Alhamdulillah, Hanif Aiden is 7mos+ now and has a wonderful journey of feeding solid food so far. Mommy loves experimenting but there are times Mommy also running out of ideas and also the times where there are so many ideas that Mommy confused which one to choose. For my baby's weaning journey so far, I only refer to these two books, Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purées and Bountiful Baby Purées by Anni Daulter.
Annabel Karmel is like a Guru in baby/toddler food advisor/chef. Even the famous Dr Halina (our Astronout's wife) is referring to her recipes. Alternatively, if you do not have the book, you can go to Annabel Karmel's and look up for recipes there. I love this book because it has details and guide on baby's weaning like food allergence, what to feed and what not to feed, kitchen tips and so many things. It is not that expensive, I got mine retailed at RM55.90 from MPH. It's a good buy. Don't worry, the ingredients are easy to get in Malaysia even for the imported stuffs, you can get it from Jaya Grocer or Cold Storage.
According to her book, there are signs that your baby is ready for solid:
1) still hungry after a full milk feed
2) demands feed more frequently
3) wakes at night for a feed having previously slept through
However, I don't really following the signs, my benchmark is when Hanif Aiden hits 6 months and to solid we go!
For the first week I'm introducing solid, I made a purée of apples+pear. I mixed the purée with some of my baby's usual milk. Reason being, it will make baby easier to accept new food when he can smells the familiar smell hence the milk. My baby loves it so much! Alhamdulillah, his easy acceptance making Mommy become even more excited to make more and more delicious purées!
Then, on second week, I started to give my baby pure carrot purée. Too bad, it was my mistakes that I didn't blend it properly due to my blender faulty (tommee tippee blender urghh). It causes my purée's textures to become coarse. My baby didn't digest them properly and when he poops, I can see them carrot. Hmmph. Sorry Hanif Aiden.
Then, I tried on sweet potato+apple. I love the taste because it has the naturally sweet coming from sweet potato and my baby enjoys it too. Unfortunately, it causes my baby a very bad colic!! I only gave him 3 times and that's about it. I gave all the remaining stocks to my 8mos nephew. Luckily he accepts them well. Kalau tak, membazir aje.
I also have made purée from papaya. This is the easiest purée ever as it doesn't require cooking. I only have to blend them and freeze! It works wonders on lazy or busy days. Easy peasy lemon squeezy as you only have to remove the seeds, blend and mix with your baby's usual milk. Tak mencabar langsung hahahaha.
When my baby turns 7mos, Mommy gets even more adventurous. I made a purée of butternut squash mix with pears. It tasted good too! I got my butternut squash from Cold Storage. It costed about RM10+ depending on the weight. Worry not, if you cannot find butternut squash, you can substitute it with pumpkin instead. They tasted just the same. Since the sweet potato tragedy that causes bad colic to my baby, I get a little paranoid but from the advise of friends on Facebook, she says to put a tiny slices of ginger when we boil/steam the pumpkin (or any type of windy ingredients). I also blend them together. Not too much because I am afraid the strong ginger taste might overpower the sweetness of butternut squash. I think it works out fine to my baby. He didn't has any colic consuming this. Alhamdulillah.
Last week I just started to introduced him to berries and citrus fruits. It is not advisable to introduce your baby citrus or berries as his first weaning because it can trigger a reaction but rarely cause a true allergy. It only good to introduce them after the first stage of introducing solid. The recipes say to use apple but I think somebody ate the apples I bought week earlier, hence I am replacing it with banana instead. This is I think the best and most delicious purée I've ever made. It tasted like berries yogurt yums. If my baby doesn't like it, I am gonna finish them myself. Hahaha. Boy, he loves it so much that the normal portion is not enough! I'd even gave a portion to my 9mo nephew last Raya and he cried when the purée finished. Alololo...sorry sayang. So Mommies, it is totally recommended! Delicious! The only downside is that, peach is quite pricey here in Malaysia. One piece I bought costed at RM7.90. But, we only give the best to our baby right? :) My MIL even said peaches are like Jambu here in Malaysia easy to get while she was in US for years. Jambu kat sana harga 7 USD kot?
As a working mother, I do not have the privileges to make my baby food fresh from kitchen to tummy every day. Need not to worry who's with me because through my reading, frozen food is as good as fresh food as long as we prepare it correctly with the freshest ingredients. Then, we have to cool them first after cooking before freezing. Temperature is vital here. Then, if you have defrost and reheat them and it left unfinished, throw them away. Food that has been reheated cannot be frozen again. I think it's the same goes with frozen ebm and stuff right? I usually make my baby food on weekly basis. So, my MIL who taking care of my baby can just take one portion out and heat them up.
For heating up, I would just use my Tommee Tippee warmer by putting the storage inside it. And recently I just bought Baby Bullet Steamer for steaming vegetable and reheating the food. I haven't use it yet thus unable to give any reviews.
As for this week's menu, I made potato+carrot+corn for him. It's the first time I use starchy ingredient for my baby. I add extra corn to make the purée sweeter so my baby can easily accept it. He eat them fine, Alhamdulillah for this easy baby. The texture quite thick compared to the other purées I have made probably because of the starchy content of potatoes.
As a mother, of course we wanted to give the best for our baby right? To tell the truth, I am enjoying making my baby's food. It give me some kind of happy feeling especially when my baby finishes his meal that I cooked. I think, if there is no one watching, I might shed a tears or two. Hahaha. Such an emotional Mommy!
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