Lucy Upton covers key advice and questions on responsive feeding.

When it comes to getting to grips with feeding your baby or child, there is often lots of information about what to offer but, an equally important consideration is how food is offered and the relationship between a parent or caregiver and child at mealtimes.

No matter what stage of your weaning adventure, it’s normal to have lots of questions. Lucy Upton answers some of the common questions.

Whether you’re just at the start of your weaning adventure or have taken a few steps into the world of food with your little one, it’s normal to have lots of questions along the way. We’ve asked Lucy Upton, Specialist Paediatric Dietitian, to answer some of parents’ top weaning questions.

Food allergies are something many parents find themselves worrying about, particularly during weaning as babies start to be introduced to foods more commonly associated with food allergy reactions. It is especially common to hear concerns from parents where food allergy already exists in the family, or when a baby has a food allergy already e.g. Cow’s Milk Protein Allergy.

Approaching weaning with your baby can fill parents with equal measures of excitement and apprehension. With a plethora of information to trawl through, and advice pinging at you from all directions, it can be difficult to find clear answers to those burning questions. To help cut through the noise, you’ll find below, answers to 10 of the most common questions parents are asking as they start stepping into the world of weaning with their baby.

Weaning Aka Complementary feeding; The introduction of solid foods to your baby

One of parent’s biggest worries about children’s eating is whether they are ‘getting enough’ toddler nutrients. Whilst there is no one step solution to simply checking if this is the case, here are some easy ways to think about your child’s intake.

The toddler years can feel like a time of transition at mealtimes! All of a sudden, their appetite seems all over the place, foods that were flavour of the month last week are ‘yuck’ this week, half the food is on the floor and you’re pulling your hair out.

As with so many aspects of parenting, starting out on the weaning journey can fill parents with excitement, but there is also the very real perceived pressure of ‘getting it right’. There are reams of information about nutrition and health in general, but also numerous ways to approach weaning in the ‘best’ way for your baby.

Guest blog by Lucy Upton, Specialist Paediatric Dietitian @childrensdietitian.

A variety of questions come up, when parents are first thinking about starting solid foods with their infants. Lucy has written a very helpful frequently asked questions style blog to address all the things you need know!

Fruit is reigning as the most popular lockdown snack for toddlers at home, according to data from the Infant & Toddler Forum (ITF).