Have you been wondering how to prepare your baby’s food, especially if you’re just starting to
introduce solids? In this video I’m going to talk about the different ways you can cook the food;
how to make food in the consistency of a puree; how to prepare strips of food for your baby self
feeds; and I’ll finish off with what you should and should not use to flavor your baby’s food.
Regardless of whether you’re spoon feeding purées, doing baby-led weaning,
or a combination of both, I think you’ll find this information helpful. If this is our first time
meeting, I’m Dr. Belousov. I’m a board certified pediatrician and I equip parents with knowledge,
so they can care for their children with confidence. I put together this Youtube video
series to show you how simple and enjoyable the process of starting solids can be for both you
and your baby. Be on the lookout for more videos like this released on a weekly basis. Hit the
subscribe button and ring the bell so you get notified when the newest video is released. Many
parents ask me, “what’s the best way to prepare food for my baby?” Fortunately there are many
ways that it can be done, giving you flexibility to take the approach that will work best for you.
In this episode I’m focusing on the food preparation, I will have a separate episode
coming up that will go into the details of what foods to be offering your baby, how to ensure that
your baby is getting a balanced diet, and how to create meal schedules for your baby. So be
on the lookout for that. There are many benefits to offering your baby homemade foods. It allows
you to know exactly what ingredients your baby’s getting. And your baby will get to experience the
flavors unique to your household. It will also be cheaper than buying the commercial variety.
So let’s start off talking about all the different ways that you can cook the food for your baby.
The first method is steaming. This is actually one of the best ways to preserve the vitamins
and minerals in vegetables and fruits. Vitamin C and the B vitamins are water soluble and can
easily be destroyed by overcooking, especially when vegetables and fruits are boiled. For example
broccoli loses over 50 percent of its vitamin C when boiled, but less than 10 percent when
steamed. There are several options for steaming, you can get a simple steamer rack like this one
and use it with one of your pots or pans. Or you can get a pressure cooker. Both methods
preserve the maximum nutritional benefits of vegetables and fruits and cook by steaming. The
main difference is how long the process takes. Pressure cookers use high pressure water vapor
at a higher temperature to accelerate cooking then steaming on stove top. The nice thing
about pressure cookers is that they usually come with racks, which makes it possible to prepare a
meal for the family on one level, and food for the baby on another level at the same time. I
recommend chopping the vegetables or the harder fruits, into uniform pieces. The fruits that you
will need to cook to soften, at least before your baby gets teeth, include hard apples and pears.
You don’t have to have a ruler out when you’re cutting them, but aim for a thickness of about
½ to 1 inch and about 2 to 3 inches in length. The thicker the food, the longer it will take to cook.
If you’re steaming on the stove, add about an inch of water to the bottom of the saucepan or pot,
then put the steamer rack in. Make sure the surface of the water is below the steamer rack,
so none of the food will be boiling in the water. Bring it to boil and only then add the food
onto the steamer rack. Cover the pot or pan with a lid and let it steam. It will take about 3 to
5 minutes to steam broccoli, 4 to 5 minutes for green beans and carrots, and 10 to 12 minutes for
cauliflower. Test a piece with a fork to see if it’s soft. The cook time will differ every time
based on the thickness of the pieces and the maturity of the vegetable or fruit. Also be sure
not to overcook the food to maintain nutrients. After carefully removing it, let it cool down.
It’s up to you if you want to serve the food warm or at room temperature, either way is fine. I
personally prepare a lot of meals using a pressure cooker. The one I have is the Ninja Foodie. I love
it and put it to great use. The Instant Pot is another very popular one. So if you’re using a
pressure cooker, take a look at the manual that came with it for the volume of water to add
and the cook time for what it is that you’re preparing. For example if I’m making zucchini,
the manual recommends cutting the food into 1 inch thick slices, and adding 2 cups of water to the
pot. I put the food on the steaming rack and close the lid. Mine has a bunch of different functions,
including a steam function. Then I set it to the time recommended in the manual. Once it’s
finished cooking and the steams is released, the food should be pulled out on the steaming rack
and set out to cool down. Then it can be pureed or cut into strips to be offered to the baby.
Another wonderful thing about pressure cookers is that the high pressure water vapor at a higher
temperature does a great job of breaking down fibers in meat and makes it very tender and moist.
This method works well for preparing meat to puree or offer in strips for the baby to self feed.
I will have a separate video coming up that talks all about how to prepare meats and safely offer
it to the baby. The links for all the items I mentioned are in the description below,
if you would like to check them out. The second method is boiling. Use the minimum amount of water
necessary, just enough to cover whatever is in the pan. Be careful not to overcook the food, or the
nutrients they contain will be lost. Boiling reduces vitamin C content more than any other
cooking method. Because vitamin C is water-soluble and sensitive to heat, it seeps out of the
vegetables or fruits when they are immersed in hot water. The B vitamins are also heat sensitive and
seep out into the water as well. However, when the liquid containing these juices is consumed,
most of the minerals and some of the B vitamins are retained. So if you’re pureeing the food, add
some of the cooking water to make a smooth puree. This will return some of the minerals and vitamins
that seeped out during the cooking process. If you’re finding this information helpful, hit the
thumbs up button. The third method is microwaving. It’s an easy, safe, and convenient way of cooking.
