Healthy eating out and about...

Little Dude and I went shopping today. My plan to make a quick dash to get him some new shoes turned into a casual jaunt round a dozen shops and before I knew it, it was 11.30. I'd packed some snacks - raisins and a Nom Nom Kids smoothie pouch filled with kiwi, banana and apple - but nothing substantial enough for lunch. The smoothie was still half frozen at that point anyway - excellent planning Mama!

Usually when we eat out I pack a full homemade lunch box to take with us. Quite honestly, kids menus at most cafes and pubs make me cringe; the majority of them don't seem to extend beyond fish fingers, chicken nuggets, and burgers. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to serve the odd thing like this in moderation (white chocolate buttons are a particular weakness for both of us!) but I'd much prefer to do it when I can read the packet myself and check out the salt content, amongst other things.

L tends to nap after lunch so I figured it was worth braving it and ordering a couple of things for us to share, rather than let him fall asleep on the way home and go to bed with an empty tum. Mama needed coffee so we headed to Starbucks and I picked a cheese and ham toastie and a chicken salad. The food selection was obviously aimed at adults but both of these seemed suitable enough for the pair of us. I figured Little Dude would be all about the carbs but he surprised me by merrily munching through a handful of sugar snap peas and bravely sampling a huge slice of lime. It's just a shame I didn't capture the faces he pulled on camera - he went back for several tastes though so must have liked it!

This got me thinking... where else can I find decent children's menus? I generally really enjoy putting a lunchbox together for him but it'd also be handy to have more places that I can visit on a whim without stressing about what there is for him to eat. I'd love to hear from other Mamas about their favourite places to take little ones for decent, healthy food. Let me know your recommendations here or on the BLWMamaUK Facebook page and I'll put a list together for us all to share.

10 Easy Breakfast Ideas

Breakfast is one of those meals we don't tend to give a lot of love to. It can be particularly difficult to muster much enthusiasm when you're half asleep, bleary eyed and have been up most of the night with a teething/ill/partying baby (delete as appropriate).

Before I had Little Dude breakfast for me was either a five minute rush job as I dashed out the house (handful of nuts or quick bowl of cornflakes) or some soggy toast from the work canteen. Being on maternity leave rekindled my love with what my own Mama still tells me is 'the most important meal of the day'. Suddenly I had the time and inclination (what better motivation is there than the need to fill your baby's little tummy?) to try out some new ideas. Here are my top ten favourites to inspire you on those sleepy mornings...

1. Banana Pancakes - Just two ingredients and less than ten minutes to make, these delicious pancakes really couldn't be easier. Mash a banana, mix in a beaten egg and fry in a little unsalted butter. I get best results using a heavy frying pan (so it doesn't get too hot) and grilling the top of them before flipping them over. To add more backbone, throw in a handful of oats and for a naughty twist, a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder.

2. Fruity Porridge - I often make this with leftover fruit or pre-made puree. A handful of oats, a generous splash of whole milk, microwave for 90 seconds then stir in your fruit. I let mine cool then spoon it onto L's tray in little balls for a quick, BLW-friendly breakfast.

3. Homemade Cereal Bars - Blend a small packet of mixed nuts with 5-6 dried dates then mix with an egg and a few handfuls of oats. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper then bake for 25ish minutes until cooked through. Slice into finger shapes before serving.

4. Rice Pudding Balls - Little Dude loves these. I make a batch of rice pudding the night before using 50g pudding rice, 550ml whole milk and a handful of sultanas. I roll small bowls of cold mixture then dust them with cinnamon. 

5. Fruit Medley - Super simple but colourful, healthy and great for experimenting with textures. Pretty much anything works cut into finger shapes; watermelon, galia melon, apple (softened in the microwave for 30 seconds), peaches, pear, avocado... go crazy!

6. Crepes - Those who follow my Instagram feed will know I'm slightly obsessed with pancakes. My favourite method is to stew some blueberries in a little water until they're breaking down, then mix them into the pancake batter. I use a Good Food recipe for the batter which never fails. 

7. French Toast / Eggy Bread - This makes a great weekend breakfast for the whole family. Beat one egg, add a splash of milk then cut a slice of bread in half and dip it into the mixture for a few seconds to soak it through. Fry in a little unsalted butter and serve with strawberries. Mmmmm...


