talkhealth Blog

My baby is now 11 months old and we are looking forward to planning her little birthday tea party. At the time of my last blog, she was sitting and rolling confidently, but could not master the art of getting onto her tummy without banging her head, and couldn’t then sit up again. The last 2 weeks has been a fortnight of leaps and bounds in her development. Two weeks ago, whilst on holiday in Devon, she discovered she could get from laying on her front to a sitting position, and perfected this movement with grace over the following days. A week later and she took her first ‘crawling steps’. She has spent the last week very content to crawl all around the lounge and has a particular fascination with cables and wires I was told by my Health Visitor that if wasn’t crawling by 10 months, she would go straight to walking, and I am relieved she has proved them wrong. Crawling is a good thing for a baby to do – research shows that crawling helps develop a baby’s coordination.

In terms of her nutritional intake, the last 2 weeks have also brought big changes. Over the course of three days, she cut out her mid-afternoon and bedtime feed, and started only wanting her morning feed (on waking). Her appetite has improved a lot more – to account for her reduction in milk feeds, and also her increased movement and physical activity levels.

She eats 3 good meals a day, and lots of water from a free-flow (no valves) cup. Below is her intake from today to give you an idea of her current diet:

7.30 – breastfeed

8.00 – breakfast:  1 weatabix with semi-skimmed milk

11.00 – Snack: 5 strawberries, halved

12.30 – lunch: 1 new potato, 6 pasta shells, chunk of cheese, 2 small broccoli florets, 2 small pieces cauliflower, 1/2 peach and a fromage frais (food was laid out on her highchair, so she could decide what she wanted – and this was what she actually ate)

3.00 – snack: 1 breadstick

5.15 – dinner: 1/4 slice of bread with olive spread, few mouthfuls of chicken breast, 6 grapes, small bowl of trifle (whip, custard, jelly & peaches)

She ate less than usual at dinner time. I generally do not worry about decreased food intake like this, because babies have varying appetites in the same way that adults do; sometimes they just don’t feel hungry. They’ll usually make up for it the next day!

I hope you have enjoyed this blog. Please feel free to ask me a question via email, Facebook or Twitter @expertdietitian.

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Annemarie Aburrow

Annemarie graduated from the University of Southampton in 2003 with a first class honours in Physiology with Nutrition. She went on to study a Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics at Cardiff Metropolitan University, leading to registration as a Dietitian. Between 2005 and 2013, Annemarie worked for the NHS in a wide variety of clinical and community roles. More recently, she has specialised in health promotion and prescribing support. She has particular experience in obesity management (both adults and children), diabetes, nutrition for the under 5s and nutritional supplement prescribing. In 2013, Annemarie left the NHS to set up her private practice 'Expert Dietitian'. She now works as a freelance Dietitian, offering private consultations in Hampshire, telephone and Skype appointments, corporate nutrition consultancy and bespoke training. She has a growing portfolio of project work, including working with her local council to provide nutrition training and expertise to Early Years settings, article writing, work with schools and running training/workshops. Annemarie is a member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).