How to cook vegetables for feeding. Handmade vegetable puree

Vegetable and fruit puree is often the first meal of the baby after breast milk or milk formula, so many mothers prefer to cook it on their own. Although modern manufacturers convince us that baby food is devoid of preservatives and harmful additives, fresh vegetables and fruits are much healthier, especially when it comes to feeding babies. Yes and cook baby puree home is not so difficult.

Vegetables or fruits?

Let's try to cook for our beloved baby. Despite the fact that pediatricians of the last century recommended starting complementary foods with fruits, it is better to first introduce the child to vegetables - modern doctors and nutritionists have come to this conclusion. Boiled vegetables do not irritate the gastrointestinal tract, are better absorbed, satisfy hunger, do not cause allergies and increased gas formation. In addition, vegetables do not contain fructose, which irritates the pancreas. And one more weighty argument in favor of the fact that it is better to start with vegetables - fruits are tastier, and if the baby tries them first, he will refuse vegetables, because they will seem to him more insipid.

How to make baby vegetable puree

What can you make baby puree from? The ideal puree for the first feeding is from cauliflower or zucchini. A little later, you can introduce pumpkin, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and green pea. Before cooking, vegetables are washed well, peeled, cut into pieces and cooked - steamed, in the oven or in the usual way, in water. The first two methods are preferable because oven roasting and steaming preserve the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and natural color in the vegetables. And most importantly - such vegetables are much tastier. Some nutritionists recommend boiling vegetables with their skins on before peeling them, so choose your own cooking method.

If you still had to cook vegetables in a saucepan, use enamelware, add less water and put vegetables in boiling water. Boil until soft, but do not overcook vegetables and fruits, otherwise they will become tasteless and lose a lot of vitamins. Ready vegetables are chopped with a blender until smooth and slightly diluted with water, vegetable broth, breast milk or mixture to a gruel state, since the child does not yet know how to digest thick food. Small pieces of vegetables in puree sometimes cause the baby to refuse to eat, so the knives in the blender should be well sharpened, and if there is no technique, you can grind the vegetables through a sieve. Salt and spices are usually not added to baby vegetable puree, and if the baby is more than 6 months old, you can put a little butter in the puree.

A few rules for making baby puree at home

Use only fresh vegetables and fruits.
Water for cooking vegetables should be filtered or bottled.
If you are using frozen foods, choose only whole fruits and vegetables as they retain the most nutrients.
All utensils for preparing baby food should be perfectly clean, so if the knife falls on the floor, you should wash it well. Also, the presence of pets in the kitchen during the cooking process is not allowed.
Do not use vegetables and fruits with a high content of nitrates in the diet of infants - spinach, leaf salad, beets, melons and watermelons.
Store-bought vegetables are recommended to be soaked in water to remove nitrates: this takes 1-2 hours, for potatoes - up to 24 hours.
Fruits and berries with sour taste mix with sweet fruits - for example, blackcurrant goes well with a banana or pear. Sour puree is unlikely to please the baby.
Give your child only fresh food, and it is better to eat yesterday's mashed potatoes from the refrigerator yourself.

Handmade fruit puree for children

Children are more likely to eat fruit puree because fruits are tastier and sweeter. Fruits contain a large amount of vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fiber and antioxidants, so they are very useful for a growing body. However, fruits are strong allergens, especially berries, bananas, pomegranates and apricots, so they should be given with caution, watching the child's reaction. The most low-allergenic fruits are apples and pears, so it is better to start complementary foods with them, and then introduce all other fruits. First, the baby is fed with one-component puree made from only one product, and then you can already mix different vegetables and fruits, and not only among themselves. Very tasty combinations of fruits and vegetables, such as apples and zucchini, pumpkins and pears.

Fruits must be of high quality, without damage, ripe and juicy, and the rules for preparing fruits do not differ from the rules for cooking vegetables. Naturally, fruit puree is not sweetened with honey and sugar - the later the child learns the taste of sugar, the stronger his health will be.

Aromatic pumpkin puree

Kids are happy to eat because of its pleasant sweetish taste, besides, pumpkin is very healthy. It contains a whole storehouse of various vitamins, including vitamin T, which normalizes the metabolism in the body. For pumpkin puree, small pumpkins are suitable, since large fruits are not as tasty and difficult to peel.

Cut the pumpkin in half, and then into small slices, one or two of which (depending on the appetite of the crumbs) chop into cubes. Boil the pumpkin in a double boiler or in water for 20 minutes, while warm, beat with a blender to a smooth puree and dilute if necessary with water or a mixture. Add oil and salt depending on the age of the child.

Soft broccoli puree

One of the most favorite homemade baby puree recipes is broccoli. This cabbage is extremely useful because it contains potassium, iron, calcium and other valuable substances. It has much more vitamin C than lemon, and the reasons for its nutritional value are its high protein content.

Separate the broccoli into florets, wash them thoroughly and steam them for 20 minutes. Cabbage cooks faster in water - fresh broccoli will take 7 minutes, and frozen - about 15 minutes. Broccoli puree does not need much water, it should lightly coat the vegetables. After the cabbage becomes soft, chop it in a blender or pass through a sieve. If you are making puree for children older than a year, be sure to add butter- kids will eat broccoli on both cheeks!

How to make baby pear puree at home

Pear is a very delicate, tasty and healthy fruit, which rarely causes intolerance. In addition to the high vitamin value, the pear has other beneficial features- facilitates digestion and removes toxins from the body.

For baby food, choose green pears to reduce the risk of allergies, which, although rare, are found among babies. Peel the fruits from the peel and core with seeds, and then stew the pear in a bowl with a thick bottom in not in large numbers water for 15 minutes. Let the pear cool slightly and beat it in a blender with big amount the remaining pear broth. For large kids, fruits can not be boiled, but add half a teaspoon of natural honey to the puree.

