Making baby’s food at home
Between 4 to 6 months, your baby will be ready to diversify his diet. And what a source of pride for you to prepare your own vegetable purées and fruit compotes for baby…
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Of course, time is sometimes a bit short but if you invest in a some electrical blending or cooking help and learn some of the basics, then you can thrill your baby’s taste buds while ensuring that his first foods are 100% healthy and safe.
There’s no need to spend hours in the kitchen and a baby blender will allow you to fix balanced meals for your baby in around 15 minutes. Thanks to their multi-functionality, the combined models can thaw, steam, purée and reheat baby’s meals. Here’s hoping that this will be incentive enough to get you back into the kitchen!
A good blender/steamer will help you win time and reduce effort. The plus point with the combined models is that they are ‘set and forget’ – they turn themselves off, so you don’t risk burnt pans if you’ve become busy with something else and forgotten about the kitchen. If you don’t want to go for the combined steamer/blender, which is more costly, you can buy a hand-held blender set that will do the blending trick for half the price.
- BEABA BabyCook steamer and blender gypsy - £89.95
- Philips Avent combined steamer and blender - £79.99
- Kenwood Wizard hand blender with chopping bowl - £29.99
- Breville hand blender set - £26.99
- (all available through Amazon.co.uk)
Adapted, tasty food for baby
The awakening of your baby’s sense of taste is progressive, which is why you shouldn’t cook his food according to your own tastes. In general, a baby will eat food that is much less salty or sweet than an adult. You may well find his vegetable purée bland, but he’ll no doubt be enjoying it, especially if you’ve made it with TLC!
Between 4-6 months, your baby’s digestive system is still fragile so solids and new foods should be introduced gradually to avoid all risk of allergies. To do this, introduce only one new food at a time, preparing purées of one single vegetable to begin with. Once you know that each newly introduced food is safe for baby, you can then start combining.
Certain foods should be avoided before the age of 1, such as:
- ‘Hairy fruits’ such as strawberries and raspberries
- Exotic fruits such as kiwis and mangoes
- Eggs
- Shellfish
- Peanuts
If you have even the least doubt about a possible reaction to a particular food, don’t hesitate to speak to your local GP or paediatrician. See Tips for food preparation and safety, Preventing food allergies in babies
Storing baby’s food
If you’re making baby’s food at home, you can cook double or triple the amount and then freeze the rest for later use. Take care to let the food cool down first, before popping it in the freezer.
You should know that vegetable purées and fruit compotes can only be kept in the fridge for 24 hours, but much longer in the freezer – from 3-12 months, depending on the ingredients. And finally, don’t forget that any thawed food should be consumed with 24 hours.
You can also get baby active in the food preparation, showing him what you are doing and letting him get his hands on the vegetables. This will become part of his education aimed at forging a good relationship with healthy, natural (and delicious) food for the years to come. And won’t that be rewarding for you?
Here's three recipes to get you started:
Copyright © 2010 Doctissimo
Posted 27.07.2011
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