Knowing when your baby is ready to start solid foods
At Addison’s four-month wellness check-up, our pediatrician
asked if Addison seemed ready to start eating solid foods. The telltale signs
for determining if your baby is ready for solid food include if your baby can hold
his/her head up and control head movements, sit-up with support, seems
unsatisfied after milk feedings or is starting to demand more frequent milk
feeds, starts putting things in his/her mouth, seems interested in what you are
eating during mealtime, and starts waking up in the middle of the night as a
result of hunger having slept well previously. Not all of these signs need to occur, but many should. Babies typically start eating
solid foods between 4-6 months, but the large majority of a baby’s nutrition
for the first full year should come from the nutrients in breast milk or
formula. The purpose of introducing
solid foods is mainly so babies become familiar with different food tastes and
textures as a building block for when solid food constitutes most of their diet
after they are a year old. 
Making Your Own Baby Food
Addison seemed ready to begin solid foods at five-months,
and our pediatrician said that she should try three different foods by her
six-month wellness check-up. I
have always known I would make my own baby food, because I love to cook, and I
love to know exactly what’s in the food I eat and the food I serve my family
and friends. It’s also much
cheaper to make your own baby food compared with buying premade food in a
store. Making baby food is easy, and
I already owned all of the necessary tools.
To make baby food all you need are some good wholesome
ingredients, a steaming basket, a pot with a lid that fits the steaming basket,
and a food processor or blender.
Since most baby food recipes make more than your baby will eat in the
two days it will keep in your refrigerator, it is a good idea to freeze what’s
leftover so you can pull it out and have fresh food for your baby on a day when
you don’t have time to make it. I
try to avoid using plastic containers for food storage because of the chemicals
contained in plastic material. I
looked everywhere for one-ounce covered portion containers not made out of
plastic that I could freeze leftover food in. I couldn’t find any, so I decided
to use a plastic covered ice cube tray (which makes one ounce portions) to
freeze the food, and then once frozen, I pop the individual portions out of the
freezer tray and store the food portions in eight ounce glass food storage
containers (like Pyrex) labeled with the type of food and the date it was
frozen (in general, frozen baby food should be consumed within one month of
freezing it). To de-thaw the food
for your baby, just take however much food you want to serve your baby out of
the freezer, and de-thaw it in your refrigerator over night. The benefit of freezing food in one
ounce portions is that you can feed your baby a little bit of a few different
foods to diversify the different foods that your baby gets at one meal. Also, less food gets wasted if portions
are frozen individually.
When you serve your baby a new food for the first time, it
is a good idea to serve that food to baby exclusively for three days in a row.
That way, if your child has an allergic reaction to the food, he or she will
have eaten it in isolation, so you know exactly what food caused the allergic
reaction.
Recommended First Foods (6-7 months)
Vegetables (steamed or
baked): beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, fennel, parsnip,
peas, potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, rutabaga, squash, spinach and zucchini
Fruits (steamed or
baked): apple, apricot, berries, pitted cherries, pear and plum
Fruits (raw but soft
or very ripe): apricot, guava, mango, banana, avocado, fig, melon,
nectarine, papaya, peach, persimmon and plum
Other: whole grain
rice cereal, oatmeal, millet and barley
Fluids: breast
milk, formula, water
(Information taken from The
Top 100 Baby Food Recipes by Christine Bailey published in 2011 by Sterling
Publishing Company NY, NY)
Baby Food Recipes
Sweet Carrot Puree
What you need:
5 medium size organic carrots washed, peeled and sliced into
even-sized pieces.
What you do:
Steam the carrots in a steamer basket in a pot with a lid
with one inch of water in it for 10 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Put the steamed carrots in a blender or
food processor and puree until smooth.
Before serving, add breast milk or formula to desired consistency.
Baked Butternut Squash or Pumpkin Puree
What you need:
1 small butternut squash or pumpkin cut in half length-wise.
What you do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop seeds out of squash or pumpkin with a spoon and put
cut-side down on a baking sheet. Pour enough water in the baking sheet to come
¼ inch up the side of the squash or pumpkin (this will add a “steaming” effect
when baking). Bake squash or
pumpkin until tender when pierced with a fork (45-60 minutes). Remove squash or pumpkin from oven and
let cool slightly. Scoop out flesh from inside of squash or pumpkin into a
blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Before serving, add breast milk or formula to desired
consistency.
Pear or Apple Cinnamon Puree
What you need:
3 organic pears or apples peeled, quartered and evenly
chopped
Dash of ground cinnamon
What you do:
Steam the apples or pears in a steamer basket in a pot with
a lid with one inch of water in it for 8-10 minutes or until the apples or
pears are tender. Put the steamed
apples or pears and a dash of cinnamon in a blender or food processor and puree
until smooth. Before serving, add
breast milk or formula to desired consistency.
Sweet Potato, Broccoli and Cumin Puree
The reason to combine these two vegetables is because broccoli
has a very strong flavor, so many babies do not like it at first. The sweet
potato adds a sweetness that most babies enjoy. The cumin is a great accent flavor for these two
vegetables.
What you need:
1 small organic sweet potato, washed, peeled and diced into
½ inch cubes
5 organic broccoli florets
Dash of ground cumin
What you do:
Steam the sweet potato in a steamer basket in a pot with a
lid with one inch of water in it for five minutes, and then add the broccoli to
the steamer and continue to steam for 8-10 more minutes until both vegetables
are tender. Put the steamed
vegetables and a dash of cumin into a blender or food processor and puree until
smooth. Before serving, add breast
milk or formula to desired consistency.
Beet and Red Plum Puree
To some, beets have a slightly bitter flavor. Combined with
sweetish-tart red plums, this is a delicious and energizing combination.
What you need:
2 organic red beets washed, peeled and diced into cubes
1 organic red plum peeled and diced into cubes
What you do:
Put the beets and plums into a small saucepan and cover with
water. Bring the water to a boil
over high heat and then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15
minutes. If you want, you can save
the water (which will have turned bright red) to use as a natural food
coloring!! Once the beets and plums are cooked, put them into a food processor
and puree until smooth. Before serving, add breast milk or formula to desired
consistency.
Pumpkin Pie Root Veggie Medley
This sweet and creamy puree is a great way to get your baby
to eat lots of vegetables! Addison
wasn’t crazy about eating carrots pureed by themselves, but she loved this
combination of carrots, sweet potatoes and parsnip!
What you need:
1 small to medium size sweet potato washed, peeled and cubed
2 organic carrots washed, peeled and cubed
1 parsnip washed, peeled and cubed
Dash of dried ground Pumpkin Pie Spice
Tip: make sure that
the veggies are cut into evenly-sized pieces so they cook evenly
What you do:
Steam the veggies in a steaming basket in an inch of water
in a saucepan with a cover for 10-12 minutes. Once the veggies are soft, remove them carefully from the
steaming basket and transfer them to a food processor. Add a dash or two of
pumpkin pie spice and puree until smooth. Before serving, add breast milk or
formula to desired consistency.
Apricot and Carrot Puree
Since Addison didn’t love eating stand-alone carrot puree, I
wanted to find other things to combine carrots with that she would like.
Apricots are great because they give a sweetness to the puree that babies love.
What you need:
2 organic carrots washed, peeled and chopped
¼-1/2 cup unsulfured dried apricots
What you do:
Put the carrots, apricots and 1/3-1/2 cup water into a small
saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 10
minutes or until tender. Remove
the carrots and apricots from the saucepan and keep the water. Put the carrots,
apricots and some of the water into a food processor and blend until smooth.
Before serving, add breast milk or formula to desired consistency.
