Diet recipes for 6 to 8 months
Ragi porridge
Mix about one heaped spoon of sprouted and malted ragi powder in about 100 ml of boiled, filtered and cooled water and heat it. Stir continuously while heating. The mixture turns into a porridge in about a minute. The consistency must be like that of custard; smooth, semisolid and free flowing. U can make it more and more thicker as age advances so that the baby can enjoy chewing ragi porridge. Give ragi porrige as many times as you would like in a day. Prepare ragi porridge in water. Do not add any salt or sugar to it. To this porridge add boiled and mashed dhal or boiled and mashed vegetable or mashed fruit.
Moong dhal, masoor dhal and tur dhal are suitable to be mixed with ragi. While ragi is a good source of carbohydrates, vitamins, iron and calcium; dhals add protein to the meal. Gradually, you can add some vegetable also along with dhal to ragi. Vegetables are good sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Try to introduce a variety of vegetables to your baby's diet. Each vegetable has only a specific set of minerals and vitamins. Hence it is important to give all types of vegetables so that vitamin and mineral requirements are met adequately. Vegetables must be washed well and then boiled. For some, peeling of skin must be done. Raw vegetables must not be given to babies. Vegetables cannot be boiled with ragi because ragi turns to a porridge in less than a minute. Hence, vegetables must be boiled and mashed separately. They must be mashed using clean hands or cup and spoon. Using mixer for mashing alters natural texture and flavor of the vegetable and hence is not recommended.
Adding fruit to ragi porridge makes it a yummy meal or snack. Even fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. Apple and pears must be stewed and mashed. Pomegranate seeds must be squeezed and the juice must be given to the baby. Other fruits can be mashed directly after removing skin and seeds. It is better to introduce citrous fruits like orange and sweet lime late because of risk of allergies. Even guava can be introduced late because of difficulty in digesting seeds. Easy-to-handle fruits are stewed apple, banana, water melon, musk melon, papaya, mango and chickoo. Fruit meshes are available in kids' stores.
A piece of fruit like apple can be tied in the mesh and given to the baby. The baby can chew it and the pulp remains in the mesh. The baby can thus enjoy the juice of the fruit. Ideally, a baby must get 3 vegetables and one fruit in a day. One vegetable must be carrot because it is the only dependable and safe source of vitamin A. Another must be a green leafy vegetable like palak. The third can be any other vegetable. Vegetables which are easy to handle for this age are carrot, potato, tomato, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, french beans, palak, cabbage, cauliflower, ladies finger, sweet potato, sweet pumpkin, raw peas and beet root.
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Ragi can be boiled in baby milk. To this, jaggery and ghee can be added. This can be given occasionally.
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Kichidi
Rice can be boiled with any dhal. Vegetables can be added at the time of boiling itself. This makes a wholesome meal for the baby when served with few drops of ghee. Salt can be added from 8th month in small quantities. It is not recommended before that for 2 reasons: One, adding salt early can be a burden to the immature kidneys. Two, it can lead to preferential development of salty taste buds.
Vegetable mash
Vegetables like potato, sweet potato, sweet pumpkin, carrot and cauliflower can be boiled and mashed and served as snack to the baby. They are rick in starch, vitamins and minerals and provide energy to the baby. Few drops of ghee can be added to the mash.
Fruit squash
Squashes of various fruits can be given to the baby. They provide energy, vitamins and minerals to the baby. They can be given plain or mixed with small quantity of baby milk. Jaggery can be sprinkled if the fruits are sour. It is better to use organic jaggery. Honey is not recommended until one year of age. Sugar is also not recommended. Ripe fruits must be used because they are sweet and soft. Fruit squashes can be given as snacks. Squashes are better than juices because they have fiber and pieces of fruit and teach the baby to chew and relish natural textures and flavors.
Rice gruel
Rice has to be washed and soaked for few hours. This has to be dried and then powdered. This powder can be stored in airtight boxes for about 15 days. This powder has to be mixed with water in 1: 2 or 1: 3 ratio and then boiled. This is an excellent home made cereal. It can be given to the baby with just few drops of ghee. Boiled and mashed dhal and vegetables can be added to make a complete meal. Rice is rich in carbohydrate and also has some vitamins and protein. Similar preparation can be done by adding a variety of pulses. The pulses can be soaked overnight with rice and then dried in sunshade. Thereafter the mixture can be ground to powder. Before grinding, it can be roasted and then cooled. This is known as uggu in South India.
Plain rice
Rice has to be boiled in cooker or electric rice cooker with 1:3 or 1:4 rice: water. The cooked rice can be mashed with hand or cup and spoon when hot itself. Ghee can be added. Very small quantity of salt may be added. Boiled and mashed dhal and vegetables can be added to this.
Sago porridge
Sago or sabudana is made from tapioca and is rich in carbohydrate. It can be soaked for few hours in water and then boiled to make a gruel. Boiled and mashed dhal and vegetables can be added to the gruel to make a complete meal.
Soft idli
Fermented dough made of soaked urad dhal and rice in the ratio 1:1 is used to make idlis. The dough has to placed in suitable idli plates and steamed. The idlis can be mashed and then fed to the baby. Adequate ghee needs to be added. Idlis can be mixed with baby milk to make it more free flowing. Jaggery can be added to make it more tasty.
Tomato rasam
I want to include this in the menu because it aids in digestion and prevents constipation. Most babies love this yummy dish. One or two tomatoes must be cut into small pieces and then boiled in water. A small pinch of salt and jaggery must be added. Rasam powder made of coriander powder, jeera powder and pepper powder must be added in the boiling water. Dhal water can be used instead of plain water. Some vegetables like bottle gourd, carrot and ladies finger can be added in the rasam.