One thing I struggle with is thinking of meals that Ava can have with her allergies. Online forums and recipe books are full of lovely BLW meal ideas that just aren’t suitable for her. I know from Facebook groups and talking to other Mummies who have children with allergies that it can be a really daunting task.
I am going to do a series of daily meal ideas that hopefully might help.
All of the meals are dairy, soya, egg, peanut, banana and strawberry free. They could be adapted for any other allergies your baby may have. More details of the products I use in these meals can be found at the bottom of the post.
Breakfast
Baby wheat flakes (7m+) with Oat milk. Pre loaded onto a spoon. Toast squares with Vitalite butter and quartered apricots with the skin left on to help her pick them up.
Mid morning snack
Organic rice cake with almond nut butter
Lunch
Pitta sticks with Violife creamy cheese spread. Cucumber sticks and quartered cherry tomatoes.
Coconut Vanilla yoghurt pre loaded onto a spoon
Dinner
Chicken strips cooked on the George Forman, home made chips, tender stem broccoli and baby sweetcorn.
Raisins and blueberries (I find if I gently squeeze them she manages to eat them better as she still has no teeth to break the skin)
A treat – reduced sugar rusk warmed and melted in Oat milk.
Food Products
Some of these products I can only find in larger Tesco stores. You can also find some of them in health food shops and online shops.
I can only imagine how hard it must be with her allergies. This is great advice and alternatives! Thanks for hosting #weaningwednesdays x
You’re welcome, it can be challenging, some days more than others x
It must be so hard for you to continually think of new food options, your series of allergy friendly meal ideas will be a great resource for others going through the same thing. Thanks for hosting #weaningwednesdays
I hope it can help other people in the same situation, thanks for reading x
Thanks for sharing this article. I enjoyed reading about your creative menu, some foods I hadn’t even heard of before! The coconut yoghurt sounds amazing. I will look out for it for my little guy. #weaningwednesdays
The coconut yoghurt is a weird taste, the vanilla is quite yummy x
Luckily my kids are not allergic to anything… but you’ve definitely got good tips and ideas here! Thanks for sharing!
It’s so much easier when they don’t have allergies! x
I’ve recently started my kiddo on purees, he’s not too willing to scoop and eat food that are soft and squishy yet. Can I ask how you determined what your little one was allergic to? So far he’s not showing any signs but I don’t think I even know what to look for. This is a great meal post and I like your weaning wednesdays idea. Maybe I should blog about what I’m trying to feed him.
Hi Julie this post here explains some of the symptons she had when she was reacting to things through my milk https://justeilidh.com/allergies/breastfeeding-baby-allergies/ when reacting to food she has eaten with strawberry and banana it was a rash and hives that started around her mouth and spread down her body. With the egg it was within a muffin and she was sick a rash started and then her tongue and lips swelled up. Hopefully your little one will continue to be ok with food x
It is so tough to adapt. Whilst initially daunting I found that I got into the swing of things too although over the years it gets tough to think of what else to do with the same ingredients. Great post
Is it you or a child who has the allergies. Yes I can imagine it gets hard to think of things as I already struggle x
Funnily enough I had a friend over yesterday whose daughter has broad range of allergies. But she is a toddler and can have a larger range of foods. This is a great resource for tiddleys with allergies! #PickNMix
Thank you x
great suggestions, my nephew is allergic to loads, this would have been helpful when he was little #picknmix
Thanks x
This is so useful! Evie has a wheat allergy and we’ve been getting free from bread but it’s like £3 for a loaf! I’m going to try making it myself soon but it’s great to hear about some other blw ideas that are yummy. Evie’s good with dairy and all of the above, but it’s still nice to find some alternatives. 🙂 xx #picknmix
The free from bread is so expensive. I would definitely try a breadmaker. That’s good that she can have everything else, wheat is enough to cope with, luckily we are ok with it in small amounts. x
Goodness you have a lot of allergies to deal with 🙁
We only have milk and just not too much soya, but I find fatty things can be harder and for a while my little one kept losing weight. Love Violife and Oatmilk and also find Organix cereal bars so handy to have in my handbag. I’ll look forward to reading more of your recipes 🙂
#picknmix
