To not cook for just weaned baby?

[Heavyrainforecast]

DD is 7 months. She’s very slowly getting the hang of eating but isn’t eating anything really significant in the way of solids.

Monday, Tuesday and Friday (and weekends) I have her brother too so I make a child friendly meal and she can just have some of that. But on Wednesday and Thursday he is at nursery and eats there. AIBU not to make her a special meal and just give her a bit of toast or crumpet?

She’s tucking into boiled egg. Free range from chickens owned by a house down the road. And carbs. Sorry.

At that age I remember mine having adult food. So if I’m eating she would have that (very small amounts to chew on mainly) and I stripped back my meals so that they were not overly seasoned (or I would put aside unseasoned food and cook then season the adult portion). Normally it would be things that are pretty quick to make. At that point I would blend it (so a blend of veg, meat and sometimes a carb )- I can’t quite remember when she was on solids but this homemade paste worked for us during the weaning period. These pastes can then be stored in the freezer and could last a day or 2 as she only needed a little on her plate.

YANBU to make a simple meal. Toast and banana or scrambled eggs or a plate with breadsticks, fruit and cheese is fine. Even a bowl of porridge.

Get down from your high horse and read OP’s first post again. This baby is home every day; it’s the older child that’s in nursery!

At 7 months when she's hardly eating anything anyway, of course. An absolute non issue.

It's the risk you take, posting on here or anywhere else. I think some people are losing patience because you seem to not want advice so much as to be told it's really ok to just give toast or crumpets. Some people think it is, some people don't. For what it's worth, when I was weaning my last baby, 37 years ago, he had a bit of whatever we had had the night before, puréed or mashed depending on stage, plus pieces of fruit or veg. If the reason you want to give toast or crumpets is because that's what you're giving your other child, then I think that's really quite a good thing because they will take the lead from them.

This. I batch froze one lot of parsnip puree and ditched it 18 months later, still frozen. Mostly I just gave her a little of what I had, which usually involved some level of fruit or veg but not always. To be honest, I really combined baby-led weaning, which was fun but more playing and exploring than eating and involved a lot of mess, and spoon-feeding, which meant that she actually got to taste her food and be nourished by it (yoghurt, mashed veg). I personally would say that whilst her diet is mostly milk it's fine for her to have a day of crumpets and toast with avo provided that she also gets to have varied tastes of other stuff over the week.

PS she's six and relatively adventurous: doesn't like everything she eats but will usually try anything once.

A crumpet wint help them to start eating a wide range of tastes and textures.

Why doesn't your other child eat what you do? There is no such thing as child friendly food. They can eat whatever you ate eating.

My DS is 10 months now and I remember being so bloody stressed with weaning at 7 months. We love food in our household but my DH and I are not fancy cooks. We stick to family favourites such as macaroni cheese, curry, chilli, roast dinner etc. So I remember having a complete panic attack when I looked online and saw all these (in my opinion) overly complicated baby recipes that would take forever, only for my son to throw it on the floor. I contacted my health visitor, convinced I was making a total mess of everything, only for her to remind me that at 7 months all you need to be thinking about is providing a wide variety of textures and tastes so that your baby learns to eat and recognises it as an enjoyable experience. It sounds like you are doing absolutely fine OP. I got through it in the end. My son now just eats whatever meals we eat, all we do is ensure that the salt and sugar levels are kept way down.

Up until 12 months baby's main source of nutrition is milk. Chill out OP she'll be fine with some toast fingers and fruit - especially if she's already eaten at nursery. Whilst some babies are on 3 meals a day plus snacks by 6.5 months some aren't. My DD was no where near 3 meals a day at 7 months. At this stage they are learning how to eat solids rather than relying on them for sustenance. Don't worry.

OP has already explained that she's on a diet which isn't suitable for her other child and child friendly simply means nothing super hot etc.

A crumpet twice a week when otherwise eating with her brother the other days is absolutely fine.

We started BLW with DD when she was 6 months, started with veg and veg combos and then fruit (slices of melon, banana, mango etc) then at 7 months she was having for example weetabix for breakfast with a bit of banana mushed in, something like an omelette or pasta and pesto for lunch with some sliced avocado/cucumber/chopped tomatoes and some raspberries or similar. We do HelloFresh and eat a lot later than her dinner time (6pm before bath and bed) so I use a microwave steamer for veg and add a sausage and some mash potato and low salt gravy, or I air fry a chicken breast in some herbs and add steamed veg and pouch rice (Tilda do a kids version which is low salt etc). The mess is annoying but it's temporary. She's now 9 months old and enjoys most food. Is there any way you could clear out your freezer (make some meals out of the frozen stuff) so you have some room to maybe freeze some chilli con carne/bolognese etc. on a Sunday I make a baby friendly chilli and bolognese and add grated carrot/courgette etc for hidden veggies and then freeze in small freezer bags and she really enjoys these.

