WEBINAR: 18TH MARCH, POST YOUR QUESTIONS HERE TO OUR WEANING, FEEDING AND CHILDCARE EXPERTS FROM RIVERSIDE - FEED YOUR CHILDREN WELL. - NOW CLOSED

[LocalEditorHackney]

Are your children's meal times causing you stress? Is weaning proving tougher than you thought? Or has your starving baby suddenly become a food refusing toddler? Then you need some reassurance or our resident experts. We are very lucky to be joined by our crack team of professionals, from Riverside Cares, who will be joining this thread on the 18th March to answer all your feeding-related questions and concerns. Get your questions posted as soon you can and come and join us (or just catch up when you have a moment) to read the answers to your questions.

Introducing the team:
Gaby Morris, co-founded professional childcare agency Riverside Cares 25 years ago and is regularly published in professional childcare magazines here and in the United States. Gaby chairs a charity focused on supporting youth among many other talents.

Jill Wheatcroft MSc, BSc Community Children’s Nursing, RSCN, Post Grad Dip Academic Practice, First Aid Instructor, A1 Assessor has extensive experience as a Paediatric Nursing Sister and Lecturer in Child Health at City University and is the co-founder of Riverside Cares. Her in-depth of knowledge of childcare in home, community and hospital settings enables her to support others working in the childcare sector, as well as providing sound well thought out advice and support for families, underpinned by her extensive knowledge.

Jayshree Subramanian, Masters in Management, currently studying towards a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development qualification. Jayshree loves spending quality time with children and volunteers for a charity supporting the homeless. She has excellent experience of the healthcare sector and highly values client relations and client experience.

Dr Emma Haycraft is a Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University whose research expertise includes parenting during mealtimes. MN Hackney was very lucky to attend one of her talks and you can read our blog post with just some of Emma's brilliant tips and advice here

POST YOUR QUESTIONS ON THIS TALK THREAD NOW AND JOIN US ON MARCH 18TH TO RECEIVE YOUR ANSWERS.

Hi there, I would like to ask a question if I may on behalf of a good friend who's little one is about to progress onto solid food. Basically she has read every weaning book on the market and as a result is now feeling a bit of an information overload. So quite simply what do you advise - spoon fed vs baby led? She has read many convincing articles for baby led but has also heard some horror stories about incidences of choking. If there is anything you can suggest to help reassure her about this that would really greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Hi, I am currently weaning my 7 1/2 month baby and it is going really well however he has been refusing milk since we started at 6 months, he just has milk on an evening and maybe in the morning if we're lucky. Which foods would you recommend to keep his calcium intake up to what he should be having? I seem to be on a repeat of feeding cheese, yoghurt and mixing his milk into his breakfast.

My son will love something one day and then refuse to even try it the next! He is 3 and a half and it's so frustrating. Any suggestions welcomed

Any suggestions on how to get my 3 and a half yr old to try foods that he loved the day before, but refuses to eat the next day?!

My 6.5 year old DD has been a very fussy eater since she was about 13 months old. I've tried all the usual things (lots of menu planning, shopping, cooking, eating out together, being relaxed, one new food at a time, no pressure to eat anything, keep trying because on the 100th try they may like it ... etc etc!) but to no avail! She is getting a little better but still won't eat ANY fruit or veg (but will eat an Innocent smoothie from a carton or tube).

Advice from health bods, children centre staff etc has been to just give her what she wants and she'll grow out of it, but my worry is that she'll grow up missing out and be a fussy eating adult (I do know some adults that still won't eat certain veg, beans etc!)

I used to get v upset about it all. I don't now, and she's tall for her age and looks well fed, but as a food lover myself I'm so keen to help her increase her range. Any top tips would be amazing!

By the way, it's not only that she won't eat any fruit or veg. There is so much she won't eat. In fact, it'd be easier to give a list of things she WILL eat!