8. Weetabix - Quite a simple one but L absolutely loves it. I cut them into slices with a sharp knife, put them on his tray they pour milk on top to soften them. He enjoys the theatre of watching the milk pour down while I tell him to 'wait... wait... wait' before he gets stuck in. Beware: the stuff sets like concrete so make sure you clean up properly afterwards!

9. Fruit Teacake - Toasted, cut into finger shapes and slathered in butter. Comfort food at its best!

10. Crumpets and cream cheese - I never give more than 1/2 crumpet because the salt content tends to be high, but they work well alongside something else like fruit or a few cornflakes or cheerios. 

 What is your favourite breakfast? Comment below or tag me on Instagram @blwmamauk

TELL ME... About Your BLW Experience

So...further to my earlier post HERE, I've gathered together the answers to the other questions I asked my Instagram and Facebook Baby Led Weaning Mommas and Papas.

BEGINNERS - this should give you a good flavour (no pun intended!) of how other people's babies have taken to BLW. In short - they are all completely different!

A reminder of the questions...

1. What made you choose to do BLW? (see my previous post)
2. How old was your little one when they started eating (rather than just playing)? 
3. What have been your biggest challenges or successes with BLW?
4. What's your 'go to' meal - guaranteed to be gobbled up?
5. If you started again, what piece of advice/tip would you tell yourself? 


Because some small part of me clearly misses working in an office, I've decided to illustrate the answers to question two by way of a jazzy pie chart...

So it turns out that Little Dude wasn't so slow on the uptake after all. Interesting that many of the babas were well over 6 months (the moment when it feels like our baby has to magically graduate from a milk only diet to eating three square meals a day overnight :-\ ) when they started properly eating food.



3. What have been your biggest challenges or successes with BLW?

4. What's your 'go to' meal - guaranteed to be gobbled up? 

"'Alpha bites' cereal, blueberries, beetroot (not altogether, though that's been done...)" @asbellina 

"Go to 'meal' is little egg tortillas. He loves them, which is great coz they are so easy to make and they're freezable." @twelvetwelvebaby

"Spaghetti Bolognese with peas followed by Greek yogurt and banana" @vblogg

"For my daughter, it was porridge blobs (like porridge fingers but the can't-be-arsed version) and for my little guy, it's lasagne or pasta with tomato and chorizo" @aoifekids

"Avocado, salmon, omelette, blueberries" @cookingforgrey

"Go-to meal is crab cakes! They absolutely love them. If I'm in a hurry, it's a chicken and hummus quesadilla." @babiesgotsnack

"Cheese on toast, chicken and carrots (not usually together!)" @suzie_crossland

"Banana and savoury flap jacks (recommended in the BLW cook book)" @mrs30

"There's not one specific persistent favourite - she's unfussy. At the moment her favourite is noodles/spaghetti. She's 14 months." @azalea_and_mum

"Since we are still pretty new, we don't really have a 'go to' meal yet. He loves sweet potato, asparagus and steak so for now that's the go to!" @dylansfoodadventures

5. If you started again, what piece of advice/tip would you tell yourself?

"Don't worry - he'll eat when he's ready 😀" @blwmamauk

"Go with your gut you're his mum it doesn't matter what others think / say." @annakaura

"I'd probably give myself the same advice as I try to with all the other aspects of this parenting thing; every baby is different, try not to compare them. :-) " @twelvetwelvebaby

"Stick at it - it'll take time. Plan meals at the beginning of the week as otherwise it can be tough to get enough variety." @suzie_crossland

"Start with easy things, if you are scared to give him chunks of food, but want him to eat independently, grate cooked veggies into little mounds easy to pick up, make little pancakes of stuff, ease into it!" @cookingforgrey

"I would tell myself to trust my son. My instinct was to trust him but the norm for introducing solids in the US is purees and I started to question myself and his abilities. After a week I stopped looking to other people and what everyone else was doing and trusted my instincts and my sons abilities." @dylansfoodadventures

"I would say don't try to be super mum and cook three healthy meals per day and clean up too...., you will never get out the house! Just try to enjoy your baby exploring and remember food before one for fun' " @mrs30

"Buy an ANTILOP high chair!" @bramblebites

TELL ME... Getting Started #1

Every time I speak to someone about weaning their baby I hear a different story. Some little ones are into food from day one, others take their time in learning to love their grub. Lots of people make a deliberate choice to BLW, others sort of fall into it like I did. I love hearing about all the different journeys other Mums, Dads and babies have been on; everyone seems to have different challenges along the way and it's helpful to know that when your baby is joyfully lobbing mashed potato at the wall or refusing to eat anything except raisins, the chances are that someone else has been there (and come out the other side!).

