Mum's The Word! The Parenting Podcast - Adapting Recipes for ALL with Nutritionist Charlotte Stirling Reed

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

Do you feel like you are non stop cooking? Struggling to find variety in your childrens diet - bestselling author and nutritionist Charloltte Stirling Reed joins us this week to discuss how we can get the most out of our meals, stopping food waste and adapting recipes for all needs. Get in touch with your questions over at [e-mail]---A Create Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

so for many parents feeding family healthy home-cooked meals can be a struggle don't i know about it this week we have sunday times best-selling author nutritionist and mama to little foodies raffi and ada it's charlotte sterling reed oh hello hello thank you how are you yeah really good thank you i'm very excited to be here It's lovely to be in a studio chatting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Real life people. Oh, look, I can touch you. Reach over. Oh, a real life human. Thank you for coming in to see us today. I have a lot of questions to ask you about this. And I'm sure like as soon as you get anywhere, as soon as you get to a dinner party, are people are people like actually are people a bit scared when you go to dinner parties are they like oh god who am i number of times people will say to me oh gosh better not let the nutritionist see what i'm

eating and then also i'm nervous about like i you know i love food all food so i'm then like oh god now do i have to watch what i put on my plate because they're going to be thinking all the nutritionists shouldn't be eating that but But, you know, everything in variety, love food, love chocolate, eat the lot. So yeah, don't worry about it. You're not the sugar police. I certainly am not. Where did this love of feeding your family come from? Is it something that has always been there? Yeah. So when I went to university, I decided to do nutrition. And I think that came from my family. Like both my parents have always loved cooking. You know, my mom is a health fanatic and certainly doesn't always get the kind of evidence, right? She's a bit of a, you know, loves the fads. But she loved food. She

loved cooking. She always wanted us to eat really healthily. And I just grew up with a family who just spent so much time in the kitchen. I mean, I went to my mom's yesterday to work and she's in the kitchen creating meals. I'm like, who are you even creating these for? There's nobody here. And she's like, no, I just really like cooking. So I think it's come from there, you know, and I do love food. I really love food. I always am thinking, what am I going to eat next? You know, it's an excitement and enjoyment in the day. So yeah, I really do. A lot of people find it like a form of meditation, I guess, don't they? Because it's their time, they're in the zone, they're doing their thing, you can people find it like a form of meditation, I guess, don't they? Because it's their time. They're in the zone.

Yes. They're doing their thing. You can put a podcast on or you can just, you know, be in your own thoughts for a minute and do that. Obviously, we're going to get on to how do you stuff some greens into your kids' faces. There's a nice way of putting that, I'm sure. Yeah. But I wanted to ask because, do you know what? But I wanted to ask because, do you know what?

I've struggled so much with when I had my little boy, I could not believe how many times a day I had to cook. I could not get over it. That was a real, as well as everything else that comes with being, you know, a first time parent, the sheer amount of cooking and the being a being a chef on demand just I could not believe it and that was one of the bits that got me in the beginning because I think from my teens and from uh you know friends and everything over the years the 2000s the noughties sort of ruined us all a

bit with the fatty diets and things like that I've never been great at feeding myself always had a little bit of a disordered way of eating and feeding myself and I just don't really put that much thought into it so then to try and yeah become this person that has to put nutrition into another person like I you know I I will openly sometimes just have a bag of crisps for breakfast you know and like that that I could I was like I can't do that to a child I can't like even when I was pregnant I was like yeah oh I can't eat how I used to eat like I've got to put some nutrients in here and think about it so that was the first thing that I found really overwhelming and do you find that a lot of mums say that to you they do and you know what I found it I could not believe when I first started weaning

my son you know I'd done all the advice all the years I'd given parents advice and when I got to it and when my son started having three meals a day, I was like, this is relentless. Yes. I am nonstop cooking. So it's breakfast, it's lunch, it's dinner. And then obviously still milk feeds in between. And then you've got to fit in naps and playtime and bath time and settling. And it was, I just remember thinking like, it is not possible to fit all of this in.

