"True Baby-led Weaning!"

True Baby-led Weaning

"True Baby-led weaning is a way of introducing solid foods that allows babies to self-feed. You offer your child a range of foods you are happy for them to eat and they choose to eat it".

True Baby-led weaning is based on psychological and biomechanical principles. The philosophy is based on teaching children from the moment they are weaned to gain a healthy relationship with food and to prevent fussy eating habits developing.

If you choose to offer your little one purees than that is your decision and you can get the same benefits as were you to offer them the food on your plate. If your baby is happy to pick up purees and pop them in their mouth then that is their decision, as is them choosing to chomp on a chunk of steak!

What is True Baby-led weaning

True Baby-led weaning is when you offer a variety of foods of different tastes and textures to your baby and allow them to self-feed. 

How is True Baby-led weaning different to other weaning methods? 
Baby-led weaning is where your baby eats what you eat - no spoons or purees.

Traditional weaning is where food is pureed and the caregiver feeds the child with a spoon. 

True Baby-led weaning is when you offer your baby a variety of foods and they self-feed.

How do I get started with True baby-led weaning?

·         Don’t let anyone, except your baby, put food in their mouth ·         Don’t leave your baby alone with food ·         Don’t give your baby any salt, sugar or whole nuts ·         Don’t give your baby any raw honey until they’re twelve months old

·         Do make sure your baby is sitting upright ·         Do cut small fruits such as grapes and cherries in half and remove any stones ·         Do be prepared for a mess ·         Do be prepared to have some fun!

What are the Benefits of True Baby-led weaning?

Babies gain independence by exploring food for themselves, at their own pace

Babies develop healthy eating habits as they learn to self-regulate their feeding

Children decide the pace and the amount they eat based on their own individual requirements

Babies are exposed to many different tastes and textures of food from the start making them more open to trying them as they grow

Finger foods encourage babies to chew, bite and suck, which helps develop the muscles used for speech

Self-feeding can improve hand-eye coordination

Babies are less likely to become bored and frustrated at mealtimes as they are feeding themselves

Let’s do it!

Position plenty of wipes and kitchen roll nearby

Have all your child’s food and drink to hand before you start

Have something for yourself at the same time. You may be sat there for a while and will be more inclined to tuck in and copy you

Lay some cheap PVC matting or newspaper on the floor around the highchair

Pop your baby in the highchair, placing a rolled up towel behind his back if he’s too far away from the table

Dress your baby in a longsleeved bib with a pelican bib on top

Place at least 2 different food items on the table and watch them explore.

If you choose to offer purees, then dollop some on the highchair tray and let your baby use their hands or a spoon to self-feed.

It’s as simple as that. Remember, you are offering your baby the chance to try some food, you are not feeding them. If they’re not interested, don’t worry and try again at the next mealtime.  Throughout weaning, continue to offer regular milk feeds and gradually your baby will reduce their milk intake as their appetite for food grows

We like to set our little ones a good example and encourage sharing. We don't mind you using any of the information, recipes and tips from our website, all we ask is that you credit us hard-working mummies here at Yummy Discoveries. 

Thank you x

©Yummy Discoveries Ltd.

Mince Pies (sugar free, of course!)

Mince Pies 

(Refined Sugar & Aspartame Free!)

 Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

Christmas is just around the corner so here is a recipe for Mince Pie which you and your whole family can enjoy whilst you get ready for the festive season. The sticky fruit filling will make eating the mince pie easy for any weaning baby whilst the Adult-Add on will create a more lavish mince pie for you to enjoy.  Merry Christmas! 

All our recipes are 100% refined sugar and aspartame free. They are given the thumbs-up by our own families before sharing them with yours.

Makes enough for 12 mince pies

For the mincemeat:

125g dried figs

4 tbsp water

50g butter

125ml apple juice

100g sultanas

100g currents

50g raisins

2 tsp mixed spice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

Pinch of nutmeg

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the pastry:

225g plain flour

100g butter

Cold water (1 tsp per 25g of flour)

For the glaze:

 1 egg, beaten

1.      Pre heat the oven to 200ºC (180C Fan) gas mark 6

TO MAKE THE MINCEMEAT

1. Finely chop the figs and put in a pan with 4 Tbsp of water
2. Bring to the boil and leave to gently simmer for about 10 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed 
3. Place the stewed figs into a bowl and set aside
4. Put the butter and apple juice in the pan and on a low heat gently melt the butter
5. Meanwhile in a bowl mix the sultanas, currents, raisins, spices and zest together
6. Once the butter has melted tip in the ingredients from the bowl, add the figs and stir well
7. Bring the mixture to the boil and simmer on a low heat for bout 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally
8. Take off the heat once the liquid has been absorbed and the fruit mixture looks sticky and glossy

