Whoever said “It’s as easy as taking candy from a baby, never had a baby.”

This is so true – kids love sweet things. Why not, I love chocolate, but I don’t remember getting much chocolate or sweets as a child. Fridays were chocolate day. My Dad would bring home chocolate which we would all munch though after tea. Now the tables are turned. 3yo loves sweets, candy, chocolate, cake – you name it. Yes, we give him SOME, but when should a child 1st get candy?

Setting your children up with a sweet tooth too young?

One argument goes that giving your children sweets at a very young age will teach them that sweet things are good, and encourage them to reach for a chocolate bar instead of fruit when they are older and fancy a snack. The levels of obesity in children and young people surely bares out this theory.

Children need nutrious food, not empty calories

Children grow phyisically and mentally so quickly when they are young. It makes sense to give them food that will nourish their minds and bodies the most.

When is too young?

Having said that, it is easy to say, “I’m never going to give my toddler candy.” In practice, it is so much harder. They get chocolate selection boxes for Christmas, their friends eat sweets, they LIKE sweets. I guess my reaction is, in moderation it’s OK.

It also makes sense to never give a baby sweets. They really don’t need it and they could easily choke on something that isn’t totally soft. A small piece of chocolate that melts in their mouth is probably the best of the bunch.

Our 3yo really only gets chocolate even now. I worry about the effect sugary sweets will have on his teeth. I would prefer him to want grapes and raisins for a snack – and the majority of the time he does. Sometimes though, he just wants CHOCOLATE. Is it genetic? Sometimes it is just very hard to say no.

How old were your children when you 1st gave them sweets? Are you suceeding at holding off? Or do you just let them have what they want?

Yet again eating cheese when you are pregnant has hit the headlines.

“Sainsbury’s shopworker refuses to sell pregnant woman Cheddar cheese” *

But can you eat cheese when you are pregnant?  

The confusion seems to arise because there are so many different kinds of cheese and only some of them should be avoided when you are pregnant.

WHY?

Listeria can harm your unborn child. Some cheese, like soft cheeses and mould ripened cheeses are more prone than others to allow the growth of the listeria bacteria.  This is because they are moister and less acidic than other cheeses. Most healthy adults can fend off listeria infection. Pregnant women are more at risk. A pregnant woman herself is unlikely to be seriously harmed by listeriosis, but it could do serious harm to her unborn baby.

Can cheese be good in pregnancy?

Calcium and protein are essential in pregnancy and cheese is an important (and tasty) source of these. Some women report cheese cravings when they are pregnant. Is this because their bodies are craving this calcium and protein? The jury still seems to be out on this one!

Good Cheese and Bad Cheese

This is a list of which cheese pregnant women can eat without worrying and those which she should avoid. Of course every woman is different. If you ate cheese before you were pregnant, it makes sense that it will be OK once you are pregnant – if you follow the following:

Bad cheese in pregnancy

Mould ripened soft cheeses (like Brie, not like cream cheese or cottage cheese) Pasteurised or unpasteurised these type of cheeses should be avoided when pregnant

Including:

• Brie,
• Blue Brie,
• Cambozola,
• Camembert,
• Chaumes,
• Chèvre (goats cheese with a white rind),
• Pont L’Eveque,
• Taleggio,
• Vacherin-Fribourgeois

Blue veined cheese

Including:

• Blue Wensleydale,
• Cabreles,
• Danablu,
• Shropshire Blue,
• Danish Blue,
• Dolcelatte,
• Gorgonzola,
• Maytag blue cheese,
• Point Reyes blue,
• Roncal,
• Roquefort,
• Stilton,
• Tomme,
• Wensleydale (blue).

Soft, unpasteurised cheese,

• These include goat and sheep’s cheeses:

Good cheese in pregnancy

Hard cheese

Hard cheeses are generally considered safe to eat. The Food Standards Agency (www.eatwell.gov.uk) states that “listeria is present in very low numbers (less than 1 bacterium per gram of cheese) in these types of cheeses and they are therefore not considered a risk to health during pregnancy.”

