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These recipes have been carefully
selected by a nutrition expert. If you
are in any doubt as to the suitability
of any of the recipes in this booklet
for your baby, particularly if an
allergy to certain foods is suspected
or known, please consult your doctor
or child health care consultant
as appropriate.
she examined the growth and dietary intake of very
young children (0-3 years) with growth problems
and provided dietary advice to their parents.
During time spent working as a Nutrition Scientist
at the British Nutrition Foundation, she provided
expert nutritional advice on weaning, analyzed and
checked the nutritional content of weaning recipes,
and developed meal plans for very young children.
She’s also a member of the Nutrition Society and
the UK Nutritionists in Industry group and a regular
advisor to the media on the subject of nutrition.
nutrition, Emma recently set up her own nutrition
consultancy business.
Our aim
Starting to wean your baby
Seeing your newborn baby grow and develop into
a happy and healthy child is a really amazing and
rewarding experience. What happens in a baby’s
future health and providing healthy, nutritious food
is an essential part of this process. Breast milk is the
all of the natural nutritional content your baby
needs, along with important antibodies for added
protection against infection, directly from mother
to baby. It’s recommended to breastfeed up to the
age of 6 months and if possible to continue to do
so together with a healthy, balanced diet for up to 2
years or longer if preferred. When it’s not possible to
breastfeed, infant formula is the next best substitute
for breast milk. In terms of their ability to grow, a
baby should gain between 0.5kg (1.1lbs) and 1kg (2.2
lb
s) in weight per month from 0-6 months, after
which time, solid foods are required to promote
further growth and development.
paces, it’s really important not to rush them into
weaning before they’re ready. The earliest time to
consider starting to wean a baby is 4 months or 17
weeks. But it usually takes around 6 months for a
baby’s digestive system to work properly and be
ready to digest food*. There are 3 key signs that
show when a baby seems to be ready to try solid
food. These usually take place around 4-6 months
and include: being able to sit up and hold their head
steady; good hand, eye and mouth coordination
(they can look at food, pick it up and p
ut it in their
rather than push it all out. So look for all of these
signs before weaning your baby. They may also
to show an interest in the foods that other people
consume. All of these changes mark an important
step in your baby’s development. They’re now ready
to explore new tastes and textures in their diet.
important how much they consume, it’s more about
getting them used to eating food in general. Babies
won’t need 3 meals a day initially. You can simply
used to the taste, texture and feel of food in their
mouth. Then you gradually increase the amount
and variety of food your baby eats until they can
eventually eat the same foods as the rest of the
family, in smaller portions. Babies learn to like the
foods they get used to. If you give them very salty,
Providing your baby with a range of healthy and nutritious foods to
eat from the beginning is absolutely essential, as it will make sure
they keep eating such kinds of food as they grow older.
sweet or fatty foods and drinks they will be more
likely to want them when they get older and you
really don’t want to create a fussy eater! Providing
your baby with a range of healthy and nutritious
foods to eat from the beginning is absolutely
essential, as it will make sure they keep eating such
kinds of food as they grow older. It’s really hard to
change what children eat when they get older so it’s
important to instil good food habits right from the
very start. You are advised to do this from weaning
onwards and to prepare foods from scratch us
ing
fresh ingredients. This way, you know exactly what
your baby is eating. You should also try to preserve
the nutritional composition of the foods you wish
to prepare as much as possible, so that you get the
maximum nutrition out of the ingredients you’re
using. Buying fresh ingredients and storing them
appropriately by following storage instructions
provided will help to maintain the nutritional
content. This will also make sure that foods such as
that food is prepared on clean surfaces using
clean utensils will also protect your baby from
harmful bacteria.
* Consult your local doctor or child care health consultant if you feel you need further advice on when might
be the best time to wean your baby.
‘‘I really hope you enjoy this wonderful and exciting
time in your child’s growth and development, as they
learn to experience new tastes and textures and get
healthy eating habits that will enable them to grow
into healthy, happy adu
lts!’’
Dr. Emma Williams,
Nutrition Consultant
We hope this recipe booklet will help you when
starting your baby on solid food. It includes
some useful information and professional advice
about the dierent stages of weaning, along with
appropriate recipes for the dierent stages of
weaning. Each recipe has been developed using
Philips Avent essential baby food maker to help
you to provide nutritious food for your growing baby.
The Philips Avent essential baby food
maker gently steams fruit, vegetables, meat
and sh. It can also blend your cooked
ingredients to the consistency that most
suits your baby’s age. All aimed at helping
you to make healthy, wholesome meals
quite easily for your baby.
Although this recipe booklet gives you some
information related to weaning, there’s also plenty
of reliable information available to help you to
decide if your baby is ready for weaning. For
example, from your local baby clinic, doctor’s
oce or online, as well as information to help you
progress from one stage to the next, perhaps even
other recipe ideas that you can use with your
Philips Avent essential baby food maker.
Steaming is a very healthy way to prepare food as
it helps to keep the nutrients locked in. Using the
Philips Avent essential baby food maker will help to
retain the nutritional content of the initial ingredients
in the nal prepared meal for your baby. This is
because the juices released from the steamer during
cooking (steaming phase) are retained for mixing
back into the food during blending
(blending phase).