BEANS SAUCE FOR BABY

Ingredients:

Tender green beans - 4 to 5

Green gram cooked water- as needed

Preparation:

Steam or pressure cook beans. Meantime cook dehusked green gram and strain the water and set aside to cool. When cooled down grind both in a blender to get a smooth sauce. Add dal water little by little to get a smooth saucy texture and not runny.

Serve with soft and spongy dosa and boiled potatoes. Babies love the taste of this sauce. No need to add salt. Don't add salt until baby is 8 months old.

APPLE POTATO SAUCE FOR BABY

Ingredients:
Apple - 1/2
Potato - 1 small sized

Preparation:
Peel and slice the apple and potato. Boil with water until done.

Grind to a smooth paste with the boiled water.

Serve with idly or dosa.

SWEET POTATO CARROT SOUP FOR 6 MONTHS OLD

Ingredients:

Sweet potatoes - 1 small piece

Carrot - 1 medium sized

Preparation:

Peel and slice sweet potato and carrot. Boil in a pot in water until done.

When cooked well, cool and grind in a mixer grinder jar to a smooth paste. 

Add cooked water to thin the soup to a soupy consistency. If more water needed add some boiled and cooled plain water.

Serve warm.

Note: Sweet potatoes give a creamy texture and taste. So no need to add potatoes.

BABY MASH AT SIX MONTHS - DIFFERENT MASH IDEAS

At 6 months we could introduce only a few food items. But the baby asks for new taste everytime. So we need to blend few food together to get a new taste.

1. Potatoes and carrots

Potatoes and carrots go well together. Puree together or just keep both purees aside and feed alternatively.

2. Potatoes and apples

Potatoes and apples together tastes very yummy. Follow the same method as given above.

3. Carrots and apples
Carrots and apples too go well together. Puree together and it tastes very nice.

4. Banana with apples or sweet potatoes
Banana tastes alone better than together. But if you would like to mix then it goes nice with apples and sweet potatoes.

5.Avocados with any fruit or vegetable
Avocados tastes better alone very nicely but goes better with any fruit or vegetable.

6.Rice cereal with carrots or sweet potatoes
Prepare rice porridge and then mix with carrot or sweet potato mash. This tastes very nice.

7.Sweet potatoes with every food
Sweet potatoes tastes yummy alone. But it goes better with any of the other mash.

Try these and your baby will love every meal time.

BABY'S FIRST MASH HOW TO COOK AND MASH

We must cook baby food very carefully. Vegetable or fruit to be cooked must be cooked well. Also in the beginning food must be thin enough for the baby to swallow easily. There are three methods to cook baby food.

COOKING

Method 1: Pressure cook

I prefer this method as nutrients are retained more than any other method. First peel the vegetable or fruit. Just place the vegetable or fruit inside a steel tiffin box. Close and pressure cook as usual. Time depends on the vegetable and the size of chunks.

Here I gave pictures of apple and potatoes.

Method 2: Steam cook

We can chop or slice the vegetable and steam until it's just done. Don't forget to peel the skin.

Here I steamed sweet potatoes.

Method 3: Boil in water

We can cook the vegetable or fruit in enough water until just done. First peel the skin and then cook. Here I gave pictures of cooking carrots in water.

MASHING

To mash the food we can follow two methods.

Method 1: Grind in a blender

Grind to a smooth paste in a mixer jar. If necessary to thin then add boiled and cooled water or the water used to cook (if cooked by third method. Otherwise pressure cooked or steamed means don't use the same water).

Method 2: Press through a sieve

Pass the food through a fine sieve by pressing using a spoon. I prefer to mash potatoes using this method only after baby is already used to the method 1. Because in this method the mash will not be soft. If necessary to thin then add boiled and cooled water or the water used to cook (if cooked by third method. Otherwise pressure cooked or steamed means don't use the same water).

BABY'S FIRST MASH - WHAT TO INTRODUCE FIRST?

