LowproteinLIVING

Stage 2 - Moving On
(around 6-9 months)

Lumpy Food

As your baby becomes used to taking solids from a spoon and the amounts taken increase, this is the time to encourage chewing by giving lumpier foods. Soft minced and mashed foods are suitable at this stage. Also soft finger foods can be introduced for chewing practice! e.g. parboiled carrot sticks and slices of peeled ripe pear.

Some babies take a while to get used to lumps. Don’t worry. Keep trying. If your baby ’gags’ then try making lumps a little smaller.

At this stage a supportive chair with a tray is essential to allow your baby to start learning to feed themselves.

Introducing the Phenylalanine Exchanges

Up until now, all foods offered have been free foods containing little or no phenylalanine. These free foods have helped your baby get used to new tastes and textures without affecting blood phenylalanine control.

Usually, as babies fill up on solid food they will want to drink less. Until now, infant formula or breast milk has provided all the daily phenylalanine requirements. As babies drink less of these and fill up on solids, phenylalanine from breast milk or infant formula needs to be replaced by phenylalanine from solid foods.

An exchange is an amount of food which provides 50mg of phenylalanine or 1g of protein. By swapping phenylalanine from infant formula or breast milk for phenylalanine from food, you are not altering the total amount of phenylalanine provided each day, and this should not affect your baby’s blood phenylalanine levels.

Start by swapping 1⁄2 - 1 exchange of infant formula (approx 30-60mls#) for 1⁄2 - 1 of the food exchanges listed under suitable first exchanges.

amount of infant formula equal to one Phe exchange will differ depending on the brand. Please check this with your dietitian

If you are breast-feeding offer one exchange before offering breast milk, and your baby should naturally take less breast milk.

Baby rice is a good first exchange to start on, as it is smooth and bland. Baby rice can be mixed with free fruit or vegetable puree to make a more substantial meal.

Suitable first exchanges

Each of the following are equivalent to one Phe exchange. Initially you may want to offer just half an exchange.

Important: Children must always be supervised while eating to prevent the risk of choking

Ready prepared jars of baby food and dried baby foods can also be used as food exchanges at this stage*.

Gradually increase the number of exchanges taken as solid foods while decreasing the amount of infant formula or breast milk taken. Eventually solid food exchanges will replace all standard infant formula or breast milk in the diet

Sticky Fingers!

At this stage your baby will be really interested in new things and it is important to expand the variety of free foods offered. Try offering soft finger foods such as cubes of melon or strawberries. Suitable specially manufactured low protein foods can also be used freely to add variety to the diet e.g. low protein bread can be used to make fingers of toast and spread with butter or margarine.

And remember to let them get stuck in, hold the spoon for themselves, and make a mess! Children learn about food by touching, feeling and smelling as well as by tasting and eating. This is important to help them learn to feed by themselves.

Cheers!!

A drinking beaker can be introduced from 6 months of age for giving the phenylalanine free protein substitute and other free drinks*.

This encourages progression from immature suckling of liquids to grown-up drinking.

+ Ask your dietitian about suitable Low Prtotein milk substitutes

* Refer to NSPKU handbook or your dietition for suitable brands.

Stage 3 - Growing Up Fast