Parents Choosing To Make Baby Food

Many parents are opting to make homemade baby food instead of buying commercial foods, and many easy baby food recipes can be found online. There are lots of benefits to making your own, such as eliminating additives and preservatives, and you will know the ingredients are fresh.

It's also less expensive. However, without proper preparation, you can inadvertently contaminate the food with health threatening bacteria. In this article, well show you some simple and quick things that you can do to ensure that your baby's food is safe.

How you cook infant food is as important as what you cook. Their little digestive systems can't fend off bacteria that are harmless to adults, so it's critical that everything that comes in contact with the food is sterile. This includes knives, cutting boards, counters, bowls, and pots and pans.

Cleaning dishes and utensils in a dishwasher is preferable but hot water and antibacterial soap will do the job. Before you begin preparing baby food, clean your hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap. Cross contamination is a big culprit with bacteria, so watch out for places where it may lurk.

Plastic cutting boards can harbor bacteria in scratches and cracks even after washing. Contaminated meat can transfer bacteria to vegetables through a dirty knife, bowl and even your hands. Scrub vegetables thoroughly and cook meat until it is well done.

The appropriate food also depends on age. At 4 to 5 months you can begin to introduce cereals and iron-fortified baby rice. At 5 to 6 months babes can digest well cooked vegetables like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, spinach and beets.

When they reach 7 to 8 months they can begin to eat meat. However, it's essential that all of your baby food is made with fresh ingredients and cooked and stored using sterile utensils and dishes.

You want your baby to grow up healthy, so start the process with healthy recipe choices.

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