Zucchini and apple puree

This delicious puree small gourmets will like it, besides, zucchini are considered the most hypoallergenic vegetables, which, due to their high potassium content, have a beneficial effect on the heart. Apples contain iodine, iron and phosphorus, and due to the high concentration of vitamin C, apples help in the prevention of colds and viral infections.

Wash the zucchini and apples well, de-seed them, cut into pieces and cook in a saucepan for about 20 minutes, considering that zucchini cooks 5 minutes faster. By the way, apples are steamed for 15 minutes, zucchini - 10 minutes. Next, vegetables and fruits are chopped in a blender, mixed and brought to a boil. For allergic children, this is the best side dish!

exotic mango

Sometimes you can pamper your baby with exotic fruits - for example, make mango puree. This is a very delicate fruit with an original taste, containing 12 amino acids and improving sleep.

Choose only ripe fruits - soft and with a red-yellow color. Peel the mango from a thick skin and a large bone, put the pulp in a blender, add 2 tbsp. l. water and mash it, and then heat it in a saucepan for several minutes. For a baby up to a year old, it is better to give mashed potatoes with heat treatment to facilitate digestion, and older children can be fed raw mangoes.

Carrot and potato puree

Make regular mashed potatoes without oil. Peel the carrots, grate them and stew them with butter and vegetable broth - about 1 tsp is required for 200 g of carrots. butter and 150 g of broth. When the carrot becomes very soft, wipe it through a sieve, and then put it on a plate, put mashed potatoes on the second half. Let the child choose whether to mix two types of puree for him or eat separately!

Pumpkin and apple puree

This sweet, sugar-free pumpkin-apple puree, cooked in a double boiler, is suitable for children who are already accustomed to "adult" food and are able to perceive new things. unusual dish. It is better to take a pumpkin with a gray or green skin and with bright pulp - such fruits contain more vitamins and other useful substances. Apples are green because they have fewer allergens.

Cut into pieces the pulp of pumpkin and apples without peel and seeds, put in a double boiler and cook for 20 minutes. Grind pumpkin, apples and raisins in a blender or by hand with a pusher if the child has already learned to chew. They say that this puree is very good for skin and hair, and you can check the truth of this statement yourself if you start feeding this dish to your baby.

In autumn, you can take care of harvesting vegetables for baby purees. Some vegetables, such as pumpkin, carrots and apples, are stored in fresh, and zucchini, broccoli, berries are frozen in small portions, because due to frequent freezing and thawing, vegetables lose vitamins and become tasteless. You can roll up fruit and vegetable puree in jars, but this snack should not be given to babies. Remember that the taste of vegetables depends on whether the baby will love them in the future, so try to cook appetizing and gentle puree- for health and good mood!

Vegetable puree for babies as complementary foods is recommended in the first place. Not juices or cereals, as some parents think, but vegetables. They are rich in vitamins and minerals, they have enough dietary fiber, which will provide the child with soft and delicate digestion and will be a good prevention of constipation.

In this article we will talk about how to introduce vegetable complementary foods, how to cook tasty and healthy puree for babies, what vegetables to give and in what quantity.

With what vegetables does the first feeding begin?

Breast milk and milk adapted formulas meet the requirements of the child for about the first six months of life. Then the baby's diet should expand. Vegetable puree pediatricians recommend introducing into the diet in the first place. But not all vegetables are acceptable for the beginning of the baby's acquaintance with new food.

If the child is on breastfeeding, he is recommended to introduce vegetable complementary foods from 5-6 months. For a baby who, by coincidence, is deprived of breast milk and eats mixtures, it is better to introduce vegetables into the diet at 4 months of age.

It is recommended to introduce vegetables in a certain sequence. For the very first acquaintance with a new food recommended vegetables that do not usually cause allergies, the so-called low-allergenic. This is zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. At the same time, the first baby vegetable puree must necessarily be one-component, that is, contain only one type of vegetable crop - only squash or only cauliflower puree.

pumpkin;
carrot;
potato;
squash.

A month later, at the age of 7-8 months, cabbage, beets and cucumbers are added, in a year - tomatoes, and at 1.5 years - beans, peas and other legumes. Eggplants are recommended to be introduced after one and a half years, closer to 2 years.

Manufacturer rating

Ready-made baby puree in a jar is convenient and safe. Manufacturers make sure that the composition of the product is hypoallergenic, balanced. To start complementary foods, mashed potatoes in a jar are the best option. because to cook homemade puree for the sake of half a teaspoon that the baby will eat is impractical. In addition, mashed potatoes in a jar are convenient to take with you for a walk, on a trip.

The choice of a certain brand of baby food is a matter of income and family preferences. A pediatrician can only recommend certain manufacturers, but the parents themselves will still choose, taking into account, among other things, the preferences of their own baby, because it happens that a child refuses to eat mashed potatoes of one brand, but he is delighted with the same mashed potatoes, but from a different manufacturer.

safety and risk of allergy to the product;
taste qualities;
feedback from parents and pediatricians.

According to these three criteria, the current brands can be arranged in the following order:

humana;
Gerber;
"Grandma's basket";
Nutricia;
"FrutoNyanya";
"Subject";
"Diaper";
"Agusha";
hipp.

When choosing a ready-made puree, be sure to pay attention to the age marking, the expiration date. If the jar does not make cotton when opened, it is impossible to feed the baby with such puree. If you wish, you can cook vegetable puree yourself, but a number of important conditions must be observed.

Selection and preparation of ingredients

To prepare a homemade vegetable puree that can be given to an infant, you need to choose only fresh vegetables, the appearance of which is not satisfactory. If a zucchini or pumpkin has darkening, bumps, rotten areas, cracks, “spoiled” sides, they are not suitable for baby food.

Vegetables can be bought in the market, in the store, but most the best option are fruits and root crops collected on their site. If there is no dacha and garden, choose only those purchased that are grown in your lane. Imported and imported vegetables and fruits are usually stuffed with a large amount of chemicals to preserve their presentation. You need to be especially careful when choosing vegetables if they are not in season in your lane. Instead of a purchased zucchini in the dead of winter, it is better to buy ready-made mashed potatoes in a jar from a trusted manufacturer of baby food.