I think it does start to become easier. So things like naps drop and things change. And I think also that's one of the reasons why there's been a big push in the last years to really move towards kind of foods that can feed everyone. Yes. So rather than this idea of, and yet at the start of weaning, absolutely, you know, giving, making kids kind of separate meals might make sense while you're exploring and while you're finding your feet. But I do think there is a big push towards trying to get kids to eat the same foods as the rest of the family.

And that's for a practical reason, as well as, you know, helping kids with development and helping them to explore variety. Because, you know, we know that variety in young kids can really help to build up their acceptance of variety when they're older. Yeah. So it makes sense for so many reasons, but it is also practical. If we can give kids a part of what we are eating and a part of our meal, it can help make a difference and it can help us not have to be cooking so much. But obviously, as you say, if you're someone who isn't necessarily eating, you know, three main meals a day, it can absolutely throw you in.

It can be a real challenge to think I've got to think of what to feed you three times a day every day going forward and I yeah definitely see that a lot of parents do struggle with that it was such a shock I could not believe it and it just felt like I was just constantly in there like oven on pots and pans and then the washing up and everything and like and I only had one little bowl for him in the beginning and I remember it got to his first birthday and my friends were like, what can we get him? And I was like, just more bowls, please. He just needs more bowls because I can't keep washing this one bowl up. It's driving me mad.

I could have bought myself a bowl. But, you know, he's just like in the fog of it all. He's just like this one bowl that he had all day. And then he loves that bowl. Anyway, that's another point. So how do we make sure that we're getting the right nutrients into our kids? I think that it's really hard, you know, as, as, you know, humans, we always think about this kind of like what nutrients are eating and what

foods are good and bad. But actually, you know, I think we need to try and open that, broaden that out a little bit and just think about, you know, foods and offering foods regularly and a variety. Like I say, I always come back to this message and I feel like it's really boring, but ultimately, if you give your child something and you think, oh God, maybe I shouldn't have given them that, just try not to worry about it. It's so much more about variety and about what they're eating the majority of the time. That's what matters, not what they have at one meal on one day. And it's the same with food diffuser. I think, you know, toddler years are so typical for kids to go through periods where they're like, I ate loads of foods before, but actually I'm going to refuse lots now.

And it's so important for us to try and realize that A, that's really normal. B, quite often, it's just a phase. And C, we need to look at the bigger picture and what they're being offered and what they're eating the majority of the time. So I do think, you know, getting, you know, getting nutrients into kids is important. And I often talk about trying to add extra nutrients into foods when you're creating meals. And secret veg, it's such a buzzword, but secret veg and like sneaking vegetables into other little bits that they like. Yeah. So like, yeah, making meals that have got lots of veg included in there, or, you know, I always say, I love to say this, like a sprinkle of this, a dollop of that and a stir of that into dishes.

And it makes a difference. You know, if you're stirring a little bit of yogurt into a porridge, if you are sprinkling some cheese on top of something or if you're like you say grating some veggies when you're making a lasagna, for example. It can make a really big difference to add those extras in. So I think, you know, in the book, I do talk about balance and I talk about the difference between, you know, teens and toddlers and adults and what we need and what's recommended in our diets. But often it's about working out what kind of, how you can add extras into foods, but just try not to get too bogged down by the minutiae of it all and the kind of what they're having on one meal. Because as parents, I think we're always looking at the negative side

of things and it's so easy to get bogged down on that. So basically, yes, our kids do need a balanced diet. They need to have plenty of variety. So they need to be having foods from each of the food groups. So some carbohydrates, some fruits and vegetables, some proteins and some dairy. groups. So some carbohydrates, some fruits and vegetables, some proteins and some dairy. And ideally, if we can offer those food groups at most meal times, and I know that sounds quite complicated perhaps, but I do try and break it down quite a lot in the book. And it's just about the foods that we eat. So let's take, for example, a spaghetti bolognese. You might have lentils or beef in that. You might have tomatoes. So that's two different food groups there. You might have pasta. You might have some cheese. So you've got four different food groups in there quite naturally.

