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Weaning your baby - How and when to introduce puddings
Learn how to recognise when your baby is ready for a second course, choose nutritious pudding options and balance flavors & textures to support healthy eating habits.
Once your baby is well established with eating solids you will start to get a sense that they know what they are doing. This will look and feel different for different families, but the sort of things you’re looking out for are:
- They know when a meal is coming and are actively looking out for food arriving on their high chair or at the table.
- They know what to do when you sit them down with food in front of them.
- They lean forward for more food after swallowing if you’re spoon-feeding them.
- They finish one finger food and pick up another.
- They are more skilled with eating; closing their mouth effectively, no longer just sucking off of the spoon and starting to bite and chew foods.
- You have moved on to giving 3 meals a day.
At this stage you can start thinking about giving a second course after meals. The world health organisation recommends giving weaning foods that are high in energy and that contain lots of nutrients. That’s why giving a mix of foods from different food groups is important right from the start and why giving a second course can be helpful too.
Pudding options
Try to avoid fuelling that sweet tooth, by moving away from thinking that puddings need to be something really sweet. You can mix sweet foods – like stewed fruit – with dairy or savoury options, such as rice pudding, pancakes, milk-based puddings, carrot muffins or fruit loaf.
Always remember when giving foods to your baby that we are aiming for a range of different colours, flavours and textures across the day and week so that they are getting a good variety of nutrients and also learning to eat a good range of different things.
Fruit
- If you are giving finger foods then just giving some whole fruit pieces for your baby to eat is absolutely fine.
- Stewed fruit mixed with rice pudding
- Baked fruit can make a great finger food or mash it down and spoon feed. Bananas work particularly well especially if you add a little cinnamon before baking.
- HiPP Organic's Rice Pudding with Apple & Pear jar
- Mashed banana mixed with custard
Dairy based puddings
Milk based puddings are a great way to end a meal if your baby can have them. As time goes on and your baby is dropping milk feeds they are also a great way to boost calcium and other nutrients in the diet.
- Yoghurts: Unlike many of the fruit yogurts you can buy outside of the baby food aisle, ours contain only natural sugars from the fruit purees. You can find them here
- If buying yoghurt for your baby from the regular yogurt aisle, opt for plain, unflavoured, natural or Greek yoghurt as they don’t have any added sugar. We would suggest avoiding the very popular kids’ yoghurts, which can have up to a full teaspoon of sugar added – that’s why they’re often gobbled up with such ferocity!
- Make it savoury. Do you ever eat cheese after a meal? Your baby might enjoy doing the same!
Advice & tips
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Important notice: Breastfeeding is best. Follow on milk should only be used as part of a mixed diet from 6 months. Talk to a healthcare professional.