You should not select vegetables for baby puree, the sides of which are glossy - it is possible to use wax, with which vegetables are rubbed to retain moisture when transported from afar.

Recipes for cooking at home

Making puree is easy. The task will be facilitated by the presence in the kitchen of a blender, double boiler. A good puree is obtained in a slow cooker. In order to make a one-component puree for the first feeding, take a zucchini, wash it well and peel it. Cut the vegetable into large pieces, after removing the seeds and core.

If you cook vegetables in small pieces, they heat treatment almost no useful substances will be preserved.

Put the pieces of zucchini in a multicooker bowl, double boiler or a small saucepan with a little water. Bring under the lid to readiness. Blender turn boiled zucchini in puree. If it turns out thick, add a little vegetable broth that remains after cooking, or boiled water. It is not recommended for infants to salt and pepper vegetable puree. but you can add a couple of drops olive oil cold pressed. Ready puree is not stored. Before the next feeding, which provides for supplementary feeding with vegetables, it is prepared again.

After 8 months, the child will be able to eat multi-component purees. In this case, you can immediately cook several types of vegetables in the same way, and then make a single puree out of them. Zucchini and carrots, zucchini and broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, beets and carrots go well together. Almost all types of vegetables go great with mashed potatoes., which is prepared in the same way, but with the addition of milk or water (with the permission of the pediatrician), without butter. As the baby grows, you can create puree soups on the basis of ordinary vegetable purees, as well as vegetable mousses, for example, from boiled pumpkin and cottage cheese, from zucchini and boiled carrots.

Calculate your feeding schedule

Norms and rules of use

Complementary foods always start with minimum quantity new product. For a baby, acquaintance with vegetables should begin with half a teaspoon.. During the day, the mother should carefully monitor the baby. If allergies, intestinal disorders do not appear, the next day you can increase the volume of vegetable puree to a teaspoon.

The infant feeding scheme does not involve adding more than one new food in two days. This is important in order to keep track of possible negative reactions of the child's body to food. It will be useful for the baby and his parents if the amount of complementary foods meets the standards.

A table will help determine them, indicating the minimum and maximum value of the amount of vegetable puree that is allowed at a particular age.

The table shows the daily value. Parents can split this amount into two or three meals if the child likes vegetables. Thus, a child at 5 months can be given vegetables twice a day, 15 grams per feeding, and at 6 months, two times 25 grams can be given.

Before the age of one, it is important to teach the child to eat vegetables., otherwise later, at an older age, the baby may refuse to eat these foods and dishes that are useful and necessary for his growth and development. But only in theory, children should eat this or that amount of food. In practice, everything may turn out wrong - the child will require vegetables more often and more, or refuse them altogether. With the latter problem, most often parents turn to pediatricians.

What to do if the child does not want to eat mashed potatoes?

A child who does not want to eat mashed vegetables at his tender age has a lot of reasons for this behavior.

Here are just some of the reasons why children refuse this dish.

Complementary foods introduced too early, the child is psychologically and physiologically not ready for it - you need to postpone the idea and return to it in a week.
The child does not like the taste of vegetables- Try another vegetable. If you don’t eat zucchini, give broccoli, if you refuse store-bought mashed potatoes in a jar, cook it at home.
The type of vegetables is incomprehensible or unpleasant- put the child more often in a high chair at an adult table during dinner or breakfast, he should see how adults eat their food. This will form an idea of why the mother bothers him with a spoon and a strange substance in a plate or jar. Serve mashed potatoes in a beautiful children's plate, use an interesting spoon with animal figures, interest the baby in the process of eating.
The child is not up to vegetables- He is teething or his stomach hurts, he gets sick. In this situation, it is impossible to offer new products so as not to increase the load on the baby's body.
Baby is not hungry- in this situation, wait until the child is hungry and offer vegetable puree at the very beginning of the meal.
Already have a negative experience- if the baby was forced to eat vegetables, they pushed a spoon into him by force, the taste of mashed potatoes will be unpleasant for understandable psychological reasons. In this situation, give the child the opportunity to choose for himself whether to eat or not. And the vegetables that are so needed can be mixed into other types of food, for example, into vegetable puree soup, into porridge.

In order to prevent situations in which the child will hate vegetable dishes, it is important to do everything in a timely manner. Do not follow the advice of relatives and pediatricians too blindly about the timing of complementary foods. If a child once in his six months refused a vegetable marrow, no need to insist. Try offering him food a little later.. All children develop at different rates and according to their own schedule. This applies not only to height and weight, but also to metabolic processes, the processes of producing the necessary enzymes in the body, because without them the assimilation of new food is impossible.

The same recommendation applies to the amount of vegetables eaten. The child does not owe anything to anyone. He may well have his own tastes and needs in the amount of complementary foods. And not always his real needs exactly correspond to pediatric norms and tables.

For information on how to cook vegetable puree at home for a child of 7-8 months, see the following video.

If you decide to pamper your baby with homemade purees, you need to know that making puree for babies requires special hygiene conditions, the choice of products and cooking technology.

The baby's digestion is delicate, and the first purees must be prepared according to special recipes.

The first purees for babies: recipes

Some of the leaders in use are apple, pumpkin and zucchini. It takes a little time to prepare zucchini-apple or pumpkin-apple puree, they are tasty and will benefit the baby.

Salt and sugar are not added to the first purees for babies, only a couple of drops of natural vegetable oil.

To prepare vegetable puree, you need half a zucchini or about 150 g of pumpkin, 1 apple, a couple of drops of lemon juice and the same amount of vegetable oil.

