Your baby should be moving onto family foods anytime between nine months and one year of age. The earlier you can move your baby onto family food, the better.
At MummyCooks, we look at recipes for the family that would also suit a nine-month-old. As long as you keep the salt and sugar levels low, family foods are acceptable for a weaning baby.
Some tips on moving your baby onto family foods:
- Portions: Continue with three main meals and include one to two snacks each day.
- Consistency: The consistency of the food can change from roughly mashed to chopped.
- Finger foods: If your child is managing finger foods or is able to move food from side to side in the mouth, try giving food in bite-sized pieces on his or her own plate at mealtimes.
- Separate: Serve foods separately, rather than mixed together, on the plate so that your child will start to visually identify different foods and will also associate the taste with a particular food.
- Salt: The recommended intake of salt for a child less than one year is 1g, and one to three years is 2g. Family foods tend to be higher in salt, but you can limit this by cutting down on packet and processed foods.
- Fat: Infants need more fat in their diet than adults. Your baby will be unable to eat a large enough volume of low-fat food to meet energy requirements. Therefore, only offer full-fat dairy food products at this stage.
- Sugar: Giving your child foods that are high in sugar will encourage a sweet tooth. This doesn’t mean that such foods should never be given; they are less damaging to teeth if they are taken at the end of a meal.
- Eat together: Eat as a family as much as possible. Your child will watch everything and learn a lot.
- Milk: After your child’s first birthday, cow’s milk can be used as the main milk drink, but limit it to 600mls a day. Offer a small volume of freshly drawn tap water from a cup with meals.
Have fun! Above all, mealtimes should be fun, relaxed and not strained - otherwise children may associate mealtimes with something they do not enjoy. We recommend our 8oz/237ml Toddler portion pots as a guide to storing and serving food for your toddler.
Writer Siobhan is the owner of Mummycooks.ie, who wants to inspire, educate and empower parents to feed their children healthy, home-cooked food. Her blog is a great resource for feeding your child with lots of tips and recipes
For more Family Friendly meals check out the Mummycooks website.
