Baby food

[polony]

I am curious as to what I can make for DD. She is 13 months old and I have been giving her jar food but I want to know how to make things myself. I have been boiling vegies and mashing them up roughly but I want to know how to add meat - how do you mash it?
I think she may also be getting sick of weetbix, toast or eggs for brekkie.
Has anyone got any great ideas or recipes I can make??

[InSaneOne]

my 10month old dd loves eating some of dads just right cereal for brekkie and with meat we just cut it up really small and she kinda gums it to death as she has only 1 tooth poking through a little. she generally eats little bits of whatever we are eating and about 1/2 a jar of baby food for dinner, lunch is bits of whatever i am having - usually a sandwich, and brekkie is some of dads cereal or farex with some vegemite on toast. we give her pieces of biscuit for a snack in between. she is till having 4-5 bottles a day too.

[OM]

I would give your daughter exactly what you eat! Perhaps just cut it up smaller.

Try for breakfast maybe a different cereal.

This is a sample of Ozzy's menu for the day he is 15 months -

Breakfast -

1 bowl of cereal (weetbix, rice bubbles or corn flakes)
1 piece of toast with jam
1 piece of fruit (either banana or apple)

Morning tea -

1 jar of baby custard

Lunch -

1 sandwich


Afternoon Tea -

Cheese cubes
Fruit (usually sultana's or something like that)

Snack

3 baby's biscuits (you know the ones that are really really small)?

Dinner -

Meat
Peas
Corn on the cob (he thinks that is great)
Potato (mashed or steamed)

Desert -

Either a jar of baby food desert or fresh custard (not from a jar).

I know this seems like alot for Breakfast and not much during the day but I find it helps with energy levels for the rest of the day and then he eats another huge meal at dinner which helps him sleep better!

[lukaelmo]

Hey Polony,

For brekkie I often give the dude yoghurt with mashed up fruit, this is one of his favourites.

When I give him meat I pop it in the blender with other veggies, it blends better like this.

I also give him:

stewed fruit + ricotta cheese - you have to try this!
mashed avocado and banana
mashed tofu with other mashed veggies (tofu is a super nutritious food)
mashed veggies with cheese sauce
tuna or salmon with mashed veggies or mushed up pasta

Happy cooking .

[FourAngelKisses]

I'd give her what you eat, just cut it up with scissors or put it through the blender......add mashed postato to make it go a bit further.
For breakfast, try muesli, corn flakes or rice bubbles.

[OM]

For breakfast, try muesli

If you try adult muesli remember babies cannot have nuts!

[SassyMummy]

I don't give DD mashed food anymore - she's nearly 11 months old.

I don't know about ALL babies, but I know that DD figured out how to eat chunkier foods pretty quickly...just the other day I figured out that I could give her sandwich quarters and she could take bites all for herself (prior to that, I would just give her bite-sized sandwich pieces). I was quite proud!

I also offer DD fruit (especially banana because it's so soft and easy to chew) and cheese cubes (small cubes) and yoghurt. She eats baby muesli bars and breadsticks (Heinz) when she's snacking a lot of the time.

I also just give her what I'm eating for dinner a lot of the time...especially pasta. I just break up the pasta (if its really large, or long pasta like linguine) and slightly break up the meat (so it's more child-sized).

You could always do mashed potato...that's very easy.

I also do tuna mornay a bit...it's very quick. Mix a bit of flour and milk in a saucepan and stir to a thick sauce, add a bit of grated cheese and mix again. Boil some pasta shapes. Combine pasta shapes and sauce with tin tuna (drained) and tin corn kernals (drained). SO easy!

I think that at 13 months...you could save a LOT of money on baby food by giving sandwiches, cereals and fruits and cut-up versions of wahtever dinner you have. (I used to exclusively buy commercial meals because DD didn't really like my mashed-up veges and fruits...but now I hardly have to buy anything!).

[cwsmum]

At 13mths DS was eating whatever we were having for dinner. Hopefully DD will be the same...she's only 7mths and already trying to get my dinner off my plate.

His faves were, and still are, things like Butter chicken, honey mustard chicken, sweet'n'sour pork/chicken/meatballs, served with rice, steamed carrots and broccoli...or sometimes pumpkin & beans with the butter chicken. I mix the rice & veges with the meat/sauce for DS and he usually asks for seconds.

He also likes anything with pasta, eg, spag bol, tuna mornay, etc...I hide grated veges in spag bol, carrots & zuchini usually.
Filled pastas are nice, easy for a child to pick up with their fingers or stab with a fork. Just cook and pour over a jar of sauce, any kind, heat and enjoy...there are some small jars of vegetable based sauces in the pasta aisle of woolies that are nice.

Try things like mini spring rolls, vege croquets (or vege fingers if you wanna find them in the supermarket freezers) fish fingers...I make alot of stuff like this myself but shop stuff is fine too.

I have a yum, and really easy, recipe for chicken & cheese balls somewhere, even DH liked them so they must be good. I'll try and find it tomorrow and come back.

[Rainbowbrite]

Oscar's mum, I wish MJ would eat as well as your bub

MJ eats what we eat, just tiny portions.

[Briswegian]

My boy loved this dish:

Minced beef
vege's: like potato diced, pumkin, broccili....whatever you have
cooked in beef stock and add some bbq/tom sauce to the mix then blend or mash. you can have it smooth for younger bub or lumpy for older. It really is yummy.