Ideas for home made puree baby food

[Blue2017]

Hello, my lo is now due to go onto solids and I'd love to make my own but I'm stuck for ideas on dinner options for lunch/tea I'm looking for some ideas my lo is dairy intolerant and is possibly intolerant to other foods as didn't cope with my breast milk very well x

*There is no way I would give lightly steamed carrots to a rookie eater to manage for themselves. Spoon feeding is a lot easier on the nerves than watching a 6 month old choking.

They would be steamed within an inch of their lives.*

I find this very interesting. I weaned my first back in the day when Weaning at 17 weeks was considered by some to be late. By 6 months almost all babies were probably still having purees but along with those, it was perfectly normal to give them things like cheese on toast, toast, cheese straws, sandwiches etc.

It’s only recently that I’ve started seeing posts on MN where people seem to be in a blind panic about giving a 6 month old food to eat themselves and I’m not sure where this panic is coming from. It’s as if some people, maybe not you pebbles, seem to think that babies who are only fed purees don’t choke, which simply isn’t true and those given “finger foods” automatically will choke which again just isn’t true.

My second was weaned just before 6 months and was a spoon refuser so never really had purees. She didn’t even gag let along choke, so living proof that you can give them lightly steamed carrots without them automatically choking

My dd gagged violently on a piece of very soft cooked carrot stick this eve (she was being closely supervised but sucked a biggish chunk off which went to the back of her mouth). It happens but it was frankly Terrifying.

Am a fan of purees to get the calories in and for safety..... and will continue with very soft Items for closely observed finger feeding (with caution from now on)!

There are very little calories in purée.

Depends what's been puréed, surely.

I’m presuming fruit and veg rather than pizza or sticky toffee pudding.

My babies were born in the 1990s and one in 2001 (five of them). They were weaned to solids back in the days when babies were weaned before 6 months.

I have worked as a nanny too, and even then with BLW coming on the scene and with later weaning the norm, choking was still considered a reality, and a hazard to be avoided.

I never saw babies of 6 months eating sandwiches or even sandwiches cut into small pieces. Maybe rusks, crusts of toast, toasted bagels or frozen bagels they could chew on, but nothing that could form a wad and block the airway.

It's not blind panic. It's common sense that dares to look a fad (BLW) in the eye and challenge some of its 'wisdom'. Babies do choke. As you rightly point out they can choke on puree, and if that is the case they can choke on 'lightly steamed' carrots too, all the moreso because a lightly steamed carrot chunk can't be chewed by someone with very few teeth.

I haven't said they will 'automatically' choke. Nobody would give a baby food they would automatically choke on.

I have stated the obvious fact that a relatively crunchy 'lightly steamed carrot' would be a greater hazard than a softer food. Softer foods are much safer. Carrots steamed to a soft consistency and then diced are safer than anything still crunchy or not mashable.

Not all babies are spoon refusers. BLW notwithstanding, puree is the preferred option for millions of babies, advancing gradually to more lumpy mashes and on to diced fruits and veg, toast/pancakes/waffles cut into tiny squares, shredded meats, scrambled egg, and other foods easy to manage for those who have no teeth or only front teeth.

There is simply no way I would risk giving a baby new to the mechanical act of swallowing solids anything that wasn't very soft.

The calorie load of any pureed food depends on the food itself.

You can steam veg and fruit and thus add very little water, then puree in the blender, adding just enough of the steaming water to facilitate blending. You will end up with a puree that is not watery.

Put purée tends to get more calories into the baby - rather than a stick of avocado smashed off the forehead.

Horses for courses. BLW is shown to be better for speech development. And there is much to be learned from playing with food, much more than having it shovelled in.

Bulk of calories should still come from milk until 12 months. Food is much lower in calories so the wrong thing to focus on IMO.

Speech development happens thanks to a variety of factors, the most significant being an engaged and enthusiastic caregiver who talks, sings, plays, mimics, surrounds the baby with language and provides a reward for producing appropriate sounds when they come - 'byebye', 'dada', 'mama', 'more', 'up', etc.. After that comes doing away with dummies.

Babies provide plenty of oral or lingual exercise for themselves by putting a variety of objects in their mouths and chewing them, rolling them around, etc. They don't do it just to relieve teething pain.

BLW is touted here as the greatest development in child development and parenting strategies since the advent of sliced bread. However, history shows that the many generations of babies who were fed puree or rusks in milk or pablum learned to speak just fine.

@TittyGolightly that's now been debunked and food is very important before one.

Supporting evidence, please?

