Weaning Ideas
May 14, 2009 by Hommah K
Published in Motherhood
A few ideas for baby food.
When your baby starts taking interest in your food, it’s one of the signs that the li’l angel is ready to try some solid food now. With excitement comes a fear of what to feed him. You have been cooking for yourself for ages, but, in this one thing you are still a novice. Some accomplish the impossible task effortlessly, while, some keep struggling. Even those who sail through in the beginning, get stuck, now and then, and, a few basic weaning ideas can help us go that extra mile. It’s trial and error really but, with your lil friend, you can’t take many chances.
My baby is now almost 8 months now and I started weaning her at 4 months. She is doing great. I just thought I will share some ideas I followed, that were totally risk free.
We are all aware that babies should not be started on salt and sugar immediately. A micro pinch of salt is enough for a jar of food that would make up the baby’s meal for four times. When it comes to spices, we can’t add many as baby might not have the tolerance level as yet. The food might seem bland but, hey… they haven’t developed a taste for anything yet. All they have had is milk. So, switching to solids is a great tickler of the taste buds in itself. Although there are some that you can add for e.g. Herbs that don’t have anything mixed in them and are easy on the stomach like thyme, basil and oregano. Turmeric is supposed to have great healing ability and it is good for the digestive system so why not. Sauces should be avoided. In fact, anything that is a combination of many ingredients is a risk.
Here are some ideas about different things you can combine to make good tasting baby food. The basic thing is, either boil it all together and blend it, or, stir fry in a lil bit of olive oil with onion and then boil and blend. If you and your partner are allergic to any food ingredient, then take care and stall it for now. You never know, your baby might have the same allergic reaction as you and it’s not worth taking a chance. Here goes the list of combinations that have been tried and tested by me.
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May 16th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Sadly I don’t agree with your article,babies should not have salt or sugar at all, especially salt in their first year.A micro pinch of salt is not needed,and should never be added to baby food. The introduction of meat should be taken slowly and baby’s food should not be fried at all.
May 17th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Thanks Clarabee for ur comment. It certainly highlights a point I haven’t voiced strongly in the article. I did mention salt shouldn’t be started “immediately” but havent elaborated on the time span. Yes Clara I igree with u and by immediately I do mean till 1 year. So my bad. The other things I do stand by. Meat has a lot of Protein and adding it to another main ingredient definitely adds to the nutritional value, not to mention the taste. After 6 months a little meat now and then as one of the side ingredients in any recipe is a good addition. As for frying. Stirfrying in a drop of olive oil isn’t exactly frying, But it definitely makes it more interesting for babies. All babies are different though, it’s not a hard and fast rule. They are just ideas and every mom knows what to do and what not to do. Thanks for reading the article and posting a very important comment
June 29th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
That was a fantastic assortment of foods to feed your child. My doctor would have a fit if I would have chosen to feed them anything before 6 months, except for Baby cereal.
You have a great menu set up there.