The introduction of complementary foods is always felt as a transition to a new level of development and growing up a child. More recently, the peanut knew nothing but his mother’s chest, and now he, as an adult, sits in his chair and tries new food from a spoon. No matter how grandmothers try to insist that they need to be fed from 3 months, current WHO recommendations inform that feeding should be administered no earlier than six months. The best option for first feeding is not Apple juice, which was given to babies about 20 years ago, and vegetable purees.
A few words about complementary foods
Porridge can also be considered as the first feeding, it depends on the characteristics of the development of the child. Usually cereals are administered when the baby poorly gaining weightbecause they are more nutritious and high in calories. If your little one does not have problems with weight gain, it is better to start with vegetables.
We also read: First lure - basic input rules
When a baby sucks on demand, it is guaranteed to have enough nutrients. The purpose of complementary foods in this case is not to make up for the lack of vitamins, as was thought some time ago, but to begin to acquaint the baby with different tastes and prepare him for solid foods. This means that mothers do not need to try to feed the baby puree at any cost. Feeding should not displace breast milk; feeding is not a substitute for feeding (unless you are in the process of weaning).
Vegetable complementary foods: basic rules
- You need to start introducing vegetables into the baby’s diet with one-component mashed potatoes. First, the baby tries all the vegetables recommended for his age separately, and only then it is worth giving puree consisting of several vegetables.
- The best option if the first lure will consist of zucchini, cauliflower or broccoli. Then gradually you can introduce pumpkin, carrots, kohlrabi, potatoes.
- Usually, complementary foods are introduced according to the standard scheme: start with 1 teaspoon and bring the daily portion to 50 grams, but if the baby refuses, we postpone the complementary foods for a week and try again or change the product.
- Salt or sweeten vegetable purees for the child is not worth it. For adults, whose taste preferences have already formed, unsalted vegetable purees seem unimaginable disgust, but the kid, who has nothing to compare with yet, perceives this taste in a completely different way. It is important for the child to try the “pure” tastes of the products.
- If you plan to purchase factory-made mashed potatoes - carefully read the composition. In addition to vegetables and water in a jar, nothing should be.
- Vegetable puree can be easily prepared at home. For these purposes, it is better to take vegetables from your own garden or at least grown in your area. Imported vegetables from store shelves are not credible because they may contain nitrates.By the way, if the introduction of complementary foods falls on the “off season”, when there are no fresh vegetables, the pre-made frozen preparations will go perfectly.
Video: the most common mistakes in the management of infant feeding:
DIY vegetable puree
Preparing vegetable puree for the baby is not at all difficult. A few simple recipes will help moms navigate the cooking technology.
Zucchini puree
Zucchini peeled and peeled and cut into rings. We put a few rings in the bowl of the double boiler (for lack of such a device, you can simply cook in the kitchen in water or make a double boiler from a pot of boiling water and a sieve installed on top). Zucchini is cooked very quickly - after 7-10 minutes it is ready. Grinding boiled zucchini to a homogeneous state is not easy, since this vegetable is very fibrous. To make the mashed potatoes surely homogeneous and airy, you can use a blender, and then pass the whole mass through a fine sieve. It is better to cool the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator - this reduces the risk of bacteria multiplying in the dishes with mashed potatoes, because in the home kitchen it is impossible to observe sterility. Such puree is stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, it needs to be heated in portions. Expressed breast milk, olive oil can be added to the warmed-up portion of complementary foods.
Mashed cabbage, broccoli and potatoes
Boil 1 potato and several broccoli inflorescences (can be steamed). In proportion, potatoes should be smaller than broccoli, since starchy vegetables are hard to digest. Grind boiled vegetables with a blender or wipe through a sieve, adding a little vegetable broth. After cooling, mashed potatoes can be given to the baby. The rule of expressed milk or vegetable oil is also applicable in this case.
Pumpkin Puree
Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut into small pieces. We spread about 200 grams of sliced vegetable on a baking sheet, pour a little water, cover with foil and set to bake for 20 minutes. When the pumpkin is ready, grind the slices in a known manner, cool, add breast milk or vegetable oil and the mash is ready.
It is better to introduce pumpkin into the diet of the child in the last rows. It is believed that this vegetable can cause allergies. In addition, there is an opinion that pumpkins are fastened, so you definitely need to monitor the reaction of the child.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with: if the child does not want to eat complementary foods (what to do)
Video: vegetable puree recipe
It usually takes a month or a half to get to know different vegetables. After the introduction of complementary foods, the consistency and smell of the stool changes - this is completely normal. According to WHO recommendations, at the same time as the introduction of the first feeding, you can start giving your baby a drink (pure water, fruit drink).
Starting to give the child “adult” food, our goal is to arouse food interest, and not repulse it. Excessive perseverance in this matter is useless. Some babies immediately and with appetite begin to eat vegetables, others boycott this stage and the whole feeding scheme, but by the year they are all quite capable of eating food from the parent's table. In any case, get a baby spoon and try different schemes.
Read on:
I didn’t cook vegetable purees myself, I bought ready-made ones. I chose the firm Bibikol mashed potatoes. They come with vitamins and vegetables. They started, as is customary, with Broccoli, and then gradually introduced other vegetables. Now they have already begun to eat the bullseye.
Of course, it’s quite realistic to make mashed potatoes, but it’s expensive in time, and the necessary vegetables are not always at hand. We had time for complementary foods just in the winter time, so I definitely decided to buy only canned food. We really liked the BIBIKOL puree, my daughter ate them with appetite, I didn’t have to run after her with a spoon)) Pureshki really tastes very good and pleases that they are without any chemistry, the kids only have the best and most useful.
Our baby was born at the end of August, and we started harvesting zucchini, on the advice of friends, at the beginning of the summer, also frozen pumpkin and broccoli. We live outside the city, and our parents have our own garden, so we had no problems with confidence in vegetables. Lure began at the end of winter, zucchini went very well, pumpkin, too, more or less, if you give another grated apple, but I refused to eat cabbage at all. Only when vegetables were already mixed did they add little by little.
Margarita, it is disgusting when they try to impose advertisements as a personal opinion.
Thank you very much to the author of the article - everything is described and described in an affordable and complete way!
However, if you intend to store the dish in a freezer or refrigerator, do not add milk to it. The dish is recommended to be diluted with water. Use the one in which you cooked the puree ingredients. Such water has taken most of the vitamins.
Grandfather pressed us a package of mashed vegetables Bibikol. They ate the whole family, but they ended quickly))) they are very tasty, the son ate them with such pleasure that he did not get enough)) I recommend for those who like yummy