Chicken Recipe for your Little One-

Chicken soup recipe for little one-

Chicken Soup is highly nutritious mixture of proteins that is very easy for your baby to digest. Chicken can be introduced to your baby from 8 months onwards (AAP and WHO says it can introduce as early 6 months).Chicken soup is best remedy to give babies in cold and cough. 

Ingredients-

• Chicken - 2 pieces (I prefer boneless chicken breast)
• Garlic-1 or 2 clove
• Onion - 1 small
• Vegetables ( carrot ,beetroot, spinach, beans , green peas , potato ) - 1 small cup 
• Water / Chicken Stock - 2 cup
• Butter - 1 spoon

How to make it-

1. Wash and clean the chicken
2. Chop the garlic and onion
3. Cut the veggies to squares
4. In a pressure cooker add butter and saute garlic and onions till it turns translucent (you can put little ginger too)
5. Add the veggies and let it fry for few mins then add chicken pieces in it
6. Pressure cook for 2 whistles with water
7. Once cooled off , blend the mixture and strain the clear watery soup or you an serve blend chicken purée to your baby.

Note- 

-No need to blend if baby is able to chew the soft veggies and chicken,just mash with back of spoon or remove chicken with a slotted spoon or any spoon and place on a cutting board. Chop chicken into very small pieces and return to cooker and serve hot soup to your baby.

- 1/2 cup of plain pasta, any shape, already cooked can be added to chicken soup. Just before serving to your baby (don't forget to get it boil with soup for 5 min at least)

-You can alter soup as much as your baby like by adding fewer vegetables or more liquid. 

Baby First Food Guide- Oatmeal

Baby First Food-

Pediatricians have historically recommended single-grain cereal, such as oatmeal or rice,as a first food for infants.

Oatmeal cereal may be a better starter cereal than rice as it is less constipating and many babies prefer the taste of oats over rice cereal.

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that cereal is the best first food for infants. However, a single-grain cereal is easy for a young digestive system to process, so cereal is an appropriate food to introduce early. Many moms offer rice cereal first, but oatmeal is more nutrient than rice cereal.

Oats are one of the least allergenic foods, so – whilst it should not be forgotten that ANY food has the potential to cause an allergic reaction – oats are among the safest to introduce to your baby as a first food.

Due to their high fibre content, they do not cause constipation in the way that rice cereal often does in infant.

The reason infant cereals are typically recommended is that they are fortified with iron, and iron can become limiting during late infancy, particularly in breastfed babies. In early infancy, babies are mostly using stored iron that was transferred from mom during pregnancy, but by around 6 months, those stores run low, and they need to be getting some iron from solid foods. 

Commercial baby cereals are fortified with iron, effectively making it an easy way to deliver extra iron to lots of babies.Oatmeal – also known as porridge in some parts of the world.

However, there are other sources of iron that are actually better than fortified cereals.You can get iron from meats,poultry,fish,spinach,beans etc but people are still prefer to introduce cereal as first food of baby due to allergies. 

If you don't have any allergies history in your family then you can give others iron based food to your babies as first food.There is no reason why you can’t introduce those great heme sources of iron (meat, poultry, fish) as first foods, and in fact, this is now recommended by the AAP . If your baby is consuming 1-2 small servings of meat per day, plus other sources of non-heme iron, then there’s no reason that you have to supplement with an iron-fortified cereal

Also, note that your pediatrician should test your baby for anemia around 12 months, so this will at least alert you if your baby is very deficient in iron.

Oats are high in fiber, calcium, protein and even some B vitamins. 

Types of oats- 

1)- Steel cut oats

2)-Rolled oats

3)-Instant oats

Although there isn’t a drastic nutritional difference between steel cut and rolled oats ,but Steel cut oats are slightly less processed.While both are great options (so long as you opt for regular rolled oats and not the quick-cook kind).Instant oatmeal is much more processed in order to enable instant cooking. Not only are instant oats pre-cooked and dehydrated, there is also, more often than not, added sugar and salt so it's really not recommended for babies.

Steel cut oats are slightly healthier and more nutritious than rolled, quick cook or instant oats. However it's takes longer times to cook.

Cooking Oats for Little One-

All in all, rolled oats and steel cut are both great options for baby—and for you, too! Whichever type you choose, I recommend that you use your Blender to grid the oats before cooking them  for babies. Just make the fine powder and keep it in Air tight BPA free container. Your Oat powder is ready to give baby!!

You can mix oats with breastmilk/formula and give to your little one or mix with your baby's fav veg/fruit purée.

Starting Solids ( what you need to know)

Hello mommies, 

Are you first time mom, don't you know if your baby is ready for solid or not? I can completely understand!! This is the what I gone through so no worry mommies here are few important things that you need to know before starting solid for your loved one-

Starting Solids-

Introducing solids into your baby's diet is a big milestone, and it can be an overwhelming step for a parent. 

What you need to know before starting solids-

Look for true sign of readiness,Breastmilk & Formula are still the Maine source of nutrition for your baby. Pls don't replace the milk feeds with water or solids.

The thumb rule of offering solid is nurse before solids then offer food after that.

When to Introduce solids -

Consult with your child's pediatrician before starting solid foods.The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months and advises parents to introduce solids no earlier than 4 months of age.( now it's has been changing from 4 months to 6 months) However, in individual practice, guidance of the appropriate time to introduce food should also be led by the infants signs of readiness. It can be few weeks before of 6 months or few days after 6 months. Beyond six months, further delay increases the risk of iron deficiency in Infant and Introducing solids early can lead to decreases the duration of exclusive breastfeeding.

• Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position.
• Sitting well when supported. Even if he's not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well.
• Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it.
• Ability to let you know when they are full (like head turn away or not ready to open mouth)
• Ability to pick up food from plate and try to put in their mouth.

• Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they've doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old.
• Growing appetite. He seems hungry – even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day.
• Curiosity about what you're eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth.

When your baby is interested in solid food, chances are she won't be shy about letting you know. She may communicate her interest in "grown-up" foods by reacting with excitement or agitation when she sees you eat, by reaching out for tantalizing morsels on your plate or something else.

Three days rules of solids-

Do you know what is three days rules of starting solid to your little one? As starting solid is very much excited phase of parents so don't try to introduce each new food daily to your baby.Just introduce one food for 3 days. Keep eye on your baby skin if you see any allergy or any constipation, loose motion, vomiting or it could be anything else.

Be aware of food allergies-

Although the AAP no longer recommends waiting to serve certain foods to stave off allergies (like dairy, eggs, seafood and nuts), if severe food allergies are in the family tree, talk to your doctor (he may recommend delaying solids or adopting a staggered-start approach for certain foods). 

Stay tuned for babies first food!!