And it's the same when we're making something like a curry, we might have some vegetables, we might have some chicken or some tofu, we might have some rice and we might have some, you know, we might stir in some coconut milk or some dairy. So when we're building meals, we do tend to make them quite balanced anyway. It's just about trying to not add in the kind of extra salt and extra sugar, especially when we're feeding young kids and just trying to, yeah, offer plenty of variety. So I don't know if that kind of answers your question. No, it does. But what about if you've got a fussy eater? What about, because that,

it's a real stress. Naps and eating are two like big stresses for parents that you just think about constantly all day have they eaten have they slept have they not eaten have they not slept it's just like it's it's a constant battle with that sort of thing if you are coming up against there was a there was a period where my little boy he's he's a good eater i would say as in he eats a lot love it um but there was a period where I'd put him in his chair and he would scream from the start he would be eating and screaming and I would just be stood there like and I'd have to go out the room but then I also didn't want to go out the room because I didn't want him to choke on anything so I'd sort of be just listening to just stood there just like

watching him scream through a meal but like that's a form of fussy eating. But I think that was his situation. He didn't want to be in his high chair. He didn't want to be in that situation. But what if a child is refusing food and maybe they haven't eaten an awful lot that day. And parents are stressed about it. Is there anything that parents can do to feel reassured? A million things, first of all. Like there's so much you can do.

But the main thing I would say is I really, really try and encourage parents not to worry too much because toddlers' appetites, just like ours as adults, really, but even more so with toddlers, their appetites are super up and down. They go through phases where they do want food, they don't want food, and there's a multitude of reasons for that. So it might be that maybe they just didn't want what you're offering that day. Maybe they have had too much already and they're actually feeling quite full off of what they've had before. Maybe they've got a sore throat or a headache. Maybe they're distracted or maybe they've got a new milestone that they've met and they just want to be on the floor crawling. They don't want to be plugged into a high chair. But do you know how they communicate that to us? Is by just saying, I don't want it,

or screaming or crying or pushing the plate away or throwing the food on the floor because they can't say to us, mummy, really don't feel like this right now. Can I come back and have it a little bit later? I don't want pesto pasta again. Exactly. I don't want this again. Or mummy, I had something like this at nursery yesterday. I really don't want it again. Or, you know, like I said, they might say, oh, my tummy's feeling a bit weird. I don't really fancy eating this. So their response to us is pushing, crying, screaming. And for us as parents, it is so hard not to go. For goodness sake, I need to get you to eat. I just spent time making this.

I'm exhausted. I need you to eat this right now because I feel like that's what you need. And it is so hard not to. And we all do it as parents. But the main thing I would say is that try and think of it from their perspective. There might be a reason why they're saying they don't want it. And obviously, if that's going on for a long time, there's a difference. So if that's carrying on and it's going on for weeks and weeks and you're really feeling like it's having an impact, there's still loads of things

you can do, but it's much more addressing like the meal time and the way we approach those meals. But in the first part of of it i would always say expect those up and downs in appetite because actually that can take the pressure off us yes to know that okay this is fine yeah it's absolutely fine if they miss a meal it's okay yeah exactly to miss a few meals or to have a few days where they're off their food it's actually completely normal especially if they have been unwell or if they've got a tummy ache, they are not going to want to eat food. So actually trying to go with the flow. And I think what we often do as parents is we go, right, this is not going well.

I've got to change things up. And we might start to put pressure on them to eat. We might start to change up what we offer them and start to offer firm favorites. We might start to get really panicked or really stressed. And that mealtime environment changes. So quite often how we react, which is totally not our own faults, because for us, we're going, we need this child to survive. We need the child to eat. So it's almost like I'm tired and you're like, I just

need you to eat this food. So it's not our faults that we do this because it's actually human nature to want to feed our child. But sometimes we just have to go, let's pause. It's not about me. It's not about this food. It's about them in this moment and say, they're okay to have a down day where they don't want that food. And when it comes to that kind of long-term, there's, again, there's lots of things you can do. So like reducing pressure on meals and making those mealtimes fun and sitting with them and eating with them and trying to have like a really light, fun environment. You know, think about feeding as another kind of milestone in the day. So where you've got play or bath time, just trying to think about it much more like that rather than I need to get you to eat. Because actually the relationship with food that they

