Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 10

[*Ali*]

Well I just put the tiniest bit of marmite on so the salt is insignificant (I think) although if you aren't putting butter it would probably be hard to only put a smidge without it being too dry.
Why do you want to avoid butter btw? What about olive oil?
Enjoy your shopping trip!

[amayzie]

Avoiding the butter for the salt- i could use unsalted- but that's rock hard in the fridge.. Do you guys in the UK keep your real butter in the fridge or in a cupboard? Here it's a fridge thing.... I could try some olive oil... something to wet it a bit!!

[eshea]

C likes apple sauce or smushed pears on toast.  I haven't made sandwiches yet, but I do use avocado for my daughter.  We also buy some soft swiss cheese that spreads (it's low in salt) and that makes things nice and creamy!

[katie80]

I often spread bread with cream cheese/avocado for Claire.  We also do sun-butter here (made from sunflower seeds).  She loves that.  Have only given it plain to Graham; should really try some toppings!

We have a 'butter bell' for our unsalted butter.  It's a little cup that you put the butter in and then turn it upside down in a dish of water.  The water acts like a seal to keep it fresh (for a couple weeks or so; we have no problem using it in that amount of time ) and it is safe to leave out so it stays soft.
http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-284-Stoneware-Butter-Keeper/dp/B0000VLURQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1330483531&sr=8-2

[amayzie]

Wow- i've never even heard of that!!

[brookmom]

yesterday i took ground beef and combined it with grated carrot, egg yolk, and quick oats and made little meat patties. Popped them into a mini muffin tin and baked at 400 for 15 minutes. Going to try them for lunch today with Brook! Hoping she likes them!! thanks for the tips!

 I'm not yet comfortable to just give her what we eat just yet....... what are some good intro spices??? thanks!!

[creations]

he ate a tin of tuna

Watch out for salt there Katy.  Canned tuna is very high in salt.  I used to only let DS have a couple of teaspoons of it even though he would happily have eaten the whole can.  The tuna in oil is better than that in brine but it is still very high in salt.

I keep unsalted butter in the fridge but I chop a chunk off and keep it in a small air tight plastic container, just enough for about two days.  I don't know if that would be ok where you are though!

some sandwich filling ideas
canned mackerel in mayo (again watch out for salt)
very small amount of shop bought pate (or make own unsalted or a vegi sort if you don't like livers)
grilled cheese - this works well with regular bread or pitta, grill the cheese to melting throw on any extras like tomato slices or spring onion etc and close the sandwich whilst the cheese is still hot, this way it all sticks together.  Leave to cool before serving though.  A less messy sandwich.
hard boiled egg mashed up with mayo or creme fraiche to bind
taramasalata (again watch for salt levels)
humous (salt again or make your own salt free at home)

Sorry I wasn't in time for your shopping trip but maybe you can try these at a later date

[amayzie]

Yes... i did think of the salt with the tuna... it was in oil though, not brine... 

THanks for the sandwich ideas! I think i'll try to limit the salt on the sandwiches as the bread itself has salt...A little Vegemite on toast might be a good idea though...  (that's a little person vomiting.. i HATE vegemite!!)

Some intro spices that i've used:

Pepper, paprika (mild and smoked), korma curry paste mixed with yoghurt (it's a mild curry), ginger, cinnamon

Basically i've tried to use as many spices that we eat in our diet as we can. I haven't used many that have actual heat- but if you have them as part of your diet- and your LO doesn't have tummy troubles you should use them too! Your LO will soon enough let you know if it's too spicy!!

[creations]

Yes... i did think of the salt with the tuna... it was in oil though, not brine..

I'm looking at a can in oil now
the salt is 1g per 100g and the can is 139g (drained) so a full can is 1.39g of salt
daily guidance is to not exceed 1g per day for under 12 months.
If he eats bread or cheese the same day (or a pancake or muffin made with self raising flour) it could reach quite worrying levels.
I don't want to sound harsh, just want you to be aware.  Like I said I wouldn't have let DS have more than a couple of teaspoons of it when he was Hamish's age because he was a big eater like Hamish so across the day there would likely be either bread, pancake or muffin and some cheese too, all of which have salt.  Any canned or processed foods contain pretty high levels of salt so I would limit them to very small amounts.

