Hello,

I feel like a bit of a failure as my little one has never been a great eater and as I returned to work 4 months ago I dont have much time at home to cook homecooked food (I mostly eat food made with jars which I dont want to give her due to salt content etc).

My little one has never been very adventerous and everything new I try is a real struggle so I must admit that since returning to work I have mainly stuck to foods I know will be eaten! However, I am now struggling to get her to eat more variety of foods and the foods she is eating are mainly from jars (eg spag bol, shephers pie etc). She has been teething but it in the last 2 weeks has become even fussier is is refusing to eat things she was eating (carrot sticks, brocolli, pasta pieces etc). She does eat more at nursery and they are more adventerous with her menu's, it is hit and miss if she eats it though. The food she does it is quite lumpy but still liquidised and is not finger food - she puts it in her mouth but spits it back out again.

When Im at home with her I am often out and about and so for convenience I will usually give her a jar.

I feel like such a failure as a mum and feel like i should be putting together a menu planner and trying to cook for hours and freeze it when i get home from work.

Has anyone else been in a similar position or can anyone suggest anything which I could try giving her?

A typical day conists of:
7am bottle
8.30am brekkie, porridge or weetabix and 1 slice of toast
10am baby biscuit or tinned fruit
12pm lunch, Baby food jar (spag bol, sheperds pie, chicken and rice) and a fruit pot
2pm bottle
4.30pm tea, soft cheese on toast, beans on toast, cheese sandwich
6.30pm bottle

Any help / ideas / support would be very gratefully received.

Thank you

One thing I've done which is fab is got a mini chopper so I blend up fresh fruit in seconds, and any veggies and meat!!

Also a slow cooker!! (I need to dig mine out) so u could put meat and veg in and will cook overnight or during day so all u need to do is serve up!!

Poppy eats mostly non-jar foods unless we're popping out for lunch and don't have anything prepared but we certainly don't spend ages cooking for her (far too lazy here )

You can make up a quick basic tomato sauce with either chopped or creamed tomatoes (depending on the texture you want). Start by frying chopped onion and garlic, add some tomato purée, mixed herbs or whatever you prefer, I sometimes add some dried chilli flakes too, then add the tomatos and cook for a few minutes. I also usually add peppers, sometimes carrots, whatever veg is in the fridge really.

You can eat the sauce on it's own with pasta (or baby pasta if LO prefers smaller pieces) or either add it to mince to make a bolognese or add mince and include chilli beans, chilli powder and cumin to make chilli to have with rice, jacket potato or with wraps and salad (made this on Saturday, but it was quite hot so added some plain yoghurt to LO's portion)

You can keep this in the fridge for a few days or freeze in small portions ready for when you need it.

Another thing I do is cook a bit extra veg / mashed or boiled potato / pasta / chicken etc for our evening meal and the leftovers will keep in the fridge for a day or two and we can microwave quickly for LO for lunches if we're home or so we don't need to cook every day.

We've been out lots over the weekend, she had a jar on Saturday but on other days had fingers of Philadelphia sandwiches with pieces of chopped fruit and a couple of rice cakes or carrot sticks etc, all things which are easy to prepare quickly and you can keep in a small pot in the changing bag.

Hope this helps a bit, sorry if I've waffled on

usborne do a wonderful book for babies and tots. recipes etc well worth buying. and its recipes for the family - so makes for 2 adults and a kid!

Thank you so much for your replies - I will def make the tomatoe sauce as like you say it could go with lots of things. I will have a look at the recipe books too.

Is there anything I can do to encourage her to eat things which are harder to chew (eg mince and chicken etc) as she tends to just spit it out and want smoother foods or is it just a case of keep trying it until she gets the hang of it?!

Thanks again - I really appreciate it.

xxx

I think it's just one of those things which take longer for some babies to get used to. I started by cutting the chicken into thin strips and giving as finger food and mince was in a sauce which was mostly sauce and not much mince if that makes sense! I guess all you can do is keep trying with a variety of foods and sooner or later your LO will start to enjoy it more, sorry not much help! x

If you have a hand blender you could blend the mince up a bit so it is a bit smoother, without really making it into a puree as such. I still do this for my DS who is 11 months. I second the suggestion of a slow cooker. I think they have them on offer in Tesco at the moment for about twelve pounds. I work too and have two kids so I know how hard it is to find the time to cook, and I am not naturally someone who enjoys cooking, but with a slow cooker it really does only take a few minutes to chop up some veg and meat or fish and throw it all in. I often chop the veg the night before, and in the morning before work I just throw in some meat and stock and turn it on.
Things like fish pie and maracorni cheese or spag bol I also cook in batches and freeze, so I only ever have to cook a big meal about once a week, that's about my limit really!