When it comes time to introduce solid foods into a baby's diet (which is expected between 4 and 6 months of age), it is reassuring to know exactly what he will eat. Personal cooking for your child allows you to control every single ingredient in his diet, which becomes richer than before. You don't need a lot of expensive equipment to cook. With a few commonly used tools, fresh foods and the following guidelines, you can prepare nutritious meals or snacks for your baby. Read on to learn more.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Cooking at Home
Step 1. Choose fresh, good quality fruits and vegetables
The first step in preparing tasty and nutritious meals for your child is to choose fresh, high-quality agricultural products.
- If possible, buy organic foods. Make sure the fruit and vegetables are ripe and not spoiled. Try to use or cook all foods within 2 to 3 days of purchase.
- Choose foods like apples, pears, peaches, and sweet potatoes to give it a first try. Avoid stringy or hard-to-swallow foods for a child, such as green beans or legumes with skin, unless you filter them through a colander after cooking and blending them.
Step 2. Clean and prepare the food
Next, prepare the food for the purpose of cooking or serving it. This means that you have to wash it and remove any parts that the baby cannot chew or digest, such as peels, pips, kernels, seeds and fat.
- Wash all fruit and vegetables thoroughly. If foods have peel, pits, or seeds, remove these parts. Cut the vegetables into similar sized cubes so you can cook them evenly. In quantitative terms, 900 g of clean and diced vegetables allow you to obtain 300 g of food.
- You can make beef or chicken by washing it, removing the skin, and cutting off any fatty parts before cooking. Whole grains such as quinoa and millet should be prepared according to the instructions on the package.
Step 3. Cook the food using a steamer, boiling it or baking it
If you are preparing a ripe fruit, such as a pear or a soft avocado, you can simply make a puree with a fork and serve it immediately. Vegetables, meat and cereals, on the other hand, must be cooked before they can be consumed. As for cooking methods, the options are different:
- Steaming is the preferred solution when it comes to vegetables, since this cooking retains most of the nutrients. Use a steamer basket, or place a simple colander over a pot of boiling water. Steam the vegetables until they have softened - usually 10-15 minutes.
- You can boil grains, vegetables, and some animal products. If you wish, you can boil the food in a broth to make it tastier.
- Baking is a viable solution for foods such as sweet potatoes, cruciferous vegetables, meat and poultry. While cooking, you can add flavor to these foods by adding mildly flavored herbs and spices (baby food doesn't have to be bland!).
Step 4. When cooking for your child, try to prepare small portions
This ensures that you mix the ingredients evenly. Also, keep in mind that some foods need to be diluted slightly in order to achieve the proper consistency: you can use water, breast milk, infant formula, or water stored after cooking (if the food has been boiled).
Step 5. Allow the food to cool and blend it
Once the foods are cooked through, set them aside and let them cool completely. Make sure that the beef or chicken does not have any raw parts, since children are more prone to suffering from food poisoning.
- Choose a method of processing the food so that it takes on the proper consistency. For younger children, the food must have a creamy consistency (similar to that of a puree) before it can be eaten. Older children, on the other hand, can eat solid foods without problems. The method you choose to prepare your child's food depends on the age of the child and your personal preferences.
- Some parents decide to invest in expensive handyman food processors, which can cook food, make purees, defrost and reheat fruit, vegetables and meat. They are a little more expensive than other equipment, but they make food preparation a lot easier.
- Alternatively, you can use a classic blender, food processor or blender to prepare lump-free baby food. They are quick and easy to use tools (and eliminate the need to buy another device). However, if you work with small amounts of food, it can be a real hassle to assemble, clean and take them apart.
- You could also try using a manual vegetable mill or blender. Both of these devices are portable and do not require electricity to function. They are effective and relatively cheap, but they are slower and require more physical effort to operate.
- Finally, for particularly soft fruits and vegetables, such as ripe bananas, avocados, and baked sweet potatoes, you can simply use the old, classic fork to make a puree and achieve the desired consistency.
Step 6. Serve the food or store it
Once the food is cooked, cooled and pureed, you can serve a portion immediately, and then save the rest for another meal. It is very important to properly store homemade food so that it does not spoil or develop bacteria that could make your child sick.