368 calories per cup mashed avocado
126 calories per cup mashed carrots
250 calories per cup mashed sweet potato (plain)
210 calories per cup mashed white potato (plain)
265 calories per cup mashed stewed prunes
200 calories per cup mashed banana
88 calories per cup mashed butternut squash
74 calories per cup mashed strawberries
310 calories per cup full fat Greek yogurt - more if fruit added
117 calories per cup mashed cooked peas

Babies need more cholesterol and fats than children or adults do.
Babies over 6 months also need vitamin D and iron, and zinc.
Between 6 and 10 months it is important to introduce babies to a wide variety of flavours, and to gradually introduce them to a variety of lumpier textures. This is an important window that is missed by parents who are proceeding on the belief that food is just complementary to a basically liquid diet up to one year.

Babies need more cholesterol and fats than children or adults do.

Only 2 of the 10 things you’ve listed contain significant levels of fat and I believe none provide much cholesterol.

Babies over 6 months also need vitamin D and iron, and zinc.

Not much of those in any of what you have listed.

Between 6 and 10 months it is important to introduce babies to a wide variety of flavours, and to gradually introduce them to a variety of lumpier textures. This is an important window that is missed by parents who are proceeding on the belief that food is just complementary to a basically liquid diet up to one year.

It’s not “missing a window” because the child is discovering taste and texture just as much as the purée fed child. It just doesn’t provide the bulk of their calorie intake.

Where’s the scientific source for your info?

The list was not related to the comment on fats and cholesterol except indirectly. It was meant to illustrate that different foods commonly eaten by babies over 6 months offer significantly different amounts of calories, and also that solid foods do offer calories. In fact, it is advised not to give babies solids before 4 months partly because of the risk of making babies too fat.

Babies need the iron, zinc and vitamin D after 6 months. There are other foods that I could have included on my list that do provide those elements - spinach, broccoli and other greens, prunes, mushrooms, pulses/lentils, meats, sweet potatoes, winter squash, some grains such as quinoa, tofu, egg yolks, tuna, sardines. Vitamin C improves iron absorption. Red meat and yogurt are good sources for zinc. Vitamin D can come from mushrooms, or a supplement, or sun exposure (not available to all infants).

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528681/

More from the Canadian pediatric organisation:
www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/feeding_your_baby_in_the_first_year

And more here too:
www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/infant-feeding/nutrition-healthy-term-infants-recommendations-birth-six-months/6-24-months.html
Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants: Recommendations from Six to 24 Months
A joint statement of Health Canada, Canadian Paediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada, and Breastfeeding Committee for Canada

This statement by the Infant Feeding Joint Working Group provides health professionals with evidence-informed principles and recommendations. Provinces, territories, and health organizations can use it as a basis for developing practical feeding guidelines for parents and caregivers in Canada.

The statement promotes accurate and consistent messaging on nutrition for older infants and young children from six to 24 months of age.

• Recommend gradually increasing the number of times a day that complementary foods are offered while continuing to breastfeed.
• Recommend iron-rich meat, meat alternatives, and iron-fortified cereal as the first complementary foods. Encourage parents and caregivers to progress to introduce a variety of nutritious foods from the family meals.
• Ensure that lumpy textures are offered no later than nine months. Encourage progress towards a variety of textures, modified from family foods, by one year of age.

Of course the Canadians could be completely wrong.

I really hate that when anyone asks about using purées half the responses are trying to get the OP to do BLW. BLW is just one way of feeding your child. People talk about jaw muscle and speech development. Are there 4 year olds out there who can't speak (or are delayed) because they were fed purées?

We did a mix of both. If you're looking for ideas and guidance I thought the Ella's Kitchen First Foods book was brilliant on early weaning and puree ideas. They had some good suggestions for getting spices into food quite early as well to get them used to tastes. If you can get a copy I think it's worth having. Mine is tattered and food stained, which is always the sign of a good cook book. The other cook book I would look at is Nigella's How To Eat, it has a feeding babies and children section that is definitely worth a read.

To answer your actual question though, mash and cheese, red lentils with tinned tomatoes and sweet potatoes, butternut squash with anything, and for dessert blitz some mango with coconut milk and a splash of vanilla essence.

Oh, and frozen peas and cooked leeks blitzed with a wee bit of fresh mint. I ate most of that tbh, was delicious.

Beets are nice pureed too - you can cook them in the microwave, then peel and puree with some water added, and as baby gets older you can mash them (remember to poke them with a fork first or you will end up with a microwave that looks like the Texas chainsaw massacre).

Beets and stewed apple is a nice combo when you've moved past the single food at a time stage.