What do you feed your one year old? Help regarding home made baby food

[Alison8493]

My son is 16 months old but was born 2 months premature so isn't on the same weight as a regular baby his age. I'm trying to get him to gain a bit of weight and eat better. It's hard because I work 3pm till late and my parents have been giving him his dinner since he was 3 months old. They usually give him tinned baby food followed by a yoghurt and then followed by what ever their having just for him to pick at. So for example if they're having fish fingers peas and chips they will break him up a fish finger, give him some peas and a few chips to eat whilst they eat.

I've decided tomorrow I might spend the day cooking up a weeks worth of meals for him and freezing. What sort of meals are good ideas? What texture do they need to be for his age? Does it matter that they won't be cooked from fresh?

I just really feel hopeless as in an ideal world would love to come home and cook him a fresh meal and feed it to him myself! Also worried that because he has jarred food he's not getting the nutrients he needs. Occasionally he will have a mashed up roast dinner if they are having one etc

At that age, my kids ate what I did chopped up roughly

He is my first so I don't know really what to expect. My mum feeds him herself with a spoon as she says if she doesn't then he will throw most of the food on the floor and won't actually eat enough. Although he eats all of his lunch himself using his hands. Not sure if this is normal for some babies of his age or if I should ask her to stop

14mo ds never has a freshly-cooked dinner because I've never had the time or patience to cook one with him hanging off the back of my legs!

I have however, batch-cooked him meals from scratch and frozen them since he was weaned.

Babies of that age can have the same texture as adults but if he's only been used to jar foods you may need to build up to this. The chopped up pieces need to be small enough so as not to be more than a mouthful (as gagging really puts my ds off!). The size of the pieces can increase as they get some of their large back teeth.

Current favourites in our house are couscous with chopped up bits of chicken and veg and Bolognese with lots of veg blended into a smooth sauce, mince and baby pasta shapes. We've also tried fish / cottage pie, homemade chicken goujons, homemade meatballs etc.

Just to add, ds is great at feeding himself with his hands and quite good with a spoon / fork with our help but it helps if he's really hungry. He's always been a fidget so once the edge is taken off his hunger, he loses interest pretty quickly so we have to spoon feed him to get a decent meal down him. So make sure your parents are taking the cue from him (and not necessarily the clock!) as to when he's hungry.

At 1 my dd was mostly feeding herself but I'd spoon feed her stuff like yoghurt.

She is a fussy eater but at that age I fed her things like shepherds pie (well a vegetarian version), or plain mash mixed with veg, vegetarian lasagne, soft boiled egg and soldiers, she also loved chips and fish fingers. (We are pescetarians). I also would make her thick vegetsble soups full of pulses but is spoon feed those to her. They froze well too. At that age they can eat pretty much anything I think.

I would knock the jars on the head completely. He is probably throwing his proper dinner all over the place because he is not hungry from having a jar. I would just have GPs give him chopped up bits of whatever they are having and let him get on with it.

If you are worried about nutrients and calories I would just make sure he has multivitamin each day and a good sized cup/bottle of milk before bed. He presumably has breakfast and lunch with you so you can exercise more control over that. Maybe have his main meal at lunch and have GPs just give him a sandwich/toast etc at dinner time?

We give our dinner as finger first and then spoon feed a bowl of porridge with fruit in it (ready break or bulk cooked rice pudding). I think your mum may find that easier to deal with as they are def full at the end of the meal.

I would also say to drop the jars - he's old enough to eat proper food. Friends of mine were in a similar position - trying to get weight up - they fed baby some high-calorie healthy foods. Does he like hummus? Avocado? Also, brown pasta and rice, things like that.

For batch cooking, bolognaise, curry with small bits of meat.

I agree - jars have very similar tastes as well so it's good to start introducing a range of textures and flavours now. Foods that worked well for us were omelette with a bit of chopped veg, spaghetti bolognese, risotto, cauliflower cheese, shepherds pie,and there are a few stews in the Annabel Karmel baby and toddler cookbook that are still a hit now she's 2. If you can batch cook and freeze portions it makes life so much easier!