This is an indication only – there are SO MANY HARD CHEESES! (in alphabetical order)

• Austrian smoked,
• Babybel,
• Caerphilly,
• Cheddar,
• Cheshire,
• Derby,
• Double Gloucester,
• Edam, Emmental,
• English goat’s cheddar,
• Feta, (in the UK, Feta is deemed safe to eat when pregnant, but in the US, pregnant women are advised to avoid it)
• Gouda,
• Gruyere,
• Halloumi,
• Havarti,
• Jarlsberg,
• Lancashire,
• Paneer,
• Parmesan,
• Red Leicester.

Soft and processed cheeses:

• boursin,
• cheese spread (also called processed cheese),
• cottage cheese,
• cream cheese,
• feta,
• goat’s cheese without a white rind,
• mascarpone,
• mozzarella,
• Philadelphia,
• Quark,
• ricotta.

Yoghurts

• all varieties including natural, flavoured and biologically active,
• probiotic drinks,
• fromage frais,
• soured cream
• crème fraîche

As with any other dairy food, keep it the fridge and eat it within the use by date.

What to Eat When You’re Pregnant: Including the A-Z of What’s Safe and What’s Not

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What food and drink should I avoid when pregnant?

* The Sainsbury’s article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218197

When I was pregnant, I worried a  lot about what I should and shouldn’t be eating and drinking. I wanted to give my baby the best possible chance and not eat anything that might harm him or her. The advice seemed to be the same wherever I looked. Basically, that if you eat sensibly during pregnancy and eat a balanced nutritious diet, most foods are safe. However some foods are safer than others, and some should be avoided.

Here are some guidelines:

Remember though, always ask your midwife or GP if you are unsure about anything. Everybody is different, we cannot say this is safe to eat or not – it is just a guideline.

Foods that are generally OK when you are pregnant

• Cooked food – always remembr that freshly and thoroughly cooked foods are the safest.
• Milk – Fresh, pasteurised and UHT milk and yoghurt (always eat/drink them before their use by date.
• Fresh fruit and vegetables – thoroughly wash them though.
  
• Tinned and pickled foods
• Canned meat and fish – once opened always store them  in the fridge and use them up or throw them away within 12 hours.
• Home cooked meats – make sure they are cooked thoroughly. Use immediately or store in the fridge and again use them within 12  hours.
• Home-made salads – wash all salad items thoroughly. Store them in the fridge and use them within 12 hours.
• Some cheese - Hard cheeses, semi-soft cheeses such as mozzarella, pasteurized processed cheese slices and spreads, cream cheese and cottage cheese are OK.
• Fromage frais, creme fraiche, sour cream.
• Mayonnaise, ice cream, salad dressing – as long as they haven’t been made using raw egg.
• Spicy food – but watch out for your baby kicking if you eat spicy food later in pregnancy – mine did!
  
• Honey – this is OK for pregnant women but is NOT suitable for babies under a year old.

Foods to avoid when you are pregnant

• ‘Ready to eat’ foods. In the modern world this can be harder than you 1st think. It includes pasteurised dairy products, pates, meat products (including pre-sliced chicken), cooked diced chicken (as used in sandwich shops),  uncooked smoked seafood, smoked shellfish, previously prepared coleslaw and salads.
• Pâté (including vegetable). This is because pâté can contain listeria.
• Ready made salads -they look healthy – but what have they been washed in? They are not freshly washed and therefore should be avoided.
  
