Guide your youngest children safely on to solids with this weaning advice from founder of Grub4Life, Nigel Denby…
In its guidance on infant feeding, the Department of Health recommends exclusively breastfeeding until six months. All infants in childcare who are breastfed at home should have the opportunity to continue this in nursery.
In reality, of course, only 35 per cent of the UK’s babies start off by being breastfed, and this falls to 21 per cent at six weeks and just seven per cent at four months. By the time most babies enter childcare, the vast majority are formula-fed.
When it comes to formula feeds, there is little to distinguish the main brands nutritionally. However, you should give parents the choice about which brand of formula you give their baby.
For early years practitioners, therefore, the main issue of concern regarding infant formula feeding is ensuring that you follow safe, hygienic practice.
Infant formula powder is not sterile. This means it may contain micro-organisms such as salmonella. Whilst infection is rare, reducing the risk is good hygiene practice.
Display a written policy for the preparation of infant formula in your setting. This should form part of staff training. The Department of Health and Food Standards Agency offers the following guidance:
Weaning – the gradual introduction of semi-solid foods to a baby’s diet – is a staged process. It occurs over a period of months, where you gradually increase the quantity, range and textures of foods.
Exactly when weaning should start is a contentious issue. It always sparks lively debate and discussion during Grub4life early years nutrition training sessions!
“Up to the age of six months, breast milk or infant formula will provide all the nutrients and fluid that the majority of babies need.”
It is from this evidence that the Department of Health, following WHO guidance, recommends that you shouldn’t give babies any solid foods until they are six months of age.
However, many parents may want to wean their child earlier than six months. As childcare professionals we are all aware of parents who have successfully weaned their children before they reach the government’s recommended age.
You should regard four months or 17 weeks as the earliest age at which to introduce solids (DoH, 1994).
Up until 17 weeks, a baby’s digestive system is not ready to deal with any foods other than breast or formula milk. Those who are weaned earlier are at a greater risk of developing food allergies.
In short, when it comes to weaning, the Grub4life mantra is “Always by six months, but never before four months!”
There are nutritional and developmental reasons why infants need solid foods from six months. By this time babies need more iron, vitamins and other nutrients than can be provided by milk alone.
Iron is particularly important. Newborns enter the world with a supply of iron from their mother, but by six months they have used these body stores up and need to obtain iron from their diet.
If weaning starts after the baby is six months there is a risk of iron deficiency and poor growth and development.
At around six months, a baby has also reached a developmental stage where they’re more likely to accept new foods. Babies weaned after six months can go on to develop a limited range of foods they will accept.
Parents should continue breastfeeding and or/formula feeding after introducing solids, until at least one year of age. For infants who are at risk of nutritional deficiencies, you might go beyond this.
Of course, this should not be at the expense of the baby eating solid foods.
For those infants who have been introduced to solids before 26 weeks, there are certain foods that can cause an allergic reaction. Therefore, avoid giving babies the following before six months:
Remember, too, that you shouldn’t add foods – for example, custard powder, crushed rusks or baby rice – to bottles of milk.
This practice does not allow the infant to learn how food feels in the mouth or how to chew, and may cause choking.
Similarly, avoid manufactured weaning foods. Although parents may offer pre-prepared puree foods outside the nursery, these are not recommended as the main staples of a weaning diet.
It’s easy to prepare simple first-stage purees from a typical nursery menu. These first few days of weaning are less about nutrition and more about the baby learning to accept new tastes, and to manoeuvre food around the mouth to the back of the throat for swallowing.
Prepare pureed combinations of two vegetables or fruits alongside older children’s family food recipes. Experienced nursery cooks often make up purees and freeze them in ice cube trays to be used on days when vegetables form part of a composite dish, e.g. lasagne.
This avoids having to prepare vegetables especially for weaning babies (you can do the same for fruit purees).
Once a baby is handling first-stage purees, it’s important to move on to lumpier, more challenging textures of vegetables, fruits and protein.
You can also try soft finger foods like blanched vegetable sticks and bread and butter soldiers. These will increase babies’ nutritional intake and their eating skills.
In general, most babies who have started weaning between 17 and 26 weeks will be eating family food by the age of 12 months.
Although breast milk is nutritionally complete, surveys have identified low plasma vitamin D in 13–28% of women of childbearing age.
If there is any doubt about a mother’s or baby’s vitamin D status, supplementation should start from as early as one month.
What you need: (10 servings)
● 1 tbsp (15g) sunflower oil
● 1 (150g) large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
● 2 (12g) cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
● 2 (60g) celery stalks, washed, trimmed and chopped
● 1 (100g) leek, trimmed and sliced
● 2 (320g) red peppers, deseeded and chopped 800g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
● 1 tsp ground cumin
● Pinch of pepper
● 800ml vegetable stock, made from Kallo low-salt stock cubes
What you do:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic, celery and leek and soften for 5–10 minutes. Add the red pepper and butternut squash and stir well.
Add the ground cumin and season with pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add the stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15–20 minutes. Blitz the soup in a blender until smooth and serve with wholemeal rolls.
Cook’s tip: If butternut squash is difficult to obtain, you can replace it with the same quantity of sweet potato. Prepare extra butternut squash and leeks and make a puree for weaning diets.
Nutrition analysis per serving
Energy (159kcals) Protein (6g) Fat (3g) Carbohydrate
(29g) Sugar (0.02g) Salt (1.1mg) Iron (1.8mg)
Calcium (92mg)
What you need: (12 servings)
● 125ml milk
● 4 tbsp (60ml) sunflower oil
● 1 egg
● 100g soft brown sugar
● 2 (225g) dessert apples
● 125g self-raising flour
● 50g wholemeal flour
● 1 tsp (5g) baking powder
● 1 tsp (5g) mixed spice
What you do:
Preheat the oven to 180°C, 350°F, Gas 4. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases. In a large bowl, beat the milk, oil, egg and sugar together.
Peel, core and grate the apples and stir into the mixture. In another bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and mixed spice.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Gradually add the liquid, combining it with the flour. Spoon the muffin mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes, until they are golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Cook’s tip: Prepare extra apples and one other fruit to make a fruit puree for weaning diets. For wheat-free diets, use wheat-free flour. For dairy-free diets use soya milk For egg-free diets, use egg replacer.
Nutrition analysis per serving
Energy (172kcals) Protein (3g) Fat (7g)
Carbohydrate (26g) Sugar (10g) Salt (0.2mg)
Iron (0.7mg) Calcium (67mg)
Nigel Denby is a chef, registered dietician and the founder of Grub4Life.
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