Solid Food Recipes from 5 to 7 months

You should give your baby one new food at a time and wait 3 days before you introduce a new one. Meanwhile watch for any allergic reactions like diarrhea, rash or vomiting. If any of these occurs contact your pediatrician. Mainly you should start with leek, potato, sweet potato, green beans, green peas, eggplant, zucchini, onion and parsley; wait till your baby is 6 months old to start with carrots and spinach.
Steam, boil or bake then purée using a grinding machine. You can preserve them in a glass container for 2 days in the fridge and 1 month in the freezer.

Two weeks after you have introduced solids , start mixing vegetables to give him a highest rate of nutrients in a meal; I would like to give you some suggestions.

These recipes will make about 2 portions:

1. 1 sweet potato, 2 carrots and a handful of green peas.
2. 200g chopped boiled spinach, 2 carrots and 1 pearl onion.
3. 4 carrots, a handful of green beans and a slice of potato.
4. 2 zucchinis and 2 small eggplants.
5. 1 sweet potato, 1 zucchini and 2 carrots.
6. 2 cups green beans, 2 carrots and 1 zucchini.

You can mix any of the allowed vegetables to obtain a perfect healthy meal.

Now 3 weeks after mixing, you can start introducing meat and poultry.
1st week: use 30 g per portion of lean meat while cooking for your baby and discard them before grinding the meal.
2nd week: use 30 g per portion of skinless, boneless, chicken breast and discard them before grinding the prepared meal.
3rd week: You can now start grinding meat and poultry with the vegetables. Serve your baby meat for 2 days and poultry for 2 days.

Recipe suggestions:

1. 200g chopped boiled spinach, a handful of green peas, 2 carrots, 30 g lean meat,1 pearl onion and one small garlic clove (suitable for a 7 months year old baby).
2. 30 g lean meat, 1 small bouquet of parsley, 1 carrot, 1 medium sweet potato and a handful of green peas.
3. 30 g lean meat, 5 carrots, a handful of green peas and 2 zucchinis.
4. 30 g lean meat, 4 zucchinis,  1 pearl onion, 1 small garlic cloves,1 medium carrot.
5. 30 g chicken, 1 bouquet parsley, 4 cups green beans and  1 slice of potato.
6. 30 g chicken, 2 small long eggplants, a handful of green peas and 2 zucchinis.
7. 30 g chicken, 400 g boiled spinach, 1 small garlic clove and 1 sweet potato.

This is a small briefing presented from a mother to you, to help you and encourage you to make your own homemade baby food so you can offer the best for your baby.

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Introducing Solids

The Latest Pediatricians' Recommendations

The Latest Pediatricians' Recommendations About Introducing Solids

My pediatrician informed me during the latest visit, that they held a conference about solid food and they came out with new recommendations that are mainly related to food allergies and acid reflux:

1. Solid food should be started at 5 months.
2. Start with a single vegetable purée such as leek, potato, sweet potato, green beans, green peas, eggplant, zucchini, onion, parsley.
3. Carrots and spinach should be started at 6 months.
4. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and turnip should not be given until the 8th month.
5. Tomatoes and celery should not be given before the baby turns 1 year old.
6. Dried items such as lentils and chickpeas: 18 or 24 months 
7. 120ml is a fair quantity to serve for your baby.
8. Start out with 60 ml.
9. Aromatics herbs are allowed except dried mint.
10. Give cooked pears and apples at 5 months.
11. Ten days after giving cooked fruits, start giving raw fruits.
12. Don't serve any bananas before the 8th month.
13. Don't give them strawberry, kiwi, exotic fruits, cherries, watermelon, melon and grapes.

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Introducing Solids

When should you introduce solids to your baby?

After many readings I decided to simplify this answer in few words to give you all the information you need without you having to read pages and pages to get to your desired answer.

Most of the pediatricians advise the start of solids when the baby is 5 ½ or 6 months:

1. His digestive system isn’t ready until he reaches 6 months
2. By six months of age the intestines are more mature and able to filter out more of the offending allergens. This is why it's particularly important to delay solids if there is a family history of food allergy, and especially to delay the introduction of foods to which other family members are allergic.
3. The tongue and the swallowing mechanisms may not yet be ready to work together. Prior to four months of age, a baby's swallowing mechanism is designed to work with sucking, but not with chewing.

How to start:

1. Only introduce solids at lunchtime to avoid bedtime disturbance, and start between feedings that way your child won’t be starving and will accept new food easily.
2. You should give your baby one new food at a time and wait 4 days before you introduce a new one. Meanwhile watch for any allergic reactions like diarrhea, rash or vomiting. If any of these occurs contact your pediatrician.
3. Remember that your baby may only want a teaspoon at first
4. Don’t force it, if your baby doesn’t want it, try again another day.

*Don’t make mealtimes a performance, with you turning every spoonful into a fast running train or driving airplane. Your baby probably won’t eat anymore and in fact may refuse food just to enjoy the show. When he doesn’t want anymore, just call an end to the meal. ~Sarah, health visitor~ 

(Scattergood, Emma. The first-time parent’s survival guide, ward lock book, UK, 1998)

Please download the UNICEF booklet a start4life. It will help you have a good start of solid introduction (http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/Resources/Resources-for-parents/Weaning---starting-solid-food/)

Good Foods to start with 

(all the following information were taken from the UNICEF booklet a start 4 life)

From 6 months

First foods: mashed or soft cooked sticks of fruit and vegetables like parsnip,

potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple or pear, all cooled before eating.

Or try soft peach or melon, or grabbable bits of soft ripe banana or avocado.

Or baby rice mixed with your baby’s usual milk.