• Raw seafood (oysters, sashimi or sushi) or smoked seafood (frozen or chilled)
• Shellfish.
• Cheeses such as Camembert, Brie or chevre (a type of goats’ cheese), or others that have  a similar rind. You should also avoid soft blue cheeses – cheeses are made with mould can contain listeria.
• Dips and salad dressings – which have been previously exposed to raw vegetables, even if they have been kept refrigerated
• Raw or partially cooked eggs – avoid eating raw eggs and food containing raw or partially-cooked eggs. If y9ou are pregnanct, only eat eggs when both the white and yolk are solid. This is to avoid the risk of salmonella
• Raw or undercooked meat – make sure you only eat meat that has been well cooked. This is especially important with poultry and products made from minced meat, such as sausages and burgers. Make sure these are  cooked until they are piping hot all the way through and no pink meat is left.
• Anything with a lot of vitamin A - This is because you only need a small amount of vitamin A to keep healthy and large amounts can harm an unborn baby
  Food with Vitamin A for example are:
  • liver and liver products such as liver pâté and cod liver oil supplements
  • vitamin tablets or supplements which contain vitamin A
• Avoid foods which may have high levels of listeria - Pregnant women are more likely to become infected with listeria than non pregnant people. Sometimes a listeria infection causes miscarriage, stillbirth, or infections in the baby after birth.
  Foods  most at risk of carrying listeria:
  • soft cheeses (such as brie)
  • undercooked meats and eggs
  • pate
  • shellfish
  • raw fish
  • unpasteurised milk

• Fish – Avoid eating any shark, swordfish and marlin. Limit the amount of tuna you eat. This is because of the levels of mercury in these fish. At high levels, mercury can harm a baby’s developing nervous system.
• Avoid eating more than two portions of oily fish a week.
  Oily fish includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which does not count as oily fish), mackerel, sardines and trout.
• Peanuts - More research is being carried out on whether pregnant women should eat peanuts or not. The theory is that the risk of your baby developing a peanut allergy is increased if you eat them while you are pregnant.  Also, your baby is at higher risk if you or a close blood relative of you or the baby’s father has a peanut allergy, asthma or eczema.

It just makes sense to be cautious and avoid peanuts if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Things to remember

1. Ensure packaging is intact, throw away any food if you see the packet is damaged
2. Always cook fish and meat all the way through
3. Always wash your hands before eating
4. Always wash your hands after handling raw meat or fish
5. Always make sure knives, cooking utensils, chopping boards etc are washed well with hot soapy water
6. Avoid food if you are unsure how it has been prepared or stored
7. Make sure any leftovers are well heated all the way through. Microwaves can unevenly heat food, this is why they always tell you to leave food to stand after heating it in a microwave. This helps the food to heat all the way through.
8. Prepare and store foods safely. When dealing with raw meat keep it separate from other  foods. Make sure the raw meat is not stored in the fridge where juices may drip onto other  foods.
9. Keep all stored food in the fridge individually wrapped or covered.
10. Thoroughly wash all raw fruit and vegetables before eating them.
11. Always check the ‘Use by’ and ‘Best before labels and don’t go over them
12. If you are unsure about any food when eating out, choose something else or ask the staff about the ingredients or how it is cooked.

Have a look at What to Eat When You’re Pregnant: Including the A-Z of What’s Safe and What’s Not for more advice.

Alcohol and caffeine

We have all seen TV programmes or news articles with pregnant women drinking heavily – most of us ar sickened by the sight. When you’re pregnant, it’s best to stop drinking alcohol altogether. But if you do drink, have no more than 1 or 2 units of alcohol, once or twice a week and don’t get drunk.

• A unit is half a pint of standard strength beer, lager or cider, or a pub measure of spirit.
• A glass of wine is about 2 units
• Alcopops are about 1.5 units.

You should limit the amount of caffeine you have each day. Caffeine occurs naturally in a range of foods, such as coffee, tea and chocolate, and it’s also added to some soft drinks and ‘energy’ drinks.

It’s important not to have more than 300mg a day. This is because high levels of caffeine can result in babies having a low birth weight, or even in miscarriage.

Each of these contains roughly 300mg of caffeine:

3 mugs of instant coffee (100mg each mug)
4 cups of instant coffee (75mg each cup)
3 cups of brewed coffee (100mg each cup)
6 cups of tea (50mg each cup)
8 cans of cola (up to 40mg each can)
4 cans of ‘energy’ drink (up to 80mg each can)
6 (50g) bars of plain chocolate (up to 50 mg per bar)
Caffeine in milk chocolate is about half that of plain chocolate

(caffeine amounts  from www.eatwell.gov.uk)

Caffeine is also found in some cold and flu remedies. Check with  your GP or midwife before taking any.

