How much fruit is too much?

Bawnmore

Ok so I have a food question

We make all of our daughters (just gone 1) meals on Sunday for the following week, freeze and defrost in the microwave when needed. Her feeding schedule goes like this:

- Morning: Bottle
- Mid Morning: Cereal (ready brek with teaspoon of honey)
- Afternoon: Savoury (mix of meat/fish and veg) + yoghurt with fruit/honey)
- Early Evening: Savoury (as above) + Fruit (see below)
- Mid Evening: Snack (some finger food like banana or a rusk)
- Night: Bottle

The problem isn't about her eating too little - she's a great eater. The question I have is about the fruit meal in the early evening. This is made with the meals on Sunday, but I started thinking it might be too much fruit for a baby.

So to give an example of what each pot has in it, this is what yesterdays fruit meals were made from:

1 whole pineapple
6 kiwis
Handful mixed berries
2 bananas

In general, we'll add whatever fruit we have to hand on Sunday and she always gobbles it back so it might be a mix of apples, pears, kiwis, bananas etc..

From the above, along with some of the water that the fruit was stewed in, we got 6 fruit meals. So really, each cup has 1/6 pineapple, 1 kiwi, few berries and 1/3 banana.

Is this too much? It seems like it would be a huge amount of sugar for a baby so thought it best to check it out.

Thanks in advance!

Lola92

I would be more concerned about giving sugar in the likes of rusks and yoghurt than any sugar from fruit, especially if it is the likes of petit filous (rather than natural yogurt) as they are just full of sugar. Is there a reason she is still getting pureed foods? At one year old my girl had been self feeding normal foods for over 4 months, we did a combination of BLW and spoon feeds to begin.

Bawnmore

Lola92 wrote: »

I would be more concerned about giving sugar in the likes of rusks and yoghurt than any sugar from fruit, especially if it is the likes of petit filous (rather than natural yogurt) as they are just full of sugar. Is there a reason she is still getting pureed foods? At one year old my girl had been self feeding normal foods for over 4 months, we did a combination of BLW and spoon feeds to begin.

Apologies, I should have mentioned the yoghurt is natural yoghurt with stewed fruit and some honey to sweeten if the fruit is bitter (like berries).

I agree with you on the rusks - it's a bad habit we got into and we need to stop. This is very infrequent, maybe once or twice a week at most and it'll be roughly 1/3 of a rusk so the sugar from this should be minimal. Agree that this is unnecessary.

On the pureed food - we've tried twice to move to lumpier more solid foods but she hasn't taken to it, and tbh I'd rather she's eating pureed food than nothing at all. We could probably make more of an effort on this in fairness, but at the moment we've progressed onto pureeing foods to a lesser extent so there are some lumps. Any lumpier than this and she'll gag and get upset, then won't eat at all. I've been meaning to look into baby led weaning, so now might be the time. We'll always share bits of what we're eating if it's soft enough like cheese/fish/veg so I guess we're doing this to a certain extent at the moment.

Thanks for the advice Lola92

But back to original question - is there a worrying amount of sugar with the amount of fruit we're feeding her at the moment?

pwurple

Some kids gag a lot on lumps. Mine did at that age. Any lump at all and it was the whole meal puked up with the gagging so we left it smooth for another while. Don't worry about people telling your theirs did such and such earlier or later, all children are different. You will hear that over and over again until they are fully grown.

There is a good bit of sugar in fruit alright, but if her weight is normal, and she is sleeping ok after it, I would say you are fine. There is plenty of fibre there too.

I'd leave the honey out of the porridge and yoghurt possibly, or reduce it to a tiny amount... Seems every meal is sweetened in some way there. Plus honey isn't recommended for the under 1's, so I never bothered with it for kids. But that's just my tastes.

Make sure her teeth are brushed is all.

movingsucks

I don't know about the amount of sugar in the fruit if it's excessive or not but have you tried pureeing vegetables as well?
would she like the taste of them? You can mix fruits and vegetables together in a puree too so it will have the taste of the fruit and the bulk of the vegetable?
My baby is 11 months and still prefers a puree too. She'll chew somethings but it's more of a game for her and she has no teeth anyway.

littlemissfixit

Second brushing the teeth well, there is a lot of goodness, vitamins and fibres in fruits, so I cant see it being to much as long as your happy that the balance of other foods like vegs, meat and grains is not affected. And as mentioned as well, I would cut on the honey before I cut the fruit, but she might be to used to the taste now. I've always sweetened porridge with mash bananas.

