Holly Willoughby - Truly Scrumptious Baby - My complete feeding and weaning plan for 6 months and beyond

COPYRIGHT COPYRIGHT INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE: 6 months CHAPTER TWO: 7–9 months CHAPTER THREE: 9–12 months CHAPTER FOUR: 12–15 months CHAPTER FIVE: Babyled Weaning CHAPTER SIX: 15 Months and Beyond CHAPTER SEVEN: Party Time CHAPTER EIGHT: Feeding the Whole Family FINAL WORD THANK YOU INDEX OF SEARCHABLE TERMS ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Thorsons

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This edition published by Thorsons 2017

FIRST EDITION

Text © Holly Willoughby 2017

Food photography © Danielle Wood 2017

Portrait photography © Jay Brooks 2017

Cover layout design ©HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017

Cover photograph © Jay Brooks 2017

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Holly Willoughby asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

While the author of this book has made every effort to ensure that the information contained in this book reflects NHS guidelines at the time of publication, medical knowledge is constantly changing and the application of it to particular circumstances depends on many factors. This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about you and your baby, and it should be used to supplement rather than replace the advice of your doctor or other trained health professionals. Therefore it is recommended that a qualified medical specialist is always consulted for advice.

The nutrition and health claims made in this book have all been checked by a registered food nutritionist. All nutrition claims relating to ingredients themselves have been checked to ensure they contain levels of macro or micronutrients that warrant an EU-registered nutrition claim. Any other health claims made have been researched and do not state fact but indicate that this is what research suggests. Recommendations throughout the book are based on UK guidelines. Once a child has reached a suitable age, all recipes should be eaten in the context of a healthy, balanced diet. The author and publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors and omissions that may be found in the text, or any actions that may be taken by a reader as a result of any reliance on the information contained in the text.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Source ISBN 9780008172565

Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008172572

Version 2017-09-17

CONTENTS

COVER

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: 6 months

CHAPTER TWO: 7–9 months

CHAPTER THREE: 9–12 months

CHAPTER FOUR: 12–15 months

CHAPTER FIVE: Babyled Weaning

CHAPTER SIX: 15 Months and Beyond

CHAPTER SEVEN: Party Time

CHAPTER EIGHT: Feeding the Whole Family

FINAL WORD

THANK YOU

INDEX OF SEARCHABLE TERMS

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

Hello again!

So here we are. Over the past six or so months, you and your baby have finally mastered the milk feed, and whether you’ve gone for breast or formula, all your hard work is plain to see in your baby’s growing weight on the scales. Whether you’ve found the whole experience a doddle or a struggle, you’ve done it, and the results are squidgeable! But in this ever-evolving world of baby, it’s time for change. It’s time for the next exciting step: to introduce your little bundle to the colourful, flavourful and wonderful world of food – something that may well be met with mixed emotions!

You might fall into the camp of mothers who have exclusively breastfed since day one and loved every nursing moment, hence the thought of having to give up some of these feeds to foreign food matter is a bit threatening. You might be one of those mothers who loves the ease of milk (whether breast or bottle) and so the thought of having to add the preparation of food to your already busy routine is simply horrifying. Or you might be the sort of mum who’s hated the whole milk-only phase and can’t wait to start cramming the freezer with ice cubes of liquidized carrot. Whichever category you fall into, the simple truth is that the time has come and you have to embrace the solid, for the good of your baby and her development.

It’s true that the thought of weaning can make even the most self-assured of mothers feel daunted. Not least because, as usual, there are decisions to be made. Do you go down the traditional route of spoon-feeding your little one lump-free purées, or do you investigate the newer ‘baby-led weaning’ approach and let your baby feed herself from the moment solid food first touches her lips? As with everything, there are no right or wrong answers. I’m just here to try to arm you with options for making your own informed choices about what will work best for you, your baby and indeed the rest of your family.

When I started this project, I reflected on all those things I had wanted to know as a parent when I embarked on weaning for the first time: when to start, for example, and how to know if my baby was ready. I wanted to know how to prepare myself for the daunting task ahead, what equipment to buy and how to move from one stage to the next. I wanted simple, easy-to-follow recipes, made with economical ingredients that pack a nutritional punch. I certainly didn’t want to waste money on expensive weaning gadgets, or spend lots of time in the kitchen on fiddly recipes that left me with a ton of washing-up. To top it all, I wanted to know exactly what challenges I might face and how to manage them.

So, in this book, I hope to provide you with all this information, and more. In my experience, the weaning process can be tricky to master and varies for every baby – there will be changes to your routine and potentially some frustrating moments. But even when there’s more food on the floor than in your baby’s tummy, one thing I can guarantee if you follow the recipes in this book is that you’ll be catering to her nutritional needs at each stage of the weaning process. Each recipe has been developed to ensure that your little one gets the correct balance of nutrients every step of the way. Minimum fuss, maximum benefit is my motto. And I hope this will allow you to have a bit of fun with food, to make mealtimes appealing for your little one – without losing your sanity in the process!

For my part, I absolutely loved the experience of taking all of mine through the various weaning stages. I can remember each of their faces when that first spoonful of baby rice touched their lips. So best of luck, fellow feeders! And try not to stress. Remember the mantra that every baby is unique and your baby will get there in the end. How many adults do you know who are still living on a diet of puréed fruit?!