The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner

[jvn]

Glad you enjoyed Hong Kong. I'm a fan of anything that gets babies eating freshly cooked food so it's great that you have so many converts here.

However I did just want to raise an issue with this

"from 6 months meat is important from iron as the iron a baby inherits from his mum has run out"

. Widespread current thinking is that it is not quite that simple and this is not true for the majority of both breast and formula fed infants.

Breast Fed http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron.html#uncommon
And some very interesting info re: follow on formulas here http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/08/breastfeeding-q-ask-armadillo.html

I know you're not talking about this issue specifically but it does seem that for the majority of healthy babies their mothers have been led to worry about iron levels unnecessarily and it would make me sad to think of a recognised weaning expert adding to this with a blunt statement about an issue which most of the scientific community would at least agree is open to debate.

 

[Cooking]

Hi Bonita, I dont know whether my reply to you came through earlier as I was in transit from Hong Kong. I would very much like to talk to you and understand what changes I would need to make to my book so that it would work for mum's in China. The book has been translated into many languages but not Chinese and I'd like to understand which ingredeints are difficult to come by and what mums in China tend to feed their babies. I'd very much like to talk to you.. Perhaps you could email me at [email protected] and let me have your email address..Look forward to speeaking with you..Annabel

 

[Cooking]

Hi jvn

Obviously we dont want to worry mums unnecessarily about iron levels but it is recommended both in the Uk and the US that once babies are 6 months that iron rich foods are included in their diet. http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/vitamins/iron.html

There are many examples like the advice given on the website above..

Iron deficiency is the commonest nutritonal deficiency in children particularly between the age of 6 months and 3 years. Between 4 to 6 months babies need 4.3mg of iron a day and between 7 and 12 months they need 7.8mg a day

It is true that the iron in breast milk is well absorbed however it is still advisable to include iron rich foods like iron fortified cereals, red meat, the dark meat of poultry, lentil and vegtable purees or dried fruit particularly dried apricots. Agree it is open to debate but most experts would rather have a nutrional safety net than rely purely on milk for a babies iron supply once they start on solids This is partly because babies tend to drink less milk once they eat solids and partly because we want to train babies to like these foods.


It is also improtant to introduce foods like this early as babies tend to be good eaters between 6 and 12 months so its important to introduce as much variety as you can before they start to become fussy..

Of course many babies will thrive on milk alone and I always believe that mum knows best and feeding babies is not as you can imagine an exact science...A

 

[Gataloca]

> I'd also like to ask if any of you speak Chinese and understand what babies are fed in China.

Congee

 

[Carmenzita]

Hi there, I love your recipes and my baby is very much enjoying them along the way!!! Must say there are ingredients that are hard to find over here, so I did modify some ingredients too, still tasty n the baby loved it too. Glad you enjoyed hk.

I'm local and will be very happy to give you a hand with your book. Good luck with it!!!!

Carmenzita
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