food questions

**em1984** · 01-10-2009 08:40

Hi all

just have a couple of questions.

Is there a limit on the amount of tuna I should be giving noah? He really loves it and at the moment I'm giving him about 4 of those little tins each week, sometimes more sometimes less. I dont eat fish so I dont know much about mercury levels etc so just want to make sure I'm not giving him too much.

We started on eggs the other day and noah LOVES them

does anyone have a good fritatta recipe that is pretty basic like just eggs and veggies? He cant have any grains apart from corn so preferably something that doesnt have these in it (i dont think fritatta has this anyway but just thought id check). Or any other recipes with eggs/meat/veg that I could try out.

also is it ok for him to be having 2-3 bananas a day?! He absolutely loves them and they are a great finger food for him so I tend to give him one or two at breaky (yes he eats it all!) or one for breaky and one after lunch and sometimes one after dinner at night. Some days he doesnt have any so hes not having this much everyday, but he is most days. He eats other fruits too but seems to prefer banana, even over mango and strawberries! (doesnt take after his mum)

and one more

does anyone have any ideas on how to get him to deter him from blowing rasberries when eating. He ends up splatterting food all over the place and it seems to have become a bit of a game. He did it a while ago for a few weeks then stopped for ages and in the last week has started doing it again. We cant figure out why hes doing it. We've thought maybe he doesnt like what he is eating or that he prefers to feed himself? not sure but its driving me nuts!

Cheers

**Zalia** · 01-10-2009 09:01

lol just a couple of questions!

um no idea about tuna - DD won't touch it

We have our own chickens so i'm always looking for creative ways to eat eggs. The easiest and best thing for bub I've found is more like an omelet than a fritatta tho. I grate up some zuchini & carrot - or anything else I feel like putting in. Fry the vegies first to soften them and get some juices out so it doens't fall apart. Then I mix it up in a bowl with an egg & dash of milk and fry it in a small pan. You can add tomato sauce or cheese if you need to hide the vegies better - I need to if i'm trying to use broccoli. DD loves em. I also make savory pancakes with vegies etc but they have flour.

re rasberries - If its a game try ignoring it and he should get over it. DD started and got a laugh the 1st few times so did it for attention. Even when I tell her no its still attention so I tried ignoring and she stopped. When shes full she spits out the last mouthful tho, i don't know what to do about that.

and that sounds like a lot of bananas! could give him a tummy ache or make him constipated but if he seems ok with it then i don't see why not. I wish DD ate that much, she's so fussy.

**em1984** · 01-10-2009 09:19

haha thanks zalia, i know I realised after i wrote it that it was a bit more than a couple

I made him an omlette yesterday and he loved it, I just thought a fritatta would be good as I could possibly freeze it in little portions ready to go? Not sure though.... Thats is a good idea to grate veggies into omlette though, would be a good dinner alternative to meat and veg! Thanks for taking the time to reply

**CheekyChicken** · 01-10-2009 09:24

There is no danger of mercury in canned tuna- the fish is caught and canned when it is young and small so has not yet accumulated high mercury levels. The info I am going on is for adults though so I am unsure if it is transferable to young children.

My frittata recipe does have flour, it is just 2-3 eggs, a couple of cups of grated veges (carrot, zucchini, mushroom, capsicum, spinach, spring onion etc are all good), cheese and self raising flour. I am sure for binding purposes you could use corn flour or perhaps potato flour will work. You can also cook the frittata in mini muffin pans for finger food sized serves. I love putting half a cherry tomato on top of each serve and it goes all caramelised and delicious after being baked.

**em1984** · 01-10-2009 11:55

thanks for that cheeky chicken thats awesome! I might give that recipe a go with corn flour and see how we go.....just thought of another question, are mushrooms ok for a bub? he will be 11 months on the 7th, I have gone to cook some up for him before but for some reason decided not to as I wasnt sure they'd be ok?
As you can tell I'm fairly paranoid when it comes to food...

**kuddles** · 01-10-2009 13:06

Hi Em,
My best friend used to give her little one heaps of banana. It ended up being really bad for him. He is now intolerant to fructose. If he starts getting bloated, poo stools aren't soft but runny or red cheeks I'd make sure I cut the consumption back. Each child is different though. It is so nice to hear of such a healthy LO
How old is your little one?
The recipe Cheeky chicken sounds like the one we use. We also include really finely diced chicken or bacon into ours. =)

**em1984** · 01-10-2009 13:32

hey kuddles, thanks for that. He is 11 months on the 7th. Thats a good idea to put some meat in too! hmm thinking i might try and cut down a little on the bananas, dont need anymore allergies here. He does get red cheeks a bit but I've always put it down to teeth.

I just thought of another question and I'm probably going to sound a bit dumb but are lentils considered a grain?? I thought these would be good to add to some of his meals but I'm unsure as he cant have any grains?

**Zalia** · 01-10-2009 13:43

No i'm pretty sure lentils are a legume not a grain and should be fine. Google should be able to confirm.

**Opinionated** · 01-10-2009 13:55

Tuna can have heavy metals like mercury in them. The buildup of heavy metals is cumulative, so the bigger the fish, the more the likelihood of containing heavy metals. This is the reason swordfish and marlin should be limited in pregnancy. I am not sure though if tinned tuna in Australia has heavy metals. Cheeky Chicken may be correct.

However, smaller fish have other benefits besides the lack of heavy metals. Salmon and sardines are higher in the desired fatty acids (omega 3) than tuna.

We eat tuna once a week, salmon twice and sardines twice. We are big fish eaters.

1 banana is more than enough per day. Everything in moderation.

Blowing raspberries was only fixed with time in my house.

**em1984** · 01-10-2009 14:09

thanks opinionated thats great. I was thinking about trying some salmon, do you use the cans or fresh or both? Coz at the moment I'm using tuna cans but I would like to get some fresh fish, but because I dont eat it I have no idea what to do with it! My aunty also suggested flathead tails? and just steam them? sorry i know i sound so clueless, I actually love cooking and food

Its just a bit harder when your dealing with allergies and things I dont normally eat myself. I'm just finding myself doing the same things for him all the time so want to try and come up with some new ideas and flavours...