As I have given in the previous post, baby's stool plays a major role in introducing solid.

Firstly I write about the babies who passes stool often a day or daily once and little loose stools.
For this kind of babies rice flour porridge, potatoes, carrots can be introduced as first mash.

Secondly, some babies pass stool daily but not loose stool. Their stool looks stiffer. It holds shape.
For these kind of babies apples, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocados can be introduced first.

Lastly, some babies pass stool once in a few days and stiff or little loose. Don't care about the consistency but as they pass once in few days, apples, sweet potatoes and avocados are better choice to introduce first.

Banana makes the stool thick and dry. So it is better to introduce later after apples or sweet potatoes.

BABY'S FIRST MASH - RULES AND STEPS

Now when the baby is ready to eat solid food, we cannot simply give one of the first foods. There are few rules to follow.

First of all, select which food to introduce by understanding the baby's stool.

Secondly cook the vegetable or fruit or grain (except avocados and banana) you are going to give until smooth. Must be cooked well but not overcook.

Thirdly mash the food (except rice cereal) to a smooth paste. No grain must be felt. Better puree using food processor or mixer grinder or baby food processor.

Fourthly thin the mash (skip this step for bananas and avocados) to dosa batter consistency. The mash must be smooth and thin enough for the baby to swollow. To thin the mash you can use boiled and cooled water or the water you used to cook the vegetable/fruit or you can add little breast milk or formula to make the taste familiar to the baby.

And finally, please do not introduce more than one food at a time. Follow the four- day rule. Give each food four days in a row. In between don't introduce any other new food. Introduce new food one after the other after 4:or 5 days. We should give time to the little tummy to accept new incoming food. Also in case of some allergic reaction we should be able to identify the allergen. Please have a close look on the baby after each food. Click here to read about knowing the baby.

If a food is allergic, then the baby reacts in some way like restlessness, crying, tummy upset, loose stools etc.

BABY'S FIRST MASH - POINTS TO NOTE ABOUT THE BABY

Before introducing new solid food to baby,every mother must know very well about  the baby's body condition and how he/ she behaves generally. Here I give few points.

1. How the baby shows that he/ she is full? Each baby have different way to convey that his/her tummy is full. Mother must know that.

2. How the baby conveys that he/ she is hungry?

3. How long he/she sleeps?

4. How much he/ she plays without getting bored or tired?

5. When the baby feels restless?

6. When the baby looks for his/her mother if someone is with the baby?

7. How often he passes urine?

8. How many times a day/ once in how many days he/she passes stool? Also color, texture and consistency of stool. This one is the most important to know before introducing mash to the baby.

Know your baby before introducing solid food.

Note: I gave these points from my experience. If I have forgotten something I will update once I remember. If anyone note any changes please comment.

BABY'S FIRST MASH AT 6 MONTHS

A baby is ready to eat solid food when he completes 6 months. As an Indian mother of three kids, I would like to share few mash which are good to introduce as first food. As my third son has just completed 7 months, I think I can post the recipes which I prepare for him (of course my previous experiences play a major role here) with pictures.

1.Potatoes
2.Carrots
3.Rice cereal
4.Sweet potato
5.Banana
6.Apples
7.Avocados
I will write detailed posts on each of these separately.

Note:
There are few more grains, vegetables and fruits that can be given. But in my experience and from different doctor's advice (as we lived in different places in India and Germany), I filtered only these seven which I gave to my kids during the seventh month.
I have consulted four pediatricians for my three kids regarding solid food, as we were in different places. But I noticed that all of them said almost the same. Indian pediatricians gave Indian food list and German doctors gave German food list. Otherwise the ingredients remain almost the same.

Also get your pediatrician's advice before introducing new food to baby. Better is before starting solids go to your pediatrician and talk about his advice for food until the baby is 1 year old. So that you can plan accordingly. I did this for my kids. It gave me a clear idea.