DEAL IT LIKE THIS
•4-6 months: First tastes
•Having established the general guidelines, here we are at a crucial question: what should weaning start off with? Normally one simply starts with fruit (purée or homogenized) since it is more likely to be liked by the baby thanks to its naturally sweet taste. In actual fact, there is nothing to stop you from beginning with vegetables, which are just as digestible and light, starting with carrots, potatoes and courgettes that are sweeter in taste. Other vegetables can then be added to the food, such as lettuce and French beans, so that after 2-3 weeks you can make a substantial vegetable broth. On this subject, keep in mind that steam cooking best preserves the nutritional content of vegetables.
•QUESTION:Organic vegetables, fruit and baby food is talked about a lot, but are they really beneficial for babies’ diets?
•They are extremely beneficial because babies are more sensitive than adults to the harmful effects of chemical substances, such as pesticide residues in agriculture. Babies’ particular sensitivity is due both to their cells’ fast rate of growth – a characteristic of infancy – and to the fact that the body of newborn babies, which is still immature, has greater difficulty eliminating toxic substances. may progress to two meals of solid food a day. When choosing fruit and vegetables, avoid giving your baby items like such as tomatoes, strawberries and kiwis that are more prone to producing allergies. Try not to put baby food and broth in the bottle to encourage your baby to eat more willingly and finish the meal more hastily. Patience is very importantas baby has to learn to eat in a new way, very gradually, and with all the time that is necessary.
•USEFUL ADVICE: How much, what, and how
•During the initial weaning period, one meal of solid food per day is sufficient for your baby (it generally substitutes the midday feed), keeping the other meals milk based. Vegetable baby food alone is not very nutritious, however, and if, a short while after eating it, your child wants some milk, there is no reason to say no.
•5-6 months: Time for cereals
•Once your little champion eats vegetable baby food with no problem, you can then add cereals. To start off, a couple of teaspoons of rice, maize or tapioca baby cereal will do fine. After the first few tastes, gradually increase the quantity, introducing small amounts of semolina and also tiny pasta shapes. The food becomes more substantial with the addition of cereals – enriching itself with starch and protein – and is the chances are that it will manage to completely satisfy a meal’s nutritional requirements. It is therefore quite normal if, your child does not want to drink milk shortly afterwards
•USEFUL ADVICE: Watch out for gluten and choose the right condiments Prior to 6 months, there is no need to give your baby food containing gluten so as to prevent a possible intolerance towards it. Wheat and its by-products should be avoided, whereas you can use baby rice cereal and maize/tapioca cereal without any problem as naturally they do not contain gluten. As a condiment, always opt for “extra virgin olive oil”and not “olive oil”. There is a considerable difference: not having undergone any chemical refining treatment, extra virgin olive oil contains unaltered aromatic substances (that facilitate digestion) and, above all, Vitamin E – an extremely useful, natural anti-oxidant. Rather than adding salt to give the baby food more taste, use a tiny bit of parmesan cheese. In the right quantities, these cheeses are ideal from the very first months as they are very digestible, do not have too high a fat content and are extremely rich in calcium.
•7-8 months: Meat and cheese
•You can now add meat to the vegetables – a precious food for growth, even if not essential. It is an excellent source of “noble” proteins (rich in essential amino acids, special substances that the body cannot produce on its own) and is a good source of iron, but if initially your baby does not like it, there is no problem: you can try again at a later date. As of seven months, in addition to parmesan cheese, you can begin to give your child a few other cheeses, starting with those packaged in glass and made specially for children, progressing to other items like ricotta or other fresh cheeses, such as crescenza or stracchino.
•USEFUL ADVICE: Tiny pasta shapes, ham and…water You can now go ahead and give your child his/her first pasta. When choosing, it is best to choose a pasta specially made for infants which, compared to normal pasta, is smaller and enriched with specific nutritional elements. Near to seven months, you may also include homogenized cooked ham (free of polyphosphates) in your child’s diet. Remember though that your little one must drink a lot. With solid food, in fact, the waste load that the kidneys find themselves having to dispose of increases, and water helps them in this task. Choose preferably mineral water low in saline content.
•8-9 months: Time for fish and eggs
•One of the healthiest of foods is fish, however, amongst those to which children are at a greater risk of allergies. This is why it is best to delay its introduction to after seven months of age. At the beginning, after homogenized fish, fish that is low in fat and easier to clean is perfect, such as sole, trout or hake – steamed, carefully boned and blended so as to minimize the risk of including a bone. As for egg, another allergy risk food, you can start off with the yolk which is less problematic than the white. To begin with, try adding a spoon of yolk to the broth: if all goes well, slowly increase the dose and, towards the end of the first year, give your child also the white–always well cooked because heat reduces its allergic properties and facilitates digestion.
•QUESTION:Is fish also good frozen?
•Absolutely. Fresh fish is no better than frozen fish in terms of nutrition and the latter provides a greater guarantee of hygiene. What’s more, it is so handy to prepare with your new baby food processor.
• USEFUL ADVICE: Very fresh eggs and no cow’s milk as yet he day’s food is by now organized into four meals: two that are milk based and two lots of solid food, alternating meat, cheese, ham, fish and egg yolk as sources of protein. As for milk, it is not yet time for cow’s milk. Wait until your child is a year old before introducing it. With regard to eggs, freshness is mandatory. Always check the expiry date on the package: according to the law, eggs last for 4 weeks, but for babies during the period of weaning, it is best to select ones that are extra fresh, of the type “A extra” category, that have been laid less than 9 days before.