Dd was born at 33 weeks so we had to give higher calorie food while she 'caught up' weight wise. Avocado or peanut butter on toast fingers went down well.

Your parents might just have to accept the mess as well - feeding yourself is a tricky job when you're learning! I had friends who got multi packs of cheap white paper tablecloths that went under the high chair to catch the mess then straight in the bin.

I batch cook and use either ice cube trays or little pots to freeze them and take out as and when. Cheesy mash is a good 1 he will have it with beans sometimes or some chicken and peas. A sort of cottage pie goes down well with him mince beef onion mash and a bit of carrot mashed together. Scrambled egg with ham and cheese or beans is a quick one too. I feed my ds things like that with a spoon if he has toast with jam or cheese on I'll let him feed himself

I make;
macaroni, broccoli and cauliflower cheese
Shepherds pie
Fish Pie
Veg curry
Tomato (with grated carrot and squash in it) pasta
Lasagne (with hidden veg)

All frozen in portions to just be de frosted to use as a kind of homemade ready meal. I also have roast chicken in portions, yorkshire puddings, braised red cabbage, carrot and turnip mashed up, mash and sweet potato mas, peas etc as sides for when he has sausages, fish etc. I have many little tupperware pots in the freezer!!

Mine was eating what we do at 16 months I only spoon fed him things like soup. If it is fish fingers would cut them in to 3 bits cut long chips in half then give him maybe 2 bits of fish finger 1 chip and maybe 6 pea's then ask if he wants more. I think people over estimate how much little ones can eat at one sitting. There is a guide somewhere online about how much kids need to eat.

At that age Dd was having tea at a childminder. She had meatloaf, pasta with cheese sauce or mince, or scrambled eggs etc. Some batch cooked in freezer, some quick to prepare.

Sounds to me like he needs to have the proper food first and only jars if still hungry.

I have a 16month old, he eats family meals,not 'baby food' and has done for months now. He has a dairy and tomato allergy so I do need to adapt our meals.

As for getting calories into him to put on weight add cream to sauces, cook with olive oil, avacado, hummous, never use low fat or semi skimmed versions.

My DS eats pasta, lasagna, rice dishes, meatballs, shepherds pie, sausages, noodles, stir fry, soups, tortilla wraps, roast dinner, pies etc. Mostly all homemade from scratch. He eats same as we do not pureed or mashed, he'll feed himself, I might help with trickier foods like noodles.

I've never done jars or purées so we just went straight to finger food with both girls. Dd 2 is 12 months now and just has what we're having.
I agree that it might be more difficult to move to this if he's used to the texture and flavour of jars though. I also agree he'll be full from the jars so not bothering about the finger food.
Maybe cut the amount of jar he's having or offer finger food first?

Just to give you an idea of foods this is the last couple of days foods for DS 14 month
Pancakes scrambled egg veggies
Fruit a couple of peanut m&ms
Sausage tomato cucumber
Lasagna
Yoghurt
Seaweed crackers
Cucumber peanut butter wrap
Blueberries

Stuff that freezes well... My 10month old likes:

mince and tatties
Lasagne
Chilli (not too much chilli powder)
Mac n cheese
Cauliflower/broccoli cheese
Haddock in cheese sauce
Salmon, peas and mash in white sauce (I just flake the salmon through)
Ham and lentil soup
Bolognese
Veggies in tomato sauce (served with pasta or garlic bread)
Beef stew

All of these I make with lots of added veg just chopped up into bitesize pieces. I freeze most things in ice cube trays like the mince but Mac and cheese I do in small Tupperware boxes. I also freeze mash potato in ice cube trays ready to serve with the likes of the fish and cheese sauce etc. So handy when you're in a rush!

Not tried freezing spaghetti in with the bolognese sauce as it takes minutes to cook but I suppose it would be absolutely fine to do that for easiness for your mum. It would just maybe be softer than al dente. The Mac n cheese does go very soft but hey ho it gets soft where it's going.

If I'm making something I know LO can eat I usually just put his wee portion in a separate pot before I season the rest for us. I do use normal stock I his stuff though like beef stock in the stew.

Consequently my LO won't bloomin eat anything from a packet or jar as they are so bland!

