Ruth's Blog
What Foods Should be the “First Foods” for Your Baby, Part 1
If the most popular question about feeding baby is “When”, the second most popular question has got to be, “What?” In a recent post we discussed your baby’s first meal. In this post and the next, we will cover, in a bit more detail some first food choices for your baby.
The first foods you should feed your baby are those that are easily digested and least likely to trigger an allergic reaction. The most recommended first food is commercial iron-enriched baby cereal. You and your pediatrician should decide which food should be given to your baby at her very first meal.
Commercial iron-fortified baby rice cereal is the first choice of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Rice is easily digested, is rarely an allergen, and thins readily when added to liquid. Most commercial cereals, are refined and processed. Earth’s best brand, however, is not. It is made from whole brown rice and is organic. If you would like to you a commercial brand, I suggest you use Earth’s Best.
If your baby is at least 6 months old, I recommend homemade whole grain brown rice or millet cereal as baby’s first food (ie. Super Baby Porridge). These cereals are easily digested, but your baby must be at least 6 months old before he has the necessary digestive enzymes to handle the complex carbohydrates in these cereals.
For an informative video that describes baby’s first foods, check out the video starring Ruth Yaron and Cindy Crawford.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of First Foods right here at the Super Baby Food Blog.
Fun, Healthy Toddler Recipe, for Your Super Toddler
If you make eating healthy foods fun, healthy eaters will be created. Kids think it’s lots of fun when you make playful, decorative food. Decorating only takes a few seconds, but it makes your child feel very special. For the older than 1 child, try creating a recipe like Apple Smiley Face (recipe below) and then decorating with fruits and vegetables. Once the recipe is completed and placed on your child’s plate in a pancake-shaped face, use decorative touches to add eyes (cooked egg slices or halved grapes), a nose (raisin or carob chip), mouth (orange section) and hair (curly carrot peel). This recipe is healthy all around and fun! Any healthy food can go through the same decorative transformation.
Here’s the Apple Smiley face recipe:
To make a “pancake,” grate a well-scrubbed organic apple with peel in a processor (or use organic no-sugar-added applesauce). Mix with 1-2 tablespoons natural peanut butter or other nut butter to make a slightly thick “dough.” Optionally add 1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave nectar (a healthy sweetener that can be found in natural foods stores) and a pinch of cinnamon and/or some flax seed oil or freshly ground flax seeds. Grate an apple in a processor.
Enjoy your toddler’s enjoyment of this Super Snack!
How Large Is a Baby Food Serving? More Information to Feed Your Super Baby
In the Super Baby Food, I write about the “food serving.” Here’s more information about the “food serving” as it relates to your baby.
The amount of food in a serving varies tremendously with the day and the baby. The formal, technical definition of a baby food serving is “however much your baby will eat.” The point is that there is no absolute size or standardized amount of food that constitutes a serving for a baby. But to give you rough idea, the hypothetical average beginning eater’s food serving probably falls somewhere between 1 and 4 tablespoons.
A major part of the Super Baby Food System is the preparation of ice-cube sized frozen vegetable cubes. For beginners, a serving size is generally 1/2 veggie cube to 2 veggie cubes. Start by giving your beginning eater a food cube made by filling the ice cube about half-way. If she wants another, she”ll let you know.
Another major part of the Super Baby Food System is the home-making of whole grain cereals, like Super Baby Porridge. A food serving of homemade cereal for beginning eaters is 1/4 – 1/2 cup of cooked cereal. This equates to 1-2 tablespoons of dry uncooked cereal before it’s stirred into boiling water. Remember that “baby serving’ is VERY flexible. All babies are different and all appetites are different – it’s simply a rough idea. Give your baby as much as he will eat, but watch carefully for signals that he has had enough, and don’t try to feed him more food after he loses interest.
Watch for our next blog post on similar-sized food servings to help with the balance of your baby’s Super Baby Food Diet.
Can a Commercial Cereal Baby Food Eater Change to Super Baby Porridge?
Moms who have already started feeding their baby commercial baby cereal wonder if they can convert their baby to eat Super Baby Porridge after discovering it’s benefits in Super Baby Food. In a word…the answer is, “yes.”
Of course, it is best to start your baby out on Super Porridge from the very beginning. But for those babies who have already had the commercial and prefer it over homemade Super Porridge, try this: Mix just a bit of Super Porridge into foods that your baby loves, such as pureed veggies/fruits or mix a small amount into the commercial baby cereal. Gradually increase the amount of Super Porridge until most or all of the food is Super Porridge.
