To indian mothers | ExpatWoman.com
 

To indian mothers

283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 10:36

at what age did you start giving normal food to babies? i mean the spiced veggies and lentils that we eat, with turmeric, cumin, chillies, coriander etc. we have not started him with salt or sugar yet.. DS is turning 1 soon and he is interested in what we eat, and not the bland food that i give him.

197
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 16 June 2011 - 18:01
Great idea Kiwispiers. Will try that for brekkie :) Presam, I am too lazy to do all that Kiwi does;) I just pressure cooker it when I'm doing rice. Works well. 1:3 works most times. I also make a upma with quinoa for the whole family! YUM! Khicidi as well :) Now i rarely eat rice and just have quinoa instead and the same dals and sbzi with it. Am a big quinoa fan :)
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 16 June 2011 - 14:28
DS has quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) every morning with his stewed fruit. It is a pseudograin, basically a seed and as said below very nutritious as well as gluten free. It tastes nicer if you soak the grains in water overnight then rinse and cook in fresh water. I cook it in the rice cooker or to make a porridge-type dish I cook it (rice cooker) then put in the blender with a little water while still hot, it turns into a porridgy pudding like goop which I freeze into breakfast sized portions. We also have millet cooked in a similar way.
283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 16 June 2011 - 12:33
Quinoa is a grain from the spinach family and is the only complete veggie source of protein. No desi name as far as I know. I buy it from the organic cafe or waitrose and mix in with rice or give it instead of rice. For pasta, try the smaller ones first. Mine loves orzo ( pasta shaped like rice) and also the mickey mouse shapes :) A small peice of advice is ( please tell me to buzz off if its not my place) is to maybe not give plain pasta as far as possible. Kids love that anyway and maybe try introducing with cheese or tomato sauce so they get used to eating it. Paneer pasta! yum! Have not had that in a while :) I am working on getting her to eat roti as a full meal, she still won't :( HTH Thanks ashc! I will look for it and then bug you again to know how to cook it :) i am always over worried about introducing things to him, i should just let him experiment. I will surely try pasta with tomato sauce :) He almost eats everything but in small quantities, like roti, he will have 7-8 M&M size pieces. I keep telling myself that this is a phase and before i know it he will be eating everything :) Thanks kiwispiers.. i've changed my approach now, earlier i was skeptical but now i know what i should do :)
2782
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 18:06
I'm not Indian but our maid is and we enjoy her cooking as does our 10 month old who has been having curries (minus the chilli) since he was around 8 months old. He has never had bland food, even his purees were spiced but without salt or chilli. We use a lot of fresh onion,garlic,coriander and mint and add fennel powder,coconut powder, garam masala etc. I have a rule that if I don't like how it tastes, I don't expect him to eat it. (generally him and I eat from the same bowl) Biggest thing as said below, watch the salt, better to add none and season yours afterwards. We avoid chili as it sets of his reflux but he can tolerate a little. (actually he will eat it even quite spicy, it just affects him later on) I don't know who came up with the idea that babies are supposed to like bland food, especially if they are breastfed and have been getting those lovely flavours via your milk all along. There was a study ages ago that showed that BF babies drank more after mum ate some garlic :)
197
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 17:41
Quinoa is a grain from the spinach family and is the only complete veggie source of protein. No desi name as far as I know. I buy it from the organic cafe or waitrose and mix in with rice or give it instead of rice. For pasta, try the smaller ones first. Mine loves orzo ( pasta shaped like rice) and also the mickey mouse shapes :) A small peice of advice is ( please tell me to buzz off if its not my place) is to maybe not give plain pasta as far as possible. Kids love that anyway and maybe try introducing with cheese or tomato sauce so they get used to eating it. Paneer pasta! yum! Have not had that in a while :) I am working on getting her to eat roti as a full meal, she still won't :( HTH
283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 17:23
thanks ladies!! :) like i mentioned earlier, i give him whole grain bread with slight butter, bits of phulka/chapati, plain rice mixed with daal (before tadka), idli, slightly oiled dosa, yoghurt etc but he is more interested in our plate, and eat happily what we eat. I was in a fix whether all these spices are ok to give or not.. We eat mildly spiced anyways, may be i'll lessen it further and DH can have pickles and papads along for that extra spice! Ashc, Pasta is a good idea.. he likes paneer, i think he will like plain pasta with paneer.. desi version ;) Pardon me, may i ask you what exactly is quinoa? does it have any desi name?
197
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 15:21
I love the mini idlis idea. Am making them for DD's dinner today :)
197
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 15:17
I agree. Maybe start slow and add haldi and zeera to the dal before you start adding chillies. DD loves her dal rice :) I am not training to eat like us with rice, dal ,veggies and salad but not going too far with that. My advice is also try and introduce non desi food as well. Like Pasta etc. So that when you are out and about, it'll be easier to feed them from the menu :) Am veggie too, so I make sure she has quinoa atleast 3 times a week for her protein. That with dal and yogurt covers the protein aspect :) HTH
429
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 14:09
presam,you could try giving him veg parathas with raita or ketchup. Again, make some mini idlis in those small idli moulds you get.somehow,kids enjoy eating them.You could add some grated veggies to the idli batter for a different taste. pls not ketchup! Its not good for kids