In boiling water in a saucepan, you need to throw a zucchini or pumpkin without skin, cut into large pieces, boil for 5 minutes. Remove the vegetables and cool, chop the vegetables with a blender or through a sieve. Rub the apple on a fine grater or chop with a blender without skin. You can use each puree separately, or you can mix both types of puree in a one-to-one ratio.

The daily norm of puree for babies at 6 months is 100 g, at 7-8 months - 150 g, at 8-12 months - 200 g.

Can be used in winter time frozen vegetables.

Puree recipes for babies: vegetable mix

As complementary foods expand, options for mashed potatoes from two or three vegetables already familiar to the child appear. This expands the boundaries of taste and diversifies the diet.

Cauliflower and carrot puree is quick and easy to prepare. You will need two cups of pure filtered water, 150 g of cauliflower and 100 g of carrots, a few drops of vegetable oil.

Boil the water and throw in it the previously peeled and sliced carrots. Cook the carrots until nearly cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Divide cauliflower into florets and add to carrots 7-10 minutes before cooked. The water in the pot should lightly cover the vegetables. When they are ready, you need to remove them from the heat and remove them from the broth, let them cool and grind with a blender into a puree, adding vegetable broth. At the end, add a few drops of vegetable oil, and mashed potatoes cooled to 38-40 degrees can be given to the child.

Mixed vegetable puree is prepared quickly and is very popular with children. You need 50 g of zucchini, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, about 50 ml of breast milk or formula, half a teaspoon of vegetable oil.

Vegetables should be washed with a brush, peeled and cut into small pieces. Separate the cauliflower into florets. Vegetables can be steamed or boiled, similar to the previous recipe. Ready vegetables must be ground in a blender and diluted until tender with breast milk or a mixture, add vegetable oil.

fruit puree recipes for babies

No less useful for the baby will be fruit purees. The first fruits should be green or white fruits. Stewed apple puree is made from carefully washed, juicy and peeled apples, cut into small slices.

Apple slices can be grated or finely chopped, apples will darken during rubbing. Add a few tablespoons of water to the mass and simmer over low heat for about 5-10 minutes, the apples will become softer and more tender. This way they will be easier to digest. As they grow older from 9 months, you can rub fresh apple, without quenching.

Similarly, mashed pears are prepared, thoroughly washed and peeled. Pears have a sweet taste and can be combined with sour varieties of apples to keep the puree from being too sour. Sugar is not added to the first purees for babies!

Carrots and pumpkins go well with pears and apples, you can prepare mixtures of these fruits - these purees are very popular with children, they are sweet, tender and well absorbed.

Meat and fish: mashed potatoes recipes for babies

At the age of 8-9 months, mashed meat and poultry appear on the menu of babies. The most delicious and hypoallergenic can be turkey puree. You will need 100 g of turkey fillet and half a glass of water.

Rinse the fillet thoroughly, remove the tendons and skin, boil in unsalted water until tender. Remove the meat and cool, cut into small pieces and chop in a blender. Dilute to the desired consistency with vegetable broth or breast milk, a mixture.

Remember: it is better not to give broths to children up to one and a half years.

The recipe for beef or veal jure is just as simple: cut a piece of fillet weighing 100-150 g into cubes and boil in unsalted water, drain the first broth after boiling, then pour the meat again with water and cook until tender. Then take out the meat and cool a little, chop with a blender, diluting with vegetable broth or milk mixture.

The first meat purees are given to the child for lunch, along with vegetable purees - this is how it is absorbed as well as possible.

Fish puree is administered to children aged 10-12 months, provided there is no allergy. Preparing fish puree sea fish using skinned and boned fillets.

The fillet is cut into pieces, dipped in cold water and boiled, draining the first broth and pouring the fish again cold water. After the fillet is brought to readiness, the fish is taken out, allowed to cool and chopped with a blender or fork, diluted with vegetable broth. Fish puree is usually combined with vegetable purees - cauliflower, potatoes and cabbage.

And ends our series about different types complementary food theme self-cooking. It would seem that there is nothing simpler than home-made dishes: cooked, chopped with a blender, issued. But the modern mother does not look for easy ways, she goes to the forum and asks a lot of questions: how best to cook than grind, what to add, how to save. She also reads about terrible winter vegetables that have nothing useful, and then she is scared of genetically modified foods ...

How to decide and choose the best for the child? Everything is very simple. If you have increased suspiciousness, and dangerous herbicides and genetically modified tops appear in every carrot, feed your child with canned food. It is no more harmful than the daily concern about the usefulness/harmfulness natural products. As for the eternal debate about GM foods, most of the vegetables and fruits we consume have already undergone genetic changes over hundreds of years of hybridization. Scientists are constantly deducing something new, adjusting to the desires of the manufacturer to grow vegetables that will be unpleasant to malicious pests. Now science has stepped far forward, and the process of genetic engineering has accelerated hundreds of times, hence the panic. Whether this is good or bad, the answer has not yet been found, even by scientists who understand this better. Feed with jars, and sleep peacefully - there is nothing wrong with industrial nutrition. In winter, do not buy imported vegetables for feeding (zucchini, cauliflower) - they are absolutely overfed with chemicals for long-term storage and transportation in a commercial form. There are no healthy imported vegetables and fruits in winter. With ours, too, alas, not everything is clear to a simple consumer.

But if you still want to make your own complementary foods - or have the opportunity to use your harvest, this collection of tips may be useful.

VEGETABLES

To prepare vegetable puree, select the most beautiful vegetables without spots and cracks. For the first feeding, vegetables are used that do not contain coarse fiber: zucchini, cauliflower, carrots. Mixtures of vegetables are introduced when the child has already tasted all their ingredients during the week. Vegetables should be washed well under running water - if you doubt the quality of water, use boiled or purified water. Try not to cook vegetables on the stove to retain as much of the nutrients as possible. It is better to cook for a couple - or use a double boiler. Allowed to cook in microwave oven, but vegetables dry out in it - nowadays there are microwaves with a steamer function. They can also be baked, in which case the loss of nutrients is minimal. When cooking on the stove, vegetables are laid only in boiling water. Frozen at the same time, in no case are defrosted beforehand. In winter (and early spring), it is favorable to use a variety of frosts for feeding. There are many stereotypes about their usefulness, all of them are more or less debunked here:. In winter, frosts literally save, but check their quality at least by touch so that you don’t feel inside large pieces ice.

