Need meal ideas for 11mo please! Diagnosed carotenemia

[TheGirlWhoLived]

Hi,
Ds (11 months) was diagnosed with carotenemia after we noticed a yellow/orange tinge to his skin.

There are loads of foods both orange and dark green that cause this overload, of which he goes eat a great deal! He mostly eats lumpy puréed food rather than baby led weaning because he’s not a great chewer and gets too hungry and attempts to swallow eg an entire broccoli.

After getting a blood test at the hospital they think it’s down to what he eats rather than jaundice so I could really do with ideas for meals that don’t include the following:

Carrots
Butternut squash
Sweet potatoes
All orange fruits (oranges, mango, apricot, peach etc)
Green beans
Kale
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Spinach
Asparagus
Aubergine
Peas
Butter
Egg yolks
Cheese

Really struggling to think of many ideas that don’t contain one or more of these!

What does he usually eat? My kids are much older and still won't touch half the stuff on your list...

Usually pasta based mixed in with most of the above! So aubergine and courgette blitzed in the sauce mixed with the pasta, spaghetti bolognese, cottage pie, lentil bake, fish pie- usually wet mixes (I make him sound like a cat!) I try to get all the vitamins in I can but now it seems I’ve turned him yellow!

I guess I’m looking for ideas to still get the vitamins in that aren’t these! I can think of cauliflower…. That’s going to get boring fast

Snacks or dessert are often fruit based, banana, mango, apricot blitzed down

Ooh that is tough, you poor things.

Jacket potato with tuna and sweet corn
Crumbled mince, green pepper (is this ok?) and onions
Shepherds pie made with soy sauce instead of tomato paste and courgette instead of carrots/peas
Sausages braised with white cabbage and apples
Beef stew with parsnips instead of carrots
Salmon baked in a parcel with courgettes
Chicken soup with baby pasta, celery and parsnips
Potato leek soup made with vegan butter
Cornish pasties

In fact if you can replace carrots with parsnips or swede, peas with diced courgette, and butter with olive oil or vegan butter that will get you some of the way there with some meals. And anytime tomato is called for try adding a dash of soy sauce instead...? You can get low-salt versions.

Can he have other greens like sprouts, kale or bok choy? Or is it any dark green veg is no good.

With the dairy, is it all dairy or just cows milk? What about goat/sheep milk cheeses and butter?

Whizz up a mixture of things like white potato, cauliflower, cancelling or haricot beans with some herbs? Could cut up skinless sausages and give the bits to him one at a time. Chunky leek and potato soup?

For fruit I would stick to green grapes, apples and pears I guess. Your baby has traditional tastes

How about red fruits, I'm assuming same problem? (Berries, red grapes)

No the dark green leafy veg are the worst after carrots! Apparently the green-ness hides the carotene levels? Who knew eh.

Great ideas already! Subbing things out is a great idea. I’m fairly sure that it’s all cheese rather than specifically cow- it’s a colour thing rather than an ingredient thing. Hopefully it’s very short lived!

I would also consider giving him a vitamin supplement if the doctor oks it - just for your peace of mind that he is getting all he needs, since that is a lot of the "rainbow" that you have to cut out!

More solid foods can be made of small bits so that they can be given just a little. Lentils are good, I remember doing some sort of lentil bake so the texture was like a patties and also variations on dal. Quiche, flans, fish cakes, curry with potatoes and spinach and cheesy pasta springs to mind.

The fruit seems feasible as Xiao says. Can you also give melon?

Avocado? Sweetcorn

The tomatoes thing is a pain as it’s so handy for pasta. Do you have to completely avoid or can you cut down?

I went the other way around and searched for foods that were low in carotene:

tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/Beta-Carotene/Vegetables/Lowest/Household/Common/No

Cauli, mushrooms, radishes, potato, celeriac, kohlrabi, turnip, parsnip, corn, onion, beansprouts, artichokes, white cabbage seem to be the veg to rely on for now!

Did they not refer you to a dietitian that can help?

This morning we’re trying herby egg white scrambled eggs… and toast.
The toast is going down well!

Other breakfast ideas: porridge, congee (rice porridge), crumpets, apple compote, granola with coconut yoghurt

Or how about banana bread made with oil!

Or little egg white muffins with chopped up ham or crumbled sausage and green pepper? Or steamed cauli

Hash browns!

Oh good idea thinking of the low-carotene foods, that was a brain fart moment! No, no dietician- it’s not seen as a huge problem, he isn’t Simpson-esque, just a slightly different colour than before.

The doctor seemed a bit baffled as you need to feed them quite a large quantity before it starts being a problem, I guess I just rely on the same set of foods and didn’t think about the colour. I think cauliflower in a white sauce would be good. Leeks another good shout, maybe mushrooms too?

I can do watermelon which he loves, cantaloupe is out but boring things like pears and apples are a goer. Apparently apples are surprisingly high in carotene though!

That list from Xiao makes me think of stir-fry.
So stir-fry noodles?
Eggwhite fried rice?

I'm guessing cream is out?

Avocado on toast. Tuna and sweetcorn pasta. I make a pasta sauce from courgettes, onions, mushrooms and herbs and then blitz it for our toddler. Makes a thick enough sauce to stick to small pasta shapes.

We are dairy free due to toddler allergy so I use oil or original Flora instead of butter for all cooking. You can use dairy free cheese and milk too if needed. Violife cheese is good (its a kind of white/creamy colour so no beta carotene afaik) and it comes in grated or sliced packs.

Thick porridge made with oat milk is good for breakfast. You could add chopped dates or prunes, raisins, cinnamon etc for flavour.

You have obviously fed your lovely boy with much care and given him a great variety. I would still be tempted to use this as a bit of a rethink - there is no need for any blending at this point. If he isn’t a great chewer he just needs more practise - the gag reflex is there to protect him and this naturally might give rise to him eating a few more plain carbs / protein chunks that helps with the other issue.

@TheGirlWhoLived

Hi, Ds (11 months) was diagnosed with carotenemia after we noticed a yellow/orange tinge to his skin.

There are loads of foods both orange and dark green that cause this overload, of which he goes eat a great deal! He mostly eats lumpy puréed food rather than baby led weaning because he’s not a great chewer and gets too hungry and attempts to swallow eg an entire broccoli.

After getting a blood test at the hospital they think it’s down to what he eats rather than jaundice so I could really do with ideas for meals that don’t include the following:

Carrots
Butternut squash
Sweet potatoes
All orange fruits (oranges, mango, apricot, peach etc)
Green beans
Kale
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Spinach
Asparagus
Aubergine
Peas
Butter
Egg yolks
Cheese

Really struggling to think of many ideas that don’t contain one or more of these!

as most meals contain multiples of any of those on the list, could you not just restrict the numbers of them in any one meal rather than 100% removal from his diet? the overall effect would then bring down his levels without setting him up for eating problems later on, or you going off in a total panic, i.e one slice of tomatoe cut up into small cubes goes a long way compared to that used say in the making of tomatoe paste on pizza/pasta sauces but it would also mean that the taste isnt so alien to him if in tiny cubes, skins removed

Yeah I don’t want to cut them all out completely, but at least for one week dramatically reduce the orangeness, then maybe just do a couple of the foods instead of 4/5 a day which should naturally reduce them going forward!

I’ll definitely check out some of the whiter cheese alternatives, oats is a great shout plus risottos (leek and mushroom, courgette and perhaps violife!?) gradually introducing butternut/tomato/Mediterranean veg et al back when he gets over it

Great ideas, thanks so much