TO MAKE THE PASTRY

1. Sift the flour into a bowl
2. Cut the butter into chunks and add to the flour
3. Using your fingertips rub the flour and butter together to make breadcrumbs
4. Sprinkle the water over the breadcrumbs and mix together until all ingredients have been combined
5. Place the pastry onto a well floured surface and knead
6. Dust your rolling pin with flour and roll out the pastry

      FINISHING IT OFF

1. Cut out 12 rounds using an 8.5cm pastry cutter and 12 rounds using a 6.5cm pastry cutter
2. Lightly grease a 12 hole shallow bun/muffin tin with butter
3. Place the larger pastry rounds into the holes and add a generous spoonful of mincemeat
4. Top with the smaller pastry rounds
5. Brush the beaten egg over the top of the mince pies
6. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry turns golden

Tip: Get creative with your mince pies; use different shaped pastry cutters for the tops, for example stars, or Christmas trees

Adult add on: For those adults wanting to enjoy their mince pies with a little festive cheer, halve the mincemeat then stir in a couple of Tbsp of your favourite tipple (i.e. brandy, sherry or rum) to the halved mixture before placing into the pastry rounds.  Once baked sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with brandy butter...yummy!

Leftovers: Make fig rolls with your left over figs and pastry.  Repeat steps 2 – 4 then using a fork mash the stewed figs.   Roll out the spare pastry into a rectangular shape.  Place the squashed figs down one of the longer sides.  Brush some beaten egg along the opposite side and fold over the fig, creating a long sausage shape.  With a sharp knife cut the sausage up into smaller pieces.  Prick the biscuits with a fork, place on a greased baking tray and pop into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes

Health: These mince pies are ideal for constipation. They are full of dried fruit so will help get things moving!

We like to set our little ones a good example and encourage sharing. We don't mind you using any of the information, recipes and tips from our website, all we ask is that you credit us hard-working mummies here at Yummy Discoveries. 

Thank you x

Images copyright to Yummy Discoveries Ltd

 

"I don't like it"

"I don't like it"

Are you cooking the same old things? Are you avoiding that new recipe as you don’t want your hard work to be wasted when your little one rejects it? The thought of having to cook an alternative or have a hungry little one isn’t appealing so instead the usual Spaghetti Bolognese or Sausages and Chips are pulled out of the freezer.

It doesn’t have to be like that. Try these small steps and your new dish won’t be wasted.

Range Of Foods

Put a range of foods on the plate so your little one can make a choice. Include foods you know your little one will eat. It may mean having an unusual combination, but the presence of familiar foods alongside the unfamiliar ones acts as a safety net and doesn’t make a whole plate of new food quite so scary.

Give (some) Control

Give your little one some control over their dinner. Before the meal, announce to your little one what you’re having for dinner and ask which of two side dishes they would like to have with it (make sure they’re ones they will eat and ones you're willing to cook). Once the decision is made, repeat back the meal choice that has been decided. The conversation might go something like this:

MUM: We are having Chicken Cacciatore tonight. Would you like rice or mash potatoes with it?

LITTLE ONE: Rice please.

MUM: Great – so we’re having chicken cacciatore with rice for dinner. Is that right?

LITTLE ONE: Yes

MUM: Lovely – that sounds yummy.

      Eat together

Eat the meal together. Seeing other people eat a new food not only encourages eating through copying but also confirms that the food is safe to eat. Historically, babies were crawling around caves munching food from bushes, and eating the wrong berry could prove fatal. Instinctively children look to a parent to demonstrate what is safe to eat. If you eat the new food, this confirms the food is safe and they are more likely to eat it.

Avoid "Do you like it"?

When you sit down for dinner, avoid asking “Do you like it?”. This closed question will trigger either a Yes/No response  which is often decided not on the food but by other psychological factors. Have you ever said “no” to something just to be difficult because you didn’t get your own way earlier? Keep food separate.

Under the age of 5 children don’t know what they “like” so asking “Do you like it?” is a little out of their league in terms of cerebral comprehension. A child saying “I don’t like it” often means  “I haven’t tried it enough times yet” or “It’s unfamiliar to me” so save this question for toys at this age.

Try "Tell me what it tastes like"

Ideally, everyone will tuck-in and enjoy this new food but the reality often isn’t like that. Don’t resort to the “Just try one bite” as you are opening up to an immediate response of “Yuck” or “Bleugh” or “I don’t like it” as a knee-jerk reaction.  This can quickly become a habitual conversation between you and your little one for each new food. Instead, ask your little one to tell you what they think. Examples might be:

Is it cold like the ice cream you had at your birthday party?

