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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Critique my baby's meals, please . . . ?

12 replies

RedPandaFluff · 12/08/2020 14:21

Hi everyone, I'm currently waiting on a call back from the health visitor to get a proper medical opinion, but in the meantime I'd appreciate other mums' opinions on what my 8-month old eats. She is now regularly refusing bottles, and even when she accepts one, she'll only take 2-5oz from it. I'm so worried that she's not getting enough as I understand she should still be on about 20oz of formula! On a good day I'll get 12oz into her Sad

Note - I offer her water after all meals to make sure she's hydrated.

Two typical days from this week are as follows:

Monday
7am - 4oz formula
8am - scrambled egg with a little bit of Parmesan grated in, toast with butter (she just licks the toast, doesn't swallow much), half a pouch of baby Greek-style yoghurt
11.30am - 2oz formula
1pm - mashed up spag bol, pouch of apple purée, finger foods (melty puffs, rice cakes etc.)
4pm - 3oz defrosted breast milk
5pm - Ella's Kitchen cottage pie, creamed rice pudding
6.45pm - 4oz formula

Tuesday
7am - 5oz formula
8am - baby porridge, toast with peanut butter (again she mostly licks it), half a pouch of yoghurt
11.30am - refused bottle
12.30pm - baked beans on toast, carrot/parsnip/apple pouch, finger foods (melty puffs etc.)
4pm - 3oz defrosted breast milk
5pm - mashed potato and tuna, creamed rice pudding
6.45pm - 4oz formula

Does this look like enough? Her weight has always fluctuated between the 20th and 40th centile (she's currently 32nd).

OP posts:
PaulinePetrovaPosey · 12/08/2020 14:31

I'm no expert on quantities, but my 7 month old eats more when we give her 'real' food rather than baby pouches. So for instance, swap the pouch of baby Greek yoghurt for just standard full fat yoghurt, and the melty puffs for carrot sticks.

We use pouches and packets when we're out sometimes but they all taste very bland or boringly sweet to me so I don't think they entice babies to eat.

dementedpixie · 12/08/2020 14:32

You can make up the milk intake through food as any dairy given in cereal or as yoghurt/cheese counts too.
You should be giving a supplement of vitamins A, C and D as she is taking less than 500mls of formula

Findahouse21 · 12/08/2020 14:35

I would replace the melty puffs /rice cakes with something less snacky. So if you are giving shepherd's pie as a spoon food, then I'd do carrot batons and baby corn as a finger food to go with the meal, rather than doing finger foods as a separate add on.

RedPandaFluff · 12/08/2020 14:37

Thanks @PaulinePetrovaPosey - will do as you advise and swap out "baby" yoghurt for normal yoghurt etc. (probably cheaper, too )

Vitamins on order, @dementedpixie - thank you.

OP posts:
RedPandaFluff · 12/08/2020 14:41

@Findahouse21 do you mean cooked carrot or raw? My cooked carrot always ends up too squidgey to be finger food, no matter how careful I am, and DD wouldn't be able to cope with raw carrot yet as she can't really chew properly (only has two teeth so far).

I get the idea, though, I'll have a think about what I can offer instead of melty puffs etc.

OP posts:
MyCatReallyIsAGit · 12/08/2020 15:57

My main thought is that it looks a bit low on fresh fruit and veg, and that you could maybe introduce some as finger foods to balance meals out?

For finger foods, you could try cooked carrots, broccoli, green beans even, or cold cucumber sticks. Sweet potato or normal potato wedges are good too, when it’s cool enough to have the oven on again.Grin

My 7 month old likes strawberries, which I quarter lengthways, and also blackberries and raspberries (horrendously messy!). I’m going to try him on melon this week - he likes watermelon and mango fingers but I don’t normally buy those due to cost! Banana is a great finger food too, if you break it into finger lengths, you can split it into three bits. You could also mash berries or fruit purée into Greek yogurt or porridge.

I usually do some fruit with breakfast, and veg with dinner. Often at the start as it keeps him occupied while I finish bringing bits to the table, eat bits of my own meal, etc.

