baby r's weaning! (The Beginning Stage i)

I wanted to document baby r's weaning when she started but yup decemeber was a busy month to do so! but i kept a good record of the food i prepared for baby r. this is for my own record and hopefully for the next baby. Wanted to share my experience and the things i do so that whoever, be it my siblings, my cousins, my friends and any mothers out there, who need information on weaning, feeding baby solids, hope that this will be helpful to all! For baby food related entries, i will tag them as BABY MENU! i am still experimenting and so far baby r enjoys her food and i love feeding her cos it makes me feel good!

Should baby start with fruit or vegetable?

Expert Answers - Bridget Swinney, nutritionist
There are no hard and fast rules about which to introduce first, and it makes no difference to your baby in terms of ease of digestion. Some experts recommend starting with fruit first, because it's sweet, like breast milk. Others say that because humans have an innate preference for sweets, it makes sense to introduce vegetables before fruits, so that your baby will be more likely to accept them. If you do start with veggies, your best bet is mild-flavored varieties like sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, peas, and green beans. Just remember that it might take ten tries for your baby to actually accept a new food, so don't give up!

Decemeber 9th - My choice was APPLE! before i decided i didnt read the article above... i simply tot it would be nice for her to have apple as its sweet and easier for her to like. i didnt want her to have a bad start... to me, vegetables seems harder to give on its own... bought my favourite USA organice red apples and i didnt boil it or puree it... i simply scape it finely with the spoon and fed her, didnt use lemon to prevent the fruit from turning brown as i didnt want baby r to taste anything sour on her 1st try. she love her 1st bite! so i fed her 3 days with apples and next i started her on porridge. 

i took out the feeding combi set that we received from a friend for baby r's 1st month. i like the bowls and cups provided in that set. then i chanced upon Combi's cooking set for baby. 2 boxes left on the shelf and i had to have one of them! they provide 3 different sieve or grater for mummy's to prepare the food for different months old baby! i started using the green sieve to puree baby r's veg and fruits. soon i will be changing to the next grater to prep baby r's food as to help her start chewing! i love the set as the ladle provided is very useful and the bottom of the bowl has lines to help mash food finely for baby! its also compact to keep as they are stackable with a lid.

December 14th - baby 1st porridge was horrible! i didnt know how much stock, how long to cook it and i got all nervous as i can't help thinking that it must be perfect as i dun like to be nagged at and didnt want it to fail infront of my mil. and yes, I FAILED on my 1st attempt. i really wanted baby r to have a good meal ... and my anxiety got hold of me. my 1st porridge was under-cooked. too little stock and afraid that i might burn the little porridge i had in the pot, i gave it too quick a stir and decided to turn the flame down too fast! the grater carrots seem nice but not with the porridge... bits of the hard rice still stayed hard and i tot it was becos it wasnt grated fine enough... or the washed rice wasnt able to absorb any more water... silly me...

day 2 - i got up earlier and set my mind at peace and i started experimenting with the exact amount i use. i was determined to find the right amount equation! i managed to cook the right consistency for the porridge! a little too thick in texture but it was so much better than my 1st try! so much smoother! then i was in the mood to try the taste of the fresh carrot puree.... its so SWEET! gosh didnt know that carrots can be that sweet on its own! baby r had this for at least 4-5days before i go on to try the next vegetable.

Introduce new foods one at a time

Even though the restrictions on what to feed babies have loosened, this old rule on how to feed them still stands: Offer new foods one at a time, and wait at least three days before moving on to the next new food. This way, if your baby reacts badly, you'll know what caused it.

Signs of an allergic reaction include diarrhea, a bloated tummy, increased gas, and rash. If your baby consistently has mild symptoms after eating a particular food, consult your baby's doctor. The doctor may refer you to a pediatric allergist for allergy testing.If your baby has severe symptoms – such as trouble breathing, swelling of the face or lips, or severe vomiting or diarrhea after eating – call your local emergency number right away. A severe allergic reaction can close your baby's airway within minutes.


Keep in mind that the one-at-a-time rule isn't foolproof for catching allergies. It's possible for babies to have an allergic reaction to a food even if they've eaten it before with no problem. This can occur especially if their first few exposures to the food were small amounts of it in a different food – for example, a muffin made with eggs or milk.

the recipe for baby's porridge

100ml stock

1 slightly heap chinese soup spoon of grounded rice

RICE

Wash the rice grains and dry them thoroughly before using the machine to grind it fine.

Store in an air-tight container and its be kept in the fridge. 

Always use a dry spoon.

