baby advice feeding question..

Ellejmorgan

cutestkids wrote: »

my little one used to love macaroni cheese at this age what I used to do was make the cheese sauce but instead of normal macaroni I would use the little pasta stars that you can get as they are very small and just right for introducing some texture.

Also the cheese sauce can be used for other things I used to mix a little with mashed potato for him and also make fish pie just a little bit of white fish mashed potato and some cheese sauce.

Chicken casserole which I would make with chicken breast onion, carrot and parsnip cook in chicken stock and the mash up as much as you want this is good as you can start off with a real puree then as the baby gets more used to it make it lumpier every time.

I would mash up spagetti bolognese for ours as well, if she can't cope yet with the texture of the mince then puree instead of mash.

Pretty much anything that I was making like Stew, mince spagetti I would just take some out and mash up for the little one.

Even a roast dinner which both of mine loved I would just mash everything up to the consistency that they could cope with.

Some good ideas there thank you..

GobbledyGook

As long as you don't cook with lots of salt or sugar then little bits of what you cook for yourself will be fine bashed up or pureed a wee bit.

What I used to do was make enough each night to do us all, but because the children eat earlier than us (only due to ex-H's hours) they would have it the next day so that I wasn't making two meals a day.

Another good option is if you have the freezer space and you do like a wee bit of salt in your own cooking is to batch cook for the baby. I did that for my middle daughter as she is allergic to certain things. So I'd make a whole pan of macaroni with her milk for the sauce and then freeze it in little portions. Then it's just a case of taking a wee portion of whatever out of the freezer for the lo.

Nicki

mildred1978 wrote: »

With recipes full of salt and sugar.

Its been a while since I cooked any of her recipes (i had the books and didnt use the website) but I dont think her recipes for babies had any salt in them at all, and most had no sugar either. In any case there is no reason why you can't leave the salt and sugar out, even if they are listed in the list of ingredients. They won't make the recipe succeed or fail.

To be honest, most adult meals which are used for BLW will have tons more salt and sugar in them, than recipes contained in a book aimed at babies and toddlers.

GobbledyGook

Was the controversy/criticism of the salt content not aimed at the ready-made AK meals?

mildred1978

I recall reading something, but it might have been her baby and toddler recipes that were high in salt and sugar. I'll have a look when I'm not on my phone.

I've never used salt in cooking, and buy low salt stock cubes, so wasn't worried if a chip at the pub had salt on it, or about the salted butter/marmite on his toast.

I think most of Ak's savoury pur!es have something sweet in them. This, in my view, makes It harder to get kids to eat normal veg later on.

GobbledyGook

Having a look about Google it was the ready meals that were heavy in salt and sugar. Some of the ready meals had more salt than the adult alternative (the lasagne seemed to be a particular one). It should be said that AK felt the criticism was unfair and that as part of a balanced diet the meals were fine.

It's like any ready meal though, the home made alternative is going to be healthier.

Nicki

I've just had a browse through my copy of the Baby and Toddler Meal planner whilst kids were finishing their tea.

None of the recipes for children under the age of 1 contained any added sugar or salt, including ingredients like stock cubes, soy sauce or marmite, etc. And the book contained a warning that food for babies under 1 should be low salt and low sugar. Very few of the savoury dishes had a sweet puree added. There was the odd recipe for fish with orange and chicken with apple, but most of it was meat/fish/poultry with root veg of some kind, or wholly vegetarian options.

In the toddler section, about a third of the recipes had either a small amount of salt and pepper (to taste) or sugar in moderate quantities (ie around 1tbsp of sugar in a recipe said to serve a family of 4).

So, on that basis, I struggle to see how the recipes are chock full of salt and sugar. I also happen to know that AK is fond of muh learned friends, in much the same way, Gina Ford is, so am sure she will be thrilled to read Mildred's "informed criticism" of her recipes.

mildred1978

Nicki wrote: »

I've just had a browse through my copy of the Baby and Toddler Meal planner whilst kids were finishing their tea.

None of the recipes for children under the age of 1 contained any added sugar or salt, including ingredients like stock cubes, soy sauce or marmite, etc. And the book contained a warning that food for babies under 1 should be low salt and low sugar. Very few of the savoury dishes had a sweet puree added. There was the odd recipe for fish with orange and chicken with apple, but most of it was meat/fish/poultry with root veg of some kind, or wholly vegetarian options.

In the toddler section, about a third of the recipes had either a small amount of salt and pepper (to taste) or sugar in moderate quantities (ie around 1tbsp of sugar in a recipe said to serve a family of 4).

So, on that basis, I struggle to see how the recipes are chock full of salt and sugar. I also happen to know that AK is fond of muh learned friends, in much the same way, Gina Ford is, so am sure she will be thrilled to read Mildred's "informed criticism" of her recipes.

Okay, okay, I get it. You love the women who tell you exactly how to care for your child. I expect it saves you the hassle of thinking for yourself.

I already said that it may have been the ready meals that got slated for having far too much salt.

However, having had a quick look on her website, her recipes for 6-9 month old include:

butternut squash with pear,
tasty salmon puree, which includes orange juice and carrots - both sweet
fruity chicken, which includes sweet potato and dried apricots
beef and sweet potato, which includes sweet potato and orange juice
easy one pot chicken, which includes sweet potato, peas and carrots
museli, including pear, apple, raisins and pear concentrate
chicken with spring veg, which includes sweet red pepper, sweet potato, apple juice and peas

More than half of the recipes include an ingredient which is at the sweet end of the scale. Now babies need calories, but they don't need all of their food to be sweet.

Ellejmorgan

mildred1978 wrote: »

Okay, okay, I get it. You love the women who tell you exactly how to care for your child. I expect it saves you the hassle of thinking for yourself.

I already said that it may have been the ready meals that got slated for having far too much salt.

However, having had a quick look on her website, her recipes for 6-9 month old include:

butternut squash with pear,
tasty salmon puree, which includes orange juice and carrots - both sweet
fruity chicken, which includes sweet potato and dried apricots
beef and sweet potato, which includes sweet potato and orange juice
easy one pot chicken, which includes sweet potato, peas and carrots
museli, including pear, apple, raisins and pear concentrate
chicken with spring veg, which includes sweet red pepper, sweet potato, apple juice and peas

More than half of the recipes include an ingredient which is at the sweet end of the scale. Now babies need calories, but they don't need all of their food to be sweet.

I found her ideas very useful, actually this poster has been very helpful indeed, Nicki thank you for your ideas...

mildred1978

Ellejmorgan wrote: »

I found her ideas very useful, actually this poster has been very helpful indeed, Nicki thank you for your ideas...

You should have said earlier that you don't believe in BLW and were only interested in purees. Would have saved a lot of us a lot of time.