Tiny Gourmet or the Fine Art of Home-made Baby Food

Lets talk about baby food! You've made it to the golden age. Six months, and you've got the baby spoon and bowl cleaned and raring' to go. But, what to put in it? So many different opinions out there, in the parenting advice ether, it's hard to know what to do. The first thing, is to determine whether you, or your co-parent, have any history of allergies. Talk with your child's healthcare professional as well, to get their opinion. If those two steps give you the all clear, feel free to start your baby off with a sophisticated palate.

Conventional wisdom tells us to start our babies off on bland foods, like single grain cereals. But in other countries, babies are offered mushed up versions of adult foods. Tiny curries, small sushi, and bitsy burritos grace the silver spoons across many borders. So feel free, when pondering what taste to intro first, to branch out into the exotic. A fresh, ripe, banana, fork mashed, can be a great start. Avocado is full of brain building fats, and can be fork mashed as well. Steam sweet potatoes, shelled peas, shelled green beans, loose corn, and then, don't puree it! Leave it in small, fork mashable bits. Season it, use butter for the good brain building fats. Our brains are made mostly of cholesterol, so no need to avoid it for the baby who's on her way to becoming a genius. Use spices, paprika, garlic, and chive. Introduce one new food, and wait a few days for reaction, and then intro a new food.

Bake apples with cinnamon, and voila! A tiny mashed up apple pie. Puddings, and custards too, make tasty treats for small mouths. As long as it's cooked to a soft, easily mashed texture, the sky really is the limit with baby food. You can steam several servings at once, and then freeze them in individual portions. Ice cube trays work great for this. Once frozen, for space saving, you can pop the cubes out, and store them in a lidded plastic container.

There have been studies which show that certain foods can flavor the amniotic fluids of a pregnant woman. There are foods that come through in breast milk. So your baby probably already has flavors that he likes, based on foods you've eaten. Did you eat a lot of sweet and sour sauce on your fried rice? Go ahead and soft-cook some rice, add in some steamed peas and carrots, and mash it up with a smidgen of MSG-free sweet and sour sauce. What about humus? Put a schmear on a teething biscuit, and see how fast it disappears.

There are some foods that should be avoided in the first year or so. Honey sometimes contains botulism, and tiny bodies can't process this toxin, so you want to avoid honey. Even if it's been pasteurized. Peanut butter should be avoided for at LEAST the first year, some doctors recommend two or three years. But there are several alternatives, like almond butter, or even soy butters, to get your child hip to the idea of a nut butter and jelly sandwich. Check with your child's health care professional, to see if there are any recommendations specific to your child, in terms of foods to avoid. Other than that, have fun, and enjoy watching your baby turn into a tiny gourmet.