Baby bites: what I’ve learnt so far about feeding a baby…

I’m not an infant nutritionist or expert but since becoming a mum in 2019 I’ve been really interested in how I can share my love of food with my daughter and want to include what I’ve learnt in my blog. So far weaning has been a really exciting, if somewhat messy experience. I live in the UK so most of the advice I’ve recieved and follow is based on current UK NHS guidelines (see the NHS guide to introducing solid foods), but each country, and more importantly each baby is different. I can talk about my own experience and what I do for my daughter but in the end how you feed your children is a decision that each parent makes for themselves and there are lots of different ways to do it, not just a simple right and wrong.

So far we have done a mixture of pureed food and finger foods that she can feed herself (baby led weaning) and these are a few of the resources I have found useful:

It can feel like there are a lot of rules and it can become a extra chore in already busy days but try to enjoy the process – embrace the mess and lack of table manners, don’t take food rejection personally and take pleasure in seeing your baby discover this new world of food! It is a lovely learning experience for your baby and hopefully will start them off on a lifetime of happy and healthy eating.

A few basics to bear in mind are:

  • Make sure your baby is ready to start solids and don’t get frustrated if there is a lot of rejection at first! There have been morning I’ve got up especially early and lovingly cooked her a beautiful breakfast only to have it all squished into the highchair or thrown on the floor without a single bite going into her mouth. The signs that your baby is ready for solids (taken from the NHS guidance) are that they:
    • stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady
    • co-ordinate their eyes, hands and mouth so they can look at the food, pick it up and put it in their mouth by themselves
    • swallow food (rather than spit it back out)
  • The current advice is to wait until around 6 months but each baby is different so go with what works for you and your baby, however if you start before 6 months your baby’s digestion and coordination will be less mature so I was advised to avoid finger food, any food with allergens and foods that are harder to digest such as meats until she was over 6 months old
  • When introducing allergens, introduce one at a time with a few days between introducing new ones and keep a careful watch out for any allergic reaction or sign of intolerance (see more guidance on allergies here)
  • We have found that our daughter loves strong flavours and “grown up foods” that we didn’t think she’d like, such as curry, so generally I try to give her bits of anything we are eating so she can explore as many new flavours and textures as possible. However, there are a few foods that you should avoid giving to babies (see here for NHS guidance on this) including: added salt , sugar and saturated fat (or foods high in these);  honey before the age of 1; foods that are a choking hazard such as whole nuts, peanuts, raw jelly cubes and anything that is small and round (cut foods such as cherry tomatoes into quarters before giving them to your baby); some cheeses; raw or lightly cooked eggs (see caveat about lion stamped eggs below) or seafood; rice drinks; shark, swordfish or marlin as they are high in mercury
  • Follow good food safety and hygiene principles to make sure you don’t give your baby food poinsoning and avoid choking. The key principles as advised by the NHS are:
    • Always wash your hands before preparing food and keep surfaces clean.
    • Cool hot food and test it before giving it to your baby.
    • Wash and peel fruit and raw vegetables.
    • Avoid hard foods like whole nuts, or raw carrot or apple.
    • Remove hard pips and stones from fruits, and bones from meat or fish.
    • Cut small, round foods, like grapes and cherry tomatoes, into small pieces.
    • Eggs produced under the British Lion Code of Practice (stamped with the red lion) are considered very low risk for salmonella and safe for babies to eat partially cooked.
    • Always stay with your baby when they’re eating in case they start to choke.
  • To store and reheat food for babies and children the NHS advices:
    • Cool food as quickly as possible (ideally within 1 to 2 hours) and put it in the fridge or freezer. Food placed in the fridge should be eaten within 2 days.
    • Cool rice as quickly as possible (always within 1 hour) and put it in the fridge or freezer. Rice placed in the fridge should be eaten within 24 hours and never reheated more than once.
    • Frozen food should be thoroughly defrosted before reheating. The safest way to do this is to leave it in the fridge overnight or use the defrost setting on a microwave.
    • When reheating food, make sure it’s steaming hot all the way through, then let it cool down before giving it to your child. If you’re using a microwave, always stir the food and check the temperature before feeding it to your child. Don’t reheat cooked food more than once.
    • To cool food quickly, put it in an airtight container and hold it under a cold running tap. Stir it from time to time so it cools consistently all the way through.

I’ve included specific advice on feeding my recipes to babies in the “baby bites” section for ones that I have made with sharing in mind, but some of my other recipes can probably also be adapted for babies following these principles.