Some of you have started solids for ur little ones, and friends in India like Padoo, Archana, Vani seem to be giving home made stuff to ur babies...can u please guide me on how to prepare the home made starter food stufs for babies? well, hopefull I will have the enthu and time to do it likewise for Santhosh.

Love to ur cuties
Tweetie Archana replied. Hi Tweetie,

I am referring Dr. R. K.Anand's book on baby care. It's a very very good book in all respect (health, development, issues etc etc). I am sure you can get it outside India also, so get it if possible.

For starter, Dr. Anand says Banana is his favorite. Banana which is well-riped, that has black dots on skin is the one to be used. Just mash it with spoon or hand-mixie adding little milk to it. Then prepare thick/thin milk-shake adding more milk.

For cereals, take 2 parts of rice and 1 part of moong-daal. Wash then dry in Sun. If you do not have enough sunlight in your place then maybe you can dry it under fan also. Then roast (on LOW flame) each one separately. Roasting should be done till the grain is lighter to hand (while stirring) and colour changes slightly pinkish. Then make a powder of it in grinder. Mix both the powders and once again grind them, so that they mix well. You can make this in bigger quantity so that it will last for a month. Just keep it in air tight jar.

Now when you want to feed baby that, take one or more spoons of powder and add some water to it, stirr continuously or lumps will form, make it very thin as cooking will reduce the water. Now put this on stove and keep stirring. In abt 3-4 minutes mixture is cooked completely. Add little ghee to it (you may add very little sugar or salt also before putting it on stove). If you want, you can add milk also at this stage and continue cooking till you get desired consistency.

Raagi I used readymade, here we get \";Raagi Satva\";. To make that Raagi (or any other grain) is soaked in water overnight, then tied in cloth and kept so that they sprout (requires 24-48 hrs). Then dried in sun/shade for few hours. Next roast on skillet till the moisture is completely removed (do not roast till they turn brownish). Take off the fire and Remove the sprouts by rubbing hands and then make powder.
Cook it in similar way as rice-daal powder.
We prepared \";Wheat Satva\"; this way at home.
So Radha has now 4 types of cereals: rice, moong daal, Raagi and wheat. We usually mix all of them and cook as she has limited no. of meals in a day.

I know this may sound cumbersome but believe me it is not so. You have to give very little time to each step and there is break between steps. Also you can prepare stock for whole month at one go.

Regarding veggies we would be giving Radha, tomatoes+carrots+Ghiya (Dhoodhi) ka soup from today. For many reasons it was postponed....
Now that she is 6+ months, I think we can add green leafs also in it, but since the monsoons have started here I would wait.

I hope I have helped you and not scared you from preparing baby food at home !

All the best and love to Santhosh,
Archana