build is so much more than that. And if they enjoy mealtimes and if they see you eating, that's going to have much more of a positive impact than us trying to really seriously get them to eat yeah we struggled because we moved house and we didn't have a dining table we didn't have chairs and so eating was just all over the place and we weren't eating with him and since we've managed to get our lives together a bit and get that but that was just situational we couldn't move into a house and it was all done you know we there were just things that were coming up against us in in that sort of yeah i mean there's so much to it that you just you do feel like you're going a bit crazy by the end of it but and also there's nights where because i always feel a lot of pressure that

that last meal has to be a big one otherwise i'm not going to get sleep he's not going to get sleep me first i'm not going to but my mask on before his um i feel like and and so the the stress around that last meal i feel really sort of starts to ramp up through the day pressure yeah ramps up the pressure and then you get to the point where you're like right what will make him eat tv or chicken nuggets or whatever what can i stuff into him but actually sometimes and i've only found this recently is that he still sleeps through anyway that was going to be my first thing to say to you i think as parents like you said sleep is such a sensitive topic it's so hard and you know i went through i had a two i had a little one who did not

sleep till she was about two and a half years properly it was like bits here and there and constant waking during the night. So I feel any mums who have not been able to sleep because it's really hard. But I think quite often we assume that if they don't have that last meal, if they don't have a big last meal, they're not going to sleep. And quite often it's more us that thinks that's what's going to happen. But actually I found as well with both my two, if they skip a meal, it's normally because they just don't have much of an appetite. And you could always offer something later as part of a normal routine if you wanted to. If you're finding that mealtimes are being refused constantly, constantly, constantly, then maybe build into that routine a smaller snack, you know, an hour later, but just pre-bread time so that you can top them up a bit.

bedtime so that you can top them up a bit. However, I definitely would say to any parents, try and give it a little test because quite often they still will sleep even if they haven't because kids are very good at knowing their own appetite and knowing if they're hungry and full. And normally they'll let you know if they're hungry too. So if they're saying to you at mealtime, not hungry, don't want this. It is a good idea to try and listen to them and try not to panic and think, right, what can I offer you that I know you will eat? Because actually they are going to eat the firm favorite. If you put their favorite cereal or a piece of toast with some butter on in front of them, they're going to be like, oh, yes. Yeah, this is familiar.

It's a firm favorite. It's easy to eat. And she gave in yesterday to that. Exactly. So tomorrow I'm going to say no to whatever it is and I'll get my firm favorite. They really remember, don't they? Oh, yeah. Their memories are incredible.

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You can find us wherever you got this podcast. Just search for Baffled Amazing Facts. So you've got two little ones was it easier feeding your second than it was your first because obviously everything's new and you said yourself as a nutritionist you thought you'd be like fine this is great i'm going into this i'm gonna have a kid i'm gonna be great at all of this and then it was a shock when your little little boy got here raffy completely but with ada did you find that you sort of had your flow a little bit with it and you were like okay I know what to do here so I would say yeah I was definitely less nervous so I think I was actually I remember speaking to parents for so long saying don't worry they're fine with finger foods you know you don't need to worry about it they'll be able to manage and then I got there

myself and I'm like hold on a minute everything's a choking hazard I'm terrified yeah exactly and I'm like giving in these pieces of food that I know are fine. And I've been telling parents to do for years and I'm terrified. So, you know, it's so easy to say it all, isn't it? But actually when you're there in that situation, it's easier said than done. But I definitely build up my confidence with him. And when I was feeding my daughter, I just could not believe how much she took to finger foods. And she was just like, absolutely. She ran with it. So I had a lot less fear and I had a lot more confidence, but I will say that my daughter was so much more challenging to feed in the sense that she's been much more, you know, no, I don't like that. No, I'm not having that. She's been a lot

more picky with what she will and won't eat. My son, he was just like an everything under the sun kind of guy. He would eat everything. But I think because my daughter has grown up with an older sibling, she's seen a lot more of the things earlier than he would have. And she's just been a lot more like, she's strong-willed. She's like, no, not eating that. Don't want it. I'm going to get down from the table now, mom. And you're like, okay, I have much less control here. So I feel like I've had two totally opposite children with feeding and it's been such an eye-opener, but I've definitely learned loads from it. And I also would say that when I had two kids, you know, like you said about the feeding them three times a day, when I had two, I was like, how on earth do I navigate this? How do I feed two mouths? And how do I create enough food? And how do I have

