Tasty new homemade baby food recipes, feeding tips, baby related news, safety recalls, updates to our site and more!
May 11th, 2008 by Christine
Mother’s Day is always special - no matter how old your children are - but it has extra significance if you will be celebrating it today with your first child!
Fun as it is, your baby’s first year is a very busy time as your little one becomes the centre of your world.
So we hope you are able to find a little ‘me-time’ today - you certainly deserve it!
With warm wishes for a very Happy Mother’s Day from homemade-baby-food-recipes.com!
May 9th, 2008 by Christine
Waitrose is recalling all of its own-brand organic eggs because they may be contaminated with lead.
The affected eggs have already been removed from shelves, but please check your refrigerator to see if you bought any prior to the recall.
The recalled eggs are Waitrose organic free range eggs Columbian black tail hens
These were sold in the following sizes
Medium (6 egg and 12 egg packs)
Large (6 egg packs)
Very Large (6 egg packs)
All date codes up to and including 20 May are included and the Farm Identification Code is OUK 20137.
If you DO have any of these eggs, please take them to your nearest Waitrose store, where you will find notices near the check outs explaining what you should do with them.
Source: www.food.gov.uk
May 9th, 2008 by Christine
We all know that fruits and vegetables play an extremely important part in the diet - not just in infancy, but throughout adult life too. Packed with a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals, fruits and veggies have been proven over and over again to be key in preventing major diseases and maintaining a healthy heart.
But there’s another lesser known benefit to including lots of vegetables and fruits in the diet - and it’s one that is particularly important during infancy.
They provide your baby with vitamin C which, in addition to its other functions within the human bady, plays a major role in iron absorption.
This means that giving your baby fruits and vegetables with his meals helps him effectively absorb the iron from the OTHER foods he eats with them.
This is especially important to take into consideration if your baby is following a vegetarian diet. The iron from plant sources (like vegetables, legumes, cereals and grains) is known as non heme iron and is absorbed far less easily by your baby’s body than heme iron (which comes from meat).
In this situation, boosting your baby’s iron intake by serving him foods rich in vitamin C is highly beneficial.
Good sources of vitamin C include
*(Please note that not all of these fruits and vegetables are appropriate throughout your baby’s first year).
It is, therefore, wise to try to include at least one of the above items with every meal - that way you can be sure that your baby is deriving the maximum benefit from the iron-rich foods you give him.
Read more information about the important role that iron plays in the human body…
Visit our page about iron supplementation
Recipe ideas…
May 8th, 2008 by Christine
We’ve just discovered that Deluxe Bottle and Food Warmers by Munchkin are being recalled because they can overheat - and this, of course, presents a potential fire hazard. Munchkin has already received nine reports of these units overheating and some of them actually ignited. Thankfully, though, no one was harmed and it was only kitchen countertops that were damaged.
The product involved in this recall is the Munchkin Deluxe Bottle and Food Warmer with Pacifier Cleaning Basket 2-in-1 Design, model #13301 and lot number TP-1487.
A very popular item with parents, it’s used to warm baby food and bottles of different sizes. It has a main basket, another basket that you lift out, a measuring cup and an adapter ring. The word ‘Munchkin’ appears on the front of the warmer and you can find the lot number on the bottom.
Please note that ONLY warmers with a lot number of ‘TP-1487′ are included in this recall.
These Munchkin warmers were sold online, at various retailers across the US and via the company’s catalog for around $20, from June 2007 through April 2008.
If you have one, please stop using it immediately (of course!) and contact Munchkin who will provide a free replacement warmer. You can contact their customer service department toll free at (866) 619-8673 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday. Alternatively, you can visit their website here.
May 8th, 2008 by Christine
This fish pie baby food recipe is easy to make and combines the goodness of fish with nutritious veggies to make a healthy dish that’s packed with flavour!
This recipe always appealed to our little boy who refused to eat fish unless it was well ‘hidden’ in something else! Plus, the combination of white and sweet potatoes gives it a fun and colourful appearance that’s too tempting to resist!
Baby’s Favourite Fish Pie is suitable from around 7 months+.
Here’s what you’ll need…
4oz (1/2 cup) boneless white fish (or use salmon, or 2oz of each!)
4oz (1/2 cup) white potato
4oz (1/2 cup) sweet potato
2oz (1/4 cup) frozen peas, thawed
2oz (1/4 cup) grated Cheddar cheese
1oz (1/8 cup) butter
milk (you can use whole milk, breast milk or formula)
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C).
Next, grease a small oven-proof dish with the olive oil.
Put your uncooked piece(s) of fish into the dish and pour in enough milk to just cover them.
Place in the oven and cook until the fish flakes with a fork (about 10-15 mins).
Meanwhile, peel and dice the potatoes and steam until tender (it’s best to start the white ones off first, as they take a little longer to cook).
Remove the fish from the oven, then drain off and reserve around half the milk.
Turn the oven up to 425 deg F (220 deg C).
Using a fork, separate the fish into small pieces and spread around the dish (double checking for bones as you do so).
Mash the potatoes thoroughly with the butter, freshly ground black pepper and the milk you drained from the fish, until it is lovely and creamy.
Stir the peas into the potato, then use this mixture to top the fish evenly.
Sprinkle with the grated cheese then return to the oven for 15-20 mins, until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.
Cool and serve… mmmm!
May 7th, 2008 by Christine
This week, the BabyCenter Store has a special Mother’s Day gift for all Moms…
Free standard shipping on ALL orders!
There is NO minimum purchase required - and this offer applies right up to Monday morning (May 12th) at 9am PST. All you need to do is enter Coupon code FREESHIP when you check out!
Don’t forget - in addition to a range of great accessories for your little one, the BabyCenter Store also has some wonderful maternity clothing and skin care items for expectant Moms!
This is a great time to make some big savings - so shop now…
May 7th, 2008 by Christine
We received an e mail earlier this week from Cheow in Singapore who was horrified to find something nasty in her baby’s diaper.
His poo seemed to be full of little black threads. She told us “… they look like worms, but they are not moving. And there are LOTS of them!”
Of course, we are not doctors - and it is ALWAYS important to seek medical advice when you have any concerns about your baby.
However, one thing that immediately sprang to mind when Cheow mentioned black worms were - believe it or not - bananas!
Yes, strange though it may seem, eating bananas can lead to the appearance of black, fibrous threads in baby’s poop and - from personal experience - we agree that they do look alarmingly like worms!
This is a harmless and perfectly normal phenomenon - although the black bits may sometimes look more like specks than threads or worms.
We suggested to Cheow that bananas might be the cause and asked if her little boy (Kang) had eaten any recently.
Well, we received another message from Cheow today, telling us…
Kang loves bananas and recently has been eating them up to twice a day. We took him to see the doctor anyway and she agreed that bananas were the cause - in fact, the staff at the hospital thought it was funny that we thought they were worms! Kang hasn’t had any more bananas since we received your reply… and there are no more ‘worms’ in his diaper!
We’re glad you’ve identified the cause, Cheow - although, of course, it’s fine to continue to include bananas in little Kang’s diet.
After introducing solid foods to baby, there are very noticeable changes in his poop - and they CAN be a little worrying, particularly when you’ve become accustomed to the yellow, almost sweet-smelling poop of the breast fed baby!
Sometimes you may find little bits of undigested food - and some foods may have an extreme effect on the appearance on your baby’s poo - beets, for example, can give it a positively red colour and may even give a pink hue to his pee!
As we mentioned, you should always see your doctor if you are worried - but most of the strange sights you’ll see will be a perfectly normal part of your baby’s transition to solid foods!
Poop talk…
Well, the topics of conversation certainly change when you’re a Mum, don’t they?
But if YOU have ever noticed that a certain food has had an unexpected affect on your baby’s poo, we’d love you to tell us about it by leaving your comments below! That way, other Mums on the verge of introducing a new food to their babies may have a better idea of what they may find in their little one’s diaper as a result!
May 6th, 2008 by Christine
You’ve bought a mesh feeder (also known as a teething feeder) for your baby because you’ve heard they’re a great way to allow your baby to feed himself safely.
But what on earth should you put in it?
One of the most popular foods given in a mesh feeder is banana - probably because pieces of banana can be as slippery as soap and very difficult for your poor baby to pick up! Frozen banana is great too.
But beware - you can ruin your feeder forever if you don’t act quickly to clean it afterwards. AS SOON as your baby has finished eating, start cleaning the feeder - otherwise the leftover brown gunk can be very difficult to remove. Even the dishwasher won’t do a great job if the fruit is left on there for too long.
The best way to get the banana bits out is - quite simply - to hold the mesh feeder under running water and scrub it with a toothbrush (set aside for the purpose) or a stiff dish-washing brush. If the bits are particularly stubborn try soaking the bag in a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water.
Other great foods for putting in a teething feeder include
Remember - fruits that are placed in a mesh feeder don’t need peeling, because the skin (and any seeds) will stay inside the mesh bag and your baby will just get the mushy flesh.
Some parents also put in soft cooked vegetables (such as sweet potato), although your baby should be able to manage these quite well anyway by just mashing them with his gums!
One last point - teething feeders can be messy, particularly if your little one takes to throwing one around. A way to combat this is to use a pacifier clip to attach the teething feeder to his bib - no more feeder flinging!
Haven’t got a mesh feeder yet?
Teething feeders available online…
Baby Safe Feeder
- from Shop.com (UK)
Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder (2-Pack)
- from the BabyCenter Store (US)
What does your baby enjoy eating in his teething feeder?
We’d love to hear how YOU use your mesh feeder - and please feel free to share your feeder cleaning tips, too!
May 6th, 2008 by Christine
Two baby food varieties are being recalled by Heinz in Australia because some zucchini seed, which Heinz say may be inappropriate for babies of this age, found its way into the products. According to the Heinz website, the quality of the zucchini used for these products was affected by severe drought in the Murray Darling Basin.
The affected products are
and
In addition to problems with the zucchini, it seems that the Chicken and Vegetable Risotto product was manufactured with the use of an unsuitable batch of rice associated with a rice moth larvae (although the company assures consumers that this poses no risk to health).
If you have either of these products, you can return them to the store you bought them from for a full refund - and, if you have any questions, you can contact a special customer care line on 1800 888 803.
May 5th, 2008 by Christine
These Small Food Portioners from Brother Max are a rather fun twist on regular freezer trays for your homemade baby food!
The set consists of 6 small pots that clip together like Lego! They are designed to fit very tightly against each other, leaving no space in between for purees to dribble down.
When you need one, you just unclip it from the rest and leave it in the fridge to defrost. Then - if you choose - you can heat the food in the microwave whilst still in the pot… serve the food from the pot… and finally pop the pot in the dishwasher for easy clean-up!
If you prefer NOT to use the Food Portioners in the microwave, then Brother Max has made it very easy to remove the frozen puree by including a special ‘pop out’ button at the base of each pot.
The set even comes with a pen, so you can record the date of preparation - and the type of food - directly on each pot.
The Brother Max Small Food Portioners are available from Shop.com (UK only).
Check out more storage solutions for your homemade baby food available in the US and the UK…
The Homemade Baby Food Recipes Blog
Tasty new homemade baby food recipes, feeding tips, baby related news, safety recalls, updates to our site and more!