Have a look at What to Eat When You’re Pregnant: Including the A-Z of What’s Safe and What’s Not for more advice.

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When you are 2 it is important to have your friends round for dinner. I wouldn’t mind at all if Callum or Connor or Bethany or Jessica came for their tea. However the guest in question, and a guest that HAD to be treated with the utmost of respect and be given only the BEST food – was a grubby, tatty teddy bear. Teddy is 2yo’s best friend so I suppose he SHOULD come to dinner.

Teddy was the perfect dinner guest. He was quiet and very well behaved. He never threw his food and  always waited patiently to be served. Teddy came dressed for the occasion. He was sporting the very best in nappywear. He was not allowed to eat pretend food, or have a pretend drink. That would be silly – wouldn’t it?

There was an upside to the sillyness. As Teddy mysteriously ate all his food, 2yo was first amazed, and then slightly concerned that Teddy might eat HIS food. Daddy had nothing to do with the slight of hand while Mummy cried “look what’s that” pointing to the ceiling – honest!  2yo made sure Teddy couldn’t get to his food and quickly ate up every last bit. Mummy and Daddy were very pleased that both of them ate ALL their food, though congratulating the bear did feel slightly unneccessary.

Of course, all this had the desired effect; 2yo ate all his food and every plate was clean. The dinner party had gone well. Up to the point where dessert was about to be served. Ice cream is not the best dessert for a fluffy teddy bear to consume. He had to make do with jelly babies. It was a poor substitute apparently. Ice cream is the only dessert that should be served to important guests.

Despite Teddy being a superb dinner guest, our enthusiasm in ‘going along’ with the whole scenario soon back fired on us.

Teddy stayed over night and turned up for breakfast demanding Shreddies.

What do you give your baby when they are getting too old for baby rice?

As with many mothers, I gave my baby pureed vegetables as his 1st foods. He loved carrot, broccoli, suede, cauliflower, broad beans (taking the skins off before pureeing them was fun!). He wasn’t so keen on peas.

I found pureeing a couple of days worth of veg and freezing it in ice cube trays was really convenient. An ice cube amount of veg was just right for him to begin with. As he got hungrier, he progressed to 2 cubes then 3 then 4. After that he started eating chunkier food.

The health visitor advised me to get him onto vegetables before fruit. He would like the sweet taste of fruit and might reject vegetables if given them too soon. That sounded like good advice. When he tasted his first strawberry, you could see by the look on his face that it was the best thing he had ever tasted!

Here’s my photo story of pureeing vegetables.

Wash and chop up and cook the veg until soft. (My mum suggested I used the cooled boiled water used to cook the veg as a drink for my son. He loved it, and got all the nutrients from the water.) Puree with a fork, masher, or my favourite an electric blender.

Once in a smooth paste, spoon into a clean ice cube tray. Pop the tray into the freezer.

Pop out the required amount of cubes, either defrost naturally, or heat gently.

Make sure food is only luke warm throughout before feeding your baby!

Some helpful books when weaning your baby:

Getting young children to eat fruit and vegetables can be a chore. You can make it more fun by turning tasting fruit and veg into a game.

Firstly wash, peel and chop the fruit and veg you are using, make sure you remove any pips and stones. 3 types is about the right number to start with.

Choose any, but these are great to start with:

Fruit, can be fresh or tinned

• Banana
• Strawberry
• Apple
• Pear
• Peach
• Carrot
• Red green or yellow pepper
• Mushroom
• Tomato
• Cucumber

Get your toddler to cover their eyes, and feed them a small piece of fruit or veg, ask them to tell you what it is. Congratulate them if they are right. If they get it wrong, ask them questions about it to help them and guess again. Is it sweet, crunchy, sticky, soft, etc.

You can join in the game too, by swapping round and you cover your eyes and get your toddler to feed you bits of fruit and veg. You should be good at guessing the right one, but you can say, oh it’s sweet and crunchy, is it an apple?

