Apart from honey is there anything I should not feed a nine month old?

[Chubfuddler]

TIA

But why would you waste decent gin on a 9 month old anyway gobbler? They wouldn't appreciate it and the lime would just block the holes in their sippy cups.

Phew. (Bit late to check as that's what DD had for tea last night )

Scrambled eggs that is. Not gin.

(That was me.)

Fliss: page 43 clearly says "avoid shellfish" under the list of "don'ts". It doesn't mention it being raw.

It's only later on page 45 that raw shellfish is listed as a 'risky food'.

Both carry a risk of food poisoning (which some parents may deem small and therefore ignore the advice).

In relation to low fat foods, it says "It?s better for babies and young
children under two to have full-fat milk, yoghurt and cheese rather than low-fat kinds of milk, yoghurt, fromage frais, cheese or spreads.", i.e. don't buy food labelled as 'low fat'.

On sugar: "Your baby doesn?t need sugar and by avoiding sugary snacks and drinks you will help to prevent tooth decay.", i.e. don't give them sugary foods.

On salt: "Babies should not eat much salt as their kidneys cannot cope with it. This means that you should not add salt to your baby?s food or use stock cubes or gravy, as they are often high in salt. Remember this when you are cooking for the family if you are planning to give the same food to your baby, and always check food labels"

Avoid fish with bones = remove bones from fish before serving. Surely you don't think I meant avoid all fish ?!

In think my list was a fair reflection of the thrust of the advice .

45 pages? I don't think I got that far down, I thought it was a short booklet (lack of concentration due to 4wo DS addling my brain)

No, I didn't think you meant avoid all fish, no need for the

The low fat thing - it says 'it's better not to give low fat food...' not avoid. The odd low fat yoghurt or chunk of Low-Low cheese is perfectly fine as is using semi-skimmed milk on cereal if there's no blue-top in the house.

Different things. Same with the sugar - it doesn't say avoid, just that it's not necessary. Not the same. If you give a child sugar every now and then they'll be fine,

The honey, nuts and grapes advice is fair enough because of the safety risks.

Salt - a bit of salt won't hurt, on fact you know that it's needed to function so avoiding salt altogether is not ideal

I'll admit defeat on the shellfish.

nhs just says to avoid raw shellfish

I gave mine cooked prawns. He loved them. In fact he would often swipe a king prawn off a paella.

Otherwise as per pesto's list.

On the point about salt -yes, some salt is needed, but the risk of children getting too little salt under 1 year old is extremely unlikely. If they eat anything like bread or cheese then these foods contain salt. It is very very easy to give children under 1 more salt than they should be having, especially if they are regularly given processed foods.

On sugar . It says they don't need sugar. I agree. Why give them something they don't know exists and contains only empty calories? Allowing children of this age biscuits, cake etc uses up their daily intake which could be seeing them eat more nutritious foods. They also get used to the tastes to which they are exposed. It is of course easier for DC1 than subsequent children

By the way, the pdf I linked to doesn't have 45 pages. If you look at the numbering you'll spot that it is one chapter of the NHS Birth to Five book, given free to all parents in England and Wales. Hence the numbers don't start at 1 .

I agree with your point about low fat foods occasionally (in fact as I've breastfed all mine into toddlerhood I've completely ignored advice about whole milk and always given them semi skimmed). The general advice remains to avoid these products and use full fat alternatives.