- Pour the food into glass jars or plastic containers with airtight lids using a spoon. Store them in the refrigerator. Label the containers with the date of preparation of the food, so that you can always keep an eye on their freshness and get rid of food cooked more than 3 days in advance.
- Alternatively, you can put the food on an ice cube tray with a spoon and place it in the freezer. Once the cubes have completely frozen, you can remove them from the tray and place them in a sealable plastic bag. Each cube of food will be enough for one serving, so thaw accordingly.
- You can defrost food by placing it in the refrigerator overnight, or you can place the container or bag that contains it in a pan filled with warm water (not in direct contact with heat) for about 20 minutes.
- Frozen fruit and vegetable baby food can stay in the freezer for 6-8 months, while beef and chicken will stay fresh for about 1-2 months.
- Since cooking at home can be a chore, a good strategy would be to prepare large quantities of food on a single day, then freeze it and cook it later.
Part 2 of 3: Experimenting with Different Foods
Step 1. Start with classic baby foods
Traditional baby foods generally include soft, naturally sweet and easy-to-cook fruits and vegetables.
- Fruits include bananas, pears, blueberries, peaches, apricots, plums, mangoes, and apples, while vegetables include sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, avocados, carrots, and peas.
- These foods are very popular because they are easy to prepare, not to mention that they are appreciated by most children. They are a good place to start when introducing solid foods to your child's diet for the first time, but don't be afraid to go beyond these options and try other types of foods.
- This will allow your child to sensitize the taste buds. Also, it will be more interesting to offer different foods. Just be careful not to constantly prepare new dishes. Try introducing one new food at a time. Wait for at least 3 days before suggesting another one. This will make it easier to pinpoint the cause of any allergic reactions.
Step 2. Experiment with stews
These dishes are ideal for getting your child used to other types of foods. In fact, they are tasty and nutritious. Plus, they can be eaten by the rest of the family, which is always a plus from a practical point of view!
- Try cooking beef stew using exotic condiments (for example, Chinese or Mexican ones) with a mild flavor, such as soy sauce and mildly spicy poblano pepper (you read that right!). Throughout the world, several children are regularly introduced to these more intense flavors at an early age.
- Alternatively, you could try cooking pork shoulder with citrus juice. You will make a tasty dinner that will please both the child and the rest of the family.
Step 3. Cook fish for your child
Usually, parents are advised to avoid feeding fish and other potentially allergenic foods to their children until the age of one. Recently, however, theories have changed.
- According to a study published in 2008 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is safe to feed these foods to babies over 6 months of age, as long as they do not show signs of allergies (food or otherwise), do not suffer from asthma and do not have a certain genetic predisposition regarding these disorders.
- As a result, you should consider cooking fish, such as salmon, which is high in healthy fats and highly nutritious. Try simmering it in a pot of lightly flavored water until cooked through. Before blending it (for younger children), mix it with carrots or other vegetables in a bowl to create a baby food or simply cut it into small pieces (for older children), let it cool.
Step 4. Feed your child some whole grains
It is best to introduce whole grains such as quinoa and millet as soon as possible.
- Whole grains allow your child to experience textures they are unfamiliar with. They also encourage him to use his mouth and tongue in more advanced ways, which can help him later when he learns to speak.
- Whole grains don't have to be mushy and bland, you can add flavor by cooking them in chicken or vegetable broth. Alternatively, mix them with soft and tasty vegetables, such as onions or butternut squash.
Step 5. Try cooking eggs
As with fish, in the past parents were advised to avoid feeding eggs to their children until they were one year old. Nowadays, it is believed that babies can eat eggs from a very young age, provided they show no signs of allergies or have a genetic predisposition to suffer from it.
- Eggs are very nutritious, in fact they contain high levels of proteins, B vitamins and other important minerals. You can cook them any way you want: scrambled, poached, fried, or in the form of omelettes.
- Just make sure that both the egg white and yolk cook until they have a firm consistency. Poorly cooked eggs can cause food poisoning.
- Try making a baby food with half a boiled egg and half an avocado. Another idea is to mix scrambled eggs with a vegetable puree. Alternatively, add a fried egg cut into small pieces to rice or oats (for older children).
