally porridge) as she gets REALLY cross if she doesn't get it into her mouth fast enough. And sometimes I can't be bothered cleaning yoghurt off the ceiling. 

Nadia: I started to vary their diets a lot from the beginning trying all manners of vegetable and fruits. I wanted to make sure they experienced lots of different tastes early on in the hope they did not become fussy with food. It seems to have worked (so far anyway, fingers crossed). I was bought an Annabel Karmel book by a friend and that became my bible for weaning. I did read lots of leaflets and stuff on the internet but I used the Annabel Karmel books for recipes ideas. The key for me was to do big batches of everything and freeze in small portions. Much easier and stress free than worry about food every 5 minutes. I used ice cubes trays to start with and later the Advent pots. I tried baby rice for their first meal as often recommended but quickly moved on to veg and fruits. I did not see the point in giving them something bland for too long! In actual fact they only had it for one meal each.

Vicky: With my first child, Sam, I gripped my Annabel Karmel bible, nervously disinfected my kitchen from top to bottom, and read five times how to peel, boil and puree a sweet potato. It was a scary new world and I felt incredibly anxious about the whole business. How much? How often? Will he choke on his apple mush? For that reason, the Annabel Karmel book was great – I followed it step by step, gradually introducing different tastes and textures, building up Sam’s diet over the weeks and ending up with a freezer full of a rainbow of frozen puree cubes to defrost at will. He was a happy eater, and I quickly got over my initial nerves and found that, whilst I felt utterly clueless to begin with, it all just happened quite naturally.

Second time round, whilst it would be untrue that my second child, Grace, was gnawing on pork ribs by week 2, I think it’s safe to say I was more relaxed from the start. I still went the puree route, but was more confident to introduce elements of baby-led weaning (lots of large and varied chunks of finger food) earlier on - and whilst still flicking through Ms Karmel’s book (slightly sticky from round one) I was happy to simplify some of her recipes (Five pans to make a fish pie? Seriously??). 

Sarah: My first and third children’s first foods were whole apple, my second’s was margherita pizza, all three at their own insistence, and achieved by pulling my hand holding the food towards their own mouths. Following this, for all three I have also introduced purees plus finger foods from the very beginning. I don’t really make the distinction between finger foods and purees that BLW seems to do, after all if a baby chooses to lean forward, open their mouth and put it round the spoon of food held in front of them, isn’t that baby-led? I do have a couple of rules though, I keep an eye on the baby’s body language and don’t persuade them to eat something they don’t want to (e.g. using a spoon to open the mouth and shoe-horn some food in). As much as possible I try to give them the same as everyone else at the table (although with something mushed up in addition), and I never give them anything I wouldn’t eat myself.

Nancy: Bit of both.  When I just started out it was BLW but then as I wanted to make sure she was eating properly I gave more traditional puréed food.

What was your experience with weaning?

                                                                                      

Laura: I really enjoyed weaning. It was very satisfying to see them manage different types of food and enjoy new types of food. It is also funny what they do and don't like. I once gave my daughter a curry when she was about 7 months before tasting it myself. Her eyes were watering but she seemed to enjoy it. It was only that evening when we had it for dinner and my husband didn't particularly like it because it was too hot that I realised chicken madras is quite spicy!

Gillian: Baby #1 - I just followed one of the Annabel Karmel books which was easy enough, although a bit faffy with all the extra work. Baby #2 - I just gave her what we were eating (albeit lower salt options and minus honey, unpasteurised cheese and whole nuts). Much easier and much more instinctive. And she and her brother just have the same food. 

Nadia: I just did a lot of reading beforehand... There is so much info at hand now and lots of people to ask!

Sarah: I love weaning! I love cooking, so its extra fun making things for your baby and seeing what they enjoy, what faces they pull, what they spit out even. My first child pulled a horrendous grimace every time she tried a new food, but then would be straight back for more. My third child is currently at the blowing raspberries stage, what larks at mealtimes! With my first child I spent a lot of time reading about weaning and what foods I should/shouldn’t give, meal planners etc. With my subsequent ones they tend to get a subset of what everyone else is eating.

Nancy: I just made it up as I went along and tried to have fun!

Did your babies have any allergies?

Megan: None of them have any allergies, they were all exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months and we avoided peanuts and peanut products for at least a year.

Gillian: No allergies but both of them have had foods that initially caused some local rashes or very mild eczema around their mouth - e.g. raw or tinned tomatoes and strawberries. But they've both grown out of it.

Nadia: They did not have any allergies thank goodness so again I was lucky on that score

Sarah: (Fingers crossed) none of mine have had any food allergies, although my second child has yet to have any shellfish, and my third is only 6 months old so I don’t know how he will react to a lot of foods yet.

