For first-time parents already facing myriad new experiences, the question of when and how to wean their baby can provide further cause for consternation. Under current guidelines, the World Health Organisation recommends breast feeding for the first six months to ensure optimal growth, development and health. However, there is significant support for the idea that the individual needs and development of the baby should play a defining role in determining when solids are introduced.
Once parents have determined that it is the right time to introduce a baby to solid foods, the adventure begins. While weaning techniques and specific ingredients vary across the globe, rice or grain porridge and fruit or vegetable purées are common starting points in many countries.
In China, a rice porridge called xifan is often given to babies before introducing soft, mashed vegetables to the diet, while in South Africa the most frequently puréed foods are sweet potato, butternut squash, pears, apples and guava. It is also common to give babies diluted rooibos (red bush) tea, an ancient, caffeine-free herbal tea that contains high levels of antioxidants and is believed to help relieve stomach cramps and colic in infants.
Caroline Kanaan Kamel is a registered dietitian and nutritionist based at the Advanced Nutrition Centre (ANC) in Dubai's Healthcare City. The mother of one from Lebanon was inspired to start teaching baby-feeding classes after she had her first child and was, because of her professional background, besieged by questions from fellow new mums about what they should be feeding their babies.
During these weekly two-hour sessions, Kamel provides recipes, gives cooking demonstrations, answers questions and advises on all aspects of the weaning process - from when it should begin, to which ingredients should be introduced first and which should be avoided (salt and sugar, for example).
Kamel says that when weaning, sweet potato, carrot, apple and pumpkin purées are an ideal starting point, as are finely mashed bananas and avocados. Making the cooked purées is a simple process: the individual ingredients need to be peeled and chopped before being steamed until soft (to minimise loss of nutrients) and then blended.
"When you first start introducing the baby to ingredients, it is important to do so singularly, as this will allow you to easily identify any allergies and isolate the cause of the problem," she says. "After that, you can begin to combine different flavours." In the early days, Kamel suggests adding a little water to the purées, so that they are very smooth and slightly liquid; as time passes and the baby becomes accustomed to eating, the texture can be left chunkier.
She advises using organic products and recommends the following portion sizes: "When babies are first given solids, they will eat somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon per meal; this should increase to around three-quarters of a cup by the time they are eight or nine months old."
Asia Hildebrand lives in Dubai and started to wean her daughter Layla on to solids at six months old, as per WHO guidelines. "This was also when she really started to develop an interest in food and notice that people around her were eating," she says. Hildebrand and her husband referred to books by Annabel Karmel, the UK's best-selling author on baby and children's food and nutrition, and they used the recipes and weaning calendar in her now classic Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner book. Plain yogurt and puréed apple were both instant hits with Layla.
Kaya Scott, another Briton leaving in Dubai, says that when she started to wean her son Felix, she was surprised at how receptive he was to different flavours and how much he ate. After chatting with friends and family and reading up on the subject - The River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook and books by Gina Ford and Annabel Karmel proved particularly helpful - she began by feeding him "Baby's First Four Grain Porridge" (made from a blend of quinoa, whole-grain millet, rice and amaranth) from the Plum range, as a nutritious alternative to powdered white rice.
"After a few days of porridge, we tried Felix on pear purée and then every couple of days would introduce a new flavour," Scott says, adding that, "although I'm not a rigid 'Gina Ford' mum, I did use her weaning book as a guide - she also recommended alternating between sweet and savoury flavours, so that he wouldn't get a taste for only the sweet stuff. I think this is one of the reasons why Felix loves his food today and isn't fussy."
Anita Ramesh is originally from Malaysia, but has been living in Abu Dhabi for two years. She says that although she did read a number of weaning books before her daughter was born 10 months ago, when it came to introducing Clara to solid foods, she followed her mother's lead. "We started off by giving her really small portions of congee, just as my mother did for my brother and me. Gradually, I began to add various other ingredients to the porridge, such as softly boiled carrots and potatoes or poached chicken pieces," she says.
Similarly, Ganda Nair's son may have been born in Bur Dubai, but his early eating experiences reflect his parents' Indian roots. "When Jacob was about seven or eight months old, we started adding spices to his food. Nothing overly spicy or harsh, just little portions of mashed sweet potato flavoured with cumin and cinnamon or finely puréed lentils with a tiny pinch of coriander."
While the ingredients may vary, the common theme here is that all these parents recognise the importance of preparing food from scratch, rather than relying on pre-made jarred food. Scott says that this was very important to her and her husband. "Some people have laughed at us for being a bit obsessed and making everything ourselves, rather than just heating up the contents of a jar, but we cook a lot anyway and it was actually zero hassle to throw whichever fruit or vegetable we were eating into a steamer and blitz it up."
Kamel's baby-feeding classes are designed to demonstrate just how easy this is. "Purées are incredibly easy to make and provide a great basis. They can be combined in all manner of ways and ingredients can, of course, be added according to personal taste or cultural preferences," she says.
At around the seven-month mark, Kamel recommends introducing babies to proteins such as lentils, chickpeas, rice cereal, millet, salmon and chicken and combining them with different flavoured purées. "Avocado and apple work well together, as do sweet potato and salmon and as the baby starts to eat more, lentils and rice are a good way of adding bulk." She also suggest keeping the fridge well stocked with ripe bananas and avocados, as they can simply be mashed up with a fork to produce instant, nutritious baby food. "Avocado is a great ingredient to feed babies: it contains plenty of healthy fats, is a good source of carbohydrates and can easily be blended to a smooth texture."
As a mother herself, she is realistic about the time constraints facing new parents. "Obviously, it's not feasible to make everything from scratch all the time, but I really do recommend cooking up a batch of different purées once a week and then freezing them individually. That way you've always got options."
For more information about the baby-feeding classes, call Caroline Kanaan Kamel on 04 3622 982. Classes are Dh350 per person
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The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre, V6 twin-turbo
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Price: Dh332,800
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The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
BOSH!'s pantry essentials
Nutritional yeast
This is Firth's pick and an ingredient he says, "gives you an instant cheesy flavour". He advises making your own cream cheese with it or simply using it to whip up a mac and cheese or wholesome lasagne. It's available in organic and specialist grocery stores across the UAE.
Seeds
"We've got a big jar of mixed seeds in our kitchen," Theasby explains. "That's what you use to make a bolognese or pie or salad: just grab a handful of seeds and sprinkle them over the top. It's a really good way to make sure you're getting your omegas."
Umami flavours
"I could say soya sauce, but I'll say all umami-makers and have them in the same batch," says Firth. He suggests having items such as Marmite, balsamic vinegar and other general, dark, umami-tasting products in your cupboard "to make your bolognese a little bit more 'umptious'".
Onions and garlic
"If you've got them, you can cook basically anything from that base," says Theasby. "These ingredients are so prevalent in every world cuisine and if you've got them in your cupboard, then you know you've got the foundation of a really nice meal."
Your grain of choice
Whether rice, quinoa, pasta or buckwheat, Firth advises always having a stock of your favourite grains in the cupboard. "That you, you have an instant meal and all you have to do is just chuck a bit of veg in."
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Race card
4pm Al Bastakiya Listed US$300,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
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5.45pm Burj Nahaar Group 3 $350,000 (D) 1,600m
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6.55pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 $600,000 (D) 2,000m
7.30pm Dubai City Of Gold Group 2 $350,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections:
4pm Zabardast
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5.45pm Kimbear
6.20pm Barney Roy
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Honeymoonish
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Sunday's Super Four matches
Dubai, 3.30pm
India v Pakistan
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