Step 6. Experiment with mild flavored herbs and spices
Many parents are convinced that baby food should be soft and bland, but they are very wrong! Children are absolutely capable of enjoying a wide variety of flavors.
- When grilling the butternut squash and making a baby food, try adding rosemary to the pan. Sprinkle cumin or garlic powder on the chicken breast. Add a pinch of cinnamon to the oats. Season the mashed potatoes with chopped parsley.
- Children can also tolerate spicy foods more than you think. Of course, you don't have to cause burns or irritation in your child's mouth, but you can definitely try adding chopped chili (prefer milder flavored varieties, such as Anaheim and poblano) to dishes such as vegetable purees and stews.
Step 7. Try sour fruit
You may be surprised to find that many children enjoy the taste of sour foods. Perhaps, you will realize that your child is one of them. To give it a try, feed it some pitted sour cherries. You could also try stewed, unsweetened rhubarb or prune puree. Both have a sour and refreshing taste.
Part 3 of 3: Getting your child used to solid foods
Step 1. Beware of the temperature
To avoid burns, solid baby food should not be served hotter than body temperature.
- You should be especially careful when reheating previously prepared foods in the microwave. In fact, the microwave can heat food unevenly, creating hotter spots than others.
- Consequently, when you remove the food from the microwave, turn it well to evenly distribute the heat; then, let it cool for a few minutes, until it reaches room temperature.
Step 2. Don't keep leftovers
When feeding your child, try to measure the exact portions of each meal. This helps to avoid waste, as you won't be able to store leftovers. In fact, when you spoon feed your child, saliva residues remain in the food, so it is much easier for bacteria to develop.
Step 3. Don't sweeten the food you prepare for your child
Never sweeten the foods your baby will eat. Babies don't need additional sugars, especially when you consider today's high rates of childhood obesity. You shouldn't use alternative sweeteners like corn syrup or honey either, because they can cause a life-threatening food poisoning called botulism, which affects babies.
Step 4. Avoid exposing your child to nitrates
Nitrates are chemicals in water and earth that can cause a certain type of anemia (known as methemoglobinemia) in exposed children. These nitrates are eliminated from all commercially available baby foods, but they can be a problem in home cooked meals (especially if you use well water).
- Since the presence of nitrates in baby foods is mainly due to the use of well water, it is preferable to test this source to ensure that it contains less than 10 ppm of nitrates.
- The level of nitrates increases in food that has long been defrosted, so use fresh fruits and vegetables within a couple of days of purchase. Also, freeze the food you have prepared immediately after cooking it. Consider using commercially available frozen vegetables, such as beets, carrots, green beans, spinach, and squash; avoid fresh ones, which tend to have a higher level of nitrates.
Step 5. Feed your child the same foods prepared for the rest of the family
Instead of cooking separate meals for the baby, make life easier by chopping, blending and switching foods that everyone will eat.
- This saves you time and effort. It also helps you get your child used to eating the same foods as the rest of the family, which can come in handy as they grow up.
- Babies can eat most of the healthy foods the rest of the family eat as long as they are pureed or pureed to have the right texture. Stews, soups and pan-cooked dishes can all be adapted to a child.
Advice
- Once your child has tried different fruits and vegetables individually with no signs of allergic reactions, try different combinations. For example, mix apples and plums, squash and peaches, apples and broccoli, and so on.
- Talk to your child's pediatrician to find out when you should start feeding solid foods. Ask which foods to try first and which to avoid in the first year. Offer him a new food every 4 days and see if he shows signs of allergy when he eats new foods.
- Add about a teaspoon of fresh water, infant formula, breast milk, or boiled milk to dilute food that is too thick. Add a teaspoon of baby cereal to thicken foods.
- Try different types of flavor combinations, such as plum and pear or pumpkin and apples. Try to cook foods with vibrant colors, as they attract the attention of children the most.
- Make purees with naturally soft foods, such as bananas and avocados, using a fork. They should have a smooth texture. This way, you will immediately get a ready meal. If you need to dilute it, add a few drops of special milk or sterile water.
