First Foods!

So- my little man turned 6 months old! Seems crazy how fast time flies by. Per current guidelines, he was exclusively breastfed until 6 months and then I started introducing solids, following the 4 day wait rule.

We decided to pick avocados as his first food. (We did the same with my older son- so it was an easy choice). I took half of the avocado and mashed it up and gave it to him on a spoon and left the other half in large slices for him to feed himself.

He loved it! He liked the taste and did not even make weird faces. He mostly played and explored- just as he should.

We also introduced bananas this week. I did the same- mashed some, left some whole. I also froze part of the banana and put it into a mesh feeder because the poor guy is teething something awful and he loved the cold on his gums.

Overall- it was a great experience and although I am sad that I am no longer his only food source, I am excited to introduce him to so many great new flavors and foods!

Introducing Solids to Your Preemie

Check out this great article about introducing solid to preemies from Wholesome Baby Food:



http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/news/2011/08/introducing-solids-to-your-premature-baby-an-informative-guest-post/



This article has some really important information to be sure your preemie gets the proper nutrition!

Brown Rice Cereal Recipe- (No more store bought white rice cereal please!)

I have written about using brown rice over white rice before...(if you have not read that post...go ahead and then come back. VERY important stuff!)


Well- how about saving money and making your own brown rice cereal?! Here is the recipe!

Brown Rice Cereal
 
2 oz brown rice powder
8 fl oz water
a little breastmilk

To make the rice powder, grind brown rice in a blender or food processor. This is best achieved by grinding in small quantities - but to make the powder REALLY fine, I recommend trying a coffee grinder.

Bring the water to a boil.

Add the rice powder, stirring constantly with a wire whisk.

Simmer for about 10 minutes (don't forget to keep stirring, or the rice will stick).

Then stir in enough breastmilk  to give the consistency that's best for your baby.

Voila! Easy as pie and SO much healthier and cheaper than the white rice cereal you buy from the store!

A Quick Start Guide to Making Baby Food...

A GREAT article from one of my favorite baby food resources- Wholesome Baby Food:

"Wholesome Homemade Baby Food - A Quick Start Guide®©™"

"Homemade baby food is a simple, inexpensive way to feed your baby.  By making your baby fresh homemade baby food, you can offer your baby more flavors and variety and only the finest quality ingredients.

Tips for Safe Baby Food Preparation:

• Always wash your hands before preparing foods for your baby.
• Ensure your cutting board, utensils, pots and pans, processing equipment and storage containers have been thoroughly washed and cleansed.
• Wash, peel and pit fruits and vegetables as needed.
• Cover and refrigerate or freeze cooked food immediately once you have processed or prepared the food.
• Store pureed foods in the refrigerator for no more than three days.

The Tools You Will Need

• Blender, Food Processor, Food Mill/Grinder, Potato Masher, Fork, Sieve or Strainer
• Vegetable Peeler
• Pots, Pans and a Steamer Basket
• Ice cube trays or other freezer safe containers in small sizes (2oz-4oz)
• Freezer bags and permanent marker

Various Methods for Making Baby Food - Here are a few ways you can make homemade baby food.   

Mash It! 
Many foods can be mashed with a fork or potato masher.  Foods such as ripe bananas, avocados and soft cooked foods such as sweet potato, apples or squash can all be made with a fork or potato masher.  Using a fork or masher will depend on what type of texture your baby requires.

Use a Food Mill 
Cut the food into pieces. Put the cooked food through the food mill. (The skin and seeds will stay in the mill.)

Chop or Grate Baby’s Food
Foods can be finely chopped or grated (with a cheese grater), then mixed with liquid.  This is great for babies who are self-feeding.

Food Grinder
A food grinder can be used to grind up foods for your baby.  This is a simple way to prepare meats and more textured foods.  The food grinder is also great to take on vacation or when dining out with baby.  You can quickly and easily grind up fresh baby food in your hotel or at the restaurant.

Blender or Food Processor
Add your cooked food to your blender or food processor and blend to the consistency your baby requires.  If needed, add liquids such as breast milk, formula, water or the cooking water from the food you cooked to thin out the baby food.

Sieve or Strainer to Finish Homemade Baby Food
Many parents like to use a sieve or strainer to further thin homemade baby food.  These gadgets may be particularly useful for foods that have stubborn skins, such as peas and green beans. Put the food into the sieve or strainer and push it through into a clean bowl.  Repeat the process as many times as you need.

