Baby Food - Homemade Baby Foods For 6 To 8 Months Babies

A lot of people ask about the foods you must introduce to your child, when he is ready for semi-solids and solids. In this article, I will be talking about some homemade baby foods.

Where some say that 4 months is the right age to introduce semi-solids, others are against the idea of this age. They say that up until 6 months, a baby should be exclusively bottle or breast-fed.

Once my daughter was 6 months old, I couldn’t wait to start her on semi-solids. But one of my major concerns was, what should I feed her? Something that is not only gentle on her exclusively milk-fed stomach, but also as nutritious as it could be.

I consulted her pediatrician and was told that I should start cerelac, but I honestly didn’t want to feed her something commercially bought. I wanted to make her something at home, something that she would genuinely enjoy eating. And something, at the same time, was healthy as well.

I am not saying that cerelac is not a good option to start with. However, what is better than a home cooked food? So, let us start with some home coocked foods.

1Banana

Bananas being high in potassium, Vit A, Vit C, Folate… are highly recommended by pediatricians as one of the first few foods to introduce to your baby. However, you have to make sure that you complete puree the banana before offering it to your little one.

Although it is mushy naturally, but you don’t want to mistakenly give a solid piece to your baby because he can’t obviously chew it.

2Home-made cerelac

All you have to do to prepare it is, heat some desi ghee in pan and add sooji (semolina) to it and roast it a little. Add some milk to your preferred consistency and the home-made cerelac is ready!

It has an amazing combination of fats, proteins and carbs for your little one. And I have to agree that my daughter absolutely loved it from the beginning of introducing it and still has it with delight.

3Apple with milk

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As good as fruits are for your baby, all the fruits cannot be introduced initially to them. Apple being rich in healthy carbs, Vit C, the mineral boron, pectin etc. It makes for a great first food.

You can introduce apple by combining it with milk initially and once your baby is a little older, you can hand him over the slice to chew on.

Just ensure that you boil the apple in warm water for a few minutes and after peeling it, make a nice smooth paste and add some breast milk or formula to it.

And that’s all there is to healthy goodness for your baby. I’m sure he’ll love having it every day.

ALSO READ – The First Solid Food While Breastfeeding

4Mashed Potato

Whether you feed your baby regular potatoes or sweet potatoes, either ways both are good source of healthy carbs.

Simply, boil and peel the potatoes and mash them to make them smooth. Remember no hard lumps should be there. To make it creamier, you could add breast milk, formula or even warm water to it. If you want to make it taste different, addition of carrots is a wonderful idea.

Baby Food – Homemade Baby Foods For 6 To 8 Months Babies

But ensure that the carrots, too, are boiled, peeled and mashed properly before you add them to the mashed potatoes.

I introduced all these items, not at once, but slowly as first foods to my daughter and she seemed to like the taste of all of them. Now she’s almost a year old and my options of feeding her have increased and improved.

ALSO READ – All About Health And Development of 6 Months Old Baby

Always remember that when you introduce solids or semi solids, don’t rush things. Move at a slow pace. Substitute only one feeding with solids to begin with and slowly you can start feeding them on a regular basis.

As a piece of advice, you could add warm milk, formula or breast milk to your baby’s food items but never add cow’s milk at least until your baby is a year old. Read my post on – Safety of cow’s milk if you haven’t already.

What kind of food did you introduce your child with at first? Did you buy food commercially or made it at home for your baby? Would you like to add any of your preferred and recommended items?