Nothing is added to the very first vegetables, after a month they begin to add vegetable oil (sunflower or olive). Ready vegetables are rubbed through a sieve or modern means are used: a blender or other chopper. You should not soften the first vegetables (that is, for the first feeding at 6-7 months) with a fork or crush, they cannot cope with the fibers, and the complementary foods will come out undigested.

What can be added for taste: vegetable broth, a little expressed breast milk or the usual mixture. Vegetables do not need to be salted. The child does not have salt receptors, this taste is imposed forcibly. What taste you accustom to, this will be a priority in the future. If a child refuses vegetables, this does not mean that they need to be salted - this means that vegetables are introduced too early. Every child has their own feeding schedule. You can start introducing vegetables at 6, 10 or 12 months, it all depends on the desires of the child himself. In the process of introducing vegetables, the main thing is not volume, but variety. If a child eats a crumb of this and a crumb of that (a spoonful of zucchini, two tablespoons of carrots) - fine. And in terms of benefits, it is much better than those fed by force - with the release of the family choir of grandmothers or "for advertising" - one hundred grams laid down according to the instructions.

Possible mistakes: do not wash vegetables soapy water. This is an extra precaution. The soap is not washed off completely, and its remains are by no means useful for the child. Try to prepare the vegetable puree immediately before serving - and only at one time. Cooked mashed potatoes should not be reheated, this will increase the loss of nutrients. What vegetables are not introduced up to a year: white cabbage, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers - and greens. They are quite aggressive for the stomach, and up to a year old, the child will have enough of those vegetables that can be introduced: zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, green beans, carrots, pumpkin, potatoes, closer to the year - corn, peas. Some vegetables have a hard shell; corn and green beans sin with it. But in a double boiler, the shell softens easily and quickly. Mashed potatoes- a heavy dish, it is advisable to mix potatoes with any other vegetables.

PORRIDGE

For the first complementary foods, low-allergenic cereals are taken: rice, buckwheat or corn. Corn porridge- the heaviest, therefore, in homemade conditions, it is better to take rice or buckwheat. Rice is washed not with cold, but with warm or hot water then the starch will separate. The groats are ground in a coffee grinder to the state of flour and boiled in water. In principle, you can already grind ready porridge, but in this case, vitamins and trace elements are lost much faster. Groats (the resulting cereal flour) are placed only in boiling water, ideally they are not boiled until cooked, but left to swell. Otherwise, there is a chance that it will continue to swell in the child's stomach.

To cook right healthy porridge, you need to observe the ratio of water and cereals. Do not add water during the process. All cereals - except buckwheat and rice - are stirred in the process. For the first feeding, a liquid porridge is made: a teaspoon of cereals (cereal flour) per 100 ml of water. After 1-2 weeks, the amount of cereal is doubled. Cow's milk they do not add to porridge for up to a year, only a little breast milk or a mixture immediately before serving, and a month after entering - butter (3 g). Sugar or fructose are not needed. Permissible additives: fruit puree; closer to a year, ground dried fruits, pumpkin, carrots are put in cereals.

When a child has tasted all three types of low-allergenic cereals, mixtures are made from them. At 10 months you can try oatmeal, the rest of gluten-containing cereals in conditions of home-made complementary foods are introduced no earlier than a year. At home, whole grains cannot be processed perfectly, they will still be heavier than instant cereals for children in boxes, so it is better to push back all the deadlines. semolina porridge do not introduce up to two or three years, recently experts agree that this porridge is more intended for fattening, rather than feeding. Semolina contains 70% starch, proteins and very few vitamins and minerals. As well as phytin, which binds calcium salts, that is, it prevents calcium from entering the bloodstream. When there is little calcium in the human body, the parathyroid glands "withdraw" it from the bones and send it into the blood. All cereals, one way or another, bind calcium - that is also why they are recommended to be introduced after vegetables and meat. But semolina tries the most, having a pronounced “rachitogenic” effect, it contributes to the formation of rickets in children of the first two years of life.

Is it possible to grind for the first feeding not whole cereals, but flakes? Flakes are flattened grains that have been steamed. The grain is not only flattened, but also sliced on it, kept under infrared rays, and dried. From the ground flakes you get a poor porridge. Small flakes ("Nordic" or any others marked "small") are introduced after 10-11 months in the usual form, the child is quite capable of assimilating them if he has not had problems with digestion before.

FRUITS AND JUICES

Entering fruits start with green apples and pears. It is advisable to find your native fruits, such as Semerenko apples, Kuban Champion or Antonovka. They are sourer (and much more useful) than imported ones, and the acid is “knocked down” by baking. Most imported fruits ripen along the way, being picked unripe, this already impoverishes their composition, not to mention chemical additives for preservation. appearance. Fruits for import are grown separately and under special conditions - those plantations that float past the buses on vacation over the hill are purely for their own. Do not use apples with dark (black) spots for feeding, one such spot indicates a loss of vitamins by a third.

Apples and pears are given fresh, making a “scrape”, or baked, in a baked fruit, the acidity decreases and the amount of pectin, a useful substance that removes toxins, increases. How to bake: peel, cut into pieces and remove the part with bones. Or bake whole: add a little water to the container, loosely cover with foil and bake at a temperature of 200 degrees for 20 minutes, the time depends on the type of oven and the number of apples. You can also "bake" in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, while the fruit is covered with cling film.