I know it wasn't part of the question, but about giving purees, I done the same with my daughter, we rarely had the same meal at same time as her (was making batches of her food a bit like you, once a week) and I think we are paying the price for it now. I don't think its about the pureeing and mashing, after all, I think I done that myself until I got to adulthood with some foods. But more about letting her know what real food looks like. My daughter loves broccoli when I mix it in with spuds, but she always has refused to eat some proper ones, same with carrots, and will eat any fruits in purees or smoothies, yet will only eat bananas, pears, strawberries and peaches in their proper form. I would introduce them to her, just to play and discover (and whatever is on your plate when she sees you eating) and she might just surprise you, she is probably still just before the age where pickiness can start.

Bawnmore

pwurple wrote: »

There is a good bit of sugar in fruit alright, but if her weight is normal, and she is sleeping ok after it, I would say you are fine. There is plenty of fibre there too.

Thanks pwurple - she sleeps ok and her weight is absolutely fine.

I'd leave the honey out of the porridge and yoghurt possibly, or reduce it to a tiny amount... Seems every meal is sweetened in some way there. Plus honey isn't recommended for the under 1's, so I never bothered with it for kids. But that's just my tastes. Make sure her teeth are brushed is all.

Good to have this pointed out - I really wouldn't have thought anything of putting a drop of honey into porridge and yoghurt. Must try banana to sweeten instead.

I don't know about the amount of sugar in the fruit if it's excessive or not but have you tried pureeing vegetables as well?

We sure have - she gets plenty of veg in both savoury meals every day. Thinking about now though, I always pick veg that tends to be on the sweet side like sweet potato or carrot. I know these are great for her regardless, but it's probably something I have to make an effort to change rather than her own preferences.

I know it wasn't part of the question, but about giving purees, I done the same with my daughter, we rarely had the same meal at same time as her (was making batches of her food a bit like you, once a week) and I think we are paying the price for it now. I don't think its about the pureeing and mashing, after all, I think I done that myself until I got to adulthood with some foods. But more about letting her know what real food looks like. My daughter loves broccoli when I mix it in with spuds, but she always has refused to eat some proper ones, same with carrots, and will eat any fruits in purees or smoothies, yet will only eat bananas, pears, strawberries and peaches in their proper form. I would introduce them to her, just to play and discover (and whatever is on your plate when she sees you eating) and she might just surprise you, she is probably still just before the age where pickiness can start.

That's interesting - and I can see what you mean. We might be shooting ourselves in the foot very early on. Thanks for this.

So I'm sure there's loads of information online, but can someone point me in the right direction for some good beginners info on BLW?

Thanks for everything so far - it's quite eye opening

pwurple

Bawnmore wrote: »

Good to have this pointed out - I really wouldn't have thought anything of putting a drop of honey into porridge and yoghurt. Must try banana to sweeten instead.

Why would you sweeten it at all? It's fine without being sweetened.

Bawnmore

pwurple wrote: »

Why would you sweeten it at all? It's fine without being sweetened.

We've tried and she won't eat it unsweetened. She'll eat baby cereal like Milupa and the Cow and Gate cereals, but not Ready Brek on it's own.

pwurple

Bawnmore wrote: »

We've tried and she won't eat it unsweetened. She'll eat baby cereal like Milupa and the Cow and Gate cereals, but not Ready Brek on it's own.

Ah fair enough so. Mine is a salt-lover rather than sweet.

annamcmahon

I added stewed apple or pear and a touch of spice like cinnamon or nutmeg to ready brek for my daughter

littlemissfixit

On the BLW, I got the book, second hand and found it was great for beginning. You'll find a bit of info online but its limited I found as you need the whole philosophy behind it to really relax around the whole food issue. The idea is really simple I suppose but it really help me to read the whole thing to really get into it. Not sure when starting with an older baby though must look again to see if it covers the subject.
www.babyledweaning.com

Hobbitfeet

I use manuka honey occasionally, especially if I think he's coming down with something. My lo loves porridge, I soak the oats over night sometimes and add cinnamon or berries, raisins, sultanas, milled seeds, apple.
I wouldn't be worried about the amount of fruit if its whole fruit rather than just juice.

lynski

Is there a reason for the weekly prep? I prefer to see mine eating together even if not much is going in, having said that I only pureeed for no 1 nos 2 and 3 got mashed and blw respectively.
Also I have whole fruit pieces from the start with each - bit even peeled apples- as I think that us better for all. I have asked a few diff people about the amount of fruit as mine eat huge amounts and there is no limit as far as any nutritionist I have asked.

ceadaoin.

littlemissfixit wrote: »

On the BLW, I got the book, second hand and found it was great for beginning. You'll find a bit of info online but its limited I found as you need the whole philosophy behind it to really relax around the whole food issue. The idea is really simple I suppose but it really help me to read the whole thing to really get into it. Not sure when starting with an older baby though must look again to see if it covers the subject.
www.babyledweaning.com

I think the book says you can start BLW at any stage. I presume you would start with more finger foods and progress from there. We did it with my daughter from the start and I think it's great, a much more natural way to approach weaning. She is 15 months now and eats a huge variety of food and will try anything.

