Prepare baby food or cereal at home

Parents will be under utter confusion when their tiny tot is 4 months old. Now they have to introduce him to the world of solid foods. Numerous advertisements on TVs and magazines about baby formula foods aggravate the state of confusion. Did our parents and grandparents face the same dilemma when we were young? How did they react to this situation?

We discussed this topic with elders. We stumbled upon many easy solutions which were healthy, nutritious, devoid of any chemical preservatives and prepared at home with love and care. Here are few recipes for your precious one.

After fourth month baby requires solid food to cater to its growing needs. For this various vegetables like beans, carrots, green leaves and pulses can be cooked in pressure cooker. The contents are mashed and strained. The soft semi solid food is fed to baby with small spoon. Take care to select only one vegetable at a time. Cook only few small pieces of it and mash them well. A dash of salt and sugar can be added to enhance taste. Feed this according to baby’s needs. Do not compel him to consume more. Follow his instincts of likes and dislikes. (Usually in beginning baby may take one or two small spoons of this).Continuing breast milk along with these is very essential as breast milk provides complete nourishment.

When baby is 7 months old the following cereal meals, prepared at home, can be fed.

Rice cereal:

Ingredients –

Basumathi rice – 1 cup
Moong dal or green gram-1/4 cup
Jeera or cumin seeds – ¼ spoon

Roast rice and green gram separately till they turn little golden yellow. Roast cumin seeds till they crackle. Turn off heat. Allow all the ingredients to cool to room temperature. Mix all ingredients and coarsely powder them in a blender. Store it in an airtight container. Required quantity of this has to be cooked well in boiling water (hardly takes 5-6 minutes to get cooked) along with little salt and sugar to bring it to a soft semi solid state. Boiled and mashed vegetables can be added to this to enhance nutrition value.

Instead of cumin seeds, powder of elaichi (cardamom) can be added to make a sweet variant of this. Mashed fruits enhance the nutrition value and taste of this cereal.

Ragi cereal

Ragi is minor millet which is a store house of nutrients. The bioavailability of nutrients has increased its nutrition value. Wash ragi and drain excess water. Spread it on a clean cloth and allow it to dry in shade. Roast it in a thick bottomed woke till one or two of it pops. This has to be floured in flour mill. Sieve this flour to remove husk. Store it in an airtight container. This has to be cooked in boiling water to semi solid state. Boiled vegetables or mashed fruits can be added to increase nutritional value of this.

Caution:
1. Please consult your pediatrician before introducing your toddler to solid food.
2. Researchers advise to breast feed baby till he is 2 years.
3. If he develops allergy to any vegetables, fruits or cereal consult pediatrician immediately