Is it runny like the yogurt you had for breakfast?

Does it crunch like the cucumber sticks you had at snack time?

Enjoy your meal together as a family and remember, even if after all this your little one isn’t interested in your delicious food, research has shown it takes exposure of a new food 15-18 times before a little one may “like” it so don’t throw the recipe away, just try again in a few days.

Image copyright yummy discoveries ltd.

We like to set our little ones a good example and encourage sharing. We don't mind you using any of the information, recipes and tips from our website, all we ask is that you credit us hard-working mummies here at Yummy Discoveries. 

Thank you x

©Yummy Discoveries Ltd.

Help - My Older Child Is Refusing Food!

Help - my older child is refusing food!

Many parents ask us what to do when their first child (who was maybe baby-led weaned) starts refusing food when they’re weaning their younger sibling. It might seem really confusing - why on earth would your child, who previously loved feeding themselves and enjoyed a wide range of foods, suddenly become fussy?

Well, something similar happens with children who weren’t baby-led weaned, too, when parents are weaning their younger sibling.

What’s this about?

If this behaviour coincides with when you’re weaning their younger sibling, then it’s easy to get misled into thinking that the problem is eating or food-related. It can be confusing when your child seems to be becoming a fussy eater, or suddenly doesn’t like foods they used to love.

In this situation, chances are that it’s not about food or their likes or dislikes; it’s about attention. Children who were spoon-fed during weaning often suddenly demand to be spoon-fed or say they can’t feed themselves when they see parents spoon-feeding their younger sibling. This is because parents are giving a lot of attention to the child they’re weaning during mealtimes. During those periods, the older child may feel insecure and want the one-to-one time during mealtimes that they see their sibling getting.

Young children often don’t have the self-awareness to make sense of complex feelings in the way that we can, as adults. They also don’t have the vocabulary to explain how they’re feeling and what they need, when their feelings are complex. The way to get what they need, then, is to show you that they need you just as much as their sibling does, which they do by regressing to a previous stage. None of this is thought out, or deliberately manipulative. Children are wired to survive, and the relationship with you is fundamental for this. They are wired to get you to respond to their needs, first and foremost.

So when baby-led weaned children feel insecure at mealtimes, what can they do? Well, they can’t regress to spoon-feeding, as they weren’t spoon-fed! So they can’t demand to be spoon fed, but they can refuse food as a way of getting you to pay them more attention.

  

What can I do?

If you understand that this isn’t food-related and your child wants attention, then you can respond appropriately. Some ideas that might help are:

-         Include your older child in mealtime conversations, so it really becomes a group time. Don’t assume they can eat while you turn your attention to your other little one. If your attention is focused on your younger child, your older child will notice this – it’s a big deal to them.

-         Give your older child an important role in what’s happening. You could do this by talking to them about what you’re giving your younger child today and asking for their help, for example in preparing it (e.g. peeling the banana or drizzling oil over some veggies). You could also explain that you need their help in showing their younger sibling how yummy food is, how we all enjoy food, or how to eat food.

-         Give your older child some ownership and control over the process. Let your older child help to choose what you give your younger child; i.e. you make a high level choice (vegetables) and they get to choose something you include in everyone’s meal. Frame it that you need their help in deciding what you all have today. This way, you still get to give your younger child an A or B choice, to help them develop their own choice-making abilities.

-         Make sure everybody has similar-looking foods on their plate, so you’re all eating food in the same form (e.g. so everybody has steamed broccoli).

-         Give your older child extra attention at other times and make them feel important – ask for their help and opinions day to day so they feel needed.

-         Familiarise your older child with what’s happening and frame it as a joint endeavour. Talk to them often at other times about what we are doing so that they are prepared for what will happen at mealtimes (e.g. when we have lunch we’re going to teach your baby sister/brother all about the yummy food we eat). It’ll be less likely to make them feel suddenly insecure at mealtimes.

It’s important to remain mindful of times when it’s normal for children to become fussier (i.e. when they go through periods of neophobia – fear of new foods) and to support them through this.

So whenever your child behaves differently with food, take a step back and work out what it’s really about. Decide whether the issue is food-related, or whether your child is regressing, so that you can respond in a way that helps them grow and develop.

Image courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos,net

We like to set our little ones a good example and encourage sharing. We don't mind you using any of the information, recipes and tips from our website, all we ask is that you credit us hard-working mummies here at Yummy Discoveries. 

Thank you x

©Yummy Discoveries Ltd.