enough energy to feed everybody? And honestly, that is exactly why I put that book together, because I found it overwhelming. And I'm a nutritionist and I love cooking and I work in food. And I came into being a family of two thinking, I can't do this. So for anyone else feeling like that, I was too. And I should be able to go, yeah, I got this. I cook every day. I know the drill. I know what to feed my kids I found it overwhelming I found it absolutely I was over you know over my head with it all and I really struggled to cope so for other mums who are feeling like that it's so is the most normal thing in the world and I think you you will be okay it's so reassuring to hear that and it's a beautiful book and there's there's something for everyone in there so let's talk about intolerances

and maybe and actually even if you're you know you're a vegetarian family and you're going down that route with your children as well and you're you know there's there is something for everyone in there was that part of your mindset when you were going into it too because because now you've got there's so much more variety of catering to those intolerances yeah lactose intolerance and so many different you know allergies that kids can suffer with. How do you write a book for everyone? Yeah, it's really... So in the book, I do have a whole section on creating separate meals. So this idea of if you've got someone who, for whatever reason, doesn't want a certain

food group or is restricting foods, there's a whole section in there that talks a lot about like trying to plan the meals around the table when you've got that scenario. And also there's a part in there about catering for allergies. So loads of tips on what to do. But actually when I'm writing the recipe, so this book's got 70 recipes in. And honestly, one of the biggest challenges is trying to make the recipes healthy, balanced, ones that kids will eat, adaptable so that actually you and I as adults will really enjoy them. Also not adding loads of salt and sugar so you can adapt them for young kids too. But also trying to have it in there so that there are plenty of vegetarian,

there's lots of vegan, there's plant-based options. There's ones that can be had for children who have allergies. It's really tough. I feel exhausted listening to that. I know. I don't know when you're going to get the time. I tell you, the recipe development, I just, before writing books, I did not realize how, I just, before writing books, I did not realize how, how, I mean, it's, it's months, it's like six months to a year of creating those recipes, really.

I guess that you could test them out on your kids too, though. Testing them out on the kids. I also have friends who test them for me. And I also have an amazing recipe developer called Christina McKenzie. And she has done a lot of the recipe. She'll help me with testing all the recipes to make sure. Okay. So the recipes in make sure they're okay. So the recipes in there,

I also have really good keys so you can see like what the recipes can and can't be used for. But the main thing I have to do with my recipes is make sure they are adaptable. So if you don't have a courgette and there's a courgette in the recipe, do not worry about it. Swap it for whatever you have in your fridge.

And the same for dairy. Like if you don't like dairy, the recipes are really nice and balanced. So if you're not eating dairy, you can leave the dairy out in the majority of the recipes that are in that book. Quite often, I've put those things in there that people might want to remove as optional. So you can choose to have them in or not. And like I say, the recipes are all nutritionally pretty balanced. So you've got, you know, if you're feeding your kids recipes from that book, you know that you're getting lots of nutrition in there. So if you leave out one ingredient, most of the time it's going to be okay. Oh, Charlotte, honestly, it's incredible, like listening to you and being able to learn. No, but it's brilliant because I'm like trying

to take it all in as well. And I know loads of other moms listening to this will be feeling the same because it's such, it's one of those areas where it's just, it's terrifying. There's so much food waste as well is what i found in the beginning i could not believe especially if they don't want something or you're testing things out and stuff like that it's very hard to get your head around that at the end of the day too especially if there's families who don't have a lot of money and they're trying to maybe batch cook you know yeah as you said kids aren't going to want that every day we don't want to eat the same thing every day. So a lot of freezing foods, I guess, and getting them out at different points.

