Weaning your baby 2 - which foods and when

In our first article on weaning (Weaning: Part 1 - when to wean and first foods) we reviewed the advice on when and how to introduce solids into your babies diet. In this article we look more closely at how you can move from first tastes to introducing protein and other food groups and which foods should be avoided during baby's first year.

Stage 1 - Good First Foods

At this stage all foods are going to be pureed so naturally sweet fruits such as eating apples and pears, bananas and avocado will be good to use. Choose root vegetables such as carrot and parsnip which are also naturally sweet. Sweet potato and butternut squash also make excellent purees. All these can be frozen individually and offered in interesting flavour combinations to introduce variety into baby's diet.

Before six months try to avoid foods containing: Dairy products, wheat or gluten, fish or shellfish, eggs, citrus fruits, salt, sugar, nuts or honey.

There are some really excellent first foods available commercially - try Truuly Scrumptious (frozen) or Plum Baby Superfoods - both of these brands are organic and of really first rate quality. Otherwise fire up the stove and get pureeing! Also coming soon to Kiddies Kitchen are the new Ella's Kitchen savoury baby food pouches - we're very excited about them!

Moving on - stage 2 weaning

At around 6-9 months of age your baby will probably start cutting teeth and be ready to move on to slightly more textured foods. The baby's reliance on milk as the main source of nutrition will begin to reduce and solid meals should become and established part of your baby's routine

At this point you can start to introduce new foods such and fish, chicken and red meats, other vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, spinach, leeks, sweet corn and peas beans and pulses such as lentils and dairy products such as yoghurts, fromage frais and cheese. You should still be trying to avoid salt, sugar and honey as well as nuts and other common allergenic foods.

If you need inspiration, try one of Kiddies Kitchen's unrivalled range of children's cookbook and parents manuals. You can rely on authors such as Amanda Grant, Annabel Karmel and Gina Ford to present sensible, simple and healthy recipes.

Stage 3 weaning (9 -12 months)

If you thought the last few months were messy you ain't seen nothing yet! By now your baby may enjoy trying to feed themselves. One useful tip here is to use two spoons – one for baby and one for you, so that you can be sure that at least some food is going in their mouth!

As hand-eye co-ordination improves, your baby will enjoy finger foods. Why not try hummus and breadsticks or vegetable sticks. We had great success from offering a selection of cooked vegetables as a starter course to a meal. Organix do a great range of savoury rice cakes suitable from 6-7 months as well as salt-free carrot sticks and corn snacks. Fresh fruit is always a good standby snack and Kiddies Kitchen's dried fruits such as apricots, raisins and cranberries often go down well in between meals.

Stage 4 weaning - 12 months plus

At this stage there are now very few foods that should not be given to baby. It therefore becomes easier to share family meal times with baby eating the same as the other members of the family (albeit baby's portion should be un-salted and may need roughly mashing or chopping into manageable chunks).

Baby will find cutlery and spoons easier to use by now and you can move onto metal forks and spoons such as those from Vital Baby.

Don't be surprised if there is a distinct dip in your child's appetite. The growth rate slows significantly in the second year and so, until they start toddling, energy requirements and therefore appetite, will also fall. Continue to provide a varied and interesting diet to minimise the risk of food faddiness - don't be surprised if new dishes are initially rejected (it can take a few goes). It is equally possible that old favourites may fall out of favour for a while. The best advice is to keeping plugging away, reintroducing foods every now and then, to maintain variety.

In the next article we'll look at some of the common feeding problems encountered in the first year and share a few tips for coping with them.

posted by Richard @ 5:43 AM