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Weaning Foods

Feeding or Weaning is usually explained in 4 Stages - see below

Stage One

• From 6 months small amounts of pureed foods are introduced
• Try smooth vegetable or fruit purees mixed with a little baby milk
• Always stay with your baby, in case of choking
• Avoid eggs, salty, processed, sugary, nutritionally valueless foods.
• Try cereals (not wheat - avoid wheat products) like baby rice, maize, sago, cornmeal or millet - serve alone or mix with fruit or vegetable purees
• Feed after ONE milk feed or in between milk feed.
• Preferably sitting up in a high chair facing you at the table eating the same time as you.
• Only heat up the food you need, to stop waste and Heat well, allow to cool, stir and test for temperature. Your bottom lip or inner wrist is a good place to test as they are sensitive to heat
• Remember hygiene -Don’t refreeze frozen food or previously heated food, Use clean utensils and feeding stuff
• If you don’t succeed at first, leave for a while and start again later, until their ready
• Remember most of babies nutrients comes from baby milk
• Make up bigger batches of pureed fruits and vegetables and freeze in ice cube trays for instant fresh food, or keep for a couple of days

Stage Two

• Start to introduce more solid food, use fresh mashed up family food when possible
• Wait until your baby opens their mouth when feeding, if you do it -they will often copy
• If they want more, give a little more and allow plenty of time to eat, never rush
• When ready increase the feeds from one to two to three feeds in the day, preferably eat together
• Introduce yogurt and cheese products like cheese sauce, full fat milk can be used in cooking but NOT drunk alone or NOT in smoothes either (until after a year.)
• Use cereal just for breakfast with some fruit (read the label for sugar and salt)
• Introduce other foods and tastes
• Try mashing your own food, no added sugar, salt or honey though
• Make up bigger lots and freeze, or keep refrigerated for several days
• Add pureed meats and fish
• Pureed pulses, like chickpeas, lentils and beans

Stage Three

• Vitamins and minerals come in a rainbow of foods, so introduce an assortment of foods to increase nutritional balance
• Include 2-3 portions of starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, yam, rice and bread
• When ready include finger food at each meal
• Include one serving of protein rich food a day i.e. - meat, fish, pulses, tofu and eggs. Offer a wide varieties of foods, textures and tastes
• Thicken up the food, add more texture, make it lumpier
• When your baby is ready encouraged self-feeding, allowing your baby to take the spoon etc (mess- don’t worry). Keep close at feeding time in case of choking
• Introduce a cup at 6 months, so by 1 year they are of the bottle, cups are better for teeth

Stage Four

• As your baby gets older, they should be eating bigger, chunkier regular meals with healthy snacks in-between especially as they become more mobile
• Use full-fat dairy products for energy and growth
• Serve starchy foods, fresh fruit and vegetables
• Keep away from pasties, cakes and biscuits which will fill your baby up with out giving the nutrition required from an all round diet
• A vegetarian diet should include two servings of pulses per day

Example ideas of finger foods –

Fruits

cut in to strips or small wedges like apples, pears, mango, halved grapes, bananas, kiwi, etc

Dried fruit

like soft apricots, figs, prunes, apples, sultanas etc

Vegetables

cut in to strips like carrot, cucumber, broccoli or cauliflower florets raw or cooked, stripped celery, halved cherry tomatoes, avocado, green beans, etc

Bread

products cut in to strips like toast, bread sticks, rice cakes, flat breads, pitta etc

Other foods like

cubes

of cheese, ham, boiled eggs, prawns, set polenta

Beware of high sugar or salt processed snacks- always read the label

Example ideas of puree food –

Vegetables – carrot, swede, parsnip, pea, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, courgette, avocado, (avoid spinach and beetroot, till older they contain high levels of nitrates) etc