What do you know about preparing fruits and vegetables for babies 6 months to 1 year?

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Permalink Reply by Tamra on September 6, 2008 at 10:02pm

Your home grown veggies will start out with much more C than commercially grown ones. Don't steam them anymore than needed. If the child is being breastfeed, he will be getting all the C he needs from mom. Contrary to what we are told, kids don't need anything else for the first year. My kids, now very healthy teens, hardly got any solids until a year old.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 7, 2008 at 12:11am

Thank you for your comment Tamra. There is much information on the net but it is often good to hear what others think. I think you are right babies can get enough Vit C from Mum's milk .

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Permalink Reply by DrFood on September 7, 2008 at 11:25pm

Some vitamin C is destroyed by cooking, but the availability of beta carotene and other nutrients actually goes up with cooking. You can go by the color--when you start to cook a vegetable, the color first intensifies, then starts to fade. Maximum nutrition is available when you have maximum color.

Making food for babies is easy, your main concern is texture. For example, if you run green beans in your blender you'll still need to push the puree through a strainer because there will be fibers that survive the blender.

Oh, and don't make carrots for a baby less than 8 months unless you have some information about the nitrate (nitrite? I get those two confused) level in your soil. Apparently some carrots have excess nitrite/nitrate, and the immature kidneys of a baby can have trouble dealing with it. The baby food companies test for nitrate levels, and then buy from farmers whose carrots have low levels.

What to feed babies is very unscientific. In this country we tend to start with rice cereal and then move to fruits and veggies, but mostly we're just trying to avoid allergic reactions. Pre-World War II, americans often served meat purees as the first "solid" food. One piece of advice I'd pass on is not to give more than one new food on a given day. (That means it's probably best to prepare single ingredient foods.)

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 8, 2008 at 5:15am

Thank you for your comments. The bright colour principle is a great guide for healthy eating for all of us.
I think a lot of people these days have very little knowledge about good nutrition and healthy food preparation methods.
Often families and young Mums have very little extended family support, so skills are not passed down as in some other cultures.
I believe organic, freshly picked vegetables are delicious and nutritious and KGI is a great forum to share our knowledge and skills.

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Permalink Reply by Spellcaster on September 8, 2008 at 9:06am

I know with my children, I made my own baby food. I find it hard to believe that the mass produced stuff is better then what I can give. And if we are blessed to grow our own fruits and veggies all the better. We know if they are chemical free. Great question! Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 8, 2008 at 5:32pm

Thanks for your comment, home grown and prepared food is real food.
We have eaten out with friends at cafes recently and what we eat out does not even taste like food or anything.
I try to buy organic meat, and organic or minimal spray local ingredients and our food tastes a million times better than what I am served at hotels or cafes.
The exception to this would be some more expensive restaurants who try to use seasonal, local fresh ingredients.
Non organic is so bland, I feel like I have not eaten at all.
I think this contributes to people being overweight, maybe they just keep eating trying to satisfy their palates and senses.
We usually have large salads with a variety of greens,herbs and garlic add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you have a healthy, satisfying, flavour explosion to delight your senses.
Last night we had some stir fried crisp asian greens, chives, bunching onions, baby celery, garlic and fresh coriander and methi (fenugreek). We added some cooked noodles and some cracked pepper, it was delicious. So with in 10 minutes of arriving home we had picked our veggies from the garden and prepared a delicious meal. How good and fast is that.
We don't usually have fried food but I tried cooking Indian pakoras or bhaji for lunch they were absolutely delicious. To organic chickpea (besan) flour and rice flour you add some ginger, garlic, a pinch of turmeric, garam masala and lots of shredded spinach, onions, fenugreek leaves, fresh coriander. Serve them with goats yoghurt to which you have added some freshly chopped mint and coriander. Happy gardening and eating.

