Are you a parent worried about baby food and weaning your baby?  Weaning is a whole new adventure, not only will you learn that carrot stains are completely hideous to remove, but that your baby is growing up and that you are now in charge of developing their taste buds… with the worry that if you season baby food, in particular with spice, will they eat your food.

As recent survey identified that nearly half of parents in the UK admit that they serve their children bland, unseasoned meals because they’re too scared to add herbs or spices in case they get rejected.  But by offering tasteless meals, it is likely we’re raising a generation of unadventurous eaters who are afraid to try new tastes.

So, come on parents spice up their lives and baby food..

Weaning your baby to baby food

Baby food company Piccolo discovered that 45% of parents confessed to never seasoning their children’s food with herbs or spices, with a quarter of them (26%) believing it wouldn’t be safe to add to the meals.

Parents also admitted that they would rather stick to the same old plain meals instead of risking their baby rejecting a new flavour either because it was too spicy (44%) or just didn’t like it (21%).  This means that parents – and their babies – are stuck in a mealtime rut and babies are not being given a wide variety of foods to try.

Inspired by the Mediterranean recipes they grew up with, the team at Piccolo are determined to share their love of herbs and spices to help parents feel more confident about getting creative in the kitchen and being more adventurous with their meals.

Piccolo’s in house Infant Nutritional Therapist Alice Fotheringham creates Piccolo’s recipes from her kitchen and is passionate about the importance of including herbs and spices during the weaning journey.

You can give pretty much any herb or spice from first foods. You only need a sprinkling when you start, perhaps a bit of parsley sprinkled on some carrot puree, or mint goes really well with peas.

For spices, you could try a dash of cinnamon or ginger with some apple or perhaps some cumin or turmeric on some sweet potato.

For busy parents, or those on the go, Piccolo’s range of stage 1 and 2 pouches contains 12 different herbs and spices to help develop babies’ palates.  From tarragon, rosemary and thyme to all-spice, cinnamon and vanilla, Piccolo’s unrivalled range really broadens baby’s first foods, helping to create a longstanding positive attitude to food.

Herbs and spices in baby food

 

As the first baby food brand to work in partnership with the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), the UK’s largest parenting charity that provides parents with the necessary resources and support needed in the early, Piccolo is in a truly unique position and committing 10% of its profits to food education, this brand is giving back in more ways than one.