Beansprouts, brown rice and lentils

Maggie Berney, Wokingham & District branch

I suppose that if there is a preconception about veggie diets it's that it's all beansprouts, brown rice and lentils.  In fact, until I became pregnant, my diet wasn't anywhere near that healthy: too many pies and chips and not enough veg, which, unsurprisingly, lead to recurrent bouts of anaemia.  Anyway, that all changed once the blue line appeared in the window.  My diet became healthier, I took vitamin supplements and I ended up with iron levels that were healthier than your average non-pregnant meat-eater!

I have been a vegetarian for 14 years and my husband has been one for even longer and, to be honest, it never entered out minds to feed our children meat.  On the whole, family and friends also took it for granted that the children would be vegetarian and it was never really discussed.  The people who did take issue with our decision were those who didn't know us very well and, in telling us we were bad parents, usually managed to demonstrate their own level of ignorance, the most memorable comment being, "You can't raise that child to be a vegetarian.  It's not healthy.  Where's he going to get his calcium from?"  Well, milk actually...

The health visitors that I spoke to were supportive of our decision, but I think it was fortunate that I didn't need their advice as their grasp of vegetarian nutrition did seem a little limited.   Luckily, when I started my maternity leave, two of the girls at work bought me a copy of Carol Timperley's book of ‘Baby and Child Vegetarian Recipes’ which promptly became my food-bible!

When my son was born his diet obviously wasn't an issue for the first six months.  He was initially breastfed, but fairly quickly we moved on to mixed feeding.  I decided to introduce solids at five months, and for the first month there was nothing unusual about his diet – the usual fruit and vegetable purees.  When he got to six months we began to broaden his diet and started introducing lentils and cheese as protein sources followed eventually by beans and tofu and, much later, nuts, quorn and seeds.

It is actually quite hard for young children to get insufficient protein in their diet, especially if they eat and drink enough dairy products.  My main concern has never been giving them enough protein but rather making sure that they get enough iron and other essential minerals.  I'm fortunate in the fact that both my children strangely enough love broccoli but from the age of 12 months I have also given them a vitamin tonic containing vitamins A and D plus iron, copper, calcium, manganese and potassium.

These days both children eat the same meals that we do.  Life is too short to cook two separate meals each day!  Their favourite meals include chickpea curry, lentil hotpot, spaghetti bolognese made with textured vegetable protein (TVP), or any kind of pasta with sauce but preferably sausage sauce (made with vegetarian frankfurters).

Eating at other people's houses wasn't initially a problem.  Most of my friends know that we're a vegetarian family and cater accordingly.  In the last year or so though things have changed and my son has now got to the stage of going to parties without me.   After a lot of thought I decided that it would be best to let my children eat what they like at parties.  After all, we eat vegetarian sausages at home which look just like the meaty ones served up at most parties - it's not easy to tell the difference.  I feel that at four years old my son is too young to be able to distinguish what constitutes meat and what doesn't, and I don't want him to get into the situation where he may start worrying about what he is and isn't allowed to eat and thereby getting hang-ups about food in general.

Taking this route has the benefit that when both children are older they will know what meat is and what it tastes like and so will be able to make an informed choice about whether or not to eat it.  We've had conversations about where meat comes from, the first of which was prompted by a hog roast at a family wedding: "What's that Mummy?" We've also explained that, although we choose not to eat meat because we don't like eating animals, most people don't feel the same way that we do.  Once they are older we will also explain about modern farming methods to them.

Once the children start having opinions on what they want to eat, I am prepared to let them eat meat if that's what they decide they want to do, although I know I will be disappointed.  The proviso will always be that if they want to eat meat at home then they will have to buy and cook it themselves.

In the meantime, they are two healthy, lively children who are average weight for their height.

Home made Lentil Patties

Yum!

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