DS (now 14) was the most amazingly fussy eater as a baby/toddler - really well into primary school. He still has his moments (he really won't eat most veggies aside from lettuce and green beans) but now eats 'random' foods that you would not expect of a one-time new food refuser. So there is some light at the end fo the tunnel hollickwoodprimaryschool - hopefully.

My questions:

Is being a fussy eater really about the food or is it about control at an age when little ones don't have much!

It seems to be a lot more common in boys than girls - is that true?

And is it more prevalent in first-borns - I wonder whether the whole first baby maternal anxiety factor 'feeds' food fussiness?

Thanks!

My 21 month old daughter completely refuses to eat any whole fruits or vegetables. She will not even touch them nevermind taste them. If we put any whole fruit or veg in front of her she will knock it away with the back of her hand.

She is happy to eat dry finger foods eg. breadsticks, tortilla chips, biscuits, honey coated seeds and crackers and seems to be ok-ish with chicken nuggets, fish fingers and chips (ie. anything brown or yellow!)

She LOVES weetabix, porridge and strawberry yogurts.

When it comes to wet foods ie. pastas or rice, any bits of pasta, rice or veg need to be tiny (ie. quite pureed) or she spits it all out.

I think her diet is varied enough that she gets the nutrients she needs (we also give her multivitamins) but I'm really keen to get her eating fresh fruit and veg and more lumpy foods....any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

My daughter's just recovering from the adenovirus plus chest infection. Before they struck she was ok with weaning with puréed or blended food at 9 months. She's now refusing all food / finger & spoon feeding. Any suggestions on how to get her interested again? Thank you.

Good Morning and what a lovely sunny morning for our webinar with you all! Childcare expert and Lecturer Jill Wheatcroft and Dr Emma Haycraft of Loughborough University co-creator of the ChildFeedingAp used by the NHS and British Heart Foundation will be answering your questions throughout the day on Feeding and Weaning

Best wishes and looking forward to 'hanging out' with you all today

Gaby Morris
Riverside Cares

Hi @VerityLocalEdKent

Thanks for your question. What you’re describing is really common in little ones. As they get older, they start to exert their autonomy and one way to do this is to change their mind – frequently! – about what they like to eat.

It’s also common for 2-4 year olds to go through a phase where they start to refuse foods that they’ve previously liked and eaten. Around this age, children start to become more wary of certain foods – often bitter ones, like some vegetables – and generalise this based just on the look, smell or texture of a food. This behaviour stems back to a time when children were scavenging around and so it’s a protective mechanism to stop them eating poisonous foods. However, it can be really confusing for parents who loving prepare a meal, only to find their son/daughter has decided not to eat it, without even trying it.

Involving your son in decisions about food, getting him involved in preparation or cooking, and seeing other people eating the same food can all help him to be more likely to eat it. It’s most likely just a phase that will pass, so it’s important to keep offering him foods that he claims not to like on one day so that they remain part of his diet.

We’ve got more information and tips for how to deal with this on our website: www.childfeedingguide.co.uk/common-feeding-pitfalls/food-refusal Riverside Cares also offers lots of small and larger group parenting sessions on topics such as this

Hope this helps!
Emma
Loughborough University

Hi there @hollickwoodprimaryschool

Thanks for your question. It’s great that your daughter is getting a little better with foods and that she’ll eat smoothies. Jill and I would both recommend a blender which can be used to make smoothies at home but which incorporates more of the flesh of the fruit/vegetables, as this provides extra fibre and nutrition in the smoothie.

It sounds as if you’ve tried all the right things in terms of getting her involved in food preparation, choosing food and cooking it and it’s great that you keep offering her different foods. Sometimes it just takes some children longer than others to feel happy to eat a wider variety of foods. It’s important to keep offering, without any pressure. Just encouraging her to touch, sniff or lick a food can help to make it more familiar to her, and help to make her less wary of it. Varying the way that foods are presented can often help – e.g., offer peppers raw rather than cooked or apple stewed rather than raw. Seeing other people eating and enjoying foods is also really good for helping children to try new things, so keep doing that too.

