Best Start Baby: making your own baby food.

With the recent baby boom in my circle of friends and the upcoming birth of my new niece or nephew, my sister and I explored the benefits of making our own baby food. We wanted to ensure that we are providing the best start for this new baby. By making our own baby food, we could be picky about choosing only food that was locally produced where possible, nutritious, and free of additives or preservatives.

In addition to the obvious health benefits to making your own baby food, there is also a cost benefit to this project. Despite the pricey cost of organic food, the higher quantity that it yields provides a greater cost savings. It's also a simple and fun project, taking only about an 1 hour to prepare for a week's worth of meals.

We wanted to share some of our tips that we learned while experimenting with making our own baby food:

Offer a variety of foods for your baby. This is the best way to shape your baby's palate.

Steaming food is the best way to keep all the nutrients in food.

Enjoy the natural flavours of food--don't add any spices, salt, sugar, butter, or seasoning, although I sometimes make an exception to cinnamon and tumeric due to their proven health benefits.

Here is also a guide to what your baby can eat during their crucial months of early development:

4-6 months
Babies can eat fruits like avocados, pears, and bananas, or cooked vegetables like green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes.
Cereals made from oats, rice and barley are also good choices.

6-8 months
This is a great time to introduce new food to your growing baby. You can try different fruit combinations that allow you to provide your baby with the most nutritious foods. In order to keep track of food allergies, make sure that you are only introducing new foods one at a time, and at least once a week. Foods that commonly induce an allergic reaction in children include:

Strawberries
Egg whites
Cow's milk
Wheat
Seafood
Citrus fruits
Tomatoes

8-10 months
Babies can be harder to feed as they start to become picky during this age. Looking at more textured foods and finger foods are an ideal option at this time.

10-12 months
This is the best opportunity to offer a wide variety of food to your baby. You can expand the number of foods to introduce to your baby so that their taste buds can recognize new flavours and senses. Spices can be added at this time, such as cinnamon or tumeric. This is the time to be more creative with baby food recipes.

Because of their hardness, texture or shape, some foods can cause infants to choke. Avoid giving these foods to children under 12 months of age:

Raisins
Grapes
Nuts
Popcorn
Hot dogs
Peanut butter
Raw carrots
Raw peas
Raw apples
Corn kernels

Raw honey should also be avoided during the first year of life, as it contains bacteria that could cause serious harm to the digestive tract of your baby.

Here are some easy recipes provided by The Vegan Society (www.vegansociety.com) that have been tried and tested by my loving circle of new moms:

Age 6-7 months
Vegetable Puree

1 large potato, peeled and chopped
Florets removed from 1 broccoli stalk
1 courgette, sliced
2 or more tbsp soya milk

1. Steam or boil all vegetables for 10 mins or until cooked.
2. Cool a little and place in a blender with soya milk. Blend until smooth and creamy. Other vegetables can be used instead of those listed.

Age 8-10 months
Lentil Stew

25g dried red lentils
1 small potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 tsp tomato puree or tomato juice
1 small carrot, cubed

1. Place all ingredients in saucepan and just cover with water. Bring to the boil slowly and simmer until all liquid is absorbed and vegetables are softened.
2. Cool a little and blend until smooth and creamy.

Age 10 months +
Shepherd's Pie

750g potatoes, peeled and cubed
25g-50g vegan margarine
50ml or more soya milk
Vegetable oil for frying
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, diced
75g dried red lentils, cooked in water until tender
1 x 400g tin tomatoes, chopped
150ml vegetable stock

1. Steam potatoes until soft. Place in separate bowl and add margarine. Mash thoroughly, adding soya milk until potato is smooth and creamy. Place aside.
2. Heat vegetable oil in frying pan and add onions and celery. Fry until tender. Add carrot, lentils, chopped tomatoes and vegetable stock. Simmer for 20 mins or until lentils are cooked and liquid is absorbed.
3. Place in casserole dish and spread creamed potato on top. Heat in oven at 180C, 350F or gas mark 4 for 15-20 mins until potato is browned on top.

W.L at Pretty Organic Cosmetics