Issue #021
2 Apr 2008

What's in this issue...

• Win a Sassy Feeding Gift Set
• More Cheese, Please - the Safest Cheeses for Baby
• Visit our New Pages
• Competition Corner
• How to Receive Daily Articles, Recipes and Tips
• Tip of the Month
• Safety Recalls
• Our Featured Product Review
• Visit Our "Website of the Month"
• This Month's Recipe - Homemade Whole Wheat Bagels

SPECIAL NOTE

We've had some reports that visitors have been unable to click on some of our links. Unfortunately, this is because some e-mail clients do not allow certain links to be clickable and is beyond our control. If this happens to you - and you can see the link - try copying and pasting it into your browser. If you can't see the link, then try forwarding the newsletter to a different e-mail address.

If you have any problems, please let us know and we'll do our best to help.

Win a Sassy Feeding Set

Congratulations to March's winner of our Baby Product Review competition - Carol Kelly, from Georgetown, Texas. Carol told us all about that baby care item she just couldn't live without - her Bumbo Baby Seat!

Other items reviewed in last month's competition included the Sassy Ideal Temp Feeding Spoon, the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer, the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy and the Sleep Sheep.

A big thank you to everyone who entered.

This month, we have a brand new prize waiting for the sender of our favorite baby product review...

the handy dandy Sassy Feeding Gift Set!

This amazing set provides everything your little munchkin needs at mealtimes - and it's ideal for use at home, or when traveling. This prize comprises 3 snack bowls with lids, a cheerful pocketed bib, a spoon and fork (with their own carrying case), a mesh teething feeder, a trainer cup AND a formula dispenser!

Just send us your review of that 'must-have', 'couldn't-live-without' baby care item... and if your review is chosen as our favorite, then the Sassy Feeding Kit will be yours!

Please note that the closing date for this month's competition is April 29th - don't miss it!

More cheese, please - the safest cheeses for your baby

Cheese is a excellent food for babies. It is packed with calcium (the importance of which we discussed in last month's newsletter) - and it also provides protein, vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin B12. In fact, the vitamin B12 content of cheese makes it an important part of the diet for vegetarian babies, as this is a nutrient often derived from meat.

Cheese also provides energy and is ideal for babies who require a calorie rich diet.

To make things easy for us parents, cheese tastes wonderful, many babies enjoy it... and it it can be easily incorporated into their meals.

This month, we're going to look at the best types of cheese for babies... and discover a little known fact about cheese that makes it an even MORE desirable part of baby's menu!

When can my baby eat cheese?

In the UK, for example, cheese is typically included in the infant diet from around 6 months of age. Guidelines in the US, however, are more conservative, with some sources suggesting waiting until 8-9 months to introduce cheese - and others go so far as to rule out dairy products altogether until at baby is at least 12 months of age.

Cheese isn't your typical dairy product, however. The milk protein commonly responsible for dairy allergy is largely broken down in cheese as it matures and cheese is often well tolerated by individuals with sensitivities to dairy products. The same applies to yogurt, which is why many pediatricians will agree that it is safe to introduce both of these products prior to baby's first birthday.

It's certainly worth delaying the introduction of cheese if there is a family history of food allergy (particularly an allergy to dairy products), or if your baby has asthma or eczema. This is because cheese may act as a 'trigger food' for these conditions.

As with all new foods, you should talk to your doctor before introducing cheese to your baby.

So what is that little known benefit of cheese you mentioned?

Exactly HOW cheese protects the teeth is still a point of debate, but there are several reasons why this may be so.

For one thing, chewing cheese promotes saliva production, which both neutralizes harmful acids in the mouth and washes them away. In fact, it is believed that cheese stops the bacteria on the teeth from turning into the acids that demineralize tooth enamel.

Further, cheese contains plenty of calcium and phosphorus - so eating it replaces minerals lost from the tooth enamel, essentially strengthening the teeth.

If you've always enjoyed finishing a meal with a cheese board, then this is a good reason to continue to do so - and to get baby to have a nibble, too!

