Hit a BLW receipe wall.....

[Samie10]

I work so have to do freezable/quickish meals to ensure that DD has a proper meal in the evening which I pretend to have too when i get in from work. We have done pasta with a roasted pepper and garlic sauce, a vegetable bake, a cottage pie, bangers and mash (made with potato, sweet potato, different cheese, leeks, onion) jacket potato, salads, humous and toast or vegetables, cream cheese on toast and she eats a LOT of fruit, especially mango (im surprised she is not orangey yellow). Can anyone inspire me with new meals? I am not doing gluten at the moment as I am coeliac so I am waiting a little longer until i introduce it, everything else seems fine. Thanks!

Reheated whatever you had the previous night?
Thats what we did til DS2 arrived, and now we all eat together at 5.30. needs some nifty leaving of work for whoever is cooking most nights, and then 1-2 nights a week are very quick omelettes or pasta and tomato sauce etc.

Leftovers are a good option, I take it you are not eating together?

Like next we all eat together, I find it easier than preparing 2 meals and like eating with my DC.

Have you tried things like lasagne, cottage pie, fajitas? Have you seen the recipes on the baby led weaning website?

Stir fry, Thai curries, chicken casserole, morrocan lamb with cous cous, salmon with pesto

Have you got a slow cooker? They are great for things like curries, stews and casseroles

I thought that even if you were coeliac you were still supposed to introduce gluten at 6 months as there is no benefit in waiting longer. Studies have shown a higher chance of coeliac disease if gluten is introduced before 4 months or after 7 months so the best time to give it is around 6 months.

Thanks everyone. I had read to wait till 1 year...god it's confusing....li will re look into this. We do eat together at weekends but during the week it's harder...I just need to try harder, make more freezablee meals in the evenings......

Coeliac website info

www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-lifestyle/family-and-friends/babies-and-weaning

we normally have portions of bolognese and cheese sauces in the freezer and then just cook up the pasta when required.

That is what I have been doing but I am concerned that she has too much cheese and not enough variety...i could eat cheese all the time!

Glad I don't live in your house then, cheese is yucky. (Know I'm probably alone in this one though )

Hiya, fellow coeliac mum here. On the one hand, it seems best to introduce gluten between 4 and 7 months, yet on the other hand, coeliac is a funny thing that often doesn't show up until a major stressor in the person's life triggers it. So you can happily eat gluten until you're 2, or 20, or 60 and then that's it. It can also come on very slowly and insidiously, so that it gets misdiagnosed even with a family history of it. We have decided as a family, to minimize DC's exposure to gluten. If it is only eaten occasionally (at parties, Nana's house a few times a year etc) then if it IS triggered, we'll know, because there will be the tell tale 'ouch my tummy hurts' after it is eaten each time, the intervals between being sufficient to allow gut healing. When DC is old enough to choose for themselves, we'll tell them about the family history, about what it means for them potentially, and let them make their own decision. All the food in the house/meals cooked are gluten free anyway, so we won't be doing anything different - DC's dad isn't coeliac but he still eats gluten free at home because it's easier than making two meals!

Thanks hm32 - i have just posted another post about gluten as I introduced it over the weekend. I was diagnosed Coeliac as a baby after being introduced to solids, was very ill and in hospital for a couple of months (back then when they didnt have as much research and information on it). We too are an almost exclusively GF household because i do most of the cooking or DH has to cook GF for me. Are you not worried about the longer term affects of your child having gluten now? I dont know many other Coeliacs and just know with me, the side-affects are too horrible to risk having gluten now and again. Its really interesting to hear your experience - thank you!

Hi, the idea is that if DC has it infrequently, if it does begin to cause a problem, it will be obvious. Mine came on gradually and wasn't diagnosed properly for years. It isn't so easy to spot when the failure to thrive is more gradual - I spent a childhood with little energy, constantly deficient in this or that mineral, bowel problems, often ill. Once I was diagnosed, life was completely different. I don't want it to creep up on my DC, hence not overloading their system with it, and keeping it infrequent so it would have a more noticeable effect.

that kind of goes against what the coeliac website says i.e. it says to introduce gluten at 6 months and then give it regularly so that symptoms can be picked up quickly. You can then find out sooner that it is an issue and then avoid gluten if necessary rather than giving it infrequently and not picking up that there are problems until much later on.

from coeliac website:

Gluten can be introduced from six months old - there are no benefits for delaying having gluten in the diet for any longer. Once a baby is established on solid foods, gluten should be eaten regularly. Coeliac disease can only be diagnosed once gluten is in the diet. A diagnosis can be made quickly and easily if symptoms do occur.

Yeah I know, but I also know so many coeliacs where diagnosis was anything but swift and easy. Avoiding it won't harm him, including it very well might given that everyone in my paternal line has it. All developed at different ages, all given gluten around six months and eaten regularly thereafter.