Puree is made from fruits, it is offered for an afternoon snack, then added to porridge or cottage cheese - or left an independent dish. Fruit is also given in pieces, in this case, make sure that the child does not choke. Fruit should be peeled and pitted. The peel is cleaned not only because it may contain paraffin residues, the peel is too hard, it is simply not digested. The banana is next after the green fruit, it is fibrous and starchy, so it should be crushed with diligence. Peaches, apricots and berries are tasted in last turn. Berries have a lot of fiber, tiny bones, they can cause serious intestinal upset, hence the moral: the norm of berries for a child is exactly as much as he can keep in his handful, and this is a lot.

Freshly squeezed juices are administered no earlier than one and a half years and only in diluted form (50:50).

MEAT

Meat is a heavy product, it is digested for a long time, so there is no need to rush to introduce it, especially if the child is breastfed. Start typing meat puree from half a teaspoon. You can give this norm for three days and monitor the reaction. It is advisable to immediately mix the meat with vegetable puree (for better absorption). Just add the meat to the puree little by little, gradually increasing the dose.

Rabbit, lamb, turkey meat is ideal for the first feeding. Veal, pork, chicken and red varieties of fish are introduced after a year. At 10 months, the child can be offered meatballs, and after a year - steam cutlets. Meat broths are not used in the diet of children, they contain harmful substances boiled out from meat. The broth has the ability to quickly be absorbed into the intestines, the children's liver is not able to filter out all carcinogens. The kidneys also suffer: due to the huge amount of salts, it can develop urolithiasis disease. Therefore, before cooking, the meat must be separated from the bones, do not pour ready meal the remaining meat broth, and when cooking soup meat broth half diluted with water - or add ready-made pureed meat to vegetable soup.

Way home cooking: meat passed twice through a meat grinder is steamed until cooked (depending on the meat itself, the process may take different times). Or, already cooked meat is passed through a meat grinder (blender, mini-combine). Minced meat is rubbed through a strainer (or blender). Steam cooking method: raw minced meat add water (than more water, the more tender), spread in a deep bowl and put it in another bowl with boiling water. Cover with a lid, cook for 10-15 minutes. Non-steam method: the meat is boiled for 20 minutes, then the broth is drained, poured with hot water again - and cooked until tender. In no case do not salt the meat puree - there are plenty of salts in the meat.

Meat contains a lot coarse fibers, at home it is impossible to turn it into an easily digestible dish. And in stores it is difficult to find meat for the first feeding, which can be considered healthy in composition. Therefore, homemade is homemade, but canned is still better, especially up to a year.

FISH

Boil the fillet in a small amount water for 15-20 minutes, cool, pass through a meat grinder, and then chop with a blender. For baby food, you need to buy only fillets low-fat varieties fish (hake, cod, pollock). It is better to thaw in salt water to reduce the loss of minerals during defrosting. The fillet is not recommended to be completely defrosted. Slightly thawed fish is washed in cold water and subjected to heat treatment, which, unlike meat, should not be too long. Put the fish only in boiling water, after which the fire is immediately reduced.

SOUR MILK

homemade kefir

Method 1. Ferment can be pharmaceutical bifidumbacterin, lactobacterin, "Narine", "Evita" or ready-made store biokefir, acidobifilin and any "live" yogurt. We add the starter to a liter of warm milk, close the jar with a tight lid, wrap it in a terry towel and send it to a warm place (for example, to the bathroom - it is always warm there) for 6-10 hours. When a kefir clot forms, we send the jar to the refrigerator for a few more hours.

Method 2. Boil half a liter of milk, cool to 35 - 36 degrees (so that you can safely hold your finger in the milk) and add 5 - 6 tablespoons of old kefir to it. Stir, wrap the bottle in a blanket and leave for 5 - 6 hours in a warm place, and then keep a few hours in the refrigerator. If instead of old kefir you add yogurt to milk, the taste of the drink will be slightly different. If there was no old curdled milk or kefir at home, you can use a piece of black bread as a starter.

Homemade cottage cheese

Method 1. Kefir cottage cheese (fermented milk) is easier to digest and assimilate. To prepare it, pour kefir into an enameled saucepan (mug) and put on the smallest fire. When a clot forms on top, fold it onto a sterile gauze to drain the serum.

Method 2. Calcined cottage cheese is prepared by adding a solution of calcium chloride to cold pasteurized or boiled milk; it is sold in pharmacies. The amount of calcium chloride in all recipes is different, there is this: to get 100 g of cottage cheese for 600 ml of milk, put 1.5 teaspoons of calcium chloride. Another recipe: bring milk to a boil and remove from heat. When it cools down a little, add calcium chloride dissolved in a small amount of boiled water with continuous stirring, cool the curdled milk, strain through gauze, let the whey drain. Per liter of milk - 1 tablespoon of calcium chloride. The pediatrician Natalya Rashidovna Vasilyeva, well-known in forum circles (rusmedserver, and other forums), recommends the following recipe: for 1 liter of cold raw milk 1 ampoule (10 ml.) 10% calcium chloride - pour - boil - cool - strain through a sieve or gauze - calcined cottage cheese ready.

There is an opinion that it is better not to give such cottage cheese to a child, in fact, this recipe came to us from veterinary medicine, calcium chloride cottage cheese is given to baby animals. At the very least, calcined cottage cheese should not be given every day. It can be noticeably bitter in taste, and its consistency is not suitable for the first complementary foods. Try it - form your own opinion.

Method 3. Boil milk, cool to body temperature. Add the starter, previously loosened in a small amount of the same milk. This is for its even distribution. Put in a warm place for a day or two. At the same time, it is better to interfere with it, disturb it several times during fermentation. Then - heat in a water bath, and not just putting the pan on the fire. The more heat, the more the casein coagulates. If you heat it on fire, then it can curl up into such nasty-hard lumps, that is, it will be very dry and hard cottage cheese. And for tender cottage cheese must be heated very carefully, in a water bath. Then - cool and discard: put gauze on a colander, pour the previous semi-finished product there, wait until the whey drains, and then collect the ends of the gauze from above and start twisting to squeeze out the whey. For greater density, you can then put this bag in a colander, pressing down on top with a plank with a load.

