ideas for first foods

[Belinda1000]

hello everyone
my daughter has just started on solid food and loves the comercial baby foods. but donot want her to get too used to these. i have tried mashing potato and pumpkin for her but doesnt like it. Has anyone got some good ideas for homemade early foods. thanks

[drewid]

Hi there

A good idea to transition them from jars to real food is to mix it up the first few times - so half jar food, half real food. It can take a while for them to get used to the taste and texture of real food, so just slowly change it over.

Also, adding pureed pears or apples to any pureed food helps - they love the sweetness!

[the_queen]

It can take up to 7 times of trying a new food before a child will like it. You haven't mentioned how old your daughter is, but remember before the age of 12 months, "real food" is not really for nutrition, it's about feeling the texture of food in their mouth and it's about introducing new flavours and consistencys. Breastmilk (or a breastmilk substitute) should still be their main source of nutrition.

If bubs is over 6 months old, yogurt can be a great first food (be careful if there's any family history of food allergies).

Have fun! :)

[Belinda1000]

thanks nicole what great ideas

[aardvark]

Polenta and veg is good. I have pureed polenta with some homemade casserole for my babies in the past, and they loved it.

Semolina and fruit puree, too.

You can puree a risotto for a bub, too, especially if you take out their portion before you add the parmesan cheese.

[jonesso]

Try mixing some breastmilk or formula (basically whichever "milk" your bub drinks) in with the mashed vegies to make the taste more familiar.

DS has been on solids for about 6 weeks now and this is what I have given him so far...

* Farex (plain to start)
* Farex mixed with Heinz tinned apples or pears for brekky
* Mashed banana (by itself, or mixed with a little formula)
* Mashed banana mixed with plain full-fat natural yoghurt
* Mashed avocado
* Mashed steamed potato
* Mashed steamed pumpkin
* Mashed steamed sweet potato
* Mashed steamed carrot

All the vegies need a little cooled boiled water mixed through them when mashing to get the consistency smooth, or a little formula when serving. I cooked up a heap, froze in ice cube trays and then keep in containers in the freezer.

Now that he can eat a few different vegies I have started mixing them together. Last night he had sweet potato and potato (1 cube of each) mixed with a little formula and he ate it.

My next stage will be to try those Mother Cubes you can buy in the freezer section of the supermarket - I have peas, carrots and chicken cubes to try. The other vegies are dead simple to do myself but the chicken is another story, as is the peas which is why I'm going for the Mother Cubes.

I'm not so keen on the tins or jars at this early stage as you can't get plain food in the them, they are all mixes and I want to keep foods isolated while I build on what he can eat. Of course everyone is different how they approach this, but that's just my strategy.

Good luck with bub! As one of the others said, you may need to persist with certain foods, but I really did find that mixing in some formula helped Nathan to adapt to the different textures and tastes.

Hope this helps.

[LittleBoysRock]

Mashed banana woth rice ceral.
Mashed pumpkin and potato together.
Mashed zichini
Puree Apples.

[Imogensmum]

Imogen loves fresh puree'd foods! She hats with a passion tinned food!!!

So we have-

Mashed pumpkin,sweet potato and corn(imy loves this as it is sweet)!
Puree'd apples- pears- mango!

and i freeze VAALIA baby yoghurt into sticks- like rolls for her to suck on- simular to GOGURT yoghurt sticks! Very messy but she LOVES them.

I also gave her the thigh bone of a chicken to suck/slobber/maul tonight! Big hit.

Even when Imy eats something she likes she pulls that "eww-i-hate this" face for the first few mouthfuls- i think it is just because it is a new taste!

Have fun with it!!

Shannan

p.s- i also give Imy the seed out of the middle of the mango- she is very independant and i have found she loves this! Obviously just keep a really good eye on bub- but it is a really good sensory experience for them! V V V messy!!!

[addictedtobabe]

If old enough then yoghurt is a huge hit!

grill a banana in the skin til the outside is black..this makes it very sweet and soft. By itself or mixed with avocado.

Mix pear with pumpkin or sweet potato.

Stew 3 prunes with an apple...again makes it sweet

Heinz baby custard - the packet not the jars

my little babe did not like potato the first few times, now eats it with gusto.

Steam asparagus tips so they can hold them and get in a big green mess! also pieces of apricot and peach.

At the start we mixed everything with water or formula, never used breast milk as did not want to confuse...it worked for us! Now we use whole milk...7 months old.

Good luck...it starts to become a lot of fun!

[jacks mum]

I've never bought food for DS.

I just do a cook up every fortnight or so. I did start with one veg then 4 days later added another etc, but now he has potato, sw potato, pumpkin and carrot which I cook on the stove, the I cook zuccs in the micro, the chop chicken and boil in on the stove, or cook mince in a pan. I then mash the veg, blend the zuccs because of the skin and blend the chicken or mince and mix everything together. I freeze it in the small tupperware containers (this takes the longest time because I only have 4 cont and usually make up about 15 or so meals) When they are frozen I pop them out, put them in a glad clip seal bag, I write on the bag what it is and the date. It takes about 40 secs in the micro each dinner time to defrost and heat. I heat in the cont I froze it in so it lides in easy, also good if you're going out, just pop the lid on.

I also cook up apples, nectarine, plums etc and freeze these in ice cube trays. Cook to mix with yoghurt or banana or even farex.

I also make jelly for DS (we eat it too he he he) I found a recipe. It's just 1 cup of juice (I juice my own fruit so I know there is no extra sugar) Heat 1/2 of this and add 2 tspn of gelatine the mix with the remaining juice, put in a container in the fridge.

(I'm the biggest sweet tooth :p and I'm going over board probably to not give sugar to DS)

I have tried avo just plain and that goes alright and have also mixed it with ricotta cheese. Am yet to try cottage cheese.

Ds is 7 months now so I'm really looking forward to trying new things.

I have no excuse for not cooking his food as I am a chef

Any othre food recipes would be great to try.:)