Nancy: The only reaction we had was to kiwi fruit where she came up in a red rash.  She hasn't had them since so I don't know whether she is still allergic or not!

What were your babies' favourite and least favourite foods?

Laura: I find that their favourite foods varied. In the first few weeks of weaning my daughter there was one week where she would only eat very sweet things to the extent that she would cry if she got the side of the toast that didn't have the jam on it in her mouth!  Initially I was worried that she was going to be very fussy about food but I relaxed and sure enough in a few days she was back to eating whatever was put in front of her. Some weeks they eat virtually nothing when other weeks they eat everything they can lay their hands on. For me the central message and main appeal of BLW is to allow them to develop their own instincts about what and how much they eat.  

Megan: When we first weaned they seemed to like everything. Fussiness set in much later, not until they were at least three years old (in fact my youngest, at nearly five will still try most things).

                                                                                        

Gillian: Baby #1 - hummus, peach, toast, marmite (yuck!), cucumber, rice pudding, yoghurt, scrambled eggs. Baby #2 - banana (her first word!), yoghurt, cheese, bread, butter, red pepper, pesto, fishcakes, chips, porridge. At weaning age, I don't really remember them not liking anything. Sometimes they'd not be hungry or pull a funny face, but they never really refused anything. Baby #1 is now 3 and it's much more annoying now. 'I don't like fishcakes!' 'But you had fishcakes last week and loved them.' [After moaning for 10 minutes, he tries a bit of fishcake] 'I love fishcakes - they're my favourite!' Aaarrrghhh!

Nadia: I don't recall anything they particularly disliked. My daughter seemed to have a sweeter tooth than my son but other than that I don't remember having to avoid anything. Even if they turned up their nose at something one day, I would try it again another day until they ate it. I remember my daughter disliking banana for quite a long time but I have persevered and she loves them now. Another thing she wasn't too keen on at first is the texture of mince meat so I mixed it with more vegetables until she got used to it.

Vicky: My children had similar early preferences. Sweet potato, banana and carrot were very popular, whilst neither would countenance avocado or pear. They are now 4 and 2, and have diverged in their tastes: whilst Sam will eat rice and dhal till the cows come home, Grace is never happier than when presented with a meal involving some sort of meat product.

Sarah: My eldest was very keen on avocado, and would happily eat very sour foods like natural yogurt with blackcurrant puree mixed in (I resisted the temptation to sweeten it, she didn’t mind at all). My second was less keen on food generally, but has maintained her love of tomato puree from her very first food. My third is very fond of apple puree, toast, strawberries, broccoli, mushed-up banana in Greek yogurt, sticks of cheddar, pretty much anything he can get his hands on.

Nancy: Banana was favourite and still is now! Tuna and mashed potato with cheese was also a big favourite. She didn't like mango at all, which was good as it’s expensive!

If breastfeeding, what age were your babies when you stopped?

Laura: I had huge problems with breastfeeding with both my babies and would have liked to have fed for a lot longer with both of them (long, long story!!) but I fed my first for four weeks and my second was mixed fed to 21 weeks. 

Megan: 3 years 11 months, 2 years 6 months and still going at 4 years 10 months.

Gillian: Baby #1 - 2 years 4 months - by which point he was just having a feed at bedtime. He decided to stop one night and that was it. Baby #2 is 9 months and still breastfed. I currently plan to feed her until she weans herself.

Nadia: My first (my son) naturally stopped at 10 months. he wasn't interested anymore. My daughter stopped around 9 months. I initiated that one because of going back to work (I did not fancy having to express at work!). It happened quite naturally. She did not complain in moving over to bottles. So that was easy with both, I was lucky!

Sarah: My first child was mixed fed until 5 and a half months when she went onto formula only (and solids), my second was 14 months old when I gave up breastfeeding, I’m still breastfeeding my third child at 6 months, and will probably do so until after he has his first MMR jab.

Nancy: 14 months. She was ready to stop at 12 months but we were going skiing and I wanted the option to breastfeed her on the plane in case she started getting upset.  

Please note that this article is based on mothers' personal experiences and is not to be seen as NCT advice. For the NCT guide to weaning go to http://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/how-start-solid-foods-and-weaning

My Weaning Experience - Fun, Stress & Plenty of Mess

Maria



My baby, Maria, is now eight months old and I’ve been weaning for around three months (yes, I started before the recommended six months!). I approached weaning with a mixture of excitement, nervousness and confusion!  Excited about moving onto the next stage and seeing how Maria would take to new foods. Nervous and confused about how to go about it and when! It felt like I was bombarded with information about feeding my newborn baby but, when it came to weaning, I was thrown into the deep end! Different people gave different advice about whether or not I should wait until Maria was six months old. And I wasn’t really sure how many times I should give solids each day, how much to give and how this all fitted in with milk feeds!!

