A market place flooded with convenience foods for all,
adults and children alike, there is hardly any incentive to cook food at home
especially when the new mother is sleep deprived and tired all day tending to
her baby.
But I urge young mothers to push themselves a little
further, prudently enough, to realize that these few years are the foundation
blocks of eating habits which will last your baby a lifetime!
Even if you decide to feed the baby homemade food, do you find
yourself running out of ideas? Also, still worried about the nutrition your
baby is getting? Worry not! I faced similar questions and based on my first
year as a mother, I am putting down some recipes which are easy to make, liked
by babies and importantly nutritious!
Firstly you have to understand, your child is no culinary
competition judge, so you don’t need to overdo when it comes to spices and
garnish! Secondly appearance, well texture precedes appearance for the baby at
this stage. Lastly and most importantly, quantity! The baby food is meant for
the baby, so instead of preparing in adult portion sizes and then eating that
battered bland puree as a mother’s compulsory lunch side dish, make smaller and
manageable portion sizes for the baby food!
1.
Rice+cumin+clarified butter
1 tablespoon rice
1 pinch of cumin/cumin powder
1 tablespoon clarified butter
½ cup boiled water/distilled water
1 pinch rock salt
Clean the rice by running cold water over
it once and draining it. In a small pot, pour ½ cup boiled/distilled water and
allow it to heat, after 1 minute, add rice and cumin powder, let the rice get
cooked thoroughly. Check a grain to confirm. There will be additional water
left in the pot even after the rice is cooked. Do not throw it away, mash the
rice into that remaining water and make a watery rice solution. Add a pinch of
rock salt and let the mixture reach room temperature. Add 1 tablespoon
clarified butter (ghee) , mix and serve.
This mixture contains rice, which is
relatively easy to digest for the baby, who still has gaps in his/her intestinal
track, hence cannot digest top feed easily. Clarified butter is added in large
quantities, to ensure smooth passage of the food, through the food pipe and
intestines, which are still in a developmental phase.
Rock salt instead of regular table salt, as
rock salt aids digestion, and doesn’t contain as much sodium and iodine as
regular table salt. Sodium even in smaller quantities puts a lot of pressure on
the small kidneys of the baby for filtration systems of the kidneys is yet to
settle down. Cumin is added to tease and develop the taste buds of the baby.
The
baby can have up to 1/3 rd bowl of such rice gruel during the initial days and
as the appetite grows, the water to rice proportion can be altered, and the
child can have this preparation till it reaches the age of 1.5 years
2.
Apple+cinnamon sauce
1 apple
1 small stick of cinnamon
2 cups boiled/distilled water
Peel the apple and dice into small pieces,
crush the stick of cinnamon and add these to a pot containing 2 cups water. Let
the apple cook on even flame/medium heat till tender. Once the apple pieces are
tender and disintegrating, remove from heat and let it cool. Once cooled, place
on a steel mesh/strainer and using a spoon mash evenly and strain the flesh of
the apple. Mix the strained applesauce with some boiled water, to make it runny
consistency and serve.
This is regular applesauce, but home made.
This can be made in advance and stored in clear glass bottles and refrigerated.
Ensure it is used within 3-4 days. Ensure the sauce is at room temperature
before you serve your baby.
Apple being a storehouse of good vitamins,
having a baby friendly texture, even after cooking, is a universal favorite of
mothers! Cinnamon not only gives a distinct sweet spicy flavor, but also keeps
bacteria and stomach irritation at bay. It soothes sore throats as well! Note
that there is no need to add sugar or honey or any other sweetening agent to
baby food at this age or any age, as sugar may deposit on the gums and tiny
teeth of the baby causing cavities as your baby is still not using a tooth
brush regularly.
The baby can begin having 1/3 bowl of such
sauce and can have it up to the age of 8 months. Later the baby can be
encouraged to bite slivers of apple, during the teething time, instead of giving
plastic teethers.
3.
Moong dal(split green gram)+rice+cumin
½ tablespoon moong dal
1 tablespoon rice
1 pinch cumin/cumin powder
2 cups boiled/distilled water
1 tablespoon clarified butter
Clean the moong dal and rice by running
water over them. In a pot bring water to boil, add moong dal and rice and cumin
to it. Let it cook thoroughly. There will be excess water retained even after
cooking. Mash the dal and rice into that water and add a pinch of rock salt and
1 tablespoon clarified butter to it. Serve once at room temperature.
Moong dal is easy to digest and does not
cause flatulence. If your baby is colicky, avoid any flatulence causing foods
for the baby. Clarified butter eases the passage and digestion of the food.
This is a very nutritious gruel and can be
served to the baby with varying proportions of water, rice and dal as the age
and food requirement of the baby advances.
4.
Raisin water
1 tablespoon raisins
½ cup boiled/distilled water
Heat the water till warm and remove from
heat. Add raisins to the water and soak overnight. Blend the raisins with the
water and serve.
Raisins aid digestion and also have a
natural sweet taste for the baby to savour. It helps in colic to an extent.
You can do this same blend by replacing
raisins with dried figs also. The figs are iron rich.
5.
Popped rice + water
½ cup Popped rice (please note popped rice
is not puffed rice)
1 cup boiled/distilled water
Warm water and add popped rice
The popped rice will disintegrate in the
water, mix the gruel and let it cool before serving.
Popped rice very light, easy to digest for
the baby and this gruel is effective in soothing the tummy.
6.
Sweet potato+clove sauce
1 sweet potato
1 clove
2 cups boiled/distilled water
Thoroughly clean and peel the sweet potato,
dice it into small squares.
In a pot boil water and add the diced sweet
potato and clove. Once cooked and cooled, mash and pass through a strainer. The
gruel can be given directly to the baby or can be diluted with small quantities
of milk.
Sweet potatoes are nature’s multivitamin! With
B6, iron, magnesium, vitamin C and D, they are just the right food for your
baby!
At the age of 4.5 months or whenever your
pediatrician advices, you should start supplementing breast milk or formula
with top feed. Initially the quantity consumed will be very less, but gradually
it will grow. Try and feed the baby small quantities of closest to natural
foods, by just steaming or boiling them. Do not add sugar or manipulate the
taste of natural foods because unless the baby knows the real taste of each
item served, it will tend to be biased towards one particular taste which
dominates his palate. This will lead to
troublesome habits during toddlerhood and beyond. Fussy eaters are not as much
inherent, what is being served to the baby initially will largely decide if
your baby will be a fussy eater in the future.
Also for babies, remember to use smallest
of the available spoons, avoid plastic spoons and use silver or silver coated
spoons as far as possible. Silver has anti-bacterial properties and easy to
clean as well. Hence there are far less chances of your baby developing an
infection once he/she starts consuming top feed. Also use the smallest size of
bowls, again preferably steel or glass.
Also instead of a fancy bib, just drape a
long soft washcloth around the baby and the seat, with newspapers spread around
the baby seat or even below it. It makes cleaning up after the baby easy!
Also always taste a bit of the prepared
food, for temperature, taste and texture before feeding it to your baby and do
not ever add salt or spices according to your mature adult taste. The baby food
can continue to be bland even after the baby begins to eat regular food.
Enjoy your new challenge mommy chef!
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