RSSCategory: Weaning & Mealtime

Wobbles When Weaning

| April 9, 2013

Before long you will have mastered the art of weaning your baby with pureed fruit and vegetables. After a couple of months of puree your baby will be ready for the next stage of weaning, eating foods with more texture.

Adding texture is an important stage in weaning and development for your baby. It helps to strengthen jaw muscles, encourages the development of speech, helps to ensure healthy teeth and prepares your baby for chewing food and eating family meals.

The best advice I received when I was introducing texture to my baby was to take things slowly. There’s no need to get anxious or frustrated if your baby spits out the lumpy bits or refuses textured food altogether.

You may find your baby takes to textured food straight away or it could be some time before your baby is happy chewing and swallowing lumpier food. Either way, there are things you can do to help make this next stage of weaning as easy as possible for both you and your baby.

Mummy and Me Weaning

Tips for the Smooth Introduction of Texture

1. Until your baby is at least ten months old they should be able to easily mush any lumps in their mouth, with or without teeth.

Lumps in food need to be small, soft and manageable for your baby.

2. Begin by slowly adding texture to the foods your baby likes.

Introducing texture to your baby’s puree will most likely be met with a surprised face! You can start by adding grated fruit, mashed vegetable or finely chopped food to your baby’s puree which is a subtle way of encouraging your baby to eat thicker and lumpier food. Introduce new food textures one at a time.

3. Keep baby interested in texture.

When your baby is happy with some texture you can start to vary the texture you give by adding baby pasta shapes or grains such as couscous into their favourite meals.

4. Offer your baby finger foods if they’re developmentally ready.

Babies will often eat lumpier foods if they’re feeding themselves.

5. Don’t force your baby to try something if they don’t want to.

The key is to keep things relaxed and fun so your baby looks forward to mealtimes. This helps to avoid fussy eaters later on.

Initially, I found my baby was happy to eat food with a thicker consistency but she didn’t enjoy food with lumps in it. She would spit the lumps out or refuse to try what I was offering. I took my time and continued to give her food with texture for several weeks until one day she just ate the spoonful of lumpy food as if it were the most normal thing to do!

mummy and me magazineLydia Oliver – Nutritional Advisor Only Best For Baby

This article was published in the April 2013 edition of Mummy and Me Magazine

I offer one to one nutrition programmes for breastfeeding, post pregnancy weight loss, weaning, weight management and health. Contact me.

Savoury Muffins Recipe

| April 8, 2013

I adore Savoury Muffins and have yet to find any muffins that come close to the hearty New Zealand variety. For this week’s Family Meals idea I made a batch of savoury muffins with Cheese, Onion, Sweetcorn and Broccoli using a recipe I’ve had since my Uni days in Wellington.

These savoury muffins are great as a snack for hungry, active toddlers and children. And they’re perfect with a cup of tea when Mum and Dad need to take a rest!

Makes 12 Muffins
Prep Time 10 minutes. Cooking Time 20 minutes at 190 degrees Celcius fan bake.

You’ll Need:

savoury muffins

Savoury Mix:

  • 1 medium Red Onion
  • 1 cup Sweetcorn (from frozen)
  • 5 medium florets of Broccoli
  • 1 cup grated Low Fat Mild Cheese

The delicious savoury muffin filling.

savoury muffins

Let’s Make Savoury Muffins

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celcius fan bake.

2. Peel and chop the Onion. Saute in a small amount of Olive Oil until tender. Add Sweetcorn and cook for another couple of minutes.

3. Wash and finely cut the Broccoli. Boil for 30 seconds. Drain and let cool.

4. Grate 1 cup Low Fat Cheese.

5. Add the Flour, Dried Herbs, Onion, Sweetcorn and Broccoli into a mixing bowl. Gently stir in the Cheese. Create a well in the centre.

6. Whisk the Egg and Milk with a fork.

7. Add the Egg and Milk mixture into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients.

8. Gently mix the dry and wet ingredients, being careful not to over mix. It should be a stiff mixture.

9. Put spoonfuls of the muffin mixture into a lightly greased deep muffin tray.

10. Bake for 20 minutes at 190 degrees Celcius fan bake.

11. Serve warm from the oven or eat within a day. Perfect for packed lunches!

family meals

Looking for ideas for nutritious and quick Family Meals? Try my healthy recipes:

Simple Fish Pie

| March 12, 2013

Welcome to my family meals where I share my favourite fresh, nutritious, easy and quick meals for the whole family to enjoy. Where possible, we always eat and cook with organic ingredients. I like to buy the freshest produce for my family to ensure we’re getting the essential vitamins and minerals we need through our food.

This Simple Fish Pie is nutritious, quick (the green beans and spinach cook in the oven) and my toddler loves it.

Serves 4

Prep Time 10 minutes. Cooking Time 25 minutes.

You’ll Need:

  • 1 Red Onion
  • 2 cloves of Garlic
  • 8 Potatoes
  • 2 Carrots
  • 200g Green Beans
  • 3 handfuls of Spinach Leaves
  • Tin of Salmon
  • 1/2 cup Milk (to help mash the potatoes and carrots)
  • Sprinkle of low-fat Cheese for the topping
  • Sprinkle of Pepper to taste
  • Serve with Sweetcorn (I use super sweet Waitrose Organic Frozen Sweetcorn)

Let’s Make Simple Fish Pie

Fish Pie

1. Wash and chop the potatoes and carrots. Boil until soft.

2. Chop and saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil.

3. Wash and chop the green beans into small bite sized cuts. Add to the onion and garlic for a few minutes and stir occasionally.

4. Open the tin of salmon. Add the onions, garlic, green beans, salmon and spinach into a Pyrex Dish and mix together.

5. Mash the potatoes and carrots with a little milk until you have a smooth consistency.

6. Add the mashed potato mix on top of the vegetables and salmon.

7. Sprinkle a little cheese over the potato mix and add pepper to taste.

8. Cook in the oven on fan bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes (until potato top is turning golden).

9. Boil frozen sweetcorn for 40 seconds.

simple fish pie

10. Serve with sweetcorn and savour this hearty and healthy meal with your family.

fish pie

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