baby food..

[internatwoman]

Hi, my son is now 7 months old. He has been eating solids for a while now and we have luck with the veggies etc, but the fruits are a battle... What im wondering is what do you feed your child?? Im still battling to figure out what is available here. You see all that I know are things we have back home, and it took me ages to find the Rice/Oats porridge (That was not already mixed) I thought they did not have Im now wanting to give him more variety in his diet and start on finger foods...but not sure what to go with or what is available...I am trying to stay away from bottled foods to be honest but so far ive mnaged to get bottled apple and pear down, so I know I cant totally avoid it...so I will go with that. So far we are doing carrots, potatoe, sweet potatoe, zuccini, broccoli, cauliflower and recently meat. I just boil it, squish it and then freeze it in ice trays....For breakfast we do oats porridge which he eats very happily, lunch and dinner are a combination of the above food..I feel I need to expand his foods, else I may have a green coloured child very soon!!.....Back home they give things like pieces of bread cut up, cheerios or something like that etc etc...can you give me some ideas please, i would like to try berries, but we have not frozen ones suitable, I assume I can just buy the frozen ones from the stores??? but im not sure how you make them not so sour without filing them with sugar??!! (Ignorant I know)...but yes im trying to keep his diet free of preservatives etc etc...but im sort of in a spot now as I need to introduce more, but am lost (O he WONT eat banana, ive been trying for ages! I will keep at it though)...Ive diced up sweet potatoe tonight, he didnt know what to do with it, but he enjoyed playing with it, I assume will figure it out...but yea I want things he can eat with his hands and that I can feed him that are healthy and will make my boy a happy healthy kid HELP ME MOMS in Finland

[EP]

i would like to try berries, but we have not frozen ones suitable, I assume I can just buy the frozen ones from the stores??? but im not sure how you make them not so sour without filing them with sugar??!!

Sure you can buy frozen berries from stores: strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, currants... They are there in the freezer section usually near ice creams and other sweet stuff. Berries are not sour, you don´t add anything to a baby´s berries . Children that age don´t need sugar. At all.

[luulio]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't there been several cases of severe diarrhea/vomiting in Finland as a result of people eating frozen (storebought) berries, which have been irrigated with contaminated water?

Make sure you heat (boil?) the berries before giving them to the baby - just defrosting them in the microwave won't kill the virus!

[EP]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't there been several cases of severe diarrhea/vomiting in Finland as a result of people eating frozen (storebought) berries, which have been irrigated with contaminated water?

This is the first time I hear that. I have never heard anything like that. Boil berries, spoil berries. Why would any farmer spoil his name till forever by using contaminated water?

[luulio]

EP, google eg "norovirus pakastemarjat". Apparently these are berries grown outside of Finland.

[EP]

OK, I did, and you are right.

Why on earth they import berries? Looks like that norovirus has been hiding in berries from Poland and other places. I checked my freezer, and the only store bought ones are black currants, and there stands on the bag in big letters that they are Finnish berries. So to Internatwoman: When you buy berries, make sure they have been grown in Finland. Local farmers cannot afford to spoil their reputation.

Boiling berries makes them messy, jam, not finger food for a baby.

[Rip]

Why on earth they import berries?

Either they are not available in sufficient quantities here or the Polish ones are just cheaper. I would not consider it completely out of the question they might at the same time be exporting Finnish berries somewhere else (if somebody is willing to pay more of them than for Polish berries). Unless it is explicitly stated the berries are Finnish (or better still, they are from yours/family member's/friend's garden), I would not give them uncooked to a baby. If they are just packed by a Finnish company, that guarantees nothing.

Sour taste by the way does not necessarily mean a baby won't eat them. Ours made all sorts of faces after having her first currant, then took another one and made the same facial expressions, had a third and so on and so on..

[internatwoman]

Hi, Thanks for that...I am aware of the whole Polish frozen berry issue, so would have stