Indian Food for Infants?

Hi. My DH is originally from India (Gujarat) and I asked my mother-in-law what they would typically give infants in India to eat. She replied with foods that have sugar and dairy in them, things that I'm not looking to introduce them to just yet. I make about half the baby food they eat, but it is all just plain sweet potatoes, yogurt and bananas, apples, peas and rice, and variations on these things -- basically home made version of jarred foods, except I mix in yogurt into some of the dishes. Nothing with any seasonings at all.

I was just wondering if there were others here on the board from India or married to Indians and what you were feeding your babies -- or when the rest of you are introducing some degree of seasoning (not necessarily "spicy" as in hot, but seasonngs --salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, tumeric, etc).

Thanks in advance!

Sotto

 

I don't feed my kids a lot of Indian food, but I've tried it (takeout) on them once or twice. I don't think there's a problem with the spices per se, as long as you treat them like new foods and introduce them one at a time. That might be tricky with Indian food because there are so many ingredients in each dish, so you might want to wait until your twins are closer to 1 year and have tried a wider variety of foods.

 

I think you can gradually add small amounts of spice to the things you are already feeding them. One at a time, just like everything else -- the 4 day wait rule -- and remember some spices (like curry powder) are "blends" and you should probably avoid them until you have tried all the components (coriander, cumin, etc.) separately.

I just looked at one of my favorite baby food sites (reminiscing) and found this on the topic: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipspices.htm -- which backs up what I said. It says that most physicians will say to wait until after they are 8 months old, but that it isn't because of allergies as much as potential tummyaches. I think if you go gradual, it's a great idea!

 

Spices can cause allergies so add the spices a little at a time and do 3-4 day wait rule.

Maybe this will help: http://wholesomebabyfood.com/tipspices.htm

I started adding spices to the boys' food at about 9-10 months.

eta: LOL, Marie and I were posting at the same time!

 

My ped suggested using spices to make the food tastier already. His 2 specific examples were garlic and rosemary. He said anything was fine aside from salt (which is not a spice anyway)

He said babies love rosemary in carrots. I have not tries yet, but intend to soon as my hubby and I both eat a lot of seasonings!

 

I remember reading an MSN news story when mine were entering the solid phase and it is not necessarily "taboo" per se to wait on spices...

my daughter started eating onions, cumin, garlic etc around 8 mos or so and to this day will snack on scallions, red onions and lemon slices!

 

we introduce all kinds of food will all kinds of ingrediants after the age one...

 

My ped said anytime is alright I started around 9months with blending some of the harder table foods and they like the table foods better then the jared.

 

My favorite food when I was in India was curd rice - just rice cooked soft and then stirred into yogurt. The grown-up version has curry leaf, cumin, chilies and mustard seed in it (we were in South India), but I still make this plain when I have an upset tummy. It seems like ideal baby food for introducing spices one at a time, as it is so gentle on the tummy otherwise.

It's especially nice made with rice cooked in milk and then a nice dollop of ghee on top, but I'd leave those out of the baby version

 

One of my closest friends is from India (moved here as an adult) and when her first son was born I was so surprised to see giving him the same food they ate at only three or four months old. She told me that's what everyone does in her home town of Hydrabad. She didn't feed her son anything really spicy, but he ate all the dals and vegetable dishes before he was six months old and never had a problem. So I would say start with the spices whenever you want... but I agree with the PPs, stick to one spice at a time just in case there's a reaction.

 

Hi Sotto!

I am married to someone from India (Mumbai). Good to see a fellow american with the same issues I have! Mine are too young to start but yes my MIL also talks about the dairy and all that. I don't know what I will do but I feel that they will eventually have to eat it (or at least try it) so we will see. She recommended starting off with pepper in the baby food so maybe that is a start??!! PM and we can talk, I am sure we will have alot in common.

 

I am Indian, and I introduced my older DD to spices very slowly at around 8 or 9 months....by 10 or 11 months, she was pretty much eating what we were eating (mushed up or pureed when necessary, of course).

For spicy curries, I'd either mix them with a lot of yogurt to cut the heat, or I'd cook a small separate portion for her that was less spicy.

I wouldn't start with Indian food from a restaurant that has a lot of different things in it -- just add a bit of cumin, coriander, turmeric, etc. at home to various foods, and see how they do. Babies in India grow up this way (but then, they're used to getting lots of spicy flavors through mom's breastmilk, too).

 

My SD is part Guyanese and they fed her all types of indian food, nothing terribly spicy starting at 7 months. At about 8 - 9 months my kids were getting unseasoned table food blended which included Italian, Indian, Spanish etc.

 

My husband is Indian too (Hyderabad). My mother-in-law said that she fed her babies daal (mashed up) with gee and salt or sugar. We are about to cross that bridge and I was wondering the same thing. Thanks for asking! PM me I'd love to get to know you!
Rachel

 

You can start introducing spices whenever you are ready. Just do it one at a time like with the foods you have introduced. The problem with spices isn't so much that they are bad for the baby, it is that spicy food often has many different kinds of spices in it so you cannot tell where the problem lies if there is an allergic reaction.

 

QUOTE(sottovoce @ Nov 30 2007, 01:31 PM) [snapback]515654[/snapback]
Hi. My DH is originally from India (Gujarat) and I asked my mother-in-law what they would typically give infants in India to eat. She replied with foods that have sugar and dairy in them, things that I'm not looking to introduce them to just yet. I make about half the baby food they eat, but it is all just plain sweet potatoes, yogurt and bananas, apples, peas and rice, and variations on these things -- basically home made version of jarred foods, except I mix in yogurt into some of the dishes. Nothing with any seasonings at all.

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to thank you all for your replies. I was out of town and just read your replies now. I am feeling a bit more brave now, having read your responses, and I will slowly add in a few typical spices like cumin and coriander, one at a time. I'm going to hold back on the red chile powder for a long time (my DH's favorite spice!).

Thanks again.

Sotto