Fatty things are really challenging. Avocado is a good one but it’s on our avoid list because of the latex family allergy (banana and plaster) Organix cereal bars and most of their snacks are great. My 4yr old still loves the carrot bars. My eldest sounds like he was similar to yours. x
I like the idea of squeezing the raisins. Why didn’t I thought of that?! Great tips! Thank you. #picknmix
I don’t know where I got the idea from haha x
Wow I cannot imagine how difficult must be for you to find alternative food for your baby. This looks pretty good though and I will try a few things for my 1 year old daughter because they look yummy!! 😉 Thanks for sharing and hosting, xx
#PicknMix
Hope they go down well 🙂 x
Weaning is such a daunting thing, especially if you have allergies etc to deal with AND you’re doing BLW. Some great ideas and tips here. #picknmix
Weaning can be daunting anyway! We do a bit of a mix as with all her allergies its sometimes to hard to freshly make stuff especially if we are going to be out and about x
It must be really difficult and perhaps even daunting at times to prepare meals for Ava. I cannot imagine how stressful that would be as none of my children have allergies. What a creative menu you have come up with though! I will keep checking these as they seem very healthy options for all children. Thank you so much for sharing and hosting #PicknMix 🙂
Thank you, yes it can be daunting and that’s one of the reasons I have done it as to start with I had no idea of some of the products I now use 🙂 x
They look really healthy anyway reagrdless of the allergy! always looking for inspiration! x
Great advice – do you order a lot on line or hunt things out in store? #picknmix
I mainly get things through my online shopping but just normal supermarkets. You can get a lot of the things in healthfood stores too x
Yes the Sunny Start brekkie is great, my boy loved it! #PicknMix
Weaning is hard work but with allergies on top of that I can imagine you have to do your research. This post in really interesting. We like the Kallo rice crackers! They are tasty! I no longer have a baby but will keep this post in mind in case any of my friends come across this issue!
Angela at daysinbed
I’m not a rice cake fan but my boys love them too. 🙂 x
Oh my word poor thing! I can’t imagine having all those allergies bless her! Looks like a great little menu for her though. We never did the BLW – she just wasn’t really interested and as we both worked full time we went for an easy option so we could just spend time with her! Plus any food I do make for her she spits out and throws it to the dogs!
Haha lucky dogs. We tend to do a mix as sometimes it just isn’t practical making her a safe meal as she can’t eat a lot of what we have. x
This is so informative! Thanks for sharing. #PicknMix
You’re welcome x
Gosh it must be so difficult navigating allergies. I can’t imagine how much harder it would make things. Lovely ideas – I wish we could get good produce in the BVI! #picknmix
Thankyou for sahring, I will be checking back for future posts too! Our little bean is dairy, soya egg and gluten free so I am glad of all the suggestions I can get!! #picknmix
Hello, eek at your allergies, sounds like you have a tricky time too. x
Will never moan about how hard it is to think of something to cook for tea again! #picknmix
Haha 😉 x
I found weaning challenging enough without having to deal with allergies – I can’t imagine what it is like! Looks like you have a happy, healthy girl who is doing really great with weaning – a credit to you. I like the idea of home made chips – might try them for my little man 🙂
#picknmix
Thank you so much what a lovely comment. We have an airfryer and it’s so easy to cook homemade chips in. Sweet potato ones are the best x
This is a lovely days eating for any baby. Love the idea of squeezing the fruit, I never thought of that before. I’d love to have you link up with #foodpornthursdays – all food related posts are very welcome 🙂 Thank you for hosting #PicknMix xx
I can imagine how stressed out you must be. Weaning can be a nightmare at the best of times but having to do so with a child who has food allergies, sending you a mummy hug. I’m glad your able to give her a varied diet though. Good luck with finding more recipes 🙂
Thanks for co-hosting #PickNMix
I can’t even imagine how hard it is to find suitable things for allergies. I found it hard to wean let alone having to avoid certain foods. looks like you’re doing a brilliant job though! linked to you from #PicknMix
This is a brilliant post for weaning babies with allergies – it must be so hard! When I weaned M (he’s now 2) he had a cows milk intolerance from 8wks old so we had to wean him on soya alternatives and he was on prescription formula. I was surprised by how many alternatives there were out there. Luckily for us he outgrew his allergy before he was 12 months. #picknmix