If your daughter isn’t losing weight then I would tend to agree with the health professionals who have advised you that it will pass. Hopefully hearing from people like @Willemdefoeismine (posted in this thread) is helpful!

Stick with it and ensure that eating remains an enjoyable experience for all involved.

There are more top tips for helping children to eat more fruit and veg on our Child Feeding Guide website: www.childfeedingguide.co.uk/tips-and-tools/ways-to-increase-fruit-and-vegetable-intake and Jill from Riverside Cares offers many small group parenting sessions which can be held at a location of your choice tailored to your specific interest

Hope this helps!
Emma
Loughborough University

Hi there @Willemdefoeismine

Thanks for your great questions – here are some answers!

Fussy eating can sometimes be about children exerting control, you’re quite right. Fussy eating often starts around 12-24 months, when children are learning how they can interact with, and impact on, the world. One way in which they may quickly learn that they can make a difference is around food. Although caregivers often don’t realise this, how they react when a child refuses a food or throws it on the floor can often unintentionally reinforce the behaviour and make it more likely to reoccur. For example, if a child throws food on the floor and is ignored, they’re less likely to repeat it on other occasions.

Yes, there is some evidence that fussy eating is more common in boys than girls. There’s no one reason for this as there are numerous factors that can contribute to children being fussy.

There is some, often anecdotal, evidence that first-borns can be fussier. This could be partly linked to parental anxiety, as we know from research evidence that some parents do feel anxious about child feeding and that this can have a negative impact on feeding interactions and children’s eating behaviours. In addition, new parents often have more time available to do things like make a different meal when their little one decides they don’t fancy eating what’s been cooked. With subsequent children, there’s often less opportunity for cooking other meals and so food-based interactions can differ.

Hope this helps!
Emma
Loughborough University

Hi Potty Mouth Mum,

Research on the topic of using baby-led weaning shows there isn't a definitive answer. What has become clear is that there appears to be some benefits in terms of children eating only what they need and learning to explore food types. Research in this area is difficult to translate into practice because the majority of research studies do not adequately compare babies being fed via more traditional methods versus baby-led weaning.

General advice from health professionals is not to use the baby-led weaning approach if the child has swallowing difficulties or developmental delay or was born prematurely.

Also, if a child is unwell there is some concern in using baby-led weaning in case they may not get enough calories to meet their energy requirements. If a child is underweight I would check with health professionals before using this method for weaning for a variety of reasons.

My advice to parents would be take into account all noted above and when feeding a baby never leave them unsupervised, then do what feels right for you and fits into your family life. Eating should be a fun relaxed experience so if weaning using a baby-led approach is going to make you nervous about choking then go the other route, many babies have successfully grown up using pureed food gradually changing to finger foods as they get older.

I can see quite a few benefits of baby-led weaning, I think from a choking point of view definitely do not start before you child is 6 months, can hold a sitting position and their head is steady, co-ordinate their eyes, hand and mouth so that they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth all by themselves. Babies who are not ready will not put the food in their mouths. If you try and are unsuccessful and the baby is not interested then wait a week or two and try again. Bear in mind that weaning at the start is about introducing food, breast of baby milk will continue to be the main source of nutrition until about 8 months. I do not think you need to be rigid in your approach to start, just try sitting your child next to you when you have lunch and put a couple of pieces of food in front of them and let them experiment. They will make a mess and may not eat much but exposure to different foods is always positive. You can try baby-led weaning and see how your baby gets on then swop to a more traditional method with puree food if you feel it is not working for you and your baby, after all every baby is different. Typically finger foods are foods that can be cut up into pieces that are big enough for a baby to hold in it's fist and stick out of the top, be mindful that the food should not be too hard. It's all about letting your child feed themselves so you can give them different foods as long as it is firm enough to be picked up in their hands.

