Cooking With Kids: Different Approaches to Baby Food
I was delighted this morning when I opened the New York Times and found an article entitled Momma, I’ll Have Some of Whatever You’re Having. (I was also jealous, because I didn’t write it.)
Jessica had begun making meals for Gracie, our 7-month-old daughter, following the recommended pattern for carefully introducing individual puréed foods.
That all changed when she called me at work one day to tell me that she’d taken the food mill to the next level: since Gracie had tried all the basic ingredients from what we’d eaten the night before—my pasta Bolognese with mint—she had milled some up and watched with delight as Gracie happily finished every bite.
I had the same happy experience when my daughter Iris was nine months old and scarfed down two chicken enchiladas. While I second the author’s advice about stewed meats—if there’s a more perfect baby food, I haven’t met it—I had a couple of quibbles with the piece.
First, you don’t need a food mill to turn grown-up food into baby food. You just need a sharp knife.
Baby food doesn’t have to be a perfectly smooth purée, though some babies prefer purées. (Ours, to put it mildly, didn’t.) The knife is easier to clean and allows you to adjust the texture of the product as your baby learns to chew.
Then there’s the article’s advice on salt. It’s true that very young babies (under six months, and especially under four months) have trouble metabolizing salt. But the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t recommend introducing solid foods until six months anyway. A six-month old can handle the amount of salt found in a baby-sized portion of properly seasoned adult food, which, in any case, is much less salty than most processed food.
Cook. Chop. Serve. That approach worked for us, at least until Iris demanded her own slice of pizza.
About the author: Matthew Amster-Burton lives in Seattle. His work appears frequently in the Seattle Times and Seattle magazine. He also maintains the blog Roots and Grubs. His favorite food is pad Thai.
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11 Comments:
I so wish I had gone that route, rather than being sucked into baby food and the like. Now, granted I was dealing with a child adopted from China whose food background was seriously sketchy. But if I had only stuck with feeding her what was on our plates, well, I wouldn't have the picky kid I have now, I am totally sure. New parents out there - take heed!
Maureen at 4:54PM on 10/01/08
My mom always did this with me. and as I grew older, I always "helped" in the kitchen, because kids will eat, or at least try ANYTHING that they had a part in making. I was never a picky eater, and food remains one of my greatest joys in life.
I plan on doing this with my kids whenever I have them. It just seems like a no-brainer. I hate the "hiding vegetables in food and sneaking it into your kids" route. First of all, they would eat them if they had been fed them early on, and second, its just plain dishonest! you are doing your children a disservice by lying to them, and preventing them from enjoying real food, not food masquarading as other food.
I'm not saying all kids will eat all vegetables, but if you introduce them in a real way, you can figure out what they like and dont like. I hated asparagus as a kid. thats about it.
delilah at 5:15PM on 10/01/08
I remember the day my family was at a restaurant, and my youngest, a 5 year old, looked at the waitress and said, Do you serve calamari at this place? I think her chin hit the floor, and I was so proud of the job we had done as parents of allowing our kids to try everything, to understand that having food at all is a blessing, and that to be picky is not acceptable.
He ate all his calamari....
eatingoutwest at 5:34PM on 10/01/08
My son ate everything until he was about 5...everything. Guacamole. Calamari. Steak. Potatoes. Veggies. And this was at home and in restaurants.
Then it all changed and we went through a four-year period of PB&J, mac and cheese (Easy Mac, no less), and hot dogs.
It's only been the two years that he's back to eating a wider variety of foods again. And I love to have him help me in the kitchen :-) (He made the cornbread tonight and he makes a great batch of pancakes!)
CharJTF at 5:57PM on 10/01/08
Like my own mother and grandmother, I made my own baby food, and now my daughter does the same, although she has tried a few of the organic ones available now. I should admit that my oldest never ate baby food at all, and very little of the food I made and I had her tested. She just is and was a skinny person and doesn't eat much or gain weight. The doctor said she was healthy and getting what she needed.
I have a nephew, grown now, but all and I mean ALL he would eat was butter, and that's what they kept on hand for him. It was revolting to watch.
PerkyMac at 9:20PM on 10/01/08
I followed this same theory with my two children (one of whom is 12-months old now), but I didn't bother with a food mill. When she was 6 or 7 months old, I plopped her into a high chair and started letting her dig around in a tiny bowl of whatever we were having. If need be, I smashed it up with a fork or chopped it with a knife, but for the most part, she happily gummed away at beans, pasta, grilled veggies, whatever.
Feeding kids isn't rocket science. It has just been turned into a commercial endeavor, like everything else.
sarahbeam at 9:56AM on 10/02/08
Maureen, I'm with CharJTF. There are many good reasons to share your food with a baby, but preventing picky eating isn't one of them. I have the 4-year-old evidence right here.
mamster at 10:05AM on 10/02/08
This is exactly how we fed our son. After one month of pureed veg/fruit & cereals, his gluttony and my laziness resulted in our just giving him bowls of whatever we were having, mashed a little with a fork. It was fine and everyone was happy. I agree completely with sarahbeam-we've all been convinced by those who stand to profit from commercial products that kids have to be fed specially.
Melinda at 11:21AM on 10/02/08
I feel average adult food is too salty for an infant. I don't know if there is a middle ground to be "safe" for infants and provide them unusual flavors that everyone can equally enjoy, instead of making a special batch for the baby.
I don't use ANY salt in my cooking because it still comes out tasting salted after the dish is done anyway, at least to my tastebuds. When I tried baby food as an adult, I found it completely bland. It's almost like they *sucked out* the natural salt and sweetness in foods. I might just be sensitive to salt.
I am curious to know the impact of giving developing infants foods that require chewing, both positive and negative. It must be somewhat detrimental if we're all taught (through osmosis I guess) that we shouldn't feed infants table food. Is there a risk because the baby doesn't have teeth? Are their organs still developing? Could allergies be fatal at that age? Is it something that develops over time when the infant matures into their 50s or 60s? Or is there no risk and we need some way to reverse program people into not feeling that it is abnormal, even wrong, to feed infants table food?
Cassaendra at 12:03PM on 10/02/08
CharJTF: Where did your son get the PB&J, Mac and Cheese etc? Was it at school? What do you think would have happened if you hadn't provided those foods? My son is now 5 and so far has been eating everything. Occasionally he will turn his nose up at something and I just let him know that is all that there will be. Sometimes he leaves the table and if that happens, he often comes back later, when he is really hungry.
I have trouble understanding the "My child will only eat X syndrome". What if they can't have X?
I love The Yummy Mummy's take on this:
http://www.imperfectparent.com/yummy/avoiding-picky-eaters/672_1/
izzy's mama at 2:04PM on 10/02/08
Cassaendra, most people in the world would be very surprised to hear that there's anything wrong with feeding babies table food. It's a cultural issue, not a health and safety issue.
mamster at 2:40PM on 10/02/08