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Permalink Reply by Valerianella on September 12, 2008 at 4:06pm

Maggie, I simply give may 11 month old baby fresh uncooked fruit to eat in addition to plenty of breastmilk . Today we went around the fields and were eating wild blackberries from the bushes. Baby loves them, but when he has enough he takes them out of his mouth and covers his whole face, cloths, the carrier and of course his mama with the fruit which he has mashed in his hands before. I also give him whole pears and peaches and pieces of apple from the garden to eat and he holds them between his little hands and bites of small pieces. He also loves to eat grapes, he takes the whole fruit in his mouth and spits out the peel and the seeds, it is quite amazing. He was eating whole strawberries since he was 7-8 month old. Ah, and he loves watermelon a lot, especially squashing and exploring it with his tiny hands, also chewing on the seeds seems to be great fun for him. He never choked on any of these foods, just make sure he is in an upright position, babies are much more clever than we usually think. Otherwise simply mash the fruit, plenty of Vit C.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 12, 2008 at 6:12pm

Thanks for your comments. Someone else said to me the same comments about giving babies raw fruit. Your bub and your blackberry picking sounds delicious.
I think if we lived more in community, with bubs and the elderly we would be mentally healthier.
Every one should spend some time just enjoying the wonder of nature and experiencing the pure joy of babies as the look around and discover the natural world around them.

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Permalink Reply by Kalyanii Kennedy on September 15, 2008 at 4:18pm

Hi! Another thing you could try is blended salad. This was my favorite food growing up and still is. You could easily give this to a baby-just make sure they don't have an allergy to the vegetable/fruit you put in it. Basically, you blend lettuce, spinach, a carrot, tomato, 1/2 avocado, even a little tofu with some lemon juice and a tad bit of salt. You can add pretty much any type of vegetable you want, but I've found that avocado keeps the blend together better and adds creaminess, so that is a staple, so is lemon juice/something acidic. You can adjust all the ingredients to taste and eat it as is or pour it over brown rice and fried tofu or pakoras. It's a great way to use a lot of leftover produce, and it adds a taste of freshness to a cooked meal.
I just recently had it with beets and fresh corn added into it. It was delicious! Some great stuff to add are squash, cucumber, beets, fresh corn, jalapenos, tomatos, celery, etc, with dark, leafy greens. When you blend it up, it's amazing how much produce you've added to get a full blender. It takes some practice to get the taste just right but it is well worth it! Having it over rice and pakoras is a favorite of mine. The pakoras you described making sound delicious. Anyways, the texture is great for a baby and it is so fresh. I remember when my son was so little and I gave up on baby food since it tasted so gross to me. I figure if I don't like it, I shouldn't force my child to eat it.
It's great to see everyone so health conscious and enjoying it in this forum. Too many people that I know are amazed that my family enjoys eating healthy and that it isn't a chore or some type of diet. Also, they are amazed that my son enjoys eating fresh veggies-I remember being with some friends and they were shocked to see my 3 year old eating an ear of fresh corn and snacking on fresh squash.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 15, 2008 at 5:37pm

Thanks for you comment, yes fresh fruit and veggie juice and puree are excellant. They are the real treats, sweets and fast foods, not only do they taste good they are good for you.
We live in a world of plastic, so removed from the natural world.
Thank goodness for KGI where we can meet others who want to grow and eat organic foods fresh from their gardens.

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Permalink Reply by Blokesablogin on September 19, 2008 at 12:43am

Answering the last question: We, in India, begin semi-solids around 6 months (as a snack). The first one is invariably banana as it is easy to mash and sweet like mother's milk. Pomogranate juice, sweet lime juice are introduced too (don't forget that most of India is so hot that extra fluids are a good idea). We, in the South, sprout a millet called Ragi and cook it and give. Stewed apples and stewed pears are also given. The poor begin boiled rice water sooner owing to lack of nutrition and therefore mother's milk supply. Economically better off people feed rice only after the first birthday. Whole wheat Chapathis soaked in cow's milk are given in the North.

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Permalink Reply by Maggie on September 21, 2008 at 6:08pm

Thank you for your comments and the variety of easily digested foods your country prepare for babies.
I love Indian food and cook it a lot.L
I guess the Chinese prepare a congee(boiled rice dish) for babies. Do we have any other members from Asian countries?

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