Method 4. Take the most low-fat milk that is on sale. Pour it into a large bowl or saucepan. Squeeze lemon juice into milk (for each liter of milk - from half to a whole lemon). You can also use ready-made purchased lemon juice or diluted citric acid. Pour into a bowl of milk and lemon juice boiling water from a kettle. Boiling water should be about the same or even a little more than milk. Stir calmly and watch with interest how the milk curdles before your eyes, the whey begins to become transparent. Do not wait until the milk clots become dense. This will give your curd an unwanted graininess. Catch tender clots with a spoon with holes and put them in another bowl. A little more serum may stand out, you drain it. All.

Method 5. 4 cups sour milk, 2 cups fresh milk. Boil fresh milk and pour into a vessel with sour milk. Mix thoroughly and leave to cool. After the mixture has cooled, pour it into a sieve and strain through a fine sieve.

How to store homemade puree

Knowledgeable people say in a voice: ready-made vegetable (meat and vegetable) purees do not need to be stored. These are dishes with a broken structure, ideally they are cooked strictly at one time. At home, it is impossible to provide shock freezing - useful substances are inevitably lost. It is necessary to freeze whole (cut) vegetables and fruits, and then mash them. Vegetables are stored at a temperature of - 6 ° C - a week, at - 12 ° C - 1 month, at - 18 ° C - 3 months.

But still, sometimes there is a need to freeze meat or vegetable puree. One of simple ways: Fill the ice box and put it in the freezer. Do not freeze hot or warm food, it needs to be chilled first. As soon as food is frozen, immediately place it in an individual plastic bag. Don't forget to mark and date when you did it. In this form, mashed potatoes can be stored for 3-4 weeks at a temperature not higher than -18. Never refreeze food.

Freezing cottage cheese at home is not recommended, since such freezing is slow, which significantly disrupts the structure of the protein, and worsens the taste and other qualities of the product. As an exception, this can only be done in freezers with two and three stars on the lid or in freezers with a temperature of - 18 °; store cottage cheese in such conditions should be no more than two weeks.

How to reheat frozen food: Transfer to a suitable container and place in a pot of boiling water, stirring occasionally. You can also use microwave heating. Food should be well heated, in no case warm. Do not reheat food more than once: leftover food should be discarded.

Household appliances to help homemade complementary foods

The most important assistant in the preparation of baby food is, of course, a blender. We read tips on choosing it here:. Modern manufacturers offer many interesting devices to facilitate labor. Most of them are pure pampering, but it will be nice to have them. For example, a blender-steamer-heater for baby food Tefal BH 7400, multifunctional processor Petit Terraillon (sterilizer, steamer and heater in one), Philips / AVENT steam center (steamer + sterilizer + heating), Maman mini-combine for baby food. And there are also special containers, in which you can store food in the refrigerator or freezer, if necessary, heat it up in them (in the microwave). These are AVENT/Philips, Tupperware, BabySteps, Brother Max containers.

On the photos: 1. George (mother pudjik ), 2. Danis (mother NatashamamaDanisa ), 3. Masha (mother Ryaba ), 4. Andrey (mother Altair ), 5. Dima (mother Meow… ).

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Vegetables are a valuable source of vitamins, organic acids, pectins and vegetable fiber. All these substances are necessary for normal functioning the child's body, and they must be present in the child's diet. Despite the apparent ease and benefits of vegetables, they must be introduced correctly. Otherwise, complementary foods can provoke a number of problems, among which the first places are occupied by allergic reactions, indigestion, and intestinal upset.

The main value of vegetable dishes:

Cellulose. In vegetable purees, it is crushed, but there is. It is plant fibers that will help solve the problem of constipation, normalize the work of the immature intestine, and make the stool regular.
Vitamins, trace elements and other important substances. They contribute to the proper growth and development of the child, strengthen the immune system, improve mood, increase endurance.
The development of taste. The child discovers the world different ways, including with the help of tongue receptors.

Among the variety of vegetables, it is difficult to single out the most useful or necessary. Each human body has its own needs, they change individually with growth, development, and often depend on other foods in the diet.

Best age for vegetable puree

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), the optimal age for introducing complementary foods to infants is 6 months. If the child was artificially fed, then he can be introduced to vegetables at 4-5 months. Terms are determined individually. There are several signs that a baby is ready for solid foods:

The child can sit alone or with the help of parents.
The weight has doubled.
The kid shows interest in adult food.

Dr. Komarovsky claims that by the time vegetable complementary foods are introduced, the child should respond to the spoon, open his mouth, and swallow food. If the baby pushes cutlery language, it is not yet ready. In this case, you should not try to force feed.

Cooking homemade food

Puree for complementary foods is easy to prepare at home. It is especially convenient to do this in summer and autumn, when all the ingredients are fresh, affordable, and full of vitamins. In season, you can also prepare vegetables for future use. To do this, the fruits need to be peeled, cut into pieces, laid out on a board in one layer, put in the freezer. As soon as the pieces harden, they can be poured into a bag, left in the chamber for further storage.

Preparing vegetable food:

Place a fresh or frozen vegetable cut into cubes in a saucepan, pour a small amount of boiling water so that it only covers the pieces. The more liquid there is, the less vitamins and nutrients will remain in the product.
Boil vegetables until soft.
Drain excess liquid. Grind the pieces to a puree state with a blender or grind through a sieve. Adjust the consistency with the previously drained broth. You can use breast milk for this.

Frozen vegetables cook faster than fresh ones. It is not necessary to thaw the product before cooking. Also, do not add a large amount of liquid, a lot of water will come out of the pieces.

You need to remember: Salt needed children's body, but in small quantities. Dr. Komarovsky recommends adding it to children's meals. This will help maintain the water-salt balance.

