Project Weaning

STORING AND REHEATING FOOD

If you’re batch cooking, cool the food down (ideally within one to two hours) and then freeze or refrigerate. If you’re keeping it in the fridge – use it within 2 days. With rice, make sure it cools within an hour and then goes straight in the fridge or freezer. Rice kept in the fridge should be eaten within 24 hours – never reheat it more than once.

TOP TIP

If you need to cool food down quickly, put it in an airtight container and run cold water over it. Keep stirring so it cools throughout.

LIEWOOD REX SNACK BOWLS

Price: £22.00 scandiborn.co.uk

HOW MUCH WILL THEY EAT?

How much your baby eats depends on their appetite, so let your baby guide you on how much food they need – never force them to eat. In the same way you follow your baby’s cues when offering them breast or bottle feeds, be responsive to your baby when giving them solid foods, and learn to recognise when they’re hungry and when they’ve had enough.

What can you do to solve your sleep problems during pregnancy? Here are some tried-andtrue suggestions:

• Don’t rush things

• Make sure your baby is sat upright before you begin.

• An easy-to-clean high chair is a real benefit when baby-led weaning.

During the first few weeks of weaning, it can be helpful to give your baby just one food at a time.

Start with very small portions of food when first weaning your baby – even just a couple of teaspoons.

Remember that every baby is different. Don’t worry about how much they’re eating at the beginning, as it’s more important for your little one to get used to experiencing different flavours and textures

• You can generally give your baby pieces of your ˆordinary family meals, or things you have in the house already, with baby-led weaning..

• A hard aspect of this method of weaning can be relinquishing control. You really have to be able to step back and trust your baby to get on with it.

• Try a variety of food and more than once.

Avoid focusing on fruit when weaning your baby. Doing so can encourage their taste for sweet foods and make it more difficult to introduce vegetables and other savoury foods later on.

• Remember, ‘food is for fun before they’re one’, so see weaning as a sensory experience and messy play for the first few months. Your baby will play with her food at first, but this is an important part of her development.

• Baby-led weaning is messy and your baby will enjoy dropping food to see what happens to it.

• Give your baby a spoon to play with – lots of parents think that baby-led weaning means spoons are banned, but many babies love feeding themselves with one. .

• Be patient – your baby might take a while to get the hang of things, but she’ll get there in the end!