Storage Methods for Homemade Baby Food

An easy way to freeze homemade baby food is to use ice cube trays.
Freezing in ice trays will give you food cubes that are the perfect size.  These food cubes are also easily portioned. 
Each ice tray cube slot equals approximately 1 ounce of food.  Using the food cubes method, you will have minimal waste and will be able to “mix and match” foods for your baby. Remember to never freeze foods in glass that is not manufactured specifically for freezing!

How to make and store baby food cubes

• Spoon the baby food you made into ice cube trays using a clean utensil.
• Freeze baby foods in ice cube trays.
• Once the food cubes are frozen, pop them out of the trays and store in clean freezer bags.  Your food cubes will store for up to 3 months in the freezer.
• If you have difficulty popping out the frozen food cubes, simply run warm water on the underside of the tray to loosen the cubes
• Be sure to label your freezer bags of food cubes; include the date you froze them as well as the name of the food.

Heating and Thawing Methods for Homemade Baby Food

Here are a few ways you may thaw and heat homemade baby food. Baby food does not always have to be heated to be served.  Offering your baby a few meals that are room temperature will be helpful in the event you are out and unable to find somewhere to heat baby’s food!

• Microwave Thawing of Baby Food Purées - If you are using a microwave to thaw or reheat baby food cubes, be sure to stir food to ensure no hot-pockets are left to burn baby!  Many parents do not like to use the microwave for a variety of reasons. It is up to you to decide if heating or thawing your baby food cubes in the microwave is right for you and your baby.

• Refrigerator Thawing of Homemade Baby Food Cubes - If you do not wish to use a microwave to thaw your baby food cubes, you may thaw your baby food cubes in the refrigerator over night (ensure that the cubes remain a closed container and not in an uncovered bowl).

• Submersion Thawing of Baby Food Cubes - Place the frozen baby food cubes in a small bowl and then place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with hot water.

Basic Ways to Prepare Foods for Baby Foods

FRUITS (4)6 months +

For Fruits That Need to be Cooked
Wash the fresh fruit and peel and pit if necessary. Frozen fruits do not need to be washed however you may give them a quick rinsing.  Steam or bake the fruits until tender and soft.

Ripe Banana and Other Fresh Fruits
Ripe bananas and avocados do not require cooking.  Pears and peaches may not require cooking if they are fully ripened. Simply peel, pit and mash!

Using Frozen Fruits
If your choice of fresh fruits is not available, frozen unsweetened fruits may be used.  Give these frozen fruits a gentle steaming prior to pureeing and refreezing.  You may always take a handful of the fruits out of the bag and puree or mash them as needed; keep these prepared fruits in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days.

VEGETABLES (4)6 months +

All Vegetables Should be Cooked
Wash the vegetables and peel and deseed if necessary.  Cook the vegetables by steaming or baking them.

MEATS AND PROTEINS 8 months+
Do not use lunch meats and do not use smoked meats such as bacon due to the high levels of salt and additives.

Basic Meat Recipe
Puree or grind 1 cup finely cubed and well cooked meat with as much liquid as needed to make a consistency your baby will tolerate.  Grating or shredding meats is an option for babies used to texture and finger foods.

Egg Yolk
Boil the eggs (they will spin when they are fully cooked) and then allow to cool.  Peel the shells and remove the cooked yolk; mash with a fork. Do not serve the egg white until baby is 12 months old."

(http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/homemadebabyfood-quickguide.htm)

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SITE! It is the best!!!

Brown Rice vs. White Rice

Thanks to my friend Mairi for finding this great article from Dr. Greene.com:

"Brown vs. White Rice: A Fork in the Road"

Read more: http://www.drgreene.com/blog/2010/06/15/brown-vs-white-rice-fork-road#ixzz1FNf2ArTI

"It’s time to change America’s first food. What if white rice helped trigger diabetes and brown rice helped to prevent it, regardless of lifestyle? That's just what a 2010 Harvard study suggests. Brown rice is a delicious whole food, packed with flavor and with protective nutrients. But all of the sugar-stabilizing fiber and all of the essential fatty acids are stripped out to make polished white rice, along with most of the magnesium, iron, B vitamins, and lignans, and half of the phosphorus and manganese. To make baby food rice cereal, the white rice is even further processed. And this depleted, out-of-balance, processed white flour becomes the eagerly-anticipated first bite of solids for most babies in the US.

How we feed babies in those early days matters for years to come. Most core food preferences are learned during critical early windows of opportunity (see Feeding Baby Green). In America we have raised a generation where most children learn to get zero servings of whole grains daily by the time they are 18 to 24 months old.