231
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 13:30
I do give DD multivitamin and iron drops. I have given them to her for a while but under docs go ahead. Check with your doc. Agree with momoftwo: Parathas go down well (have added in daal and steamed veggies), idlis are a staple fav, right now she actually ate one potato (boiled and cut into chunks and then tossed in oil, rye seeds, little garlic, tumeric and salt). Dont know if you eat egg, but french toast is a big hit (substitute banana for egg if you like) and I make applesauce and carrot muffins which go down with milk! I suggest you stop the boiled only and salt less stuff. And ofcourse give him stuff he can feed himself (we just got done with eating potatoes spread out on the tray).
275
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 13:07
presam,you could try giving him veg parathas with raita or ketchup. Again, make some mini idlis in those small idli moulds you get.somehow,kids enjoy eating them.You could add some grated veggies to the idli batter for a different taste.
429
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 12:25
www.baby-led.com Followed above website. Never made seperate food for ds. But made healthier food at home instead. And we dont go super chilli either.. He was given steamed veggies from 6-12 months. Also indian stye cooked veggies. Rice, he had with us. Biriyani was his favorite from about 7 months :) Meat and fish about 12 months. He is 24 months now and the only thing he hasnt eaten is shell fish. Gonna start that soon.
283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 12:02
Hi Presam. Your son sounds just like my daughter who is 16 months old (only two teeth!). I added some masala to her khichdi (we had made chhole) and she ate it with obvious enjoyment. Your son probably wants some salt now and wants yummy food. As far as not eating enough, I dont have any advice.... we battle constantly. wow! thats nice, atleast that would save us mothers from cooking separately or worry too much about them once they start eating normal (or so i hope :) ) he does not bother me much, he eats nicely when he is hungry but then it should be his choice of food. talk about attitude already!! Should i give him iron and vitamin supplement drops?
283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:49
i agree with others to start giving normal food.. what i i do is i make boiled rice for the baby when ever im making curry for us.. so i just add some curry to the rice so it doesnt seem so spicy..or when im making pulao i just give it with yogurt.. or if i m cooking daal .. i take out a portion before giving tarka... n then add some with the portion i took out ... but there r still few things i would not give her obviously... like biryani or spicy kebab.. other thing i do is use green chilli and white pepper powder instead of red chilli...its milder. thanks mast-mom... i have started with what u mentioned just couple of days back... he is having just a little bit of it but eats nicely if i give him from my plate whatever we are eating. We don't eat too much chilli or salt... so i was worried if its ok to start giving him whatever we are eating now or should we wait a little more! <em>edited by presam12 on 15/06/2011</em>
231
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:48
Hi Presam. Your son sounds just like my daughter who is 16 months old (only two teeth!). I added some masala to her khichdi (we had made chhole) and she ate it with obvious enjoyment. Your son probably wants some salt now and wants yummy food. As far as not eating enough, I dont have any advice.... we battle constantly.
283
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:45
thanks all! momoftwo i have tried giving him khichdi but he is not interested at all. i give him whole grain bread with slight butter, phulka/chapati, plain rice, idli, yoghurt etc from my plate but the quantity that he eats is just too less. I give him boiled/steamed veggies, and all kind of fruits. I am not worried about his weight but off late he has started refusing steamed veggies and he is not trying anything new. He has become more clingy, wants breast lot more that he used to, doesn't sit in his high chair at all and eats only from my/DH plate. He doesn't have any teeth yet and doesn't seem to be teething too. Should i give him iron and vitamin drops? worldgirl, i am a vegetarian and i don't cook meat, although DH eats but he gets from outside so we have not started giving him yet till DH decides to cook :)
124
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:40
i agree with others to start giving normal food.. what i i do is i make boiled rice for the baby when ever im making curry for us.. so i just add some curry to the rice so it doesnt seem so spicy..or when im making pulao i just give it with yogurt.. or if i m cooking daal .. i take out a portion before giving tarka... n then add some with the portion i took out ... but there r still few things i would not give her obviously... like biryani or spicy kebab.. other thing i do is use green chilli and white pepper powder instead of red chilli...its milder.
99
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:23
Also what you can do with meat or chicken once its cooked just wash it down to make it less spicier, or even add plain yogurt so its not too hot/spicy
275
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 11:18
Hi,presam,I'm an Indian mother,and I guess the more you delay giving spiced food to kids the more difficult it'll be for them to get used to it. So,its better to start early. From the time,a baby is 6 months,he's given a nice mashed mixture of rice,boiled lentils with turmeric ,salt and ghee. 1 year is a good time to start giving your son some mildly spiced food,not too spicy esp now during summer.:)
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 15 June 2011 - 10:55
Hi, Presam! I'm not an Indian mother, but when I was attending ante-natal classes, the Indian lady in the group was told by the mid-wife to eat as normal, the foetus would become used to the spicy food and become accustomed to it in the womb. So I would assume the same applies to your son and spices now, why not? What do Indian babies eat in India?
 
 

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