There's a lot to think about when you're a parent and we all know how difficult it can be to plan healthy meals that everyone from the littlest member to the largest will enjoy. That's where having a good selection of family cookbooks from the likes of Charlotte Stirling-Reed comes in useful. Aim to introduce the new food early in the day – e.g. breakfast time or mid-morning. This allows a few hours to be able to monitor baby and will ensure you’ve got time during the day to look out for a reaction

When it comes to weaning, I’ve found in my work that CONFIDENCE is one of the most KEY things you need as a parent/or carer starting your baby on their journey onto solid foods. Expert nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed is here to help. Following on from her bestselling books How to Wean Your Baby and How to Feed Your Toddler, this book brings Charlotte's trademark approach of practical support and nurturing step-by-step guidance to help you manage the juggle of family life.RELATED: The genius baby weaning sets celebrities swear by When should you introduce more meals to your baby? I think it has almost followed my own stages in life. I was sort of in between weaning Raffy and Ada when the first book came out, so I'd done it myself and kind of got that competence and was going into it a second time. And then with How to Feed Your Toddler, I think Raffy was about three or four and then Ada was just coming up to one and so I had that toddler aspect of the slight food refusal and when all those challenges come up in the toddler years. In this beautiful, full-colour book, expert nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed reveals her renowned method that has helped thousands of parents wean their babies confidently.

I think this is huge. And I think it's something that as a society we really struggle with. I grew up in a generation where everyone was talking about dieting and celebrities were on the front cover if they had a bit of flesh, misplaced or whatever. I think we grew up in a society which was really damaging to self-esteem, to mental health, to our relationship with food and I think it didn't help that at home, there's often quite a lot of pressure. Honey – Honey isn't recommended for babies under one year of age as it can contain a bacteria that could lead to infant botulism – a very rare but serious condition.I’m a huge fan of the “best of both” approach to weaning, where parents/carers offer baby some finger foods ala “Baby Led Weaning”, but also where parents also offer baby foods off of a spoon. Once you've offered a nice variety of single veggie tastes (10 days or so), you can start to move on and build a variety into your little one's diet, nice and gradually. Raw or lightly cooked eggs – make sure eggs are well cooked when offering to baby, UNLESS they are Red Lion Stamped. If they’re red lion stamped, it means the hens have been vaccinated against salmonella, and so they don’t need to be thoroughly cooked for babies. I know all too well that weaning can be a really overwhelming time. It comes at a time when you feel like you’re getting to grips with parenting, new sleep routines and, of course, your new lifestyle with a baby, and then bam! Suddenly you must think about weaning your baby too and offering them totally new foods.

Add the frozen peas then drizzle the lemony cream cheese mixture all over (make sure all the peas are covered in liquid so they cook properly!) Unpasteurised dairy and certain cheeses – These are fine to offer as long as they’re thoroughly cooked. If they’re not cooked, unpasteurised cheeses, as well as mould-ripened soft cheeses (e.g. brie or camembert) and soft blue-veined cheese (e.g roquefort) can contain a bacteria called listeria. Genuinely this is something I’ve dreamed of from the very start of my career and now, voila! It’s here.

Work with Charlotte

Whilst MOST foods are fine to offer your little one when they start weaning, there are a few foods to be aware of, and that are best avoided for babies under one. Whisk together the cream cheese with 200ml boiled water until smooth then squeeze in the juice of half the lemon and cut the other half into two wedges Whole grapes – offer grapes thinly sliced or remove the skin to make them a little easier for little ones to manage.

Food refusal is a normal part of feeding kids and even during weaning, babies will likely have days when they want plenty and other days when they aren’t interested. So much will affect their appetites, including the weather, illness, teething, distractions, growth – you name it.

Hopefully, this article has given you a bit of confidence, and sometimes it takes just reading around the topic a little to help you know the what, why and when of how to begin.