One in three babies born today is expected to develop diabetes in their lifetime, unless something dramatic changes. If we just made the simple switch from white rice to brown rice for babies we might cultivate a taste for whole grains and prevent millions and millions of people from developing diabetes.
For that very first bite of solids, though, I prefer choosing something that doesn’t come in a box or jar. Let your baby see a real whole food in its natural state, something she’s seen you eat before, such as a banana or an avocado. Let her handle the whole food. Let her smell it. Let her see you eat some, and then let her see you mash up a bit, perhaps with some breast milk. If you are nursing, she will already have experienced the flavor in your breast milk before.

Her strong desire to imitate you and to learn from you, coupled with this powerful combination of seeing, tasting, smelling, and touch creates a profound learning experience that is deeply satisfying and fun. Let a whole food mark this momentous occasion – or a whole grain cereal. But not processed white flour rice cereal.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed rice eating and diabetes in about 200,000 people. Those who ate white rice 5 or more times a week had a 17% increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared with those who ate it less than once a month. Separately, those who ate 2 or more servings of brown rice a week had an 11 % decrease of type 2 diabetes. But the biggest difference came in those who chose brown rice or another whole grain instead of white rice – with up to a 36% reduced risk.
If we have a future population of 300 million in the US, with 100 million expected to develop diabetes, a 36% reduced risk represents a huge savings of life, limb, eyesight, money and health.

Shortly after babies begin to walk, neophobia begins to set in, the fear of new flavors, textures, or sources of food. Let’s teach a love for whole grains (and other whole foods) while they are still so eager to learn!"

Alan Greene, MD, FAAP

June 15, 2010

Sun Q, Spiegelman D, van Dam RM, Holmes MD, Malik VS, Willett WC, and Hu FB. “White Rice, Brown Rice, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women. Archives of Internal Medicine. June 2010; 170(11):961-969.

Read more: http://www.drgreene.com/blog/2010/06/15/brown-vs-white-rice-fork-road#ixzz1FNehW94h

Scary Statistic...

1/3 of all 9-month-olds are obese or overweight. That is the headline in a news story from Yahoo/Livescience.com

The statistics point out that the heavier a child is as a baby- the increased chances of that child becoming overweight later in life. The study also pointed out that putting a 9 month old on a diet is not a good idea, but that this data will help to bring more education and awareness to the issue to hopefully prevent this trend.

The most important part of the article states: "Studies have shown that exclusive breastfeeding - breastfeeding alone, not breastfeeding combined with bottle-feeding -prevents obesity," said Dr. David McCormick, senior author of that study at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "Getting enough fiber - eating apples instead of drinking apple juice, for example - also helps keep babies on track to a healthy weight. By contrast, improper early introduction of cereal by adding it to an infant's bottle promotes obesity."(http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101231/sc_livescience/athirdof9montholdsalreadyobeseoroverweight)

Once again, this just gives people the facts that exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months and no introduction of solids until the 6th month is the healthiest thing you can do for your child. 

To read the entire article, click here


 

Squash Rings

One Hungry Mama has done it again! A fabulous recipe that can be shared with babies as young as 6 months- but will be a guaranteed favorite with kids and adults alike!

SQUASH RINGS!!

From the One Hungry Mama website:

"I love Delicata squash! The heirloom variety is mild, buttery and as gorgeous to look at as it is to taste.
I recently roasted scallop-edged rings of this thin-skinned winter squash. They are as fun to eat as onion rings and (believe it or not) just as delicious. And way healthier! The edible skin gets crispy during roasting, giving these finger food rings a little crunch that gives way to soft squash that I like to finish with nutty thyme browned butter, a squirt of lemon and sprinkle of parmesan.
Just writing about it makes my mouth water! If reading about it is doing the same for you, get my recipe at The Family Kitchen: Roasted Delicata Squash Rings with Thyme Browned Butter (can be shared with kids 6+ mos)*

Oh, and if you’re already starting to think about holiday vegetables, bookmark these. They’d make a lovely Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah or Christmas!) side.


*Note: Peels the skin off for children not yet eating finger foods"

(http://onehungrymama.com/2010/11/recipe-move-over-onion-rings-weve-got-squash-rings/)

And you can of course, add your own spin to this recipe! I am definitely going to try it out- I am sure my son will think these are so fun and delicious!


Click here to view the recipe for Squash Rings

Baby Food Introductions and Allergies

As I have posted about before, a lot of new research is coming out about food introductions and allergies.

