Yogurt

Get Imaginative with Yogurt

Yogurt is such a good thing for your baby to eat, but serving it each night for pudding can get a bit boring and can be the beginning of creating a fussy eater. But by using your imagination and serving up yogurt in different ways, you can encourage a little one who isn't adventurous to expand their menu.

Serving-up Yogurt?

Yogurt is a messy business. If you’re a true BLW’er then offer your little one a bowl with a spoon and watch them go – and then spend some time cleaning it up.

 Some parents find that offering yogurt on a pre-loaded spoon is a successful (and cleaner) way of serving it up. Rather than spoon-feeding the yogurt in to a waiting mouth, allow your little one to grab the spoon or your hand and guide you.

Try pre-loading a spoon with yogurt and let your little one grab on to it and guide you in.

How Yogurt Can Create a Fussy Eater

A pot of petits-filous each night after dinner is a popular dessert choice for many families. It won't be long before your child will come to expect the yogurt and protest when it doesn't appear, whilst also reducing the amount of the main meal he consumes in preparation. By eating the same foods regularly, your little one will naturally reduce the range of foods they will be willing to try.

How Yogurt Can Help a Fussy Eater

If your child is already eating yogurt, then you already have a versatile food that you know your little one will eat. By serving the yogurt in different ways, you retain the familiarity of a food whilst introducing a new element to it. By keeping one dimension of the dish constant (the inclusion of yogurt) you are encouraging your child to accept a new taste, texture or dish whilst keeping that reassurance of knowing what to expect.

Try serving the same food but in a different way.

Changing the flavour of the yogurt is one small way of introducing change to a fussy eater.  There are lots of yogurts on the market aimed at children, many containing added sugars. Why not try serving a plain full-fat natural greek-yogurt with a variety of fruit purees or banana stirred-in to liven up and mix-up the flavour. By mixing in a different fruit will vary the smell, taste, appearance and texture, all attributes which help your child learn to eat new foods. Even varying the brand of yogurt you buy will help, since no two brands will be exactly the same in way of taste or consistency.

Try St Dalfour Rhapsodie Fruit Spread (buy it in the jam section of most supermarkets) which serves as a fantastic jam-substitute and mixes in nicely with a bowl of yogurt.

Another way to encourage your child to try something new is to serve the yogurt in a different way. You may always serve it in their favourite bowl but maybe tonight serve it up in a sundae dish. These small steps towards your child eating something "new" will go a long way towards helping your fussy eater feel they can try new things

Try cutting a small melon in half  and remove the flesh then serve your yogurt in the melon skin - a different bowl adds variety to the meal. For a smaller portion, try doing a similar thing with a cucumber chunk as a mini-bowl.

Yogurt-coated raisins, nuts and fruit pieces are becoming an increasingly popular snack, however many contain more sugar than yogurt so read the packets carefully. Instead, why not create your own with our Frozen Yogurt Coated Strawberries recipe. This recipe adds a whole new dimension to yogurt as the consistency and temperature are different to a regular yogurt and can be a great way of encouraging a fussy eater to try something new, since it still has the familiarity of yogurt.

Frozen Yogurt Coated Strawberries

Strawberries

Full-fat Natural Greek Yogurt

Optional: Fruit Puree or Rhapsodie St Dalfour Fruit Spread

1. Wash the strawberries and either cut in half or serve whole
2. Strain the yogurt through a sieve to make it thicker
3. Dip the strawberries in the yogurt and lay on a sheet of baking paper (that fits in your freezer) and freeze overnight
4. Serve and enjoy (and then clean up the mess!)

My baby is lactose-intolerant, should I offer yogurt?

Babies who are lactose-intolerant are missing the enzyme lactase in their digestive system so have difficulties breaking down the sugars present in milk. The live active cultures found in yogurt actually create lactase which makes yogurt easier to digest than milk. Casein is a milk protein which many babies have an intolerance or allergy to and the active cultures in yogurt smash up this protein making it easier for your little one to digest.

It is not unusual for lactose-intolerant babies who have difficulty eating milk to digest yogurt easily.

What about Yogurt and Antibiotics?

If your child is poorly, they may be prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics kill off all the bacteria in the body, even the good ones. Try and replenish these bacteria as they serve a purpose in keeping your little one’s digestive tract functioning healthily. Yogurt contains Acidophilus, which stimulate the resurrection of the “good bacteria”. Many adults take this as a supplement after a course of antibiotics for this reason and some parents give their child a baby-friendly version of acidophilus as a supplement also.

Yogurt is a great thing to offer your baby after they have been on antibiotics.

  

Research shows that children recover faster from diarrhoea when eating yogurt.

From what age can my baby eat yogurt?

Babies can be offered yogurt from 6 months. It shouldn’t however be used as a substitute for formula milk or breast milk.

Should I offer Yogurt or Milk for a Calcium Boost?

Yogurt and milk are great sources of calcium, essential for your baby’s growing bones. The live cultures in yogurt actually increase the absorption of calcium and so 8oz of yogurt gets more calcium in to your little one’s body than the same volume of cow’s milk.  

This only applies to weaning or weaned babies. You should never substitute yogurt for formula or breast milk.

Try serving your little one’s breakfast cereal with yogurt rather than milk for a super-calcium infusion

Yogurt is a versatile food, so be imaginative!

 Yogurt on a spoon photograph courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net