Food Babies Love

New mums can unite in the fact that this whole baby ‘thing’ can be pretty confusing and somewhat stressful. Once you have the milk feeds and sleeping part down pat, they start to roll and crawl and get teeth and, well, grow up. You are soon forced down another unfamiliar path – the introduction of solids. If only there was an easy guide…

Melbourne mum Emily Dupuche has lived through that scenario once (with twins!) and is currently living it again with Baby Number 3. A self-professed foodie who loves her kitchen and loves preparing meals, Emily was surprised by her lack of confidence in what to prepare her then-new twin babies. She quickly learned she was not alone. Pushing through the confusion and self doubt, Emily began earning rave recipe reviews from her fellow mothers’ group mums, their babies and her own pair of mini food testers. She felt she had to share her knowledge and before Emily knew it, her next ‘baby’ was born – Food Babies Love.

“Food Babies Love is a collection of deliciously simple recipes and anecdotes from my family adventures on the journey to solids and beyond,” Emily says. “I created it to share my love of food and encourage other families to cook good, fresh, tasty food for their babies.”

While the introduction of solids is an important stage in a child’s development with parents laying down the foundations for a lifetime of food enjoyment for their kids, Emily acknowledges the challenges new parents face finding time and motivation in the kitchen. The reality is, parents are busy people. While the recipes in Food Babies Love are designed to expose little ones to a wide variety of flavours to help them develop an appreciation for food, for diversity in flavour as well as colour and texture, they are also quick and easy to replicate.

“My recipes are mainly adaptations of family favourites created specifically for little palates, whilst still exposing them to wonderful tastes and food experiences through the use of fresh herbs and gentle spices,” Emily explains.

“I don’t intend to preach and I don’t pretend to know it all. What I do want is to show that baby food needn’t be boring and to help inspire mums when it can all feel a bit like groundhog day in the kitchen.”

Emily has already earned the praise of international baby whisperer and best-selling author Tizzie Hall.

“Food Babies Love is a good, commonsense approach to weaning which I believe makes this stage of parenting even more exciting and enjoyable when used alongside my new book, Save Our Sleep – Feeding,” Tizzie says. “Emily’s book compliments my feeding advice because of our similar approaches of teaching baby to enjoy family meals sooner rather than later.

“Research shows the more tastes a baby has before their first birthday the larger variety of food this baby will go on to eat throughout their childhood and right into adulthood. Emily’s book will definitely help you achieve this.”

Food Babies Love takes readers on a journey from preparing themselves and their kitchens for the onslaught of baby food preparation, to easy recipes and hints covering ‘The first few weeks’, ‘The next few months’, ‘No looking back’ and ‘12 months plus’. There are recipes for interesting breakfasts, lunches and dinner options, baby baking, snacks and even drinks.

“I believe parents have a duty to their children to educate them and ensure they have a positive relationship with food,” Emily says. “Kids need an understanding of good food, to know when enough is enough and to appreciate diversity in food. Do I always get it right? No. Are my kids perfect eaters? No.But they are happy and healthy and ultimately eat a well-balanced diet.”

Food Babies Love is the perfect addition to any family kitchen and is also a beautiful,practical gift for a new mum. At 188 pages, the book features stunning food stylingby Mish Lilley and photography by Guy Lavoipierre. And as a special thankyou gift,Emily is including two popular My Family character stickers with the first 250online purchases. Choose between the newly released (and perfectly suited!)Cooking Mum or Dad character stickers as well as a Baby Girl or Boy.

Food Babies Love is available for sale at www.foodbabieslove.com.au for $34.95.

For more recipes and other hints and tips, follow Food Babies Love on Facebookat www.facebook.com/foodbabieslove

(Please note: recipes, high-res images and review and giveaway copies are all available to selected media)