So, yeah, I'm so sorry. I have so much to say. No, I love it. Two things you said there that I want to kind of address. I think the families who are struggling financially, they don't want to go buying food that they think their kids aren't going to eat. Of course not. So, you know, you have to take that into account and context. And one of the things I would say is trying to have a list of foods that you know your kid would eat and just really gradually build on

that if you can, because you don't want to be offering food and cooking this elaborate meal that you've had to go and get all the ingredients and spend the money, you know, cooking the food for it to then not be eaten. But one of the things that I learned, again, you know, I said it was, I found it really overwhelming. One of the things I really, really tapped into when creating these recipes and cooking is my freezer. I feel like I had never been using my freezer well enough. And so one of the things I've been doing a lot more now

and that I would recommend families do is when you're serving food up to your kids, try serving smaller portions and going back for seconds and leaving that food somewhere else that you can then freeze if it's not eaten because once it's on the kid's plate and they've messed about with it no one wants to eat that you know so no not even they want to eat it not even they want to eat it sometimes you know when you're like oh can I no no I'm gonna leave that so I always say especially if your kids are going through fussy periods,

smaller amounts of food on the plate. Give them smaller foods and then freeze whatever is not touched and try it again another day. Or eat it again yourself. You know, if it hasn't been touched at all, of course, you can eat it yourself. And if you're having family meals, it makes that concept much easier. And the other thing you can do is, and I love doing this, and I do it with my families, my families.

My family regularly. What do I turn out to? What a scoop. My secret family and my day-to-day family. What we do is we do a, I call it a fridge raid, where I'm like, no idea what to cook, what's in the fridge, and I basically take out. That terrifies me.

That's like that MasterChef round where they have to just go and get stuff. I can't bear that. I'm like what's in the fridge. And I basically take out- Oh, that terrifies me. That's like that MasterChef round where they have to just go and get stuff. I can't bear that. I'm like, oh, the insensitivity. No, no, no, but if you saw it, it's like, here's a bit of grated cheese. It's like, here's some leftover carrot that I can chop up or steam or just grate.

And like, it's basically just bunged. It's like the leftover bit of hummus from the fridge or whatever it is. And I just spread it all out on the table and everyone helps themselves to little bits. Sometimes it's like some leftover pasta from a couple of days ago, pesto pasta from a couple of days ago. Or like whatever there is, I'm just like, what can I bung together? And like for my older son, it might be like some nuts and raisins, not for younger kids. I would do that. Or it might be like peanut butter on a cracker. And I just make a few

of those and I bung them on the table. So it's basically like, what can I scrape together? And it means no cooking. It means we use up the food. It means there's less food waste. And also kids love being given autonomy around what they actually put on their plate. So it can actually really help them to want to eat the food because they're going, oh, hold on a minute. I'm in control here. What's my choice? I can put it on. And my son loves getting up and going and saying to my daughter, what do you want? And then he'll like put the bits on her plate. But it really helps for so many reasons.

So, you know, like I say, food waste, you don't have to cook, you're not wasting your time, everyone gets to sit around the table. It's a much more chilled environment and the autonomy that it gives your kids really, really helps. So I would honestly say about two times a week, we do that kind of fridge raid. And it doesn't have to be just fridge. Like if you haven't got much and you're like, right, I've got some peanut butter, some Marmite,

or some crackers in the fridge, or you've got some Weetabix, you know, whatever you can bung together and put and spread on the table and let them have a little go. And it really, really helps. Sounds really exciting too. I love it. If I was a kid, I'd be like, yeah, fridge raid, let's do it.

And little do they know it's hummus and crackers. Or picnic, lay it on the floor and do it as a little picnic on some days. Or in the garden if you can, if it's sunny enough and you've got a garden. In the garden, all of these things help to add a bit of novelty, which are more likely to get your kids to enjoy it. And especially if you do them really regularly. And honestly, it takes the pressure off you because quite often it is balanced and quite often you'll end up with like, you know, a bit of maybe leftover chicken or,

you know, something that it makes, you know, helps to add to the balance of it, but it just takes the pressure off. And that's so much better than worrying and cooking for two hours over the hob and then thinking, oh, is this going to get eaten and being really stressed? Because the environment that that will create is so much more relaxed and enjoyable for your kids as well as you i think no i agree i used to like pesto yeah because it's just always the leftovers i used to like it and now i'm like it reminds me of goatee though it's great i love like the you know porridge for dinner or um or weetabix or beans on toast or pesto pasta. You need some emergency meals for when you just cannot be bothered. And those are some of my go-to emergency meals too.