Has anyone had success with a Super Baby Porridge switch? Please share your success story with us.
The Starting Baby on Super Baby Solid Food Shopping List
Starting solids is an important time for Mom and baby. For many moms, the first question is always, “Where do I start? If you are a fan of Super Baby Food, you have already heard of the Super Baby Diet – a detailed description of what to feed baby and when which is outlined in Super Baby Food. For beginner’s though, starting is easy, and the shopping list even easier. Here are the first foods you should buy and the order that you will need them as your baby grows:
- Brown rice
- Millet
- Oatmeal / rolled oats
- pearled barley
- yogurt
- tofu
- eggs
- juices
- tahini
- Oatios
- brewers yeast
- wheat germ
- lentils
- split peas
- beans
- bulgur
- non-germinated cornmeal
- whole wheat pasta
And here’s the best part, if you are just starting, simply buy the first two (brown rice and millet), and buy the rest as you need it! You will be a pro in no time at all. Check out the free, downloadable Super Baby Food Diet Daily Worksheet to help, too!
The Super Baby Food Diet Daily Worksheet – Free – For You To Download
You have spoken and we have listened. We proudly present the Super Baby Food Diet Daily Worksheet, free for you to download at your leisure. This is the same worksheet featured in Ruth Yaron’s Super Baby Food.
We know this tool will help your meet your Super Baby feeding needs! Click here to download The Super Baby Food Diet Daily Worksheet.
Super Porridge by Super Baby Food Author, Ruth Yaron
One of the most popular topics in my book, Super Baby Food is also the most important part of The Super Baby Food Diet described in the book. I call it, Super Porridge. Super Porridge is easy to make, full of organic, superior nutrition AND money saving. What’s more, the porridge is flexible so that it can be part of a toddler diet, a young person’s diet, and even Mom and Dad’s diet.
Super Porridge is made from whole grains. It’s super easy to make. Making your own baby food is not only the best you can offer your baby it is also amazingly satisfying experience. As your baby grows, just a few tweaks to consistency and ingredients can provide the flexibility to keep your baby satisfied and growing.
In this blog post, I am going to share the basic Super Porridge recipe.
Remember: most babies will start “solid” foods between the ages of 4 – 6 months. Check with your pediatrician before starting on solid foods before you get your baby started on solid food.
- Measure 1 cup of water on the stove to boil.
- Measure ¼ cup brown rice into your blender. Grind well, for about 2 minutes. (it’s going to be very loud, but it’s important to let the blender grind the brown rice down) If you have a coffee grinder, you may find it works better than a blender. Do not use a food processor as it does not grind grains well.
- When the water starts to boil on the stove, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
- Sprinkle the ground rice into the water while stirring briskly with a wire whisk.
- Cover the pot and keep it on low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Stir frequently with the whisk to prevent scorching on the bottom and to remove lumps.
- Let cool
The recipe above will yield 2 – ½ cup servings for your baby. Feed some now and save some for later by dividing the porridge in 3 individual containers with lids. Cooked Super Porridge will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Other grains that can be used to make Super Porridge for baby include: Quinoa, Barley, Oatmeal, and Millet. Once baby reaches 9 months, Super Porridge can be infused with more protein by adding the ground legumes to the ground brown rice or other grains and prepared as above.
My Super Porridge is practical, nutritionally superior, easy to make and cost-saving – your baby will thank you for it someday. More information can be found in my book Super Baby Food and in future blog posts. You can watch Cindy Crawford demonstrate the making of Super Porridge by visiting our You Tube account.
Moms Are Talking About: Feeding Baby Kale
Everybody is talking about kale and how to prepare it to feed your baby. Kale is a Super Duper Green! Get your baby used to the flavor and stir a kale cube into your baby’s Super Porridge as often as possible!
To prepare Kale:
- swish in a sink full of cold water
- remove the stems
- Place washed greens in a dish and cover. (Don’t add water, the rinsing water still left clinging to the leaves is enough for cooking)
- Microwave on high about 7 minutes per pound.
- Stir halfway through cooking time.
- Let stand covered for 2 minutes
- Puree and freeze using the Food Cube Method for up to 2 months.
Remember that:
Baby must be at least 9 months old for cooked greens, 10 months old for finely chopped raw greens.
The FDA cautions that nitrates in kale, and other vegetables, could be dangerous to your baby before he is 7 months old.
Here is more information about nitrates in baby food from www.wholesomebabyfood.com.
Enjoy your kale!