The best types of cheese for baby

This being said, there has been no change to medical recommendations for feeding these types of cheeses to babies. The safest option, therefore, is to offer only the following types of cheese to your little one (although it is still important to ensure that these are made with pasteurized milk).

• Cheddar
• Parmesan
• Edam
• Colby
• Colby Jack
• Swiss
• Mozzarella
• Monterey Jack
• Romano
• Babybel
• Paneer
• Provolone
• Red Leicester
• Cheshire
• Jarlsberg
• Gouda
• Lancashire
• Double Gloucester

• Cottage Cheese
• Ricotta
• Mascarpone
• Cream cheese
• Cheese spread (make sure that your cheese spread is not labelled 'cheese flavour', which implies that it is NOT made from real cheese)

Cheeses you may prefer to avoid for at least the first year

• Brie
• Camembert
• Chevre
• Queso Blanco
• Queso Fresco
• Danish blue
• Stilton
• Saga
• Gorgonzola
• Roquefort
• Wensleydale

What about processed cheese / American cheese and pre-sliced cheese?

Processed cheese is 'purpose built' to be smooth and easy to melt, with a mild taste and uniform texture. To achieve this, several 'real' cheeses are melted together and blended - then 'extras' such as emulsifiers, flavour enhancers, colours and stabilizers are added.

Our advice?

Keep cheese like this for your burgers and treat your baby to delicious, full-flavoured, 'real' cheese!

Storing cheese

Using cheese in your baby food recipes

• Firmer cheeses - or large curd cottage cheese - make great finger foods. Many firm cheeses can be easily cut into fun shapes to delight your little one!

• Prepare a simple lunch of cheese on toast (grilled cheese).

• Stir cottage cheese into cooked veggies, or sprinkle grated cheese on top (a great way to get the reluctant baby to eat them up)!

• Stir cottage cheese into cooked rice or pasta - or sprinkle firmer cheeses on top

• Add grated cheese to your omeletes, or add it to virtually any other dish - including purees and soups.

• Mix cottage cheese with fruit purees (surprisingly yummy), mash it with avocado or tofu, or use it to top oatcakes or bagels

New and updated pages

• We've updated our guide to Introducing a Sippy Cup. If you're thinking about ditching the bottles or transitioning baby from the breast, you'll find lots of useful information about the types of sippy cup available, the potential DISadvantages of using one - and some suggestions for non-plastic alternatives to traditional sippy cups.

• As we move into spring, it's the time when many of us begin making plans to get away from it all! In addition to our Travelling With Baby section, we now have a new page with ideas for yummy and healthy Baby Travel Snacks, to help you ensure your little one has nutritious foods wherever you go!

• We've added MORE fantastic recipes to our site this month, this time using nutritious butternut squash. Learn how to choose it, store it and cook it in our new Butternut Squash Baby Food section

Competition corner

Since we started our baby food recipes competition in the early part of last year, we've amassed lots of wonderful 'parent tested' recipes. So many, in fact, that we've split all our favourite entries into four new pages, making it easier to find the type of recipe you're looking for!

But first - to March's winning entry!

Aysha from the United States sent us a yummy recipe for Baby's First Apple Pie - and, if her name sounds familiar, that's because she won February's competition, too!

In addition to her apple pie recipe, Aysha actually sent us two more fantastic ideas this month - for 'Baby's Got A Cold' Soup and Baby's Healthy Banana Pudding. Wow - thank you, Aysha, for sharing those with us.

You can see Aysha's recipes - and other favourite entries from this month - on our Baby Food Ideas page.

And for YOUR chance to win a $20 Amazon voucher (or local equivalent), find out more about our Baby Food Recipes Competition

And now to our four new pages...

Made up entirely of suggestions sent in by other parents, visit our:
Baby breakfast recipes
Baby dinner recipes
Baby dessert recipes
Finger foods for baby

From recipe of the month... to Baby of the Month!

Find out here - you'll also see more of our favourite photographs sent in by our visitors AND the simple entry form to send in your OWN baby's photo!