There is a BLW cookbook to go with it too with healthy low salt recipes for each stage. I found that useful for when I ran out of ideas.

Bawnmore

Thanks again everyone - I'm going to take a better look into BLW as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, it's good to know we're doing no harm with the fruit.

Is there a reason for the weekly prep?

Just to save us time really during the week. Because we puree at the moment, it'd be seriously inconvenient for us to purée each meal on the go

I don't know if it's a genuine concern, but my only worry with BLW is that she won't be eating enough. Is this justified? Just for example - if we're feeding her a puree, there might be 2 carrots, 1/4 sweet potato, 2 or 3 florets or brocolli and some chicken in one feeding. Surely there's no way she would eat the same amount if she's feeding herself? Should this be a concern?

littlemissfixit

Bawnmore wrote: »

Thanks again everyone - I'm going to take a better look into BLW as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, it's good to know we're doing no harm with the fruit.



Just to save us time really during the week. Because we puree at the moment, it'd be seriously inconvenient for us to purée each meal on the go

I don't know if it's a genuine concern, but my only worry with BLW is that she won't be eating enough. Is this justified? Just for example - if we're feeding her a puree, there might be 2 carrots, 1/4 sweet potato, 2 or 3 florets or brocolli and some chicken in one feeding. Surely there's no way she would eat the same amount if she's feeding herself? Should this be a concern?

See that's one of the things about BLW (again I only have experience with blw started from the very beginning of weaning) is that you are not counting, you have to trust that your child will get what they need so long as you offer a good variety of good foods. If you breastfed, its a bit the same as trusting that your baby is feeding enough even though you have no idea how many oz of milk he's getting. If you were too concern, you could offer just one meal blw style and keep going the way you are for the rest, or keep going with the purees and offer things on the side and let her explore. I'd say at one she should be only delighted to be making a mess with the food and its just as much about the fun than it is about eating.

With BLW also you have to accept that the child will develop his/her own tastes and as opposed to purees, there is no way of hiding stuff in. She might dislike carrots even though you'd like her to have them, but in my opinion that's just normal. You can also have to offer the same foods a dozen times before your child even try it, and even if they try it and reject it once, you should still keep offering them. One day, my son can eat nearly as much as myself, others he'll only pick at a couple of things, that's just normal too!

Give her whatever you're having for a try and see how she takes to it!

Bawnmore

littlemissfixit wrote: »

See that's one of the things about BLW (again I only have experience with blw started from the very beginning of weaning) is that you are not counting, you have to trust that your child will get what they need so long as you offer a good variety of good foods. If you breastfed, its a bit the same as trusting that your baby is feeding enough even though you have no idea how many oz of milk he's getting. If you were too concern, you could offer just one meal blw style and keep going the way you are for the rest, or keep going with the purees and offer things on the side and let her explore. I'd say at one she should be only delighted to be making a mess with the food and its just as much about the fun than it is about eating.

With BLW also you have to accept that the child will develop his/her own tastes and as opposed to purees, there is no way of hiding stuff in. She might dislike carrots even though you'd like her to have them, but in my opinion that's just normal. You can also have to offer the same foods a dozen times before your child even try it, and even if they try it and reject it once, you should still keep offering them. One day, my son can eat nearly as much as myself, others he'll only pick at a couple of things, that's just normal too!

Give her whatever you're having for a try and see how she takes to it!

Thanks littlemissfixit, that's a huge help. I think it'd suit best to swap out maybe one meal now for BLW and see how she gets on. She'll currently eat bits and pieces like fruit and cheese (and avocado yesterday now that I think of it) when we give them to her so there's absolutely no reason she couldn't continue like this.

cyning

What I do is a sort of a combo of both: so I let her eat scrambled egg for example and spoon feed her some afterwards. I was afraid she wouldn't eat enough either so for me it was a best of both worlds for me! Just if you're worried that she's not getting enough you might be more comfortable with that approach?

Suucee

I also done a mixture of both. Gave some finger food with every puree spoon feed. We then moved on to mashed instead of puree and now she pretty much has what we have, So if we are having some pasta and chicken and mushroom i will mash some up in a bowl and give her some not mashed in another bowl. So she gets to learn the textures and feel while i spoon feed her some from the other bowl , at least i know she is getting something.

pwurple

I think your baby may actually be weaned already at this stage, she is over 1. baby led weaning was 6 months ago, that ship has sailed. You will just be moving along to finger foods at this stage.