Portion sizes and how much to give

Oh my, have we tailored and adapted this over the years!

From our experience and years of feedback from parents, we have found that most babies when they first start weaning, are happy with 40-60g of food per meal. For this reason, we are producing our meals in a convenient 120g portion that would be suitable for the initial weaning period, as well as thereafter. We would suggest that you split our 120g tub into 2 x 60g portions during one day (brekkie and lunch OR lunch and dinner). If you find 60g is still too much, try doing it in 3 x 40g portions per day. (brekkie, lunch and dinner).

After 2-3 weeks of foodie introduction, bigger eaters will finish a 120g tub and smaller eaters will still eat up to 60g (one tub split in two). If you want to get a bit more adventurous with the meals for the smaller eaters, instead of only splitting the one meal and giving the same option during the day, you can split two different meals. Thus giving different options during the day. The rest of the meals leftover in our containers should be placed back in the freezer and can be used another day.

Please keep in mind that milk feeds, especially in the evening before they go to bed, should not be given straight after any meal. Wait for at least an hour and plan your meals accordingly so your baby has ample time to digest their food.

How to split our tubs

Take a tub out of the freezer and leave it outside for a few minutes. Gently squeeze the meal inside by moving your hands around the tub – while it is still closed and sealed. When you open the meal, you’ll see that it has loosened from the edges (you can pop the entire meal out). Take a clean knife and cut the slightly defrosted meal in two. Lift the one part out and place it in a bowl to heat it in the microwave. Alternatively, heat it in a small pot on the stovetop. The other half of the frozen meal left in our tub, you can safely put back in the freezer.

Doing it this way has a few benefits: You don’t run the risk of contaminating the meal. You don’t have to heat the entire meal. You can be flexible and split various meals for different options during the day.

You can however also heat the entire meal in one go. After it’s heated, split it in two by scooping some out in a different bowl and feed that to your baby. Cool the leftover meal, close it and keep it in the fridge for the next meal. You may re-heat this meal when you give it to your baby later in the same day.

Doing it this way, please keep the following in mind: Do not feed your baby from the same tub and then put the leftovers in the fridge. The meal will be contaminated. You need to split it before giving it to your baby. Do not re-freeze the pre-heated meal left in the fridge when you see that your baby doesn’t have an appetite later in the day. You will then need to discard the meal.

Our advice would always be to follow your baby and see how much they want to eat. Never force-feed, always create a positive association at mealtimes and remember that you can rather give smaller, more frequent meals than feeding your baby too much at a time and making them feel uncomfortable.

Umatie Love x