dairy free protein recipes for babies/toddlers

Hi Big blue - good to hear from you :) Many thanks for the tips - I would love your recipe! any recipes very welcome! Sorry for the delay Mols, here you go... For the fish cakes I buy either fresh cod filet or nile perch filet from C4 (I find at least the one in MCC has good quality fresh fish especially if you go early in the morning -Friday or Saturday morning since we're working). You only need a small piece, maybe 200-300 grams but you can use the rest for other things or even freeze it. These filets don't usually have bones but of course check carefully to make sure; I find it's easier to do once cooked, I just flake it and check. I put the fish with a little bit of olive oil in a non stick pan, added a bit of salt and pepper and I also added some chopped onion and red pepper for more taste. I cooked it lightly as it will cook some more once you form the fish cake but it has to be cooked enough to flake it. In a pot I boiled some cut up veg until they were soft enough that DD could have eaten on their own. I used courgette, potato, carrot, green peas but you could use other combinations if your son likes something in particular. I drained, mashed slightly with a fork and mixed with the flaked fish. I then formed little fish cakes, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried them lightly in vegetable oil and blotted with a kitchen towel to absorb the extra oil. I served them with a side of bigger pieces of veg (e.g. carrot sticks, potato cubes) that DD could pick up and eat herself. Another thing DD loves that you could give as a finger food is cheesy muffins that are relatively healthy. The ingredients are half pint of flour (I use a mix of white and whole wheat to make them more nutritious) mixed with 4 teaspoons of baking powder, half pint plain yogurt, half pint grated cheese (I use a mix of soft and hard, the hard because it's more salty and gives more flavor, for example mild cheddar and parmesan or emental and pecorino, etc), 3 eggs, 3 table spoons of olive oil. Mix it all in a bowl, best to mix the cheese in last and put in muffin molds. I use the small size silicone ones and this makes 24 small plus 2 normal size muffins. I cook them for about 20-25 mins in a gas oven at 180 C but you just need to check with a toothpick that it is cooked inside and is getting a nice golden color on top. Once they cool down I keep a few and put the rest in portions of 4 in ziploc bags and freeze. When you want to use just take out of the bag so they don't get soggy if a bit of ice has formed, it's easier if you do so at night so they're ready the next day. They keep really well and are a great snack for the nursery or for when out and about and your DS can hold and eat by himself. Hope this helps!

Hi Mols, First of all there's nothing wrong with giving formula, our Dr who I trust fully after having been to many, has recomended I keep giving formula until DD is 2 since fresh milk is not as fortified as the formula is and so, depending on their diet, they may miss our on imprortant vitamins/minerals/etc if you switch entirely to fresh milk when they turn 1. He suggested we can still give a cup of fresh milk a day so she can get used to which we do very infrequently if I'm being honest but she does like it. With regards to the food, I wonder if you can try stopping purees and lumps alltogether and see how he responds. Since he's ok with finger food he may be fine for instance with a meatball or a nugget, or adult size pasta he can pick up and eat, or some home made pizza, vegetable wedges perhaps with sprinkled cheese on top etc, if you see where I'm going with this. He may just dislike the lumps or he may be assuming it's a puree because of the texture and then being unpleasantly surprised when a lump comes up:-) I give DD many things to try at restaurants, except of course very salty/spicy and she usually loves it. I also made fish cakes for her recently that she loved, not much of a recipe but if you want to try (as your DS could "hold" the cake and might enjoy) let me know and I'll post some more info.

Stews, my son loves those, I use a pressure cooked to cook meat or chicken then I add tomato sauce & chopped veggies to it. You can serve it with cooked rice, if he cant handle lumps, you can fork mash it & add extra sauce.

rather than lumpy mash which I can imagine I would gag on - why not try normal food. eg. penne pasta, pieces of meat, sandwiches, meatballs, rice cakes etc. stuff they can pick up and eat themselves. moving to regular food is an important milestone and also assists in speech development as it works on the appropriate muscles. if you continue to have gag issues when eating lumpy food I would visit a child speech therapist who is trained in this type of issue. And on the issue of a straw. That is a good way to transition from a bottle which really should be ditched after 12 months. children should NEVER drink anything but milk or water from a bottle. this is a primary cause of tooth decay. I would be making a very rapid move away from formula. Formula at this age replaces nutrients from real food and makes a child less hungry for the real stuff.