I asked my Instagram and Facebook buddies five quick questions to get the lowdown on their weaning adventures. The variety of answers in just this small group of people is really interesting but there are a couple of reoccurring themes from this wise little bunch:  

Trust your instincts, trust your baby and eventually you'll both figure it out. 

In the meantime - enjoy yourself!

1. What made you choose to do BLW?

"Little Dude's absolute refusal to be spoonfed. We battled with purée for a month or so then switched to BLW. We've never looked back!" @blwmamauk

"I chose BLW because our little guy seemed more interested in touching the food and looking at it himself than having a spoon" @bramblebites

"I was actually very anti BLW at first, wasn't until I watch a video - yes video at my local Health Centre that I got to understand more about it and saw the benefits of BLW. Then when I showed my husband YouTube clips he was adamant that was the route we would take." @blwinspiration

"I decided to do BLW after watching a good friend of mine do it with her son. I was terrified and wasn't completely on board...until my daughter reached on my plate at 6.5 months and took a piece of meatloaf off and tried to eat it. From that point on we have been strict BLW" @babiesgotsnack

"I had read about it but was scared about choking and stuff. I started with purée and oddly my baby could self feed herself at 5 months [yes early - but she was ready, proper ready, holding her head up, 5 teeth, could sit and stand independently, showed an interest in food and hand to mouth coordination] :/ a few of my other friends were doing BLW so I tried her with stuff. She preferred it and we carried on- the rest is history!" @azalea_and_mum

"I wanted my little boy to have a healthy relationship with food and thought if he didn't need to be spoon fed purees and could just eat what we do it would make an easier life for all of us" @annakaura

"My pal did it with her wee boy while I was pregnant so I read up in it and just went with it!" @vblogg

"A few friends tried it and sounded good. Fitted with my lifestyle. As a single mum, I liked the idea of eating together (rather than me feed him then eat myself)." @asbellina

"I choose BLW as my sister done it with my 2 nephews. I was pretty sure I would do a combination of BLW and purées as I was terrified when I had to give the boys lunch when I was babysitting. Turns out (like most things) it's totally different when it's your own little bundle and I haven't puréed a thing!" @twelvetwelvebaby

"It just seemed like a no-brainer to me. I read the BLW book when Millar was about 4 months and it all just made sense. I liked the idea that it was fun and gave the baby control" @suzie_crossland

"little man refused the spoon after three weeks of purées?" @mrs30

 "Feeling that there's not much nutritional value or fun in rice cereal and advice from nurses at the hospital who were (very surprisingly) pro-blw. They didn't call it that, but suggested to forgo the cereal and start with strips of cooked veggies and chicken (same thing!)" @cookingforgrey

"I have no idea how we ended up with BLW. I had always know I wanted to be a'free-range' parent and that my kids would get bumps and bruises, stiches and casts. I wanted to be abe t oinclude them, to bring them to resturants and to travel the world with us, I knew I wanted to breastfeed for a year but I had never thought about how I wanted to introduce solids.I have no idea how I found it but I do remember thinking 'oh this makes much more sense!'" @dylansfoodadventures

"Chose BLW after seeing so many other kids at my job (preschool teacher) and my daughter's cousins who were being bribed, coaxed and tricked to eat. I wanted my daughter to have a self awareness of her eating and a good relationship with food." @ashjos

" had read a bit about it online when my daughter was a baby and got the boom when she was about 4 months old. It seemed to follow on naturally from on-demand breastfeeding for me, and since weight problems run on my side of the family and fussy eating runs on my husband's side, we thought it would be a great idea. It went so well with our daughter that we didn't even think twice about doing it again this time round with our little guy." @aoifekids

"Wir haben mit 5 Monaten mit Beikost begonnen, und nach 2 Wochen wollte er keinen Brei mehr, da ich sowieso von Anfang an auch Fingerfood gegeben habe gabs dann nur noch das! Den letzten anstoß hat mir das Buch "Einmal breifrei, bitte" gegeben."  @chrischdl85

"I did a lot of research and reading and it seemed like the right thing for our family" @mydairyfreedinner


I'll post the answers to the other 4 questions shortly once I've caught up with them all... :)