Also, my DD has a crumpet or toast for breakfast a couple of times a week. There is nothing wrong with things in moderation (obviously things like honey are off limits until 1) but you'll know all of this. Sometimes if we have a busy day I'll use an Ella's kitchen pouch and she lives their fruit smoothies which is an easy "pudding". Don't be hard on yourself x

That's another reason BLW is so beneficial. You're not cooking specifically for her, you just give her a bit of what you're having. Can you really not start eating proper food for a bit so you can model mealtimes for your baby?

No.

She's 7 months - yes most ends up on the floor

Unless you have specific medical concerns I wouldn't worry that she doesn't eat much - they don't at that age and they don't need too

Continue to give healthy things like Brocilli - much better than toast for her and no more hassle to cook surely ?

You don't have to cook her a meal but she can't have crumpet for one meal and toast for the next. Microwave a bit of frozen veg, some banana, or apple, you can get bags of frozen mixed fruit, mix with yogurt, or porridge, packs of precooked plain chicken, the thick chunks not the thin slices. Couple slices of pepper.

You can provide nutrition without effort essentially. Don't just feed her bread.

It would be better for her eating for you to eat aswell.

Would a different weight loss plan be a better alternative for you, rather than meal replacements?

When you say 'meal replacements', do you mean something like the milk shakes?

I'm wondering whether you would find it easier to make food for both of you if you were making food which both of you can eat. It would make life a lot simpler for you.

You would still be able to lose weight if your diet were based on food prepared from scratch.

I get you OP, I feel like it’s a lot sometimes prepping 6 meals a day (3 for adults plus 3 for baby) trying to cook anything with a baby is a struggle. Also have a tiny freezer so very hard to batch cook. I get what people are saying just feed them what you eat but to be frank I don’t want to eat baby friendly food the whole time. I’m making enough sacrifices in my life. We eat a lot of rich, spicy, salty & crunchy foods that are difficult to adapt for a baby. Adding salt after isn’t the same.

IMO toast or crumpet is fine for a lunch esp. with some avocado which is very nutritious. You could also add a thin scraping of a smooth nut butter. I probably wouldn’t rely on that for 2 meals in one day though.

So lunches are often not a ‘meal’ as such more a collection of different foods. I don’t think they need to go together in the same way as an adult meal as it’s just about introducing different flavours & textures so often what I feed her is quite random. Quick & easy ideas if you have a microwave (or I just do very quickly on the hob as don’t have a microwave atm):

potato & veggies mashed with a bit of cream cheese

A quick one I do is tinned mixed beans/bean salad (make sure no added salt). Mash or blend them & add vegetables on the side.

eggs are quick, you can boil the night before then mash with a fork. Add some milk if needed.

tinned tuna is an easy way to add protein but they shouldn’t have it more than 1 or 2x a week I think (nhs have guidance on this)

sweet potato is really quick to steam & very nutritious

couscous just done with the kettle, just pour over hot water in a bowl with a plate on top to just cover the couscous, add microwaved veggies

If we have meat or fish for dinner I just put some aside for the next day for her and add to some from the above.

Bags of frozen pre-prepared vegetables can be a lifesaver.

I also think there’s nothing wrong with a jar or sachet now & then when you’re up against it as long as it’s not all they eat. They’re usually organic and actually very nutritionally balanced just no texture and pretty bland.

Another thing we do when cooking dinner in the evening is just have one extra pan on with lentils, chickpeas or pasta, that can then form the base for her lunch the next day.

I also think yes a balanced meal is carbs protein & veg but when they’re eating so little it’s ok if one meal is more carbs and one is more protein, always with some fruit or veg.

I will caveat my baby loves eating and rarely refuses anything so that definitely makes it easier!

Oh god, 7 months, def dont worry, especially if shes been eating at nursery!

A few days a week having some crumpet and yoghurt for dinner wont hurt.

What do you have for lunch or dinner? I’d just give her that tbh!

Ps I used to worry so much and made three cooked meals a day for my son - so much work! he ate it all too. Guess what? He’s now 4 and barely eats anything despite all we did. (Part of being autisirc possibly). So for second child really not as worried!

I think if you have the time, it is unreasonable not to cook for your baby. Half of it may very well end up on the floor, but the point is that you are training them about every aspect of mealtimes - different tastes and textures, eating with other people, at a table, manners, using cutlery , drinking from a cup etc. They learn this from consistent behaviours from a young age. It really does make life much easier later on if they've already been exposed to lots of different tastes and understand how to behave at a table and so on. (If you're worried about mess, grab some free newspapers if you're out and about near a station, as they're great to put under highchairs and simply wrap up the mess and throw away once the baby has finished 'eating').

Meals don't have to be complex, but ideally should contain a few different items for your baby to pick up, look at, smell and hopefully taste. There's nothing wrong with a slice of toast, but things like porridge, an omlette with different fillings, slices of veg (not a huge amount because, as you say, in this case, much of it will go to waste, but a slim stick of carrot, a slice of campsicum, a small piece of broccoli, a French bean etc), mashed potato with a bit of chicken or fish are not time consuming to prepare. Do you have any friends with children a similar age that you could ask for recipes? A friend of mine recommended half an avocado blended with a couple of mango strips, which turned out to be a favourite for my child when he was a baby.