The short cook times and reduced exposure to heat preserve nutrients in microwaved food. About 20-30
percent of vitamin C is lost in green vegetables during microwaving, which is less than with most
of the other cooking methods. Chop the food and put it in a suitable dish. Add a little water,
then cover it, but leave an air vent. Cook on full power until the food is tender.
One thing to be mindful of is that when you microwave, it can cause heat pockets to develop.
So let the food cool down to room temperature or till it’s warm.
Microwave cooked food works well for pureeing. The mixing process will eliminate the heat pockets.
The fourth method is baking. Most vitamin losses are minimal with baking, including vitamin C. If
you’re preparing something in the oven for the whole family, you could take the opportunity
to bake a potato, apple or butternut squash for the baby. Or if you have a small countertop oven,
you can use that as well. Wash the food and prick it with a fork in multiple places.
Bake in an oven preheated at 375 to 400 degrees fahrenheit, until the food is tender.
In some cases it may take around 40 minutes to an hour. Set it out to cool, and then cut the food in
half and scoop out the flesh and then puree. Or cut it up into strips for the baby to self feed.
The fifth method is slow cooking through the use of a Crock-pot or another slow cooker. This
method uses slow, low heat to simmer food over several hours. If you don’t have one at home,
I wouldn’t run out and get one. But if you already have one, it works great especially for preparing
meat for the baby. The low heat over the course of several hours breaks down the meat fibers
to make it tender and moist. Other methods of cooking that we use to prepare some of our food,
through frying or grilling are not the best ways to cook food for the baby. We want food
to be nice and moist for babies, especially if it is being offered in strips of food that the
baby self feeds. Now let's talk about how to prepare foods in a puree consistency, and how
to cut food into strips that a baby can safely self feed. If you're preparing a hard vegetable
or fruit you will need to use one of the methods to cook it until it's soft and easily mashable.
For a more nutritious puree and creamier texture add breast milk or formula. But it’s also fine to
use the water in which you boiled the food, to return some of the nutrients that seeped out,
or water that was used to steam the food. I find that it’s much easier to get the puree to be a
smoother consistency for babies when they are just starting solids by using a food processor
or blender. But it is possible to mash soft foods using a hand held masher or even a fork.
I have links to different items that could be used to puree the food in the description below, if you
want to check them out. There isn’t a set amount of liquid to add to the food when you’re pureeing
it. The amount you add really depends on your baby's consistency preference. Especially with the
first puree foods, you can try offering the food in a more liquidy consistency, like a butternut
squash soup consistency. And then offer the same food that is a little thicker in its consistency.
And see what your baby has a preference for. Every baby is unique and will have different
preferences. So you may need to experiment with the consistency and how much breast milk, formula
or water you add. For those of you who are doing baby-led weaning, puree is also a consistency that
your baby should experience. The philosophy behind the approach is not to avoid purees and spoons,
but to have the baby be the one in control of the feeding experience. It’s possible to
accomplish this by preloading the puree on a spoon and letting your baby self feed. I recommend using
a short handled spoon such as the ezpz tiny spoon or Olababy soft-tip training spoon. Babies tend
to gag themselves when using long handled spoons. To prepare strips of food that the baby can safely
self feed, a good size to go with is about the thickness of an adult pinky finger, or a little
thicker. If you want to be exact, the strips of food should be about ½ to ¾ inches in thickness.
And make them about 2 to 3 inches long. This size of food is ideal for the baby to be able to grasp,
but still have enough sticking out beyond the hand to munch on. Broccoli and cauliflower work
well as florets that are around an inch wide with a bit of the stalk left on to provide a handle for
the baby to hold. Now let’s talk about adding flavor to your baby’s food. For decades parents
were advised to serve babies plain, unseasoned foods. Now we are realizing that in order for
them to learn to enjoy a variety, we need to serve them a variety of flavors. And spices aren’t just
for flavor - they have health benefits as well. Cinnamon has many health benefits, and turmeric
has potent anti-inflammatory effects. Other spices that are commonly used to flavor foods for babies
6 months and older include cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger, and cardamom. The exception is
salt and sugar. Babies under 12 months should not have salt or sugar added to their food.
A baby’s salt requirement is less than 1 g per day, and this is mostly met by the breastmilk
or formula they are already taking. Any extra salt will make your baby’s kidneys work harder.
This can lead to kidney disease and high blood pressure later on in life.
Baby’s also should not have sugar put into their foods as an additive in the way of white refined
sugar, brown sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey or any of the other sweeteners out there. The
natural sugars that babies get from fruit is fine, I’m not referring to that. Excess sugar can cause
tooth decay and cavities in children. Research also has shown that children who were fed a high
sugar diet were prone to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Now you know the different
ways you can prepare foods for your baby, and the ways that you can make it more tasteful.
Let me know your biggest takeaway from this information by leaving a comment. Feel free
to leave your questions in the comments section as well, and I’ll respond. See you in the next video.