This games makes tasting new food fun, and helps with improving their vocabulary – it can get messy though!

My tot was a great eater. There is nothing he wouldn’t try, and meals were a dream. Then at about 2 1/2 he just stopped eating bread. He would just eat the filling – never the bread.  “NO NO NO” was all I got at lunch time if bread was offered.

OK, a new method was called for.  What does he really like… Numbers were a big fave. Luckily IKEA were selling cookie cutters in number shapes – I had some in the cupboard.They had been sitting there as I had never got round to the baking cookies thing!

He got to choose which numbers he wanted – and it was easy to do. Hey presto it worked like magic. He was eating bread. Margarine on numbers, jam on numbers, cream cheese on numbers.

At the moment he will only eat the number 5. He has gone through 2 3 4 and 8. I wonder which will be next?

Bread ‘fives’, with slices of strawberry and banana with halved grapes.

Lunch went down a treat!

We are told by every expert under the sun that fruit and vegetables are good for us and we must eat 5 portions a day.

Yes, fruit and vegetables are delicious, tasty and good for you, but sometimes you need some new ways to get your youngsters to eat them.

Here our favourite Vegetable Snacks For Kids – please add more!

Raw vegetables

Cut up fresh raw vegetables into bite size pieces, or sticks.

Be careful about serving broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower to young children as they could choke. You can grate some veg, like carrots, instead. You can serve the vegetables with cheese, or milk to provide protein and fat. Add crackers or fruit juice for carbohydrates.

Good vegetables to eat raw include:

• broccoli
• green beans
• carrots
• green peas
• cauliflower
• turnips
• celery
• cucumber
• peppers
• mushroom

Tomato and vegetables juices
You can blend chopped up vegetables to make a juice, or use the water you boil your vegetables in (cooled down of course!) as a nutritious drink.

Vegetable Art
Instead of arranging vegetables for your kids, give them sliced raw vegetables and let them design their own vegetable creations – then they can eat them!

Vegetable dips
Chop vegetables into bite size pieces or sticks and dip into hummus, natural yoghurt, unsweetened apple sauce. Good dipping vegetables can be carrots, celery, green or red pepper and broccoli.

Vegetable smoothies

How about a spinach smoothie? – sounds odd but tastes great!

How to make:
1 banana, sliced
150g (5 oz) green grapes
1 (200g) tub vanilla yoghurt
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
50g (2 oz) fresh spinach leaves

Blend all together. Add a little milk if your smoothie is too thick.

Apple and carrot smoothie?

How to make:
250ml milk
1 very ripe eating apple
1 small carrot

Pour the milk into the blender
Peel and grate the apple and carrot, add them to the blender.
Blend until smooth.

Grape and broccoli smoothie

Simply add seedless grapes and raw broccoli to your blender and blend until smooth
Add ice to make it less thick if necessary.

Remember to be aware of allergies and only give food to your child that is age and development appropriate.

A great recipe book for helping your child eat healthy nutritious meals: Big Book of Recipes for Babies, Toddlers & Children: 365 Quick, Easy and Healthy Dishes: From First Foods to Starting School

Just one comment on the book is:

I can’t praise this book highly enough! It’s very well laid out and even the pages are tough enough to be wiped down easily. I have tried loads of the recipes already with my own toddler and have recommended it to all the parents in the nursery where I work. I was amazed to find how easy it is to make root vegetables into a fun and nutritious meal. My son’s favourite is Toddler’s tortilla but I have yet to try any recipe that he won’t eat! A real find!

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It can be scary giving your baby food for the first time. Even the words ‘weaning a baby’ – what does it mean? Are they ready? What should they eat? Lots of questions run through your head. Baby rice mixed up with breast or formula milk provides the first meals. I thought baby rice would look like ordinary rice or tapioca, but no, it looked like creamy slop, and totally unappetizing.  It was a good start though. I was eager to move onto something else, but took it easy and waited until I though he was ready. To be honest I wasn’t sure just what he should eat. Pureed fruit and veg suited him for a while, but there are a few rules about what they shouldn’t eat.