Method

Defrost the stock. Even if the stock is not completely defrost, it can be done so, over the stove.

Don't have to wait for the stock to boil, add the grounded rice and keep stirring to prevent lumps.

Let it simmer over the fire to thicken but do occasionally stir it to prevent burnt porridge at the bottom of the pot! Add  pureed vegetables to the porridge! From 7months onwards, i will add fish, meat, egg yolk and beancurd to the porridge!

Decemeber 18th - my 2nd choice of vegetable was green garden peas! this, i never thought would be baby r's favourite! she simply loves Garden Peas Porridge! i was so afraid she would be crying when she 1st taste the porridge... but instead she was eating even more eagerly and impatiently asking for more! she clear the pot clean with her 1st peas porridge! pureed peas are very troublesome to make! but baby r loves it so i am more than happy standing for more than an hour sieve it through to get the green paste! the unsalted peas do have flavour! its alittle savoury in taste compared to the carrot which is sweet, naturally sweet! after doing an alternalt with the 2 veg, baby r prefered peas over carrots as she stops eating carrots when it turn too cold but for peas, she always clears the pot! so i started mixing both puree for each feed.

Making Vegetable Stock and Puree

1 small packet of garden peas (unsalted)
3 carrots

almost a full pot of water when the veg all dumped in

Method
Boil the vegetables till they are soft. Puree them separately. Store them in air-tight container that can go into the freezer. stock and pureed vegetables have to be cooled before freezing. Can be kept up to 2weeks. but i usually make a batch that last me for about 8 days.


for one feed of purely carrot or garden peas use 100ml of puree
for a mix feed of carrot and garden peas use 50ml of each puree


add a small cabbage to the stock
add 2 tomatoes to the stock. half them!

i usually boil the green peas first. then i add the carrots. when the cabbage is washed and halved, i take the green peas out before adding the tomatos and cabbage. so i puree the green peas while the carrots take time to soften. i do not smash the tomato as i am afraid the stock might taste too tangy for r's liking.

December 21st - i added celery to the stock and baby r didnt like the taste of the porridge as much! cos towards the end when she left half a bowl more of porridge, she would stick out her tongue and when i try the cooled porridge, the celery taste is stronger. on the 30th, when i did the next batch of stock, i omitted the celery sticks and added cabbage. baby r preferred cabbage better than celery. On Janaury 7th 2010, i added 2 tomatoes to the stock of peas, carrots and cabbage. again when the porridge was cooler, it was more difficult to feed baby r. hope that it will be easier to clear the pot of porridge when i add fish and meat to the porridge. I have 2 bowls for feeding. i will use the smaller bowl to have a scoop or 2 of porridge, to make it easier to cool before feeding baby r. then i will scoop 3-4 spoonsful of porridge for the bigger bowl and leave the rest in the pot. we started having 2 persons to feed her as she was pretty impatient. then i trained her to stop her noise making and wait nicely. i have a washable bib for her during lunch. i also have a wet cloth in a tub to standby for cleaning her messy little mouth during the feed!

 

29th december, i started baby r on breakfast! i bought organic brown rice cereal. i dun know how to feed baby r brown rice so i search the supermarket for brown rice product. i didnt dare to buy any of the un-organic products. i started with plain cereal mixed with her soy milk. 5 tbsps of brown rice cereal to 40ml of milk for a full-feed. so every morning i would feed her brown rice cereal with milk and porridge in the early afternoon. my mil makes barley almost every other day to feed baby r and for adults too! on the 6th January 2010, i added purple sweet potato to her cereal and she loves it! instead of adding soy milk, i used the barley water to mix the cereal and sweet potato. my mil steamed the whole sweet potato but subsequently, i skinned the root veg, cubed it and added to boiling water over the stove, i cooked it and took out some to puree for baby r and the rest i kept for making green bean soup for the adults! baby r loves her cereal even more with the new flavours! i reduce the amount of cereal to 2+half tbsps of b.r cereal to 20ml -30ml of milk or barley + whatever amount of puree!

January 11th 2010, got pumkin from mum's fridge and added that to baby r's cereal! it was another sweet treat for her! baby r enjoys pumpkin but she can't finish too much of it compared to sweet potato! to make pumpkin, cubed it and steam it and mashed them, add them to the cereal mixed with soy milk.

On January 13th and 14th, i added silver fish to her porridge... yucky smell on my fingers but baby r dun seem to mind eating the porridge. On the 14th, i didnt have time to steam or boil the sweet potato so i mashed some barley and added them to soy milk and b.r cereal.