Some parents do itfor the simple joy and challenge of preparing wholesome foods for theirchildren, others go the do-it-yourself route because it’s cheaper thancommercially made products, but Oakland has found that the parents who attendher classes at Columbia Center (an independent childbirth hospital located onthe campus of Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Mequon) are more interested in monitoringwhat goes into their children’s bodies.
An improvedawareness of the pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers sprayed on our produceand the numerous food recalls due to widespread contamination have incitedparents to arm themselves with food processors, blenders and mashing forks inorder to prepare safe, nutritious and economical food for their babies at home.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendsintroducing solid food to a baby around 6 months of age. In order to be awareof the health and safety issues involved, parents should first consult withtheir baby’s pediatrician before preparing and introducing homemade foods.Then, when trying new foods, Oaklandsays to offer your baby the same food four days in a row and watch for anysigns of an allergic reaction.
“It’s important toexpose your baby to each new food independently to determine any reactionsbefore you can begin combining different foods for tasty new creations,” Oakland says. “When youbegin to introduce foods to babies, remember they are accustomed to breast milkor formula which has no texture. So when we begin introducing foods withtexture, the pureed foods are more acceptable to babies at first.”
A few tools areneeded to cook, grind, blend and puree your baby’s food, but they don’t have tobe expensive. Indeed, there are some pricey all-in-one appliances that act as a steamer, blender, warmer and defroster, but at $150 youaren’t saving as much money in preparing your own baby food. Many home cooksalready own a steamer, blender or food processor they can use, or choose toinvest $30 on a baby-sized food processor. If you want to make it reallysimple, look in your kitchen drawers for a boiling pot, a potato masher and asieve.
At 6 months old, babies can digest fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry,fish and grain, but, like most things baby-related, there is plenty of usefuladvicebacked by experiencewhen it comes to selecting your baby’s first solidfood.
“The one item that is commonly discussed as the best first food is ricecereal,” Oaklandsays. “Rice is very bland, [itdoesn’t have] much flavor and it’s easy to digest when mixed with breast milk,formula or water.”
Fresh fruits andvegetables are excellent starters for homemade baby food. Another first-food Oakland suggests:avocado.
“We don’t often think ofit, but it’s very high in nutrition and very easy to prepare,” Oakland explains. “It doesn’t have to becooked; it’s easy to mash; easy to make into a pureed food; and often, whenit’s introduced early on, babies really enjoy avocado.”
Other ideal foodsinclude apples, bananas, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, sweet potatoes andbutternut squash.
Peel each food, boilfirm foods in water (or steam them) until soft, and puree food in a blenderuntil the desired texture is reached. You can make more than one meal percooking session by freezing the excess pureed food in ice cube trays, storingthe frozen baby food cubes in plastic bags, and then thawing and heating thecubes as needed. Those frozen fruits and vegetables can be kept in the freezerfor about six months, and meat can be kept for two.
Preparing homemadebaby food isn’t as time-consuming as many parents may think. Parents don’t haveto make a whole separate meal for baby, but instead can prepare it along withthe rest of the family’s meal.
Say you make yourfamily a dinner of baked rosemary chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and steamedcarrots. Simply skip added seasonings such as salt and sugar when portioningout food for baby, and puree each food separately. The food has plenty ofnatural flavors that your baby’s inexperienced palate will appreciate.
Do-it-yourself momsand dads have the distinct advantage of getting their babies acclimated toeating the same food as the rest of the family, a technique that may see itspayout during the picky toddler years.
There are certain foods parents need to delay introducing to theirlittle ones, or avoid all together. Obviously, skip foods that have beentreated with harmful herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers. Oakland suggests avoiding vegetables thatcontain nitrates (broccoli, beets, cabbage, radish, spinach, turnips andrhubarb), too much of which can make a baby very sick.
You should also wait until your baby is a year old before giving him orher honey, dairy, eggs, gluten, strawberries, tomatoes, citrus and nuts, allcommon allergens with effects that can be minimized when introduced at an olderage.
There are a number of quality resources out there to support parentslooking to make their own baby food, such as The Big Book of Recipes for Babies, Toddlers and Children byBridget Wardley and Judy More and www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com. As the family education and support coordinator at Columbia Center,Oakland facilitates a number of groups andclasses at Columbia Center for new parents,including next spring’s lesson on making homemade baby food.
For more information, visit www.columbiacenter.org.