Ahhh not failed, just each of us has a different set of challenges Hun! Lol! Can you slowly introduce small, then larger lumps into his very very very favourite food? Banana or peaches maybe? What does he really love to eat so much he's ready to tear the bowl out of your hands?!! The lumps may bypass the urgency to eat favourite food! I'd say chopped soft fruit into yoghurt but remember you said you wanted to not add dairy, so maybe just lumpy fruit purée? It'll happen with time, I'm sure you won't be packing a straw with his lunch for school;)

At the age of 1 most toddlers can eat whatever the family is eating (maybe modified if really spicy or salty). This is also the time to be looking at reducing milk as the main source of calories. Moving to a sippy cup for milk is a good idea around 12 months. You also do not need to give a healthy child formula at all from 12 months. just 3 serves of dairy is fine. at 1 year my kids ate all sorts of food from all cultures (as we are australian we don't really have a national cuisine as such). they ate japanese curry (we travelled to japan when my second child was 13 months), chicken katsu, noodles, pasta, roast meats, lasagne (was and still a favourite), mild indian curries, mild thai curries (cooked by their thai aunty), risotto, dim sum, deconstructed hamburgers. It would have been rare for me not to be able to find something on the menu at any restaurant. Other ideas are home made nuggets - get creative - made of minced or fresh chicken breast, a mix of lentils and vegetables, potato and salmon, risotto balls etc etc. by 12 months they are also mostly competent enough to feed themselves (although it is messy). I did pre make some kids meals for times when they ate much earlier than us. this for us was usually mild curries, stews or pasta sauces. then i would just cook the carbohydrate fresh (rice, pasta, potatoes etc).

Yeah all the meats/fish are fresh and steamed straight away, then I freeze it....then defrost and warm as required. I sometimes add flavour like a pinch of cumin powder or garlic, maybe a soft herb stirred in and then will add 2-3 veg cubes....so tdy was salmon with squash, peas and mash, yest was pork with cabbage, apple, sweet potato and thyme. I think you're right, all the recipes can be adapted to how you like them and if you want it creamier without adding milk, you could add a tiny bit of mash/baby rice maybe? I don't always purée completely, I add shelled peas/mashed beans etc for texture. Like you I'm not keen on adding lots of cheesy sauce to everything, so I use water or formula or add in carrots/onions/celery/leeks as a stock. Happy munching!:) sure he'll be fit and strong whatever you feed him:)

Hi Mols! Here's what I've tried and ended up doing...might give you some ideas maybe..? I do like karmels ideas but I find a lot of recipes (esp first foods) has high sugar fruit in it. I do like to give fruit for dessert or with breakfast but wanted my lil man to enjoy savoury too. I have steamed cod/salmon/chicken/pork into cubes and lots of different veg and then I play mix and match. I also make everyone spaghetti bolognese/fish pie/casseroles/mixed bean hotpot/ lentil curry and then add some baby rice/mashed sweet potato/potato/cauli/parsnip/ etc if I want to 'lessen the taste'....all of which have no salt or milk? Then i add milk/salt to rest after tsking out my son's portions (leaving a couple of freezer portions too). It depends if you tend to cook family meals-I don't have much time but like to cook so I tend to think about how to adapt my dishes (mainly one pot casserole style) to accommodate the 'baby rules' then add in formula only if I need milk in it. On the days our meals may not suit (a spicy chilli or take away days, for example), I turn to my freezer stocks. Does that help at all? Or did it not answer what you were thinking? <em>edited by maxmistry on 05/12/2013</em>