Findahouse21 · 12/08/2020 16:22

@redpandafluff dd usually has carrots slightly cooked, she has no teeth, so needs to take the edge off. Brocoli or sugar snap peas might also work

RedPandaFluff · 13/08/2020 15:02

Thank you for advice, both. She does get fresh fruit and veg (her meals are rarely the same, the two days are just examples and I agree, it does look like she doesn't get any fresh stuff, but actually she gets some throughout the week). I'll add sugar snap peas though, I think she'll love those, and strawberries.

What about the lack of formula/milk drinking? That's my main concern. The health visitor said to use 4oz of formula to make her porridge/weetabix with, so I tried it this morning and she refused it. I then tried with cows milk and she took a bit but less than a quarter of the bowl (which also had some mashed banana in it, which she likes).

Ugh. BABIES Confused

OP posts:
LeGrandBleu · 13/08/2020 20:22

@RedPandaFluff parmesan cheese, the real thing, parmigiano reggiano and second, grana padano , has the highest content of calcium of all cheeses, so you can compensate the lack of milk by having meals with a high cheese content.
In France, soups are one of the main meals for babies. Light or thick, blended or with the tiniest cubes you can manage to cut, with a generous serving of parmesan, is a good meal.

We also serve a homemade broth, and you cook Italian baby pasta in that broth and serve it with parmesan and sometimes even a cube of butter.

Risottos, a rice dish prepared by cooking it one ladle of broth after the other, with a base of veggies, blended asparagus, pumpkin, or even white with parmesan added in the last 5 cooking minutes, leaving some extra liquid is a dish for the whole family.

The baby food industry somehow has this genius marketing stunt to call junk food, finger food, and loving parents don't think twice about the actual ingredient of these ultra processed food. A melty puff is an extruded paste pushed into a shape. It is corn flour and oil - like Doritos or Cheetos. Difference is that instead of salt, they add a nutrient-void vegetable powder so they can add the name of the veggie on the packet.

In France, we don't categorise food by the mean in which they reach the mouth, finger or spoon. This debate is so odd to me. We focus on the quality of the food. IF you look at the ingredient of the Ella cottage pie, it say 26% water, 25 % potatoes, 10 % beef..... seriously make a stew, slow cook beef in a rich sauce and then serve some with cubes of polenta,
As adults, we eat some food with a spoon, some other with a fork and other with fingers. Food is food, not a learning session for motor skills. Babies and toddlers learn all day long how to use their fingers, You are not going to impair her by not giving her crap snacks.

If you want to increase milk intake, try pancakes, creamed corn, cornbread, gratin dishes that use béchamel sauce.

A whole asparagus is a good vegetable she can hold, would suck on the tip, and practice chewing with her gum, but the fibres won't break. A whole green bean, even a stick of celery, to give her real veggie taste. She can suck on it and if it is the heart, it won't break.

You can give her blueberries, poached banana, oven roasted apples slices, as fruit
Oven roasted slices of zucchini, eggplant, Brussel sprouts cut in appraise size is a good to add vegetables that are no blended .

What I don't like about veggies pouches is the excessive amount of sweet tasting stuff added, so apples with parsnip, and also the fact that they will build a taste preference for artificial food and combination. Nobody eats blueberries and spinach in the same dish. These tastes do not exist in real life.

Go for real food, and if she doesn't like the taste of milk, don't force it. You can get calcium from many sources including some you might not consider, such as hard tofu. Slice it, bake it in the over and offer cubes.
You can make you own rice cakes in the oven too. Overcook rice, drain well, add cooked veggies such as chopped kale or spinach and a bit of olive oil. Make a ball in your hand. Squash it on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake in oven at high temperature.
This way you have nutrients. An industrial rice cake is empty calories. The high pressure and heat needed to make the rice pop as if it was popcorn, removes all nutrients and just leave a very high glycemic index.

So to answer you title : My only critique is the excess of ultra processed baby food.

Lockdownseperation · 13/08/2020 20:26

If your baby is having less than 17oz of formula a day then you need to give vitamins.

dementedpixie · 13/08/2020 20:27

OP already knows that and has ordered some

Mollythepoodle · 13/08/2020 20:49

My dd12 was a milk refuser. Broccoli is a good source of calcium, luckily she loves it still. Stewed fruit with plain Greek yogurt was a popular breakfast for her.

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