A mommy chef

Isabella has always been interested in our food that resulted in her observing her parents eat without blinking her eyes.

These days, she became even more adamant that she would stamp her feet in a rebellious nature, grab my hands or her daddy's hands in a futile effort to let her taste our meal.

Seeing her development, she should be ready for weaning despite hitting 6 months in 2 weeks time.

There are reasons why weaning is set at 6 months:-

1)To standardize the age of readiness for babies to accept other food. Some babies can be slightly earlier but others might be later thus the standardization.

2)After 6 months, milk alone can't provide enough nutrients for the little ones.

3)To avoid food allergies as introducing food to an unready digestive system will contribute to food allergies.

4)To give time to parents in undevelopped country before they wean their babies because breastmilk is free.

maybe I have missed some points as I could not remember more.

So, I decided to introduce Isabella with some new taste.

I chose a simple recipe such as blended banana with milk.

Her reaction was hilarious..

We snapped several photos.

She loved the taste.

However, she is one demanding and impatience baby that she urged me to feed her faster.

She also grabbed the spoon to feed by herself.

One more developmental milestones.

A baby will reach an age when she will want to feed herself. Learn to hold the spoon and should be encouraged.

So I let her hold a spoon.

Owh I forgot to add on the list above.. the baby has to lose the sucking reflex, meaning she can open her mouth for the spoon instead of sucking the food.

I fed her with milk in the banana puree. For the first time, it was just 5 spoonfuls.

Introduction is to let her explore new taste instead of filling her up.

Milk is still her main meal.

Later on, we will wean milk gradually as her food intake increase.

Once, she passed motion, I inspected her stool. Normal. No diarrhea or hard stool. No allergies. She passed.

I introduced her to vegetables. One vegetable at a time so that she can learn each taste and I can monitor her allergies if there is any.

Carrot puree. Brocolli puree.

The reason I started with vegetables is because they don't taste as good as fruits and other food. That is why if we teach our babies to eat vegetables at first, they will get use to it as the can't differentiate between sweet or bitter yet.

Once they know how sweet and delicious cake taste like, they will resent the healthy but slightly bitter vegetables.

Since before, I have read so many baby books to prepare myself. Hahaha actually I learned them in medical school but I was just so excited to have a baby that I still read more and more books. Besides, learning everything I need to know for my baby is fun

I have always determined to cook her food myself. No Nestum and processed food from the shelf.

Simply because a baby needs all kinds of vitamins and minerals. Introducing the same food each day will not provide enough.

Most baby food can be too sweet and processed food is not entirely healthy if you compare to home cooked meal.

I use Annabel Karmel book of recipe.

Very easy to follow:)