Every now and then there comes along a baby weaning idea that makes you ask, “why on earth hasn’t this been done before?” The new Holle Organic Baby Weaning Oil is one such idea. Read on to find out why this unique weaning supplement will change how you think about weaning your baby.

When a young baby is fed exclusively on either breast milk or a baby milk formula, concerned mums and dads can be assured their precious baby is getting all the nutrients necessary to thrive. But when weaning starts and the amount of nutrients taken in through milk decreases, there can be a period when your baby’s body doesn’t get all the energy and other vital nutrients needed for optimum growth and development. This is where the Holle organic weaning oil comes in. With this unique oil you can supplement your baby’s diet through the transition to family meals and replace some of the very specific nutritional benefits of breast milk and baby milks lost during this process.

Providing Your Baby with a Balanced Weaning Diet

Other supplements start from the premise of isolating and then artificially producing specific nutrients found in a given food. These artificial nutrients are then added by some manufacturers to their baby foods – giving you no real choice. Holle, on the other hand, takes a more natural and holistic approach. Holle rightly recognises that individual nutrient chemicals cannot simply be removed from the foods in which they occur and still retain the same overall nutritional effects. The baby weaning oil concept, therefore, provides a special blend of organic oils, an actual foodstuff, which allows you to supplement your baby’s diet with much needed nutrients while still using the full nutritional value of their sources – three very nutritionally valuable plant oils. And you remain in control of your baby’s diet.

From the age when your baby is ready for solid foods, organic baby weaning oil becomes an important part of a balanced diet. It is an excellent source of energy; the essential fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6; and other nutrients. This is why Holle recommends adding 1-2 teaspoons of baby weaning oil to milk-free meals such vegetable, potato and meat based meals as well as porridges made with water. Holle also recommends adding the weaning oil to its porridges and jars.

A Uniquely Natural Blend to Help Your Baby Thrive

The mixture of high quality rape and sunflower oils in the Holle baby weaning oil results in an ideal ratio for infants of the essential fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6. Essential fats, and the other fats they are converted to in the body, have a wide range of functions in humans. They are vital for the structure of cell membranes making them flexible and able to allow nutrients into, and toxins out of, cells so body processes can function correctly. They also play a role in cardiovascular health, immunity, and nervous – system functions. The omega oils are especially important for a developing baby’s brain and nervous system.

As well as rape and sunflower, the weaning oil also contains 5% hemp seed oil. Hemp seed oil is not only rich in polyunsaturates, it is almost unique in nature in that it contains a special fatty acid called gamma linolenic acid. One of the few other foods in which gamma linolenic acid is also to be found is breast milk and it is especially important for the skin, providing your baby with an effective protective barrier. Gamma linolenic acid also has an anti-inflammatory effect and it is especially helpful for children with eczema as they don’t have the necessary enzyme that changes other fatty acids into gamma linolenic acid.

Pure, Organic and Cold Pressed – A Recipe for Success

Here are a few more details about each of the oils used by Holle, and why they were specifically chosen for their baby weaning oil:

Rapeseed Oil (Certified biodynamic/Demeter)

Rapeseed oil is produced by pressing rape seeds. Over 90% of rapeseed oil is made up of polyunsaturates and therefore contains more than most other oils. Additionally, rapeseed oil contains lots of vitamin E and carotenoids. Nutritionally, rapeseed is a very valuable oil.

Sunflower Oil (Certified biodynamic/Demeter)

This vegetable oil, with its light yellow colour and its mild taste, is made from pressing the seeds of the sunflower and is very suitable for a developing child’s diet. Sunflower oil contains lots of vitamin E and is specially selected for the weaning oil as it produces an ideal, baby friendly ratio of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids when combined with rapeseed oil.

Hemp Oil (Certified biodynamic/Demeter)

Because of the gentle cold pressing process used in producing the Holle baby weaning oil, all the precious, essential fatty acids and the naturally nutty taste of the oil are preserved. One special component of hemp oil is the rare gamma linolenic acid, making it unique amongst edible oils. Hemp oil, which is made from the pressing of hemp seeds, is guaranteed to be free from the potentially intoxicating effects present in chemicals found elsewhere in the seed’s structure and poses no health risk, in fact just the reverse.

By the way, it is extremely unusual to get all three of these oils in certified biodynamic, or Demeter, quality. Biodynamic produce is the highest form of organic and it is partly because Holle have insisted its weaning oil is of such high quality that it has taken over two years to research, develop and bring it on to the market.

Premium Quality Organic oils –
Because Only the Best Is Good Enough for Your Baby

Holle recommends adding only cold pressed and non-refined oils to your baby’s meals, for several very good reasons:

• In the warm pressing process, seeds are heated up before they are pressed, so as to extract as much oil as possible from them. This heat however, destroys valuable nutrients.
• With conventionally grown, that is, non-organic seeds, refining is necessary to clean the oil. This way any residues of pesticides or solvents are largely eliminated – but so too are many vital nutrients.

Cold pressing on the other hand, is a much more gentle process with less oil yield but with a far higher oil quality. Important nutrients are preserved by cold pressing the seeds. Only oils that are cold pressed and without further refinement can be declared as cold pressed on a food’s label.

With the Holle organic baby weaning oil, the risk of pesticide residues that are found in other, non-organic, oils are fully eliminated. This is guaranteed through organically farming the raw seeds and the consequent strict pollutant controls that are in place.

The use of cold pressed and non-refined oils for preparing your baby’s food is, therefore, completely safe. In fact, through cold pressing, more vitamins and other nutrients, natural colours and the natural taste of the oils are preserved.

How to Use the Holle Baby Weaning Oil

I have written in some detail about the weaning oil and I hope you will see why I think this is such an exciting development in how we think about weaning our little babies. Part of the beauty of the oil is that it doesn’t require you to greatly change what you are doing now or have done before when introducing solids to your baby.

Simply stir one to two teaspoonfuls of the oil into your baby’s existing meals and you are already helping to give him or her that extra nutritional boost during this time of enormous change and development. And all completely naturally.

To ensure your baby gets the optimum nutrients Holle recommends the following amounts to be added to each 200g of food:

• Vegetable or vegetable and meat based meals: 2 tsp;
• Fruit based meals: 1 tsp;
• Milk-free porridge meals: 1 tsp.

The weaning oil can, of course, be used with your own homemade weaning recipes as well as with Holle’s own ranges of milk free baby porridges and their fruit jars, vegetable jars and meat based jars. And if you are just starting out on the weaning journey with your baby and are preparing much smaller amounts, simply adjust the amount of oil you stir in proportionately. Experience shows me that one bottle of 250ml goes a long way.

Premium Quality at Everyday Prices

Holle has managed to keep the price of its weaning oil down at a very low level, meaning we can sell it for just £4.50 per bottle. I find this especially surprising in view of the lower yield involved in cold pressing the seeds and the oil’s unique biodynamic quality. When I asked Holle, they were clear about their reasoning to keep the oil at such a low price level. Because this supplement is for use at a time when most babies are vulnerable to missing out on vital nutrients, Holle took the decision not to make their oil an exclusive product. By pricing the weaning oil low, all babies are able to benefit from its nutritional qualities.

So, as your precious baby begins the transition from an all milk diet to joining in with your family meals, make sure he or she doesn’t miss out nutritionally. The Holle organic baby weaning oil is a natural supplement that will ensure your baby gets all the energy and other vital nutrients needed for optimum growth and development. Your baby will positively thrive.