So, weaning your baby is not as scary as it might seem. Just remember a few simple rules of what you shouldn’t give them to eat. Hopefully below explains why some foods are not suitable for your young baby.

Sugar

Why not?

• Sugary food can lead to tooth decay, both in babies and small children.

What to do.

• Only add sugar if it is really necessary. If your baby has not had sugary food, they will not miss it.
• Don’t encourage a sweet tooth.

Other info

• Sweets, ice cream and so on are not recommended for babies under 1 year old.

Honey

Why not?

• Occasionally honey can contain bacteria that produces toxins in babies intestines. This can cause infant botulism.

What to do.

• Never give your baby, under 1 year old any honey.

Other info

• Honey can also encourage a sweet tooth and lead to tooth decay, so it is best avoided.

Some helpful books when weaning your baby:

Salt

Why not?

• A baby’s kidneys can’t cope with salt.

What to do.

• Don’t add any salt to food you give your baby.
• Check the labels on food you buy, like cheese, sausages, bacon – they are often high in salt.

Sodium or salt??

• Food labels often list sodium not salt. 1g of salt is less than 0.4g of sodium.
• Babies under 1 year should have less than 1g of salt per day, so check labels carefully.

Other info

• Baby food isn’t allowed to contain salt
• Foods you buy that you eat too, like cooking sauces, can be high in salt, so while it is good that your baby is eating the same food as you, watch how much salt they are getting.

Nuts

Why not?

• Nuts can cause choking in children under five.

What to do.

• Don’t give any whole nuts, including peanuts, (see below) to children under five

Also

• Peanut allergy can be life threatening. Children from families with a history of allergy are most at risk from peanut allergy.

These tips may help reduce the risk of your baby developing peanut allergy: avoid eating peanuts or peanut products while you are breastfeeding, or pregnant

• don’t give your child any peanuts, or foods containing peanuts, peanut (groundnut) oil
• or peanut butter, until they are at least three years old
• read food labels carefully if in doubt, avoid the product

Low-fat, low-calorie and high-fibre

Why not?

• Unlike adults who are often told low fat and low calorie food is good, babies need fat. It gives them energy, and gives them vitamins only found in fat.
• High fibre products like bran enriched cereals stop babies from absorbing important minerals like calcium and iron. Babies stomachs are tiny so they need to get lots of nutrients vitamins and calories from a small amount of food, and not bulk up on fibre.

What to do.

• Choose full-fat dairy products (fromage frais, yoghurt, milk, chese).
• Avoid brown rice, wholemeal pasta bran enriched breakfast cereals until your baby is older

Fish

Why not?

• Some fish can contain mercury, which can affect your baby’s immune system.
• Raw shellfish can cause food poisoning

What to do.

• Avoid shark, swordfish or marlin.
• Avoid raw shellfish.

Other

• Fish can be very good though, see article on foods that are good for baby!
• Fish, especially oily fish, is recommended by all kinds of experts to be part of a healthy diet. Everyone – children and adults, are recommended to eat at least two portions of fish every week, and one of them should be oily fish.  Fresh fish such as salmon, trout, cod and haddock, tinned fish such as sardines and pilchards, as well as fish products such as fish fingers and fish cakes are all nutritious foods for young children.
• Avoid giving fish tinned in brine to babies, as it is higher in salt than fish tinned in oil or springwater.

Eggs

Why not

• Eggs are high up on the list of foods that can cause allergies
• The risk of salmonella from improperly cooked eggs

What to do

• Don’t give raw or lightly cooked eggs to babies.
• Eggs can be given to babies over 12 months old, make sure both the white and yolk are solid.
• Just the egg yolk can be given to your baby from 7-10 months old.
• As your baby gets older she will start to eat more and more of the same food as you, but you still need to watch out for levels of salt and sugar, and a young child still needs full fat versions of dairy produce.

Some helpful books when weaning your baby:

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