Home-made Baby Food

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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All you parents (moms AND dads please!), please share the recipes you’ve developed for baby food prepared at home for children under 1.

Be as specific as you can be (like did you use baby carrots or full grown ones? when did you boil, when did you mash, etc).

Some questions:

  1. What recipes did you use? How did you prepare the food?

  2. How long did you store the food? How did you store it?

  3. What recipes seemed the most popular?

  4. What was your feeding schedule like?

  5. How did you make sure baby was getting a good balance of nutrients?

Also, when you gave the store bought food, were there certain brands or flavors you found to be the best?

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

i have so much to say bout this.. especially for babies with reflux… i shall get back to this… soon inshallah… but this website really helped..

www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com

and

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

they would suit more parents in te states or canada… we in europe dont really worry too much bout what foods to feed when unless its nuts or dairy. oh and honey…everything else goes.

watch this space

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

The only baby food I made at home:

rice/moong daal, boil equal parts in water until totally mushy. Add a tsp of butter to a bowl ful. Gave to kid at 9 mo.

Boil a potato, mash it and serve either with some butter or plain. Gave at 8 mo.

AT 11 months and up, I was giving bits of anything..

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

I mix the foods … like I buy the best brand here HiPP vegetable glas jars and mix it with boiled and shreaded chicken meat.

Like when I make yakhani .. I take out some botties for her food and rest we use for ourself.

My daughter loves chaaval .. pulao .. some I take out one piece of meat, like the leg and get the meat and mix with chaaval with my hands, till its soft and she loves to eat that.

What I have read is that glas jars food is healty and so good as fresh ones, as its processed as soon as it reaches the factory.

I allways prepare, dont freeze the food, its just me that I dont want to give frozen food as I dont like it for myself.

of course u can boil and then mash the veggie … dont use salt init and u can mix it with baby cereal, the one that is without milk. Boil with just enough water, so that u dont have to throw the rest of the water away, this way no vitamins will be lost.

MashAlllah Thank God my daughter eats everything that reaches her, I have seen her picking bits of chips and biscuits from ther blanket she is sitting on. :cb:

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

My niece and nephew always had home made baby food.... NEVER used the ready made rubbish you get...
We always steamed the veg too as with boiling, you lose most of the nutrients...
My niece loved steamed chicked with potatoes and carrots....
always used a different mixture of veg such as carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato.... it's just trial and error to see what your baby likes....
sometimes used to blend a bit of rice in there too
....and it's actually really yum... I used to eat some too... :) :)

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

Guys , I think this is a brilliant thread and needs good attention , I am going to make it a sticky for a few days … :aliyish:

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

Nice thread....

I know people prepare fruits and vegetables and meats for babies by either blending/mashing/pureeing it....and try to avoid the ready made stuff...
do you guys also avoid using the cereals ...like rice cereal and make that at home too...??

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

The rice cereal is trickier for new eaters, but I think it can be done. It just has to get the right consistency. I would love to hear how others do it.

khawa -- that site is great! thanks! I think I had come across it once before, but hadn't really explored.

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Thanks, Niks. I'll definitely do this once she's older. No probs with daal digestion at 9 months?

I've so far been doing the organic fruits and veggies in the jars, because I like that they're sealed fresh. If I make them, most of it will need be frozen, and the storage is more complicated. Did you give the fruits and veggies from jars?

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The jarred stuff isn't rubbish. These days it's actually very high quality. But I would also like to make the stuff at home.

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That was what I wondering...the recipe for making homemade cereal says to blend rice to a fine powder and then mix with water/milk and use it...
it didn't sound too right to me,so I was wondering if anyone made the cereals from scratch too...:)

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Not fresh either..... and tastes pretty vile too!!

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

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Exactually my thoughts!

they are hight quality stuff, my daughter perferes only one organic european brand.

I do a lot of mixing of jars and fresh food, it makes life so much easier.

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

Last night my mom was telling me that today she would make something like Firni (made by grinding rices) for my 8 months old today . Let's see if my daughter likes it. If she does I will post the recipe here.

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agree !
Jarred stuff is not bad at all. Although I have not given it yet to my little one but I know mothers who have and they highly recommend it because they have fed their babies jarred food.

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

i love making my son food.... once you relize just how much you can do, its really like painting a picture... endless varities and options and choices... oh la la

this is only cuz we in denmark are majorly discouraged to use ready made food.. be it jarred goods or the ready made cereals.. ofcourse they arent harmful otherwise in a country as strict as denmark (food regulation wise), such things wouldn't exist. so you see even working women cooking up fresh meals for their babies and dropping them off at daycare. its really really nice to see just how much effort mothers here put in to raising healthy babies .. and its true.. instill proper eating habits from an early age, so kids eat right from the start... no wonder fast food joints just dont fare well in society here... too much love for home cooking i guess

if the govt didnt take such major efforts by having nurses visit homes to teach mommies how to make food for their babies.. im sure most of us would be feeding jarred goods to our babies.. not cuz its easier but just to make sure we werent doing anythign wrong.. how uch wrong can go in mixing a cereal or opening a jar :D

oh and also.. i couldnt do either of these cuz my son hates hates hates jarred food .. especially the organic one by hipp :D ive tasted it too.. man their food is bitter.. he can maybe acccept a few tsps from the ones by nestle but i woudlnt call it a meal... he prefers teh ready made cereals to jarred food.. but compared to home cooked meals... he hates the ready made stuff. probably cuz i started him off with home stuff..

