Seven Months

Seven Months

Your baby should be eating two to three meals per day and having breast milk or formula with each meal.  Each meal should consist of approximately  ½ cup of food, but remember that babies are human and will want more or less depending upon the day and their personal needs.  The goal is that they gain weight and grow appropriately while learning good eating habits, which do not include gorging on forced food.  Even at this age, children should learn to respond to their internal cues for hunger and fullness, and parents need to respect their limits.  If your child is not interested in food, simply try later, but do not make it a battle, as you will never win.  A child will not starve him or herself even at this young of an age.  As always, though, if you have concerns, consult your pediatrician.
Around this time you may begin to thicken food (a relative term) as you and your baby are comfortable with it.  Some recommend introducing hard-cooked egg yolk, but not egg white, which contains the most common allergens, but consult your pediatrician before offering. This is also a prime month to focus on veggies.  Some common favorites are carrots, asparagus, green beans, peas, summer squash, and white potatoes. 

Most all of these items can easily be cooked in the microwave; if preparing them fresh, simply cut, submerge them in water and then cover while cooking.  Cook times vary, but are ready when they are soft and ready to be pureed.  Do not cook your child’s food in plastic containers, especially if you do not know whether they are BPA-free, but you do not need to register for all-new microwave-safe cookware either.  A ceramic cereal bowl covered by a salad plate works really well for small dishes or re-heating. 

 

Recipe: Basic Asparagus for the Whole Family

(Treat asparagus as you would fresh flowers: do not expose them to prolonged heat and keep their ends in water)

The white end will be discarded, so after washing, you will need to snap the ends of the spears.  This can be done individually by gently applying upward pressure to the two ends of the spear until it breaks, generally a few inches up from the bottom, or do one or two in this manner and then hold the bunch together and cut the spears with a knife in the general area where the sample pieces broke. 

 

Bake: Preheat the over to 400.  Spread the asparagus in a single layer across a baking sheet.  Leaving some plain for the youngest eater, drizzle the remainder with a few sweeps of EVOO and a little kosher salt.  If you like spice, add a dusting of cayenne.  Bake until spears are a brilliant green.

Puree and serve or freeze.  You can serve the "adult" asparagus warm or chill and then add it to a salad.

 

Carrots, green beans, and certain squashes appear on the high nitrate list, which means that initially, they should only come from baby food manufacturers, who can test the nitrate level in foods.  To lower the nitrates in all foods, experts suggest preparing food soon after purchase or freezing immediately.  Most experts recommend not preparing these foods at home until 8-12 months, but some recommend as soon as six months; follow your physician’s guidelines on this point.  Below are the fresh foods that some say may be high in nitrates:

Nitrate List: Beets, Carrots, Green Beans, Spinach, Squash, Strawberries,Turnips, and Cantaloupe

The only baby food that I routinely purchased were the high nitrate food but found that having them made life easier because I could mix other fresh foods into them to get a consistency that my son liked.  Also as commercial baby food is mainly water, it made it easy to add cereal to a meal, which is a good way to ensure sufficient iron intake.  In fact, many physicians recommend continuing an iron fortified cereal until your child is at least one-year-old.

Green Bean Puree

(also appropriate for chicken, summer squash, etc.)

Place washed and prepared beans in casserole dish.

Surround beans with fresh peeled and cut garlic and chopped onion, a dash of pepper and some parsley or rosemary.  Quantities used will be according to taste.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees until thoroughly cooked and soft.

Immediately puree and freeze or serve.
Growing Up: Combine green bean puree with baked chicken, rice, rice cereal, or a baked potato, and Plain Yogurt for a kick of taste and calcium. 

You may also try other infant cereals; though the most commonly available will be oat, barley, which is common in infant multi-grain cereals, is also an option.  As always, read the label of the multi-grain cereal to see what other grains are included and thus will be introduced to your child.

Mom and Dad Meals

Summer Squash Pasta

Bring pot of water with 2T of EVOO to boil for pasta.  Cook pasta as directed.  We love either a spinach or sun-dried tomato pasta, but whole wheat is also delicious. 

Mince and sauté 6 large cloves of garlic and one medium Vidalia onion in 2T of EVOO in large pan with a lid.  Salt to taste.

Quarter (length-wise) and then slice (about 2/3 in thick) 6 medium squash and place in pan with onions and garlic (will serve about 4 people).

Wash two stalks of oregano and two sprigs of basil and place, uncut, on top of squash.  Reduce to low/medium heat and cover.  Allow to cook until squash start to soften, stirring occasionally.

Juice one lemon over the entire pan, reduce heat to low, and cover.  

Cook just until squash is cooked through, not mushy.  Remove herbs and discard.  

Slice fresh tomato and grate fresh Parm.