Spice Up Your Baby's World!
You've probably heard it over and over again, "Do not add sugar or salt to
baby food". What about adding herbs and spices to tempt your baby's palate? Many
parents neglect spices and the wide variety of tastes that may be introduced
simply by adding a spice! In many countries, babies are not fed bland rice
cereals as their first foods rather they introduced to spices from the start.
Making your own baby food allows you to experiment with different tastes and
textures for your baby and further offers you the chance to use a wider variety
of ingredients than do commercial jars of baby food. When you make your own baby
food, you are doing so for a variety of personal reasons. One of the most common
reasons that parents make their own baby food is the benefit of being able to
control exactly what their babies are eating. This control helps to ensure that
your baby is eating healthy, nutritious foods without any additives or "fillers"
that are commonly found in commercial baby foods. These additives and fillers
typically enter the commercial baby food chain in the "Stage 2", Dessert, "Stage
3" and "Toddler Meals" varieties. Reading the labels of these foods may have you
wondering "Well if there's sugar or cinnamon in the commercial foods, why can't
I add a wee bit to my homemade baby food?"
While it is never recommended to add sugar or salt to baby's food, we do
advocate adding some things to "spice up" or flavour your baby's food. Often
when we think of additions to food for kids, sugar and/or salt immediately come
to mind. Parents may seldom think about adding herbs and spices such as:
vanilla
pepper
garlic powder
basil
rosemary
dill
oregano
lemon zest
ginger
cinnamon
mint
nutmeg
anise
These aforementioned spices can be lovely additions to your baby's foods!
Introducing baby to spices that the family typically cooks with does not have to
be left until baby has reached toddlerhood! Early introduction of spices may one
day find you thinking, "Wow, we have never used salt or sugar in any or our
kid(s)' foods!". Imagine raising a child that is not reliant on artificial
sweeteners to entice the appetite!
A majority of pediatricians will recommend waiting until an infant is 8 months
or older to introduce spices. This recommendation often has more to do with
staving off digestive upsets than it does with possible allergic reactions. Like
any other new food, please follow the "4 day wait rule" when introducing spices!
As always, please discuss the introduction and use of herbs and spices with your
baby's pediatrician!
Try these spicy mixtures and put some baby zing into those everyday foods for
baby:
Apple(Sauce) with cinnamon
Pears with Ginger and vanilla
Bananas with ginger
Plain Yogurt with mint
Sweet potato with nutmeg, cinnamon and/or cardamom
Pumpkin with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and dash of vanilla
Chicken with cinnamon and/or coriander
Chicken with garlic powder and basil
Carrots with basil & garlic - baked cinnamon carrots are yummy too!
Green beans with garlic powder
Mashed potatoes(white) with dill weed or garlic
Pasta with wee dab of butter and oregano and/or basil
Oatmeal or other cereals with fruits and cinnamon & nutmeg, dash of
vanilla
Rice Pudding/Custards with cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla, cardamom,
ginger
Spices may offer additional benefits other than changing a boring food into a
new experience. Did you know that herbalists tout the following spices for their
benefits.
Ginger - good for tummy upsets
Cinnamon - good for tummy upsets, diarrhea, possible anti-fungal and
anti-bacterial
Garlic - anti-biotic, blood pressure
Coriander - aids gassiness, stimulates appetite, helps rheumatisms and joint
pain
Dill - hiccups, colic, digestive troubles
Mint - stimulates healthy digestion, helps respiratory issues
So break out the spices and introduce your baby to the wonderful world of
healthy flavour!
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Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_82608_40.html
