Should I offer advice?

[mogs0]

I have recently started looking after a baby. He was 6 months when he started coming to me and his mum was just thinking about weaning. She brings random pots of food for him which I feel he's too young for (their left over dinner from the night before that's not been pureed). She was just telling me that he was eating cocktail sausages and bits of quiche over Christmas. I want to tell her that these aren't really the most suitable first foods but is it really my place to do so? Am I being judgy? I don't mean to be, it's just not the way I weaned my ds or any of the children I've looked after over the last 12 years.

I'd like to offer her some advice but am not sure I should say anything unless she asks for it.

Sorry, have you not heard of baby led weaning? I think that may be what the mother is doing, if she's bringing leftovers. I'd be concerned about a cocktail sausage as that may be a bit high in salt, but if the parents' diet is healthy then there's no reason why baby can't have what they have after 6mo. Not all babies eat puree, in fact some people might argue that it is unnatural to do so.

not all baby 1st foods have to be pureed my son or daughter never had any pureed food hv said i didn't have to just mash it then i did BLW with my ds which is fab

dd2 never had pureed foods. At 6 months we started her on finger foods (admitedly not cocktail sausages, but still!)

Leftovers often aren't suitable for babies, its not the lack of pureeing that would concern me but the probability of there being salt & other additives in it because of the way adults cook for themselves. Did the parent consider these as festive treats rather than regular diet? Or are these maybe not true leftovers, but a baby portion separated before salt etc is added during cooking?

While its not our place to tell parents what they can/cannot feed their child, we do have a responsibility towards each child in our care to help them get a healthy start - by working together with parents to ensure that what they eat at home plus in childcare combines to make a varied healthy diet.

Instead of offering well-intentioned advice (however well-put there's a risk it could come across as criticism and may be rejected) maybe ask if she's had a chance to discuss weaning with her Health Visitor yet? You could suggest you'd appreciate copies of any up-to-date information leaflets etc if she can get for you while she's there? You could then invite parent(s) to come round to share the info leaflets, go over them and draw up a diet plan together - a list of foods the parent does and doesn't want their child to eat, for your records. Useful to have individual notes for each child, I've got various allergies and parental requests to remember as well as culture/tradition and health reasons that might affect a child's diet. (also handy when cooking for mindees to keep up to date about their likes/dislikes).

By doing this together, parent retains overall control but you have the opportunity to draw attention to anything relevant in the advice leaflets. And you can see that the parent is making an informed decision, whether you agree with it or not.

nothing wrong with any of that. she said he ate 'bits of' sausage and quiche? not, 'all he eats is' sausage and quiche?

just read up a bit on blw so you see where the mum's coming from. they don't need puree at 6 months.

Cocktail sausages and shop bought quiche will be far too high in salt for a 6 month old.

Let's stop bashing the OP for a moment with BLW - honestly, any excuse to jump on someone's case these days, flipping heck.

Of course the issue is not weather the food is pureed, but whether it's the type of food a 6 month old should be eating, in whatever state.

Let's credit the OP, a childcare provider of 12 year with a little intelligence and insight, shall we? Potentially she knows better than we do whether these parents are the type that have allowed the odd bit of processed food over xmas, or that they think this is ok long term. Also, would they not tell the OP if they were doing BLW, given she is feeding the child?

[rolls eyes and leave the thread]

whether definitely leaving thread now.

Actually, I hadn't heard of BLW. I saw it mentioned on the weaning thread last night but had never heard of it.

Re the pureed food - when I've given him lumpy food he has gagged on every spoon of food given.

I'm all for finger food but I don't really consider processed food ideal for anyone I'm feeding let alone a 7 month baby.

I shall go and re-educate myself on weaning a baby.

Thanks for the advice.

maybe just ditch the spoon, let him do it himself with his hands. the gagging is kind of a good thing, it's to stop him choking. is the dinner left overs processed or what? jar food is processed..IYSWIM.

mogs, agree with ops about blw, but I definitely agree with you that processed food is not ideal for a 6mo baby. Maybe you could print out a load of blw bumpf for the m,um and mention the salt thing. Imo, it is your job to say something, afterall, you're the expert here, clearly not the Mum, she'd probably be really grateful for the advice.

Whilst I think it repulsive for a baby of this age to be eating this stuff, as a mum who has used nurseries and nannies I would probably be quite angry if someone told me I was doing it wrong - even if couched as nicely as ayla suggested. There is a always a tendancy to shoot the messenger, so you may want to tread a little carefully.

I would suggest that you limit any comments to "I tried him on the sausage but he didn't seem to be too happy, so I hope you don't mind, but I gave him just the pureed XYZ that I usually give for my under-ones"...

I didn't think the mum was sending sausage TO the childminder- just mentioned that he'd had some at home? If I provided my childminder with meals, whatever they were, and she gave dd something else because she didn't feel my choice was good enough , I'd be a bit miffed. As it is, my childminder feeds my dc but I see her menues in advance and always agree with what she feeds them.

BTW- I BLW dd2 and the whole point of her having lumpy food was not that she was fed it with a spoon, and therefore gagged, but that she fed it to herself, in her own way and time. Also, the meals the mum is bringing, left overs, perhaps these have been made specifically without added salt etc?

I'd give the mum the benefit of the doubt- her child after all. If you can't agree on feeding issues, perhaps you are not right for each other IYSWIM? For example, I just wouldn't use a childcare provider if there were fundamental issues we didn't agree upon, food being perhaps one of them.

I've been lucky so far with the nursery, preschools and childminder I have used!

Mum started a conversation about his feeding this afternoon and I made a few suggestions about things he might like. I have offered to make some food for when he comes, more for her convenience than my food preferences. She was happy with this - I'm happy with this because I love making food for small children (they're so much more enthusiastic than the older ones!!) - and hopefully the baby will be happy with this!!

Thanks for everyone's opinions!

That was a good solution mogs.

I have a mindee who lived on jars for all his life so far. I mentioned that I make home cooked food here and would they like mindee to have this. They jumped at the chance and were really pleased about it!

Thats good you got it sorted. However I don't think she was really doing anything wrong. Yes the sausages would have had too much salt in, but it was at christmas and probably a one off. The fact that he has leftovers is fine IMO. Not sure why people (not the OP) are suggesting left overs have too much salt? You don't know this. My DD has leftovers all the time but I don't add salt to any cooking, because I want to be able to give it to DD and freeze portions for her. If we want salt, we would add it to our plate when we eat it.