If you are worried about what to do if you child appears to be chocking and have not already done so we would recommend undertaking a baby and child emergency first aid session, Riverside Cares offers 2hr and 3 hr sessions and can tailor sessions to you and your groups needs. I would also be happy to create a bespoke parenting session for a group specifically about baby-fed weaning.

Jill Wheatcroft
Riverside Cares
www.riversidecares.co.uk

Hi @Katie5B

Thank you for your question. It is a really common for babies whilst they are unwell and recovering to regress and it can take quite a bit of time for them to get back to their normal. Be mindful that whilst they are unwell that their appetite may be reduced.

If your baby is completely better you may want to cut back a bit on milk during the day to encourage her to eat as she may be filling up on milk. Do offer water to drink as an alternative. Offer small portions of food at regular intervals throughout the day especially at meal times when you are eating. She may only take a few mouthfuls but that’s fine. She may want to feed herself if so, encourage her to do so. You could try and focus on her favourite foods first or she may want more sloppy food, cereal, yogurt etc especially if she has had a sore throat.

It may sound old fashioned but fresh air is also helpful if she has been inside a lot because of being unwell.

Keep going!

Best wishes
Jill Wheatcroft
Lecturer in Child Health
Co-MD Riverside Cares

Hi @AmandaE13,

Thank you for your question.

Cheese, yogurt and milk are all good sources of calcium so keep going with those, but you can also find calcium in green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, okra, and bok choy.

Other sources are bread or other products made with fortified flour, fish such as sardines and pilchards, tinned salmon, soya beans, tofu, nut based products almonds are good but they must be crushed or ground. If there is a history allergies to nuts and/or sesame seeds avoid them.

Kind regards

Jill Wheatcroft
Riverside Cares
www.riversidetrainingcompany.co.uk/product/infant-to-preschool-nutrition/

We've loved receiving your messages and questions

www.riversidetrainingcompany.co.uk/product-category/parenting-centre/

Thank you Gaby, Jill and Emma so much for taking time out of your hectic schedules to come and give us such fantastically detailed answers to our questions! We have loved having you here and I for one may well go off and paper my kitchen walls with some of these answers! Please do come again soon!

Hi @GK88

Thank you for posting a question.

What you describe is common for a 21 month old, at this age they often are reluctant to try new foods or even in some cases revisit foods they like before! Toddlers will reject food many times before being willing to eat them. As long as healthily and growing well, do not worry too much about her. Babies and toddlers are often wary of new foods and tend to prefer sweet ones. A useful approach in getting more fruit and vegetables in the diet is to expose your child to different fruit and vegetables in as many ways as possible. This may be to start with through stories, helping you shopping and choosing the fruit and vegetables themselves (within reason) playing with food, mixing it together to make a mess, making a picture with food etc. When offering fruit and vegetables try and offer in them in different ways, grated, mashed, cooked, sliced, mixed together. Some children will eat food if in big pieces they can hold in their hand but not when in small pieces. A smoothie a day is one way of getting some fruit into a child. Be mindful of the age of your child and the size of the pieces.

When possible try and eat with each other make it an activity you do together and encourage her to try food you are having, if she sees you eating something new she will be more likely to try it. To encourage her to eat more 'lumps' try dishes such as a casserole or a stew which by virtue of the recipe is textured.

The bottom line she is healthy and growing just continue to offer her lots of variety and gradually she will try different foods. The ChildFeedingAp research and Emma Haycraft's team have discovered that a child may need to be offered something as much as twenty times in a variety of forms before they will accept it in their diet Do consider downloading the free ChildFeedingAp its really useful and is endorsed by the NHS and British Heart Foundation.
I hope this helps. I will be running parenting sessions with my team at Riverside Cares on this topic over the year.

Have a nice evening

Jill Wheatcroft

Riverside Cares

pleasure and a big thank you to all the mighty mums hanging out in Hackney for posting such good questions and comments