Do you want to hear about new baby food recipes and tips as we add them to our site?

If you're a new subscriber to Baby Bites, then we wanted to let you know about 'Baby Food News' - the blog that accompanies our website.

Baby Food News is updated almost daily, with -

• news from our site

• details of our competitions... and our winners!

• feeding tips

• new recipes

• product recalls

• updates to infant nutrition guidelines

• Adding baking soda to veggies - a good idea or not?

• How to dry your own herbs

• Smaller pieces of meat boost iron absorption

• How to make whole wheat tortillas

There are 2 simple ways.

1. Sign up for e-mail notifications when new posts are made. Just visit Baby Food News, enter your e-mail address and hit 'Subscribe Me'.

OR

2. Subscribe to our RSS feed!

What's RSS?

Well, it stands for 'Really Simple Syndication' and is a brilliant way to receive updates to our site without having to check our site every day!

You need an RSS Reader (which you can download for free) - then you can subscribe to the RSS feeds of all your favourite sites.

Find out more about RSS and download an RSS Reader here - then return to the Baby Food News page, 'right click' the orange RSS/XML button to sign up... and you're all set!

But enough about OUR blog - now it's YOUR turn!

If you don't have time to send in regular updates, then you can just set up a single page!

Uploading your baby's photo and news to our site is as easy as can be - just visit our Baby Food Blogs page to find out more.

Whilst you're there, don't forget to take a moment to read the blogs we've already published and the photographs of beautiful babes from around the world!

Tip of the month - Mealtime Fun with the Food Tube

Our favourite tip this month comes from Patricia in Sydney, Australia. We'll let Patricia explain...

"My husband invented the 'Food Tube' one afternoon when he was looking after our 11 month old bub, Jake - on a day when Jake was particularly grumpy!

Trying to think of something to distract him, hubby made a small hole in the side of a cardboard tube from the inside of a roll of kitchen paper. Then, he dropped Jake's favourite finger food - crisped rice - into the hole.

Well, Jake's face was a picture as he picked up the tube, looking for his cereal - and it all fell out the end!

Now he does it for himself and stays occupied for ages, pushing food in the hole and watching it slide out again.

We restrict this game to dry foods, of course, and we don't do it at every meal - but I often bring out the Food Tube if Jake's getting bored in his highchair and I want to finish my dinner! I take it out with us, too - it works wonders when we eat out at a restaurant."

Thank so much, Patricia - what a brilliantly simple idea! With all the entertaining baby gadgets around these days, it's easy to forget the delight that the little things can bring.

Please keep your ideas coming! Just use our contact form to send in your favourite baby care tip and we'll publish it here so other parents can benefit from your brilliance!

Safety Recalls

Here's our list of food and product recalls issued since our last newsletter. Please take a moment to look through items listed below and click on the relevant link(s) if you think you may have these items at home. This will take you to our blog for more information. If you have family/friends who may have any of the items listed, then please do forward this newsletter on to them.

• Infantino Lamb Grabby Rattles (US)

• Gulliver Highchairs Recalled by IKEA (UK)

• Maize Flour Polenta (UK)

• Ellaroo Ring Sling Baby Carrriers (US)

• X Force Commander Toy Airplanes and Super Famous Toy Cars and Motorcycles (US)

• Play Wonder Toy Sundae Sets (US)

• Battat Magnabild Magnetic Building Toys or Sets (US)

• Toddler Pear Juices (Canada)

• Update to pear juice recall (Canada)

• Pinewood Cots (Australia)

• MEGA Brands MagnaMan Magnetic Toy Figures, Magtastik and Magnetix Jr. Pre-school Magnetic Toys (US)

• MEGA Brands Recall - Contact Details (Australia)

• Camouflage Eggs and Spinning Egg Top Toys (US)

• Wrong Advice on Cow & Gate Baby Milk (UK)

• Cantaloupes (US and Canada)

• Toy Penguins (US)

• Backyard and Beyond Metal Water Bottles

• 'In the Night Garden' Cutlery Sets (UK)

• Wooden Maracas sold by Mothercare (UK)

• 'Rock ‘N Ride' Plush Rocker Toys (US)

• Stonyfield Farm Yogurts (US)

Our featured product review - Make ALL your photos perfect!