[amayzie]

I don't want to sound harsh, just want you to be aware.

No- i'm really interested in this information!!! I'll be really careful from now on!! I was out at mums and didn't have much to give him (we thought we'd be home.. ) and mum doesn't eat bread or anything, and dad's started light and easy- so they have NO FOOD in the house... I'm terrible at maths (don't get me wrong, did a decent enough level of maths at school- but learning algebra and triginometry actually doesn't equip you for the real world unless you are literally a rocket scientist!!) so sometimes working out these things fast hurts my brain!!

Oh- also- i've been doing a lot of baking for him- not adding salt o sugar to anything.. but when i looked t the SR flour i noticed that it has soduim in it... Does this make an impact, or is the sodium in the amounts that would be spread through the batch of baked goods not have an impact?

I just like to be aware of what's in the foods so i can make an informed decision...

[creations]

I was out at mums and didn't have much to give him

This was always the problem for us too.  If I knew we were going to be at mum's for a meal or snack I'd take stuff with us but there were quite a few times we ended up havin gto leave when I didn't yet want to just to get home in time for DS to eat.  My mum ALWAYS offered to give him canned tuna to which I had to say that the amount I could offer would never fill him up (couple of teaspoons for a nice taste and some protein great but what's going to fill his belly?), she'd also offer beans on toast, pre-packed rice with vegetables...basically every thing was processed and salt high (and she has high blood pressure!).  I do know exactly your difficulty with this.

Once you've worked out how much of each food type is 'safe' you don't have to do maths any more.  So a regular size can of tuna just use say a quarter, this takes up around one third of the daily salt allowance.  Then you still have space in the day to allow for a bit of something else (pesto on pasta or a little gravy on meat, half a slice of bread or a chunk of cheese).
I never gave tuna and baked beans in the same day for example.  A SMALL can of reduced salt baked beans would still be very high in salt.  Again I never allowed more than a couple of teaspoons (max half a small can) so that half a slice of toast could be offered too, it was never enough to fill him up.  It was better when I made my own, pre-cooked beans in water drained and rinsed then throw in tom puree and some herbs or spices instead of salt and let him stuff himself

SRF does have sodium it can add up if LO eats lots and lots although it's no where near what you'd find in the processed or pre-packed foods.  Each pancake has a very small amount in and I'd say home made pancakes are preferable to bread in the UK as here bread is higher in salt than many other countries.  DS would eat 6 or 8 pancakes in one go and I never worried about that where as bread I had to limit to half slice.

I think with a lot of LOs this age the salt intake wouldn't be such a worry because many of them eat so little of each thing offered.  With a big eater it is more important to keep tabs on it.
It's great now mine is over 1yr as his salt allowance has doubled and I am a lot freer with things, esp bread and cheese.

hth

[amayzie]

Very much so! My guy is a big eater. His bread is a low sodium one... sour dough (it's horrible!! But he eats it right up!) and i had some tuna that was much lower in salt today and mixed it with a little bit of mayo (low sodium again) and sour cream- and apple... and spread it on the sandwich. Was very impressed! But yes- he is a big eater and ate the whole sandwich- which was almost 2 small slices of bread.

[londonlady]

It's confusing then that the health visitors say to just feed your children what you eat (with no added salt or sugar) but yet even a really healthy meal would exceed the salt recommendations...

[amayzie]

It's true!!

[creations]

It's confusing then that the health visitors say to just feed your children what you eat (with no added salt or sugar) but yet even a really healthy meal would exceed the salt recommendations...

Yes I agree.  Although I see the point about giving baby what we have as it gets them used to the flavours and textures of regular family food.  I ate some pretty odd meals the first few months of solids and have altered the way I cook to accommodate him too.

There was a report I saw about a high number of babies being poorly from too high salt levels in their food, it seemed to indicate parents were feeding beans on toast too much.  I don't have the link for it though.  I don't consider beans on toast the BEST meal but in terms of a very easy and very quick and convenient meal (and very cheap if budget is a big issue) I think it isn't that bad for an adult yet wouldn't be good to give a LO every day, especially the big eaters (fine if they are only experimenting and flicking the beans across the room and just eat one or two though!).