While the information can be conflicting- some suggesting you wait to introduce highly allergenic foods and some suggesting to introduce them younger- either way it is a topic you should read up on and talk about with your pediatrician.

I choose to use the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's food introduction chart with my son, and of course, I followed the 4 day wait rule when introducing new foods and so far, so good!

Here is a great article on the subject from one of my favorite websites, Wholesome Baby Food. Click here and make a plan for introducing foods to your little one!

Chart for food introductions

So- when I started looking up information about feeding my son solids, I came across this handy chart from The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

This chart gives suggested ages for food introductions for a baby NOT at an increased risk for food allergies. (Meaning, if either parent has food allergies, you may need to wait longer before introducing those foods).

For normal babies, following this chart can help decrease the risk of developing food allergies from early introduction. I have read studies that are finding that if you introduce a food too early, even if the baby does not immediately show a reaction, it can lead to the child developing an allergy later in life. Of course, as always, talk to your pediatrician and follow your doctors advice.

Here is the chart. If you would like a copy, you can right click on the image or leave me a comment and I will e-mail it to you!

One of my favorite sites

When wanting to learn more about making baby food- I found this great website with lots of useful information.

http://wholesomebabyfood.com/



The site is not as user friendly as I would like, but if you spend some time clicking around, you can find almost any answer to any question you have. They talk about introducing foods, allergenic foods, storage, recipes with many different ingredients and even a chart showing how much you can save by making your own food.

(Click on the topics above and visit the links for GREAT info- even if you have already started solids or even if this is not your first baby.)

I still use it as a primary resource when wanting to know more about baby/toddler nutrition and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Click here to visit Wholesome Baby Food!

How to make baby food

So- you are about to get ready to serve your baby his/her first foods...and you are wondering...

"How do I start?", "Is it hard?", "Why not just buy jar food?"

These are some questions I had and have been asked of me since I have become a passionate baby food maker. My answer- it is the EASIEST, CHEAPEST and most FUN thing to do!

What you need:
* food (organic is best, if you can get it)
* steamer
* blender/food processor/hand masher/fork
* breast milk/water
* ice cube trays/special baby food storage trays

First, pick out what you want your child to eat and what is age appropriate.

Next, you need to cook it (if applicable). You can steam, roast, boil, bake...whatever you like. Each makes the food a little bit different tasting- so experiment. (Boiling does cause more nutrients to be lost than steaming. So if possible, steam your food). Play with texture and cooking times. At first, you will want the food as soft as possible until your child learns to swallow- but some babies are ready for more texture from the get go!

Last, mush it up! This is where you can be creative as well. Blending, processing, and hand mashing all create different textures. You will quickly learn what works best for you and your baby, and what he/she likes best.
In this step- depending on the food- you may need to add breast milk or water to get it the right consistency. (breast milk is best, especially if you are already nursing, because your baby already LOVES the taste! Plus, they will still get the benefits).

You are done!

Now, you can keep your food in the refrigerator for about 2-3 days and in the freezer for a month. Just put the extra in the ice cube/baby storage trays and cover. Once frozen, transfer into a plastic bag. Now, once you need the food, you can take out one cube at a time and warm up.
(Be careful when using a microwave- as it heats unevenly and can be a hazard to your baby). Reheating is better done over the stove- and ALWAYS check that it is not too hot!

HAVE FUN!!! Experiment and tell us about your experiences. If you have any tips- share them here too!

First Foods

It is so exciting when you finally get to share the joy of solids with your baby! (plus, even if you love breastfeeding, it is nice knowing there is another food source!). Now, of course, I am not a doctor, and you should always check with your pediatrician first- but I have done lots of reading and research about first foods and want to share my experience.

Now, most health care professionals recommend that babies are exclusively breastfeed (or formula-fed if that is your decision) until 6 months old. At 6 months, you can begin solids!

What can you give them? Many people still feel that you need to feed your baby rice cereal for their first food. This does not have to be the case! You can start with fruits or vegetables if you would like. Just be sure to be careful of food allergies and remember to wait 3-4 days in between introducing each new food to watch for bad reactions.

I decided that I wanted to skip the rice cereal and started with avocados, pears, zucchini, sweet potatoes, green beans...and so on!

I also read and decided that I would not only stick to bland veggies and fruits...My son had roasted red peppers, broccoli, beets, salsa and I added spices to the veggies after I knew he had no allergies such as garlic, rosemary, oregano, thyme...and more!

Now, he eats almost anything and is not at all picky and I feel that it is because I have given him variety, spice and choice from his first bite!

We want to know...What was your baby's first food??