Your baby may be a cheeky little devil sometimes... but those glowing red eyes really do spoil a beautiful photograph!

Yes - we all have those family photos that would be perfect if it weren't for the dreaded 'red eye', less-than-ideal backgrounds and poor lighting.

But all is not lost... a company called Fotofix can edit your precious pics, giving professional-looking results!

Here's how it works

First, you need to create a membership (which is free of charge), then you send Fotofix your photos to be 'repaired'. You can either upload them directly from your computer, e-mail them - or arrange for free collection.

Then, you wait... for up to 24 hours! Fotofix will then send you an e-mail, showing your photograph both BEFORE and AFTER editing. If you're not satisfied, then they'll carry on editing until you are!

This service is available from only 99c per print, which we think is a small price to pay for perfect images that you'll be proud to show off (or treasure forever!).

Click here to
Enhance your photos at Fotofix.com!

(Oh yes, one more thing... they can make you look younger, thinner AND whiten your teeth! But that's our little secret!)

Website of the Month - Veg Box Recipes

It's always great to come across sites that promote cooking with natural, healthy ingredients - so we were delighted this month to find a wonderful British site called Veg Box Recipes.

The site directs people to companies in the UK running vegetable box schemes (that's where you receive a box of locally produced, seasonal veggies delivered to your door). Veg Box Recipes then provides loads of tips and recipes to help consumers make the most of the produce in their boxes!

Whilst the site is, of course, most useful for people in the UK, the recipes and tips it provides are great for families everywhere! You'll find 20 minute meal ideas, plus recipes for innovative salads and soups. We love the Rogues' Gallery, which lists all sorts of weird and wonderful veggies that you may not be quite sure how to prepare!

There's even a 'Kids' Box' - where children can take part in the Great Mushroom Growing Challenge!

The site is clear, beautifully presented and easy to navigate... and it gets a big thumbs-up from us as a superb resource for veggie-loving families everywhere!

Recipe of the month - Homemade Whole Wheat Bagels

Despite the rather lengthy instructions below, bagels are actually pretty simple to make! This recipe produces mouthwatering, healthy whole wheat bagels that your entire family will enjoy!

Lightly toasted bagels are ideal finger foods for older babies who are comfortably biting and chewing - and this recipe includes honey, making it suitable for babies of AT LEAST 12 months of age (honey should not be given to infants before their first birthday).

Here's what you'll need

12 fl oz (1 and 1/2 cups) water at 100-115 deg F (check with a thermometer as the temperature is important in achieving a good result)
1 package of yeast
1 and 1/2 tbsp honey (see note above)
8oz (2 cups) whole wheat (wholemeal) flour
8oz (2 cups) bread flour (don't use all-purpose, plain or self-raising flours)
1/2 tsp salt

Combine the water, honey and yeast in a bowl, then allow to stand for 5 mins.
Stir in the salt and flour, mixing thoroughly until the dough forms a large ball. Add a little extra flour if the mixture is too moist, or a little extra water if the mixture is too dry.
On a floured surface, knead the dough thoroughly for 10 mins until it is smooth and elastic.
Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a clean tea towel or plastic wrap. Leave to rise for one hour.
Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, then divide it into 10 equal pieces.
Shape the pieces into balls, then cover them and allow them to rest for 15 mins.
Next, add 2tbsp sugar to a large saucepan of water and heat until boiling. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F (200 deg C).
Now it's time to make the 'bagel' shape. There are two ways to do this...

• You can roll the ball into a sausage, then join the ends together to form a circle (although we find our bagels sometimes come undone when made this way!)

  OR

• Push your thumb through the centre of each ball to make the hole, then stretch out the circle to a traditional bagel size (much easier!).

VARIATION: Try adding raisins and a teaspoon of cinnamon when your stir in the flour (soak the raisins in apple juice first to soften them).