Introduction of first foods for baby is a delicate endeavor for even the most diligent parents.  There are a plethora of opinions and products in our culture, but keeping it simple, all natural and straight from the earth improves focus as a mother and digestion in the babe.

I led a local mothering support group for years and am currently in the state of spoon feeding my third child.  Through many conversations with wise mothers and much food research, I’ve condensed the knowledge gained of baby foods to a simplified format.

Especially for the very young, food introduction is particular, both for their physical experience of digestion and formation of diet for the long term.

My little son is 18 months and has been my biggest eater post-nursing.  Yet the foods I’ve introduced have been rather basic, often the same each day.  After the first two children, I dispensed with the popular notion of our culture that seems to dictate a great variety of foods. 

Motar and pestle  is an indispensable preparation tool for grinding down granola and grains, too large for little one’s digestion just yet, and comes in handy almost daily.  Our pantry preserves provide much of baby’s food, with applesauce, nectar and various fruit sauces for yogurt and cereal now dwindling rapidly.  And oh how satisfying to open and serve, straight from the summer garden to the table for our pure little one.

Baby’s Basic Daily Fare ~ Recipe

Our most common and successful meal combines all he needs in one sitting: whole grain, fruit and dairy based protein.

~granola

~yogurt, preferably Greek style, whole milk

~apricot nectar, or other pulpy fruit juice

First, grind down granola to a consistency of course sand; second, add preserved apricot nectar, mix and let it stand to soak in for a few minutes in order to soften the grains and make digestion of a carb like oats that much easier; finally,  mix in a couple good sized spoons of whole milk yogurt.

Apricot Nectar

The first food I gave to little one was Apricot Nectar, a super thick juice packed with vitamins A and E, and made in a manner that the pulp is preserved through the canning process.

Starting around 6 months nectar was an easy first food, being naturally sweet like breast milk but fairly low on sugar content.  At around 1 year, I began adding it to granola pulverized with mortar and pestle.

See recipe in my article “Sweet Ambrosia: Canning Apricot Nectar”

Additional Best Baby Foods from Soul & Stomach

Rhubarb Sauce and Yogurt, see article “The Barb is On” for rhubarb sauce recipe and methods.

Quiche, see article “Quiche Magnifique.”