Author Topic: introducing seasonings?  (Read 1142 times)

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Offline trimbler

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introducing seasonings?
« on: March 24, 2011, 19:07:51 pm »
Just wondering - if it's a good idea to introduce foods slowly, say, one new food every 3 days (especially if LO has eczema, as ours does), how do you go about introducing seasonings or foods like onions and garlic, that you wouldn't have by themselves? It doesn't seem practical to me to spend 3 days introducing each herb and spice etc - or is that what you do? Or are there some seasonings etc that you just don't need to worry about? Obviously I'm not talking about salt or sugar here, but things like onions can cause wind, can't they? Also, at what stage would you introduce these kinds of flavourings? At the moment we're just keeping it all very simple - single food purees or mixing two accepted purees together. But so many weaning recipes talk about adding all sorts of interesting flavourings... any advice, please?



Offline ~inbalance~

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Re: introducing seasonings?
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2011, 00:25:06 am »
Well, I think this is one of those things that different moms would have different advice on.  IMO, with an LO who has no tummy issues and is moving along fine with solids, introducing seasonings fairly early is fine and no I wouldn't bother with the 3 day introduction rule.  But if you are being cautious then you might want to go slow.  Onion and garlic are pretty common, so why not start with those for now?  It would be simple enough to add them to foods your LO is already ok with.  For other spices and seasonings maybe wait a little bit longer.  I can't remember what we did with my DS1 but I think after 9mos pretty much anything went.  With DS2 because we did BLW from the start I didn't do the 3 day intro thing nor did I avoid any seasonings, but he ate very little for the first few months anyway so it didn't make much of a difference. 
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Offline GingerNut

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Re: introducing seasonings?
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2011, 10:21:00 am »
I don't know what the official advice is.

I started DD off on apple puree with a touch of cinnamon; her second food was pear with vanilla. I wanted it to be interesting for her : ) By the time she was 7 months, she'd had nutmeg, cumin, coriander, turmeric, basil and mace as well. None of these caused a problem and she seemed to enjoy the flavours. Since then we've added more herbs and spices.

When we started meat (at 6.5 months, though she wouldn't actually eat it till 7.5 months really), all her little casseroles had onion in, and some had garlic. I think they did make her a little windier, but not enough to cause her discomfort. If I were to try those with a younger baby, it would be in very small quantities and not in the evening, just in case!

Martina, we've just hit the nine month mark, and I'm starting to just hand her random stuff out of the fridge to see what happens. It's such fun, I love this stage : )

Offline Chicane

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Re: introducing seasonings?
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2011, 10:46:34 am »
I really like Gingernuts idea as all those spices mix great with different veggies and fruit.

We didn't start with onion or garlic until DS was able to chew little pieces of things...then I would make up little casseroles too using same recipes as for grown ups but minus the salt.

If you've only been on solids for a short while I would tend to keep on keeping things simple and vary things up with mixing purees...then maybe add more flavours. Also you can start trying some finger foods (chopped up avocado, banana) that are softish...the new texture and feeling on the hands and fingers would be just as interesting as a new flavour...



Offline trimbler

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Re: introducing seasonings?
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2011, 16:05:07 pm »
Ok thanks for all the advice - so I guess I'll carry on keeping it simple for the moment and add more interest later... thanks!