Mine eats whatever we're having. No need to cook separate meals and definitely no need for a jar at that age!

My son is16 months I stopped all baby food at 12 months he eats everything we eat and has been using a spoon since around 11 months so now is very good at it

Yes to start with they do chuck food around but it's the only way he will learn I think you need to stop feeding him and encourage him to feed himself with a spoon and baby fork etc

I used a very good training bowl set which I will go and get the link for. It's expensive but worth it

Toddler Training Bowl (x2) with FREE Self-feeding Guide - "me-feed-me" by Salmon Luke (Colour, Blue) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001EC3LZY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_VlAWwb8ZJ9ETR

Some ideas of foods

Last night we had veggie lasagna tonight he is having stovies, tommorow I'm making fajitas

He literally gets everything we get even when we have been out for a Indian meal he will happy tuck in korma etc.

At 16 months they can literally have anything you're having, just watch the salt content and obviously ensure a good balance of all the food groups. Frozen home made meals are absolutely fine, much better than frozen convenience foods or ready meals! although my dd's do get fish fingers every now and then My 3 year old and 8 month old regularly get home made meals for dinner when me and dp want a takeaway after they've gone to bed that have been frozen previously. If I've made something like a bolognese or a chilli, then I just freeze the sauce, and cook some spaghetti/pasta or rice when the time comes. Things I tend to freeze for them are: Lasagne, Chilli, Spagbol, Cottage Pie, Curry, Home made Chicken Nuggets, Tomato or Cheese sauce for pasta, mashed potato, sweet potato mash, home made bugers & meatballs, home made soups etc.

I would definitely stop the jars, unless there's a medical reason there's no reason why a baby should be on jarred/mashed food past 12 months imo. My 8 month old has always eaten things as they've come pretty much (obviously chopped up so they're easy to pick up), and we did the same with DD1. If you're wanting to encourage weight gain then offering lots of high fat and high calorie foods will be important.

Yes it can be messy letting them self feed, and yes some food will end up on the floor, but they need to learn somehow. Eating meals with others, so he can observe how other people eat and mimic them, see how they use cutlery etc, will also help.

I wouldn't feed him anymore jars, he's definitely old enough to eat what you're eating.

I would feed him less salty versions of what we would eat. So fish pies with hidden veg, mini roast dinners (chicken breast, veg, mash or roast potato and a Yorkshire), mash and fish fingers, tuna pasta with peas and sweetcorn, very very mild curry with rice, macaroni cheese etc

The minute they can eat what you eat and you stop with all the purée jar faffing, your life gets 100 times easier

DS1 was 6 weeks prem and was started on home puréed food for the first few weeks of weaning. I gave him a spoon so he could learn to feed himself, while I had a spoon and gave him a few mouthfuls to make sure at least some got in!

He didn't enjoy lumpy food at first but I gradually increased lumpiness by mashing it less each time. From 6mo his food was basically whatever I made for us minus the salt - I did a lot of batch cooking of meals like fish pie, lasagne, pasta dishes, cottage pie, etc, and froze extra portions as meals for him.

From about 8mo his meals were a mix of mashed and finger foods. The finger foods got played with a fair bit at first but he soon got better at feeding himself, and liked having a piece of toast or whatever in one hand, and his spoon in the other.

He was quite ill at 10mo and as a result lost a lot of weight, so the dietician advised us to add cream to things like porridge or mashed potato, and feed him high calorie foods (avocado etc), to try and get his weight up. He loved cheese sauce so I'd put a dollop of that on his veg too.

If your parents are reluctant to let him feed himself because of the mess, I recommend investing in a large drop cloth/oil cloth to put down so it will catch the vast majority of the mess. I got one that I could just bung in the washer afterwards. I also recommend eating meals together so he can watch how you use a fork/spoon and he will learn from you. Yes it's a bit daffy, and your dinner will often go cold while you help him, but it won't be forever. 2yo DS2 is so good at self feeding, his is often gone by the time I sit down to eat (then he's after half of mine!)

It's hard when you're working, but I found that batch cooking and freezing portions made life so much easier as I always had a stock of meals ready to go, and I saved a fortune too.