Among all of the wonderful and memorable milestones your baby reaches, one of the most exciting is starting him on solid foods. Depending on what your pediatrician recommends, babies can start eating solids anywhere from 4 to 6 months of age, and rice cereal seems to be the top choice of first foods to introduce to your little one.
When my son turned 5 months old, I started feeding him rice cereal, followed by oatmeal, yellow veggies, green veggies, and then fruits. I waited the suggested five days in between introducing new foods to watch for allergic reactions but was always so excited and ready to see how he would like the next new flavor. He took to all of them, with the exception of strained peas, like a fish to water.
During this time, my best friend sent me a copy of the book, Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron and it quickly became my baby food bible. This book contains everything you need to know about feeding your baby and toddler. It includes suggestions as to what to feed your baby during each month of his first year, amounts, temperature, and much more to ensure your baby is receiving proper nourishment. This book also gave me an abundance of tips and ideas for making my son homemade baby food and quick meals and snacks that we could both enjoy.
Now, I am not the kitchen-wiz, Martha Stewart-esque type of mom, so at first I was a bit daunted by the thought of making baby food. I imagined myself covered head to toe in spinach and sweet potatoes while my steamer and blender worked overtime, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it really was.
I had been feeding my son Nature's Own organic baby food at the time I got the book, and he was enjoying it immensely as both nutrition and a facial masque! So, I decided to continue using all of the flavors that Nature's Own carries and that I would make homemade baby food in flavors that didn't already come in jars. I set up my rice/veggie steamer and cooked asparagus, broccolli, cauliflower, bell peppers, zucchini, kale, edamame, beets, and pumpkin, pureed them in the blender and poured each into ice cube trays. After they had frozen, I would transfer the veggie cubes to freezer bags, and voila homemade goodness! And all this would take me less than 20 minutes for about two weeks worth of veggies.
Now that my son is a toddler and eating chunky foods, I continue to implement a lot of tips from Super Baby Food to ensure that he is getting the best nutrition possible. I still steam and puree some veggies when he is going through a "no green food" stage so that I can hide them in his quesadillas or pasta sauce, and I also like to add nutritious supplements to his foods. For example, in his morning bowl of oatmeal I will add fruit, and flaxseed meal which is an excellent source of Omega-3's and lignins.
When I give him yogurt, I like to add extra fruit, mashed tofu for added protein, oat bran or wheat germ, and molasses which is high in calcium, iron, and potassium. I tend to stay away from pre-flavored yogurts since they have added sugar, and buy plain which is then sweetened by the fruit and molasses. Stonyfield Farms makes an organic yogurt for babies, Yo-Baby, which comes in fruit and vanilla flavors, so I will use that at times as well. For his veggies, rather than use butter, I like to add some olive oil and a dash of kelp powder which is a good source of iodine and promotes thyroid health.
We owe it to our children to give them the best start in life, and fueling their little bodies properly is essential. There are a plethora of wonderful books available that list healthy meal ideas, tips for making homemade baby food, and more. Super Baby Food happened to be my favorite and I recommend it without hesitation.
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