Vegetarian BLWeaners

[BeeWi]

What does your typical day look like? Or what are some of your babies favourite iron-rich foods?

I'm looking for some extra inspiration for my almost 9 month old.

Her firm favourites at the moment are:

Breakfast - porridge fingers made with chunks of dried apricots mixed in with the oats before cooking.

Dinner / Tea - quinoa elbows mixed with cream cheese & veg; cheese omelette with cherry toms; spinach & ricotta pancakes.

She really loves veggie sushi (I know, this sounds achingly middle-class, but the kid yams it) but I know this isn't super-high in iron.

She has plenty of other things, but I'm looking for some ideas for other iron-rich foods I could try with her.

Anything you've found your LO loving?

Chickpeas

Peppers/ courgette/ red onion/ and any other veg, cooked, blitzed with tin tomatoes and added to pasta as a sauce ( can freeze to make easier)

Carrot/ spinach and cheese muffins

Black bean and mushroom quesadillas

Avocado on toast or eggy bread for breakfast with a bit of ReadyBrek sweetened with fruit (although that get's treated more like play dough at the moment); dahl for lunch eaten off sticks of bread; rice crackers with cashew butter and yoghurt for snacks; whatever we have for dinner - if we have something that's not baby friendly like a takeaway I'll make him an omelette with full fat cheese and some veg sticks. Maybe more fruit after. Nursery give him a fair bit of Quorn, which I know isn't recommended before 9 months, but they mix my EBM in with it since he won't take it from a cup or bottle, little sod and I don't want to be even more awkward for them since they probably already think we're lentil-weaving hippies making our baby a veggies.

All that said, he's not ingesting a great deal at the moment (we've only just started him as he's six months) but I'm starting as I mean to go on, hence the snacks and probably a bit too much bread. He doesn't look set to give up the boob any time soon so I'm not worried!

Have you got a link to those porridge fingers? They sound a bit easier to clean up from than finger-painted ReadyBrek.

Thanks for the ideas so far .

Elphaba - porridge fingers are super easy if you have a microwave. 2 tablespoons of milk (whole, formula or breast...I just use whole as I can't be naffed with expressing), 2 tablespoons of porridge oats. Leave to soak for a few minutes and then microwave on full blast for 2 minutes. Leave to cool or a few minutes and cut into fingers.

forevergreek- do you give the chickpeas to your LO whole? I have only given my LO them when I've whizzed up some hummus (which she loves). Would they be at risk of choking with the, whole?

*them whole

Iron rich finger foods that I have served and LO has enjoyed:
-nut butters on bread (e.g. pumpkinseed butter, cashewnut butter)
-falafel
-pieces of dried fruit
-steamed broccoli
I did some research on iron because it is often assumed that vegetarian children don't get enough (as my little lady is also veggie). You might find it useful, I have posted it here:
nutritional info on iron

I give them while and as Hummous. We aren't veggie but eat a fairly veggie diet.

Never mind porridge fingers, I am intrigued by the quinoa elbows...!

Well I'm veggie. DH isn't and neither is DD, but as I'm at home with her during the week and we're BLWing, she's mostly veggie.

Breakfast could be omelette with tomato and peppers, yoghurt with fruit or Ready Brek with blueberries and/or bananas.

For lunch /tea she loves pasta, with either a cheesy spinach or tomato and bean sauce; toast with avocado/cream cheese; pancakes with a cheesy filling; cauliflower and broccoli cheese; frittata.

My 6 month old is currently chowing down on tofu and brocolli. With some fruit.

Porridge for breakkie

Hard boiled egg bit for lunch. And more brocolli.

Good thread btw, thanks. And thanks drladybird for the iron info

And when i say 'chowing down' i mean chucking down (on the floor)

Is tofu OK for boy babies from 6 mo? Is the concern about phytoestrogens a load of hooey or is it genuine?

Now you've worried me! I thought it wAs mentioned in an nhs leaflet. Will get on google, thanks for raising it.

DrLadybird - lovely Wordpress . Thanks for the link. Have bookmarked and plan on making your lentil bolagnese tomorrow.

mummybare - the quinoa elbows are just like pasta but make from quinoa and semolina. Gluten free, from local health food shop. They're really nice.

I'm tending to shy away from soy a little bit at the moment after reading some quite scary stuff about possible harm it can do in its unfermented form.

Ooh, they sound good! Thanks for the tip BeeWi :)

Sorry, slight hijack attempt coming up... I actually have some quinoa in the cupboard, but a bit bewildered by it. If it was just me, I'd chuck it in a salad or something, but DD would struggle with that, so if anyone has any tips for something baby friendly...

A big hit with quinoa in our house is stir frying some veg (broccoli, courgettes, peppers, onions, mushrooms kind of thing), cooking up some quinoa then mixing all the cooked quinoa and veg with basil pesto. The pesto makes the quinoa stick to the veg a bit more, so it's fab for the little one's chubby little fingers to handle whilst still being really tasty for all of us together.

That's a great idea, thanks again! Nice to have something new that appeals to me as well!