Video: Steaming vegetables for babies

How to choose ready-made vegetable puree

In winter and spring, it is convenient to use ready-made mashed potatoes from jars, since it is difficult to purchase high-quality and safe vegetables. Purchased nutrition has its advantages: it saves time, it is convenient to use, it has the right consistency.

What to look for when buying:

Compound. For the first vegetable complementary foods, one-component purees without additives are used.
Best before date. The fresher the food, the more nutrients are preserved.
Packaging integrity. The lid is flat, concave, without traces of product or rust.
Age appropriate. If the package is labeled 7+, you should not buy food for a 5-6 month old baby.

Before use, the dish must be heated to a warm state, you can add a little salt or a few drops of oil to taste.

Scheme of the introduction of vegetable complementary foods and portions

A new product is introduced into the diet only for a healthy child. If there is a vaccination to be done, teeth are erupting, there is a series of holidays or trips are expected, then it is advisable to postpone the introduction of vegetables. The first days you need to control the regularity and condition of the stool, the behavior and well-being of the baby.

The main rule of any feeding is gradualness! The product is administered in small portions and daily. Each vegetable is given 5-7 days. The final volume of mashed potatoes is not limited by anything, the child can be fed to the full. On average, a full portion is 120-150 g, by the year of life - 200 g.

Scheme for the introduction of vegetables:

1 day - 5 g;
2 day - 10 g;
3 day - 15 g;
4 day - 20 g;
Day 5 - 50 g;
Day 6 - 100 g;
Day 7 - 150 g.

A week later, another type of vegetable complementary foods is introduced into the diet in a similar way. A new product can be offered on its own or added to the usual puree, gradually increasing the amount. Also come with the introduction of meat, fish. Vegetables will help new food to digest, smooth out the taste.

What vegetables are suitable for complementary foods

Not all vegetables can be included in the diet. There are foods that need to be put off until 8, 10, 12 months. Some of them are considered allergenic, the other part causes increased gas formation. Do not forget about individual intolerance. Even the most harmless, at first glance, product can provoke a reaction.

Zucchini for the first meal

Zucchini is perfect for introducing vegetables. The product is well absorbed, has no pronounced taste. Puree from it does not irritate the walls of the stomach, does not overload the digestive system. Zucchini contains pectin, vitamins C and group B, copper, iron. The vegetable is rich in potassium, which is involved in the work nervous system, normalizes heart rate, promotes the growth of muscle cells.

Zucchini is introduced first into the diet of children suffering from food allergies and constipation. One-component puree from this vegetable can be offered to a child from 4 months.

Cauliflower and broccoli

White cabbage causes increased gas formation, bloating, so it is undesirable to introduce it into the diet for up to 7 months. At the age of 5 months, you can offer the baby other types of vegetables. Mostly cauliflower and broccoli are used. These products are highly nutritional value, contain a number of valuable acids: folic, tartronic, malic, citric and others. The composition contains minerals, vitamins.

What else is useful cabbage:

contains dietary fiber that improves peristalsis;
helps prevent the occurrence iron deficiency anemia;
has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system.

Despite all the benefits of cauliflower and broccoli, these vegetables should not be given to children daily in large quantities. Enough 3 times a week. Excessive consumption of the product can lead to an increase in the acidity of gastric juice, complicate the work of the kidneys. In rare cases, cauliflower causes an allergic reaction, which is manifested by reddening of the skin and a small rash.

Pumpkin for the first meal

Pumpkin can be introduced into the diet of children from 5 months. vegetable has pleasant taste, can serve as a main course or dessert, often added to cereal porridge. Contains beta-carotene, vitamins B, C, K, E. Pumpkin is rich in potassium, magnesium, iron and dietary fiber. This product can be used for prevention and in the complex treatment of constipation.

Sometimes pumpkin causes an allergic reaction. The product is quite heavy for the stomach, you should not use it often for children with digestive problems. It is impossible to prepare puree, juice from raw product no matter how sweet and delicious it may be. Heat treatment for vegetable complementary foods is required.

Potatoes for food

Even 2 decades ago, it was potatoes that were the main vegetable complementary foods. Puree was boldly introduced into the diet of children 3-4 months old. Today, pediatricians, including the world famous doctor Komarovsky, recommend introducing potatoes after 6 months. It is useful for of cardio-vascular system, has a beneficial effect on digestion, stabilizes metabolism. The vegetable contains potassium, iron, iodine and phosphorus.

Potatoes are difficult for digestion, can cause an allergic reaction, the appearance of diathesis on the cheeks and buttocks. Before cooking, the pieces of the root crop should be thoroughly washed with cold water to get rid of excess starch. If the child has a reaction, it is recommended to postpone the introduction of potatoes until 12 months.

Advice! To do potato dish easier, you can cook it with zucchini or cauliflower, if these vegetables are familiar to the child.

Carrot

Carrot renders positive influence on the vision, development and growth of the child. The vegetable is rich in vitamin C, E, K. The orange root crop is valued for the content of a fat-soluble substance - beta-carotene. For better absorption, it is recommended to add 2-3 drops of vegetable oil to the dish.

Carrot puree is recommended to be introduced into the diet from 6 months. If the child has allergies, then from 8 months. A single-component dish of boiled vegetables is rarely used. More often, the root crop is combined with other vegetables: zucchini, potatoes, cabbage. In addition to mashed potatoes, carrot juice can be prepared for the child, in which case the vegetable is used raw.

Greens, onion, garlic

Greens and fragrant vegetables are added to purees and soups after 9 months. Onions and garlic are always subjected to heat treatment, carefully chopped, used in small quantities. Greens are used raw, you can chop the leaves together with other vegetables with a blender. Children up to a year add dill, parsley, celery to dishes.

Up to 12 months, legumes, turnips, radishes should not be introduced into the diet. Cucumbers and tomatoes are introduced with caution. These products can cause indigestion, allergic reactions. They are added in small quantities to the main products, accompanied by strict control.