so we start feeding our babies at 4 months of age.. not proper meals, but a tbsp here and there to get their tastebuds going... and then at 6 months we get onto 2 proper meals a day and by the time they are 8 months, they are having what the grown ups are having. this is the big picture.. mothers are meant to observe their own babies as they are all diff and decide what their child is ready for and what they arent... like my son had a bit of reflux meaning his food would come up with his burps... so that meant i couldnt give him any citrus fruits, things that would give him gas etc... otherwise, the world was his oyster.. still is :D

at 4 months to 6 months

any fruit puree. i was hugely surprised to learn we dont have to steam fruits before giving to baby... the nurse nearly fainted when she saw me doing it (the nurse that visits us shows us how to cook and prepare a meal for the baby at 4 months, at 6 months and then at 8 months)... she said its not at all necessary but if i wanted i could... she just peeled and used the smallest side of the grater and grated away.. sure the fruit you use has to be absolutely ripe so once grated, its all mush! i was soo happy cuz i was always worried bout losing nutrients when steaming his fruit.

u can do this with pear, apples, peaches, apricots, plums.. and ure baby can have all of these at 4 months.. in small quantities cuz remember, your not meant to be filling their bellies at this point.. just getting their taste buds going.

and i shall be back.. baby is up

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

It's interesting. Both my MIL and FIL (long time British residents, raised their children there, only recently moved to the US) feel strongly I should stick to the jars for now. I think they both feel it's simpler and you are more likely to get food the is the right texture and nutrition for your baby.

Ammi seems to feel I should do a combo of both, but definitely keep the jars handy for travel.

So far (it's only been two weeks of solid foods), I've gotten the organic foods in glass jars, and I taste everything before giving it to her. The brand is Earth's Best. So far, she's had their pears, prunes, carrots, and squash. She loves all of them, and I think the tastes are quite nice.

But I do want to make stuff myself. I am concerned about making it in large quantities and storing. Then I feel it's better just to buy. I want to find a way to make it fresh for her daily or every couple of days, depending on the foods.

When we introduce meats, I'll definitely give her home-cooked food.

I've been giving her rice cereal, but she's been constipated, so I reduced the quantity. Today I gave her baby oatmeal and she LOVES it. I'm hoping it will be better on her system too. But I'd love to figure out how to make the cereal. And since I'm not pumping often any more, it will need to be mixed with formula, which is okay.

Also I'm so envious of you Europeans with those baby consultants that come in and help you and teach you! MIL is always talking about her health care workers and what they taught her.

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

sahar.. just give me until morrow... i will give you a few awesome recipes.. my son didnt appreciate rice cereal cuz it gave him constipation.. he was already on thickened formula for his reflux so it just made him more stuck inside....

and that is a major reason why some women use jarred stuff.. cuz they are so worried they wotn cook right or it wont be safe for baby's consumption.. hehe... but i feel they overprotect babies in na or america with dont feed this and dont feed that and only cook like this etc.... in europe.. man anything goes cept for a few ground rules :D

kher... no worries... ure not doing anything wrong... its just cooler to cook ureself for the kid..especially if ure home all day... once i realized i coudl do so much.. it got interesting!

i shall post a few by tonight or early morning morrow.. :)

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Re: Home-made Baby Food

ok hopefully i can get in a few recipes in

this is for babies 6 months and up.. my son is a 14 months mashallah and this is his dinner as it keeps him full for the night. he hates chewing before bed time so all he has to do is swallow :D

now, i dont know what a 6 month old elsewhere can have but in denmark, this is what we start our babies off with at 4 months... in very very thin consistency.. and then by 6 months its thicker.. or as thick as baby can accept. and as lumpy... you can grind to your baby's liking.. my son doesnt mind wheat and oat porridge being lumpy but hates his rice, millet or buckwheat porridge being lumpy... so if ure baby gags, then make it a smooth paste.. .. great for beginning the day or ending it :)

you can keep all these porridges in the fridge for a day.. so if you make it for bfast, use it up in time for bfast next day or discard.

and im sorry but we use decilitres here... just convert online... im horrible at that :s

there are so many diff kinds... and all should be given so the baby gets a healthy balance in nutrition. all cept semolina, wheat and buckwheat (this is if your baby is not 6 months yet).., dont give any of these as they contain gluten. not a threat to an average kid but if you have gluten intolerance in the family, best to not give sooji, wheat or buckwheat at this point. but if your baby is above the 6 month mark, go right on ...

you make all these porrdiges the same way

wheat, sooji (i add the butter right in the beginning for this one only, and saute the sooji grains), oats, barley, buckwheat, millet and we also get black bread powder but i doubt that its available elsewhere.

porridge made with powder based formula milk

1/4 - 1/2 dl cornflour (ca. 15-30gm) depending on how thick you want the liquid to be

2 dl cold water

1 1/2 dl prepared powder formula

no butter needed

whisk the cornflour with water in a deep pot

brign to a boil and then lower the flame and let cook for 2 mins or until you have the desired consistency.. keep whisking.

take off stove and let cool either by air or in a sink of cold water

add the prepared formula and whisk

add any pureed fruit like plum, apricot, apple, pear, banana etc.

if you are using ready prepared formula milk or your own breast milk then you dotn add any water but just 2 dl of the formula or breastmilk

you make rice flour porridge the same way

its best to add fruits to porridges instead of giving by themselves as they alone can not fill up a baby's stomach.. so if you are giving a jar of fruit for dinner, and then waking up at 2 am with your baby crying and hungry, wondering but i fed her a whole jar.. hehe thats what it is. fruits and veggies can not fill a baby up by themselves (unlesss its potato, sweet potato, or otehr starchy veggies)

just liek fruits, you can also add any steamed veggy you see fit.. like potato, carrot, avocado, brocolli, cabbage, squash,