When my daughter turned 6 months old, it opened a whole new door of opportunities for food options other than breastmilk or formula! Babies have extremely delicate systems at this age and have zero capacity for spices or anything that doesn’t suit their palettes. So, as a mother, I had to get creative and trust my gut to come up with the yummiest, healthiest Indian recipes for my baby.
Up until the age of 6 months, our paediatrician strictly recommended that I stick to formula and breastfeeding only, however, once past that stage, I was allowed to introduce homemade recipes as she had started weaning! To avoid any sort of infection, acidity, or gas (babies have very delicate stomachs), always make sure you’re preparing the healthiest food at home!
I started with the basic non-allergic and easily digestible food items which included certain fruits, stewed apple, vegetable purees, etc. Once she got used to these food items and started enjoying them thoroughly, I moved onto soups, idlis, and khichdi (a lentil soup and rice mush!) To make new mommies feel less stressed about feeding their infants, I’ve compiled a list of some of the most easy to cook, tried-and-tested, healthy Indian recipes that babies will love!
Note: These recipes have been recommended for babies who are above 6 months old only.
Happy feeding, mommies!
Banana Mash
My daughter, Huma, became a dedicated fan of the ‘Banana Mash’ recipe when she turned 10 months old! I used basic ingredients to make this dish tasty and retain the nutrients at the same time.
Ingredients
- 1 banana (should be ripe, but not overripe)
- Formula or breastmilk
Recipe
- Peel the banana
- Make a puree of the banana by grinding it in a blender or grinder
- Post grinding, mash it further using a spoon or a fork
- Add in the formula milk or breast milk to give the mixture a thin consistency
- Serve the banana mash to your princess!
Stewed Apple
A super-quick recipe for when your baby is super hungry! The recipe requires an apple and some water to put together.
Ingredients
- 1 peeled apple
- Water
Recipe
- Wash the apple thoroughly, then peel off its skin
- Cut the apple into cubes
- Heat water in a saucepan (enough to properly immerse the apple cubes)
- When the water gets to the lukewarm stage, throw in the apple cubes
- When the apples get soft and can be pricked with a fork easily, turn off the stove and remove the apple cubes
- Cool it down
- Mash the cubes with a fork and voila, your stewed apple is ready
Rice Cereal
Typically, rice is not considered to be a ‘high’ allergen, in fact, it is one of the few foods from the ‘Grain’ family that newborns can be fed! Rice is low in protein and high in carbohydrates, which makes it an awesome meal choice for infants! The recipe is super simple and can be put together in a few minutes.
Ingredients
- 1/4th cup of brown rice powder
- 1 cup of water
- Breastmilk or formula
Recipe
- Grind the rice in a blender to give it a powdery form. Ensure that the rice powder is thoroughly fine
- In a saucepan, bring water to a boil and add the powder. Stir the mixture continuously
- Lower the heat thereafter and simmer cook for another 8 minutes. It is very important to stir the mixture constantly, otherwise, the rice will become sticky (babies don’t like that, nope)
- Once done, turn off the gas stove and let the mixture come down to a room temperature
- Mix in breastmilk or formula to give the mixture a semi-liquid consistency. You can make the consistency thinner by adding more breastmilk
- Serve lukewarm rice cereal to your infant!
Dal and Rice Cereal
I started giving this cereal to my daughter at the age of 8 months since she was clearly enjoying the other recipes. This meal idea became an instant hit with her and takes very little time and effort to make.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of lentil/dal (I favour yellow moong or masoor dal)
- 3 cups of rice
Recipe
- Take the dal and rice and wash them thoroughly
- Put both ingredients on two different plates and leave them out to dry
- Once they have been dried properly, dry roast the dal and rice (separately) on simmer
- You’ll start getting a nice aroma during the process and when the dal and rice turn slightly brown in colour, you know it’s done
- Let the ingredients cool down and then grind them together into a fine powder in a blender or mixer grinder
- The resulting powder needs to be stored in an airtight container to keep it from attracting insects!
- Whenever your baby is hungry, simply mix 2 spoons of this powder with either formula, breastmilk, or lukewarm water
Vegetable Soup
When making soup for infants, ensure that you do not include tomatoes because they are tangy and are not typically preferred by infants. This recipe was a slam dunk with both my babies and is so simple to make, even my husband nails it!
Ingredients
- 4-5 French beans
- 6 Spinach leaves
- ½ piece of carrot
- Handful of green peas
- 3 cups of filtered water
Recipe
- Wash the vegetables thoroughly and peel them off
- Chop them up in small pieces
- Pressure cook all the veggies in about 3 cups of water for about 4 whistles (make them super soft)
- Turn off the gas and let the mixture reach room temperature
- Thereafter, blend it properly and strain it using a sieve
- Heat the soup and feed it warm to your little monster!
Fruit Yoghurt
Being a natural probiotic, I never really saw any harm in feeding yoghurt to my kids! Yoghurt is excellent for the immune system, improves digestion, and is a known cure for dysentery and diarrhoea. So, I came up with this super-simple recipe that my daughter still loves!
Ingredients
- 1/4th cup of plain Yoghurt
- Any fruit puree. I used these fruits – apples, bananas, pears, litchi, plum, and sweet potato
Recipe
- Set the homemade yoghurt/curd at home
- Make the fruit puree by blending a fruit of your choice in a food processor or blender
- Mix the puree and the yoghurt and feed your little angel
- To make this interesting, I even mixed two fruit purees with the yoghurt at the same time
- Babies love this recipe for its sweet flavour
Tips to feed an infant without making them cranky:
- Channel the artist you were always meant to be! Get creative with your food presentation, since babies tend to be scared of anything new. Contrary to popular belief, playing with food can sometimes come in handy!
- I used to play music while feeding my babies! This technique worked like a charm, I figured it’s because babies are more open to new stuff. Jam it out with your babe on his favourite song.
- Do not force-feed your child.
- Babies can be social eaters as well, so you can consider having a playdate with one of his mates!
These are some of the healthiest recipes that became Huma’s favourite and were passed on to her brother when he came along 6 years later.
Try these out and let me know which ones brought a smile to your baby’s face!
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