Wanting to do the best thing for my baby, I had planned to follow official advice and start weaning at six months after exclusively breastfeeding until then. This was much to the horror of my parents: “Well so and so started giving baby rice at four months and they’re ok and solids will help Maria sleep (they didn’t!!), and in the old days there was none of this advice.....etc, etc!!”

It was at the advice of my doctor that I started weaning at around five months (well, he is a health professional after all!!). I can’t remember why he suggested it, perhaps because Maria wasn’t sleeping well. I started by mixing some formula milk with baby rice once a day (I had, again, planned to do the dutiful thing and use expressed milk but it was becoming increasingly difficult to find the time to express and, when I did give it a go, I got little more than a teaspoon-full)! Maria seemed more than ready for it – she excitedly gulped it all down – but this didn’t improve her sleeping. In fact, it got worse and, as time went on, it became clear that she had a cow’s milk allergy.

The allergy materialised as dreadful eczema all over Maria’s body. She’d had eczema before but it started to get out of control and she became increasingly distressed with it. She was also doing up to 10 dirty nappies a day and I think she became terribly dehydrated. She also stopped putting weight on. At first, I didn’t link the eczema with the cow’s milk. But one morning I gave her some baby porridge, which contained skimmed milk powder, and she reacted within minutes. Where she got some on her hand, it came up like a nettle rash – bright red with white spots. Just to be completely sure, I gave her a Petit Filous a couple of weeks later and she got the same reaction on her hand.

I took Maria to the doctor and he prescribed some lactose-free SMA in case I ever needed to use formula. Before giving her any, I decided to do a patch-test on her hand and she got the nettle-like reaction again, so I’m sure it’s the cow’s milk protein that she’s allergic to. Apparently, around 2 to 3 per cent of babies have such an allergy – so, very low – and most eventually outgrow it.

And I very much hope so. As I’m breast feeding, this means that I’ve had to cut all dairy products from my diet. As you can imagine, this is absolutely no fun at all! And a childhood without cake, chocolate, ice cream, etc. would be pretty wretched, so I will keep trying the milk every now and again and hope that the allergy goes away! For now, I use Kara coconut milk at breakfast time with porridge. Opinion was mixed on whether or not I could use infant soya milk, which I did for a couple of weeks. My doctor said it was fine but my health visitor was cautious on the use of this before age two (yet more weaning confusion!). So I’ve erred on the side of caution and stopped using it, even if it was only 3oz a day at breakfast.

Other than the allergy side of things, weaning has mostly been an enjoyable experience, although some days she’ll eat well and other days she won’t, for no discernible reason! When Maria was six months old, I moved onto three ‘solid’ meals a day. I use the term ‘solid’ in the loosest sense, as most of the food she’s had has been purees. Most things have gone down well – chicken casserole and most fruits and vegetables. Maria has turned her nose up at a few things:

·      Salmon – I pureed up two fillets with potato, broccoli and tomato, and she didn’t like it! Note to self – don’t make such large quantities in future!!! Eating baby food myself so that I don’t waste it isn’t my favourite sort of lunch! And it’s so frustrating when you spend ages making something and they don’t like it!

·      Liver!!! No surprise there, then! My mum made a massive batch of liver casserole, convinced that this was the BEST way for Maria to get iron into her diet. Perhaps it would be if she’d actually eat it! And I’m not sure I can face eating that one myself. So it’s currently taking up lots of much-needed space in my freezer!

·      Swede – again, don’t puree up a WHOLE vegetable before trying it out first in future!

·      Banana – another allergy! When I tried this, Maria got the nettle-like reaction under her chin and round her neck within minutes, which is a shame as this would make a great finger food and mixes well with other foods.

Frustratingly, the jars of food from the supermarket have often gone down better than the food I’ve painstakingly made myself – I hope that doesn’t say anything about my cooking!

Alongside purees, I’ve also been offering finger foods. It’s taken a long time for Maria to put any of these in her mouth. I think I missed a window of opportunity here. There was a time when everything would go in Maria’s mouth but she seemed to stop toy-licking just before I tried to give her proper food!

One good thing about weaning is that it’s helped to give us more of a routine to our day. I don’t feel like I had much of a routine before six months! I now do a milk feed when we get up in the morning followed by breakfast, a milk feed after Maria’s morning nap, lunch at 12, a milk feed after Maria’s afternoon nap, tea at five then a milk feed before bed. I still worry about whether or not she’s getting enough milk. Some days, it feels like she hasn’t had much at all as looking around, grabbing my nose and yanking at my nipple are much more fun than feeding! But she’s not really demanding any more than she’s getting so I just have to hope it’s enough!

And finally, it’s been a messy old business! It’s been a bit of a challenge to put up with food flying everywhere! But I guess it’s all good preparation for when Maria starts chucking paint around and drawing on the walls!