Can babies eat pesto?

[boundarybabe]

I know you can get babified stuff but can they eat the normal stuff that contains pine nuts? Not sure if a pine nut is actually a 'nut'(!)

Also, does anyone know if gnocchi is ok cold? Am trying to come up wit ideas for DS's meals at nursery (he starts tomorrow) and I need to send in things that don't need to be heated.

Ta!

I'd have a close look at the pesto ingredients. I've found a lot of them now contain random things like cashew nuts too. We have to avoid nuts as family allergy history. Have you thought about making your own pasta sauce?

My DS2 loves couscous - good hot or cold with some roasted veg either chucked in or a blitzed sauce made from veggies, meat tec.

How old is your DS?

Oooh, cous cous - hadn't thought of that.

There are some weird and wonderful pestos out there, the one I've got ATM has cashews in it (nom nom nom), but it's just pine nuts I'd like to know about as I can easily avoid the pestos with other nuts in.

DS is 8mths and we've got no family history of allergies.

yes they can, so long as no allergies in immediate family that mean you migth be avoiding nuts and/or dairy

and gnocchi are fine cold, if a bit chewy

I must confess I regualrly thank my lucky stars that nursery feed dd a hot meal every day...

cashew nuts are fine if no history of allergies, like mrsb says. i thank the LORD for pesto, pasta and peas.

I think gnocchi would be a bit claggy cold

Cool, thanks. The nursery do a hot meal at an extra cost but I'm worried that at the moment it might be a bit of a waste of money as I'll be paying for a toddler sized portion which he prob won't eat! The option's there though which is good.

Rice pud hot or cold. Homemade with raisins. Yum. Banana and custard. Sorry, am stuck on sweet things, it's that blumming biscuit thread.

of course just realised he can't have pesto for nursery as they have a no nut policy. doh!

Houmous is good.

Pine nuts aren't actually nuts though are they? They're seeds

see how you go but tbh I would pay

it's the effort of thinking things up and packing them the nigth before etc that would make me think it's worth it, not the reduced cost of feeding him yourself

actually at 8m I would send dd with leftovers from ast night's dinner - fish pie, shepherd's pie, pasta etc
when you make big thinsg like htis get into the habit of freezing a few ds-sized pots so you can whip them out when insipration / food stocks run low

Yes, he normally has leftovers for lunch. I probably will be ordering the cooked lunch, esp over winter - I just missed the deadline for ordering it this week!

The great thing is that I'm on a diet so now I often cook my normal portion and just share it with him so I have less!

Scary, is that right? That's what made me wonder, I was pretty sure pine nuts are nuts in name only....

Just to add my own experience. We discovered my 2nd child had a nut allergy after giving her pesto at around 12 months. There is no history of nut allergy at all in my family previous to this.

She just came out in a nettle rash all round her mouth and then on her body so it wasn't too alarming but it did lead us taking her to the GP and evenutally getting her tested at the local hospital. We were very surprised to be told she had a nut allergy.

Our first instinct was that it was the pine nuts but it turns out that it was probably the cashew nuts in it that caused the reaction. Turns out she is allergic to them and pistachio the most (with a weaker reaction to peanut, pine nuts and most other nuts).

Cashew nut reaction can be on the severe end of the allergic spectrum (ie. anaphylactic shock) but is less common than peanut allergy so you don't tend to hear about it.

All I'd say is try your child out with it first - chances are she'll be fine. If your due to go to the doctors or clinic with her perhaps feed her some there - at least you'll be in the right place if there is a reaction!

I still wonder whether it was because I ate cashew nut butter on toast when pregnant (I avoided peanut butter because of the allergy issue doh!)

I am gutted cos pasta pesto was an absolute staple in our weekly diet before this!

are you down my way this thurs, glas? fancy a coffee?

Yes aitch, been meaning to get in touch honest! Was talking to A's mum last week and she's up for it - perhaps meet in a cafe or something? Shall call you on Thurs morn?

hah! outed.

F**K!!!! That'll learn me!

you have been boringly supportive, it would seem.

Sorry if you were expecting some seedy alter ego lurking about on the bumsex threads! that's another of my names

Well tried DS with pesto - no reaction at all although he did projectile vomit later on... I suspect that was unrelated though! Bless 'em eh?

Good news boundarybabe (though not the projectile vomitting bit!). I miss having pesto on the weekly menu I used to buy frozen spinach (you know the ones that come in little individual nugget shapes) and pop a few of them in with the pesto sauce for added greenery - kids loved it.

Hey, sorry it's an old thread! Just wondering whether I should be worried about the salt content of pesto?