Feeding Your Baby and Toddler - Annabel Karmel

...different foods more. Encouraging self feeding is also advised in this age.

The recipes are very rich in energy stressing that babies of this age are suddenly getting active with crawling and attempting to walk and so they need more energy rich food. Recipes include: fruity baby muesli, butternut squash and pasta, tomato and tuna pasta sauce.

12- 18 months.
This section has a good variety of recipes aimed around ...
...how milk is still vital in a child's diet of this age and how other dairy products should be introduced too.

Making meals fun is a big emphasis of this stage and the advice given by Annabel Karmel is really easy to follow and really quite basic really but sometimes you just need someone else to tell you! She also gives advice about what to do if your child is ill which I think is really important and useful to have.

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This book was bought as a gift for us when we had our baby and we've just got it out recently and started to look through the recipes and advice given and we're very impressed!

The book is aimed it everyone with children from very young babies just starting to be weaned right up to school aged children.

The book is laid out really nicely with big bright pictures and advice/tips running along the margains. It is really approachable, when I look at a recipe I don't feel intimidated by a long list of ingredients or by complicated looking instructions, instead they all look very straight forward and very simple to create.

The book is devidied into chapers:
Weaning your baby
9- 12 months
12- 18 months
18-2 years
2-3 years
3- 7 years
So as you can see covers children of all ages!

Each section explains what essentials your child needs and what they should be consuming as well as what they should be avoiding. Advice about how to wean your baby off the bottle/breast and onto solids and beakers is given as well as giving you advice about how much milk they should still keep in their diets.

Weaning your baby.
This section contains all the basics about what nutrients tiny babies need and what they require as they reach the 6 month mark. How their sudden increases in motor ability means that they start to use more energy and so need different nutrients and how their liver enzymes require different vitamins to what they previously had.

Advice is given concerning foods to avoid such as caffiene and cows milk and also on how to introduce early foods, what consistency they should be and how to create that consistency.

The recipes here are very basic ones with fruit and vegetable purees being the bulk. They also show how you can make purees in different ways by the way you make your vegetables- for example how boiling can make you lose a lot of the vitamins from your vegetables whilst steaming is deamed as 'better'. Advice conerning helping your baby adjust to eating to fit in with your eating patterns and how to make them try different foods is also included.

9-12 months.
Encouraging your older baby to start exploring different textures is given in this chapter. It stresses the fact that finger foods should be used so that your baby is able to feed themselves and understand different foods more. Encouraging self feeding is also advised in this age.

The recipes are very rich in energy stressing that babies of this age are suddenly getting active with crawling and attempting to walk and so they need more energy rich food. Recipes include: fruity baby muesli, butternut squash and pasta, tomato and tuna pasta sauce.

12- 18 months.
This section has a good variety of recipes aimed around balancing a good diet for your baby. It is explained how milk is still vital in a child's diet of this age and how other dairy products should be introduced too.

Making meals fun is a big emphasis of this stage and the advice given by Annabel Karmel is really easy to follow and really quite basic really but sometimes you just need someone else to tell you! She also gives advice about what to do if your child is ill which I think is really important and useful to have.

Recipes in this section include; root vegetable chips, chicken sausage snails and joys fish pie.

All off the recipes look fun and interesting and would definitely get your baby willing to try them as they look so appealing!

18 months to 2 years.
This chapter recognises that babies start to have grazing habits so advises you on what sort of snacks you should encourage your baby to graze on. It is important at this stage to limit sugary foods and Karmel gives advice on how to do this and what alternatives are out there and how easy they are to make.

A large section on how to tackle the fusser eater is included here which reads really well and is straight forward to follow.

Recipes in this section include:vegetarian croquettes, crunchy chicken fingers, honey and salmon skewers.

2-3 years.
This stage is aimed at children who have active days and how important it is for them to have a balanced, nutritional diet. It encourages involving your child in cookery, making them join in and see how meals are prepared and help to get their interest and understanding.

Recipes in this section include; cheesy bread animals, Hungarian Goulash and sticky toffee pudding.

3 -7 years.
This section is great! It gives advice about what to put in lunch boxes and set menus for throughout the day. It gives advice on how to ensure your child eats healthily away from the home and how to encourage carers to continue this trend.

The recipes in this section are all really varied and interesting and would definitely get your child involved should you want to. Examples of the recipes are for turkey pasta salad, curried veg and rice and chicken enchilladas.

Menus.
At the back of the book there are a few set menus for the week for each stage. They are all really varied and interesting and are a great way to get you to plan ahead and either follow them or use them as an example and create your own.

My opinion.
I think this book is brilliant. It covers everything and lays it out in a way which is easy to read. When you have a toddler running around there's no time to flick through books trying to find the appropriate information but with this book it's very clear and easy to find so you don't have to worry about not being able to find it! All recipes come with information about what vitamins and nutrients they include and why they are important so you know exactly what your baby is having.

i like the fact that all recipes seem do-able and that there is a great choice instead of just a few.

It was really easy to read and understand and so I really rate it, I think that everybody will be able to understand this book and carry out a majority of the recipes.

I frequently consult this book when I'm thinking about what to cook (Even for us adults too there are some great ideas!) and if I am concerned about what the kiddies are eating/meant to be eating.

I would recommend this book to you. At £14.99 from mothercare it was well worth it.  

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