For all the latest baby food news, updates to nutrition guidelines, product recalls, great new baby food recipes, hints, tips and more!
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April 30, 2007 13:20 - How To Thin Baby Food Purees
Sometimes you may puree a food for your baby only to find that the texture is a little thicker than your baby may like. What are the best ways to thin purees for your baby?
The best way of thinning purees is often to use the liquid that the food was cooked in. When you cook vegetables, a small amount of nutrients will leach into the cooking liquid - by reusing this liquid you are incorporating these nutrients back into your baby's meal.
Another option is to use use homemade stock or broth - check our recipes for chicken stock, beef stock and vegetable stock (included as part of our pumpkin and barley dinner recipe). Using a meat stock is also a great way of introducing a little added flavour to vegetables purees for babies who aren't too keen on their veggies!
Alternatively, you can use breast milk or formula for thinning purees. But it's important to note that you should NOT use previously frozen breast milk if you plan to freeze the puree you have made for your baby. This is because it is unsafe to freeze, thaw and then refreeze breast milk.
You CAN, on the other hand, freeze purees that contain freshly made formula if you choose. Freezing formula does not affect its nutritional value, nor is it unsafe. However, freezing formula can cause the fat to separate, which is why it is not recommended for general use.
We actually recommend NOT thinning purees for your baby prior to freezing them. This is because many purees seem thick when you put them in the freezer - but, due to changes in the cell structures during freezing, can be pretty runny when you get them back out! You don't want to end up thinning your baby's puree to the extent that it is watery when thawed.
The best advice is to thin food for your baby just before you are about to serve it to him!
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May 1, 2007 08:31 - We Have A New Baby of the Month
May is here... the weather is warming up for many of us as winter becomes a memory... the days are getting longer... and the Homemade Baby Food Recipes website has a brand new Baby of the Month!
A big thank you to everyone who sent in their photographs and stories - we really enjoy receiving them and it's so wonderful to open our mail each day to be greeted by the gorgeous smiles of your little ones!
So please come and meet the Baby of the Month for May (and, if you'd like to send in your baby's photograph, there's an entry form on this page too)... Read more...
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May 1, 2007 09:27 - Taking Great Photos of your Baby
We came across a great little article today about taking wonderful photographs of your baby during his first year. There's certainly an art to taking great baby pictures as babies are not the most predictable of models, but this article has some nice tips for getting the most out of your photographs!
And, of course, once you've got your perfect shot, you can submit it to us for our Baby of the Month page. Or, if you're in the US, why not look into getting your baby's photograph transformed into a beautiful work of art!
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May 1, 2007 13:09 - Food Allergy and Premature Babies - A New Study
Recent research suggests that exposure to food allergens early in life may increase tolerance in later life for babies who are premature or low birth weight.
The Canadian study was carried out to examine the risk to premature and low birth weight children of developing food allergies. Researchers found that there is no difference in risk between full-term babies with a healthy birth weight and those born early. This goes against the previous thinking that an immature gastrointestinal tract may increase the development of food allergy.
13,980 children, born in 1995 and living in Manitoba, were included in the study. 592 of these children had food allergies but analysis found no link between food allergy and birth weight/maturity. Researchers summed up their findings by saying that "...Prematurity and low birth weight are not associated with a change in risk for development of food allergy in childhood".
This study did, however, show that food allergy was linked with a maternal history of food allergy and asthma.
For more in-depth information about this research, you can read the full article here.
It's important to note that further studies will need to be carried out before any changes are made to official recommendations for the introduction of foods - particularly highly allergenic foods - for infants. Please remember to consult your pediatrician before you introduce ANY new foods to your baby.
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May 3, 2007 14:34 - Danger From Worn Vinyl Baby Bibs
The CPSC has issued a warning to parents about the dangers posed to babies by worn vinyl baby bibs. Some vinyl bibs contain lead compounds which could be ingested by babies chewing on them once they are worn and peeling. You can read the full warning here.
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May 3, 2007 16:59 - Are Microwave Ovens Safe?
We received a message yesterday from Angelica who was concerned that we had given advice on our site about using microwave ovens to warm baby food.
Angelica's concern is that microwave ovens are - in general - unsafe and that using them in food preparation may have serious health implications. In her message, she referred to the article 10 Reasons To Throw Out Your Microwave.
As we stated in our reply to Angelica, we are familiar with this article and have looked further into the claims it contains.
We feel, along with many sites offering advice about baby food preparation, that using a microwave to heat your baby's food is safe as long as certain precautions are observed. This was, indeed, the purpose of this recent post on our blog. (Please remember, though, that ours is not professional medical advice and that we ask all parents to discuss matters of concern with their doctor).
But we agree with Angelica that it is important for parents to be aware of all the facts concerning every aspect of feeding their babies. So we decided to publish links to both articles here in our blog, to enable you to draw your own conclusions from the information given.
Please feel free to leave your comments on this subject below...
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May 4, 2007 10:34 - Kids Don't Notice Hidden Veggies!
A US study has found that children don't notice when you sneak extra veggies into their meal - and that they eat less calories as a result!
The 61 children observed in this research were aged from 3 to 5 and were fed two different kinds of pasta - one kind with a higher calorie density and the other 25 percent lower in calories because blended broccoli and cauliflower was included in the pasta sauce.
The result was that the children couldn't tell the difference - meaning that those eating the pasta with the hidden vegetables were consuming less calories and, of course, more veggies!
Of course, limiting calories is not your priority when you are feeding a baby, but what IS interesting is the fact that you can successfully hide vegetables in your kids' meals without them realizing. It just takes a little imagination!
Disguising vegetables is just one of the recommendations on our page all about increasing your baby's veggie intake, but we have some other suggestions, too... Read more...
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May 5, 2007 15:31 - Win An Amazon Voucher
It's competition time here at Homemade Baby Food recipes - and there's a $20 Amazon gift certificate up for grabs!
By entering our fun new "Baby Food Recipe Competition", you can win a prize by sharing your yummy baby food ideas with our visitors.
All you need to do is send us your favourite homemade baby food recipe and each month, we will award the sender of the best recipe with a $20 gift certificate from Amazon...
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