Adapting Family Favourite Meals to non-Wheat & Egg Diets

Recently I've started feeding my 13 month old son some of our family meals. Why it has taken me a while to introduce him to our family meals is that he has a wheat & egg allergy.  When he eats anything containing those ingredients his face and body will swell up in hives. We've seen it happen a few times and it's really not pleasant for any of us, which has made me very conscious of what he eats. Up until now it's been fine giving him his own special "mush" but as he is getting older he is becoming more aware of what everyone else is eating around him. I don't like to make him feel that he can't eat what mummy & daddy eat so I've had to learn to adapt our family meals to his needs. 

One of our family favourites is Mexican. Simply prepare it by melting cheese over the corn chips (make sure they are 'original' just the basic corn, oil and salt- flavoured corn chips may contain wheat products) in the oven/ mircowave and serve with mashed avocado, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and Mexican sauce (this is optional depending on the child, but feel free to add it to your own, they'll hardly notice that you have it & they don't when they start munching on the corn chips). 

Another meal that is becoming a family favourite is Pad Thai. It uses rice noodles, and the paste from the jar I used didn't contain any wheat product (which was found in the Asian grocer). Just take caution when buying the paste, the one I got from Coles was very spicy, so it's not one I'd give to my son because it was too hot even for me to eat. Luckily my husband can handle the heat & he had 3 meals worth all to himself. I made the Pad Thai as instructed on the jar & just took my sons portion out before adding the egg to the rest for us. He loved eating the bean sprouts (to my surprise) and it's an easy meal to let them eat at the own pace off their tray. I love giving him independence especially at meal times. It gives me a chance to sit back and enjoy my meal too. 

Bean Sprouts!!

When I prepare meals with pre-made sauces or pastes I do a quick scan of the ingredients list & especially look out for thickeners no. 1400 - 1450 (they may be derived from wheat, unless otherwise stated). I have noticed that some foods containing 1422 is from modified maize starch so it's been fine for my son. I've seen this in  yoghurt and Indian curry sauce from the jar. 

Adapting family favourites to children with special dietary needs take practise & some research. Just be confident in yourself and have fun in the process. It's a very rewarding feeling to know that you're providing your family with delicious food. It may take a little while to get use to adapting meals but with a little creativity and practise you'll be able to whiz up meals for the whole family in no time. Good bye to the days when you had to cook separate meals for each child. 

Here are my quick tips:

1. Be aware of ingredients that contain wheat & eggs (eg. thickeners, malt etc...)
2. Do a quick check over the ingredient lists.
3. Use alternatives, such as rice, corn, potato, oats etc.
4. Take out a portion of cooked vegetables and/or meats before adding sauces or pastes that contain wheat/egg products.

The Beginnings of a Toddler

My son is almost 14 months old and he is definitely growing out of that cute "baby" phase and moving on into "toddlerhood". He is a very active little boy & doesn't stop moving climbing up and down and playing with his toys or the odd shoe left in the living room. It has been a joy watching him grow and develop over the last year and especially in the last few months. His understanding of words just amazes me. Just the other day I asked him to bring me a white bag that was left in the middle of the room, it's like he knew exactly what I said and he walked over to the bag with no hesitation, picked it up and walked back to me and put it in my hand. And what's even more amazing he is beginning to talk. I was sitting at my computer one time & he walked over to me and handed me a book and said "read". I then asked him to sit down which he did immediately and I sat next to him and began to read him his book. When did he learn to do this? It just stunned me & I've just realised I need to try and keep up with his developments. On the flip side I've noticed an increase in what seems to be the start of tantrums and I can see it happens when he tries to communicate with his babbling and pointing but I'm unable to understand what he really wants and he walks away in frustration.

Recently I've read in a parenting magazine about baby signing and research has shown that it can accelerate a child's acquisition of speech and signing can reduce the frustration often experienced in pre-verbal children which is a major contributor of toddler tantrums. So I think it's time to learn about baby signing and hopefully  we'll be able to communicate with each other and have less of the toddler tantrums. Stay tuned and I'll let you know how it goes.