Food trays

I finally got my act together and drove to the organic grocer's for some apples, pears and bananas. The organic fruits were almost 3 times the price of the "normal" ones but I decided that Vera deserves nothing less than organic. Especially in the first year. After that, she will pretty much eat what the rest of us eats but first year on earth, Food = mommy's milk + pesticide free organic food.

It was lots of fun blending the fruits in the mini-blender and distributing it in the food trays for freezing. Each fruit made 3-4 servings. So we are set for the next 10-12 days.

Vera had her first serving of puree pear. She is slowly leaning to open her mouth and chew a little. but she didn't seem to like the pear all that much. I read somewhere that it is normal for babies not to like semi-solids all that much when they are first introduced to it as it is quite different to milk.

Tips for making your own baby food

• Buy organic fruits and vegetables. Your baby deserves pesticide-free foods. Scrub fruits and vegetables extra well with a vegetable brush. Trim stringy parts and remove any part of the food that could cause choking, such as pits, peels, and seeds. Trim excess fat off poultry and meat.
  

• Steam vegetables. This softens them, makes them easier to chew, and preserves more of the vitamins and minerals than boiling.
  

• No need to add salt or sugar. Try a bit of lemon juice as both a preservative and a natural flavor enhancer.
  

• Avoid deep-frying, which adds unhealthy fats to foods.
  

• Don't feel you have to prepare separate meals for your baby. You can simply take portions of your adult food (before you add any strong seasonings) and grind or mash to a stage appropriate for your baby.
  

• Make enough for several meals at a time and pour the freshly-cooked and pureed food into an ice cube tray. Cover with cellophane wrap and freeze. Then, remove the frozen food cubes from the tray and store in air-tight freezer bags. Remove one serving-size cube at a time when needed.
  

• When baby graduates from cube-size portions, store the homemade food in recycled commercial baby food jars or small, plastic, freezer containers. Be sure not to fill the jars to the brim, as food expands as it freezes.
  

• Label all your freezer packages with contents and date and rotate stock like the supermarket does – putting the most recently frozen foods behind the previously frozen ones. Homemade baby foods can be safely kept frozen for three months.
  

• For slow thawing, place a day's worth of baby food in the refrigerator. It will thaw in about four hours. For fast thawing, use an electric warming dish or place a heat-safe dish over water in a small saucepan and heat gently.
  

• If you use a microwave to thaw or warm baby food, be sure to stir the food well to avoid hot pockets.
  

• No matter what method of heating and thawing you use, stir the food well and test it with your finger to be sure it's not too hot.
  

• To avoid wasting your carefully prepared cuisine, dole out small portions. Gradually add more, using a clean spoon as needed.
  

(source: AskDrSears)

Suggested ages for introducing allergenic foods

You can find more information on food allergies on AskDrSears

Fresh Fruit

(Makes 4 food cubes)

Try different varieties of fruit in this recipe.

- 3/4 cup ripe fruit (uncooked peaches, nectarines, bananas, pears, apricots, apples)
- 1 teaspoon unsweetened fruit juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon-flavored water (1 teaspoon lemon juice to 1 cup water to prevent darkening)

Remove skin and seeds from fruit. Puree ingredients in baby food mill or blender until smooth. Serve or freeze.

(recipe from Wholesome baby food from scratch)

Introducing Semi-Solids

We started Vera with semi-solids a week ago at 6 months. Before that, she was breastfed exclusively. As recommended by most websites I came across, organic rice cereal mixed with breast milk was what we start with.

You should have seen the shocked look on Vera's face when we first gave her her first spoonful of rice cereal. "Stunned". She literally froze and stared at us without moving her mouth. Then slowly, she began to chew. By the end of the feeding session, she was really into the rice cereal and even snatching the spoon from us.

However, just about a few days ago, we could tell she was getting bored with the rice cereal. So we decided that it is probably time to introduce something else. I did some research on the web and found out that other starter foods like pears, banana and applesauce are recommended at 6 months.

I will try this a new fuit recipe on her at lunch today.

Vera's first media release

This was featured in the Straits Times "Life" on 6 May 2007. Vera was all smiles during the photoshoot for this article on "New Immigrants".