Right. We have had a question from a listener from Robin. Hiya, I've just had my first baby, a little girl. I know soon I'll have to start thinking about weaning and I don't even know where to start. What did you do during your first time with this? And do you have any tips for me? Loving the podcast. That's from Robin. So, oh my gosh, so many tips. First of all, it can be really daunting and I know it can be really daunting. And when I was weaning my son, and like I said, I had some challenges when I was weaning him, but I was so shocked by when I was putting out information on Instagram

and parents were coming to me going, oh my gosh, tell me what to do. I don't even know where to start. I'm really nervous. And I just could not believe the overwhelm. And I just also could not believe that it wasn't anything out there. It was like a really detailed guide. Yeah, that's what I struggled with. I was constantly Googling that.

I don't know what mums did. They just learned from their mums, friends and everything else. And there's lots of really great books, but most of them are recipes. So I actually created a book. So my first book was called How to Wean Your Baby. And I genuinely did that with the families in mind who feel like that because the number of DMs, and they didn't want specific questions. They wanted, tell me where to start.

Tell me what to do. And so my How to Wean Your Baby, I had to push it a little bit. But with the publishers, I ended up having a whole section in the middle called The First 30 Days of Weaning. So you've got all the advice in the front of the book. You've got all the recipes in the back. And the middle section is a step-by-step guide for the first 30 days of your weaning journey. And it was one of the biggest projects I've ever done in my life because I had to take into account things like introducing allergens,

offering variety, starting with simple foods. I had to do the cooking for every single thing. So I've done like the practice of how long do you cook broccoli for before you give it to your baby. So timed it multiple times. Oh, the amount of mush that Rubes had to eat. It was disgusting. I was like, I'm so sorry.

That's horrible. But you know, that's all just about getting that flavor on the tongue and getting those tastes because I'm a massive fan of like starting with the veggies. So this book talks you through it step by step, day one, day two, day three. And the reason I did that 30 days was so that my aim is by the end of that, you feel confident with what, how, when to offer your kid, your baby, sorry, foods. And then you can go, boom, got it now, I'm off. And that was exactly why I created that book. So hopefully that helps. But the other things to say is try not to worry about it. The first days are about

little tastes. We're not expecting babies to all go in and gobble them up. They might, but we're not expecting that. We're expecting them to make funny faces, not be that sure. This is so new. So take it slowly, gently, gradually. And the other thing I would say is let your little one see you eating because they will learn how to eat, what to eat, what to enjoy from observation. It makes a huge difference. So those are my main things. But honestly, you know, that is exactly why I wrote the book because of mums who have that question, which there are millions. millions every single mom because i feel like we we sort of had health visitors and everything at the start and it stops and this is a conversation that we have a lot and i've had a lot on this pod since i've been filling in but it's there's that help in the

beginning and then all of a sudden the important bits like feeding them and keeping them alive you're like oh what do i do this on my own do i yeah exactly that's absolutely fine a lot to navigate oh it's a huge amount to navigate charlotte it's been so lovely to speak to you i could talk to you all day about all of this but where can people find you if they want to go and see what you're about where are your books how to feed your family is out now oh it's a beautiful book as well do you know what i love about these books as well they look beautiful in your kitchen. Even if, like me, you are the worst cook in the entire world, people might think that you know what you're doing

when they come round and they see a nice book. Yeah, there are books as well. I've got two others. I've got How to Wean Your Baby, How to Feed Your Toddler, and this is How to Feed Your Family. And they actually are a little set. They are so beautiful together. Yeah, so my books are available, you know, everywhere.

Waterstones, local bookshops, if you want to shop there. Waterstones, WH Smiths, Amazon, you can access them there. And I have a website that lots of people don't actually know about, which has a blog, which has got so much information on about feeding toddlers, fussy eating, weaning your baby, where to start, when to start, loads of recipes. So check that out as well, which is www.srnutrition.co.uk Brilliant So yeah that's middle of the night stuff when you're up

and you're you know feeding your baby and you know that next step is coming for weaning and you can like have a little look

yeah Thank you so much Thank you Charlotte for having me Thanks so so much Thank you Thank you very much for listening to

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