Weaning from Breastfeeding – Homemade Baby Food
You want to stop breastfeeding. Do you feel the need to feed your baby some real homemade food? You need not despair, nor tear at your hair. Contrary to popular belief, making your own baby’s food and meals is not time consuming, and isn’t as hard as you may think.
The wonders of making homemade food stems from several reasons:
- You know that your baby is eating healthy because you are the one making it. No fillers, no preservatives – just the way you want for your baby.
- If your baby has allergies, you can tailor his food to meet his needs.
- Making homemade baby food is much cheaper than buying commercially made ones – hence, less of a dent on the baby budget.
The most accepted first food for baby is the infamous baby rice cereal – probably because the use of it dates back to when we were babies and our mothers fed it to us too. While some sectors are now questioning the recommendation of baby cereal as the first baby food (especially if a baby is fed solid food for the first time on his 6th month), most mothers still agree that baby rice cereals are still a perfect first-food choice for their little ones.
Here’s a simple recipe:
Ingredients: 2 ounces of brown rice powder, 8 fl. Ounces of water, some expressed breast milk or formula milk.
Procedure: (To make brown rice powder) you can grind brown rice in a food processor or blender, but for really fine powder, you can try using your coffee maker instead – just make sure that the pathways are clean and free of coffee residue. Boil the water and add the rice powder; simmer for 10 minutes. Stir constantly, else the rice will stick to the bottom of your pan – or will stick to each other and form clumps. Mix in some of the milk.
For babies who will be trying it for the first time, don’t forget to make the mixture really runny by putting more milk so that it becomes of a runny consistency. After a couple of days or a week, lessen the milk so that there will eventually be more texture, and your baby will learn to recognize that texture as solid food.
Aside from cereal, carrots are also a good first food for baby. Rare is the baby who develops an allergy to carrots (although it does happen), they are very easy to digest, and is the best source of beta-carotene (which converts to vitamin A when eaten). Stick to variety though, as too much carrot can give your baby a little sun-tanned effect.
Ingredients and procedure: Slice or chop a carrot and steam or boil it in water until tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not overcook. Puree with a food processor or a blender. Add a little breast milk or formula should you need food with a thinner consistency.
Homemade baby food making is a great way to express your creativity … and an equally perfect way to teach your baby – this early – of the value of eating healthy in preparing him for his life’s greatest journeys.
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