*My pediatrician never advise the use of rice cereal or any other processed food.

Next foods: soft cooked meat such as chicken, mashed fish (check very

carefully for any bones), pasta, noodles, toast, pieces of chapati, lentils, rice

and mashed hard boiled eggs. Also, full fat dairy products such as yoghurt,

fromage frais or custard (choose products with no added sugar or less sugar).

Cow’s milk can be used in cooking or mixed with food from 6 months.

Cups: introduce a cup from around 6 months and offer sips of water with meals.

Using an open cup or a free-flow cup without a valve will help your baby learn

to sip and is better for your baby’s teeth.

From 8-9 months

Gradually, in this time, your baby will move towards eating 3 meals a day.

It will be a mixture of finger foods, mashed and chopped foods.

From 12 months

Your baby will now be eating 3 meals a day, chopped if required, plus mum’s

milk or cow’s milk and healthier snacks like fruit, vegetable sticks or toast and

rice cakes. They can now drink whole cow’s milk and have full fat dairy products.

Choose full fat because children under 2 need the extra fat and vitamins in full

fat dairy products. From 2 years old if they are a good eater and growing well

they can have semi-skimmed milk. From 5 years old, 1% or skimmed milk is ok.

References:

Murkoff, Eisenberg and Hathaway. “What to expect the first year”, Workman Publishing, New York.

Scattergood, Sarah. “The first-time parent’s survival guide”, Ward Lock, UK, 1998

UNICEF, “start4life”booklet, (http://www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/Resources/Resources-for-parents/Weaning---starting-solid-food/)

Homemade baby food: Best Grinding Equipments

How To Be Super Mom promised to help you, step-by-step, make your own homemade baby food.

 

 

To start you have to choose the best tool to grind your food.

Let's go by all the possibilities, shall we?

There are many food grinders available in the market we have a hand-turned food mill, all in one baby food maker, a baby food grinder, a hand blender or a food processor.

Your choice of pureeing equipment depends on your other culinary pursuits.  If you love kitchen work, and cooking is a hobby the food processor will be a good choice for you cause your money won't be wasted but if you just entered your kitchen when you started preparing bottles then a hand-turned food mill is a less expensive choice.

I personally prefer the hand blender. It's easier to clean, it can fit in the sterilizer, and we can blend directly in the clean sterilized pot. This way we won't take the risk of cross-contamination while moving the pureed food from the processor bowl to the pot.

We will post few brands to help you choose 

For those living in the US or in Canada ( linked to Amazon.com):

1. Baby Bullet Complete Baby Care System
2. Cuisinart CSB-76 SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender
3. Kidco Babysteps Electric Food Mill
4. Cuisinart MM-2M Mini Mate Chopper and Grinder
5. The First Years Babypro All In One Baby Food Maker 
6. Cuisinart CSB-77 Smart Stick Hand Blender with Whisk and Chopper Attachments 
7. OXO Good Grips Food Mill 
8. Munchkin Baby Food Grinder 
9. KidCo Food Mill

For those living in Lebanon (linked to Khouryhome.com and Abedtahand.com)

1. BRAUN Hand Blender- MR6550MBCHC
2. PHILIPS Hand Blender- HR1361
3. KENWOOD Hand Blender-  HB605
4. KRUPS Hand Blender- GPA340
5. MOULINEX FOOD PROCESSOR ( FULL SET )MX-FP603141

This is a fair number of electronic and manual devices in the market, but if you are looking for a low cost tool you can always use a fork. 

Choose your tool, and check out the How To Be Super Mom homemade baby food recipes

 

Parenting: Why choose homemade baby food?

Parents have long depended on jarred baby foods for convenient feeding. In the past few years more and more processed food options have entered the children's food market. The big brands have expanded into pre-packaged  toddler meals  and  school lunches  all in the name of helping busy parents who need things to be fast and convenient. Even for those parents with the best effort and intention, there may be times when you just can't make or safely pack your own food.


Preparing homemade food is not as difficult as it seems especially when SuperMom is around to help. Let me, at first, project the benefits of homemade food:

• More nutritious: Homemade food is more nutritious than commercially prepared baby foods because it retains more of the nutrients, especially vitamin A and B. This is because the food is less processed. The jarring process necessitates the use of very high heat under pressure. Much more than you can generate when cooking at home. Unfortunately, many vitamins are destroyed by heat.Some of the baby food on the market has additives and thickening agents including cornstarch, flour, chemically modified starches or  tapioca  (corn syrup, starch). This means your baby is getting less fruits and vegetables and more  filler . Consumers are also getting less nutrition and value for your money

•  No chemicals or preservatives: Your food will not have anything added, that you didn't put there. You're not trying to preserve shelf life or disguise any of the ingredients in your food. Preservatives include partially hydrogenated oils or trans-fats, which are linked to diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

• Less cost

• Better taste: Allow me to put it this way: would you prefer eating microwavable food or fresh homemade casseroles?

Then lets offer the best for our children!

Here are few tips to help you make homemade baby food in no time:

1. Always store glass jars and pouches: keep all the mayonnaise or pickles jars you buy from the store, wash them well and sterilize them (Always choose glass over plastic to prevent chemical reactions with the stored food)
2. 
   Baking/Roasting and Steaming are the preferred methods to use when cooking homemade baby food to maintain most of the nutrients and taste, boiling is the second best method.
3. 
   To reduce preparation time, choose one day a week to prepare the homemade baby food and store them in the freezer.
4. Always make extra jars for emergencies and long trips

Soon we will post a step-by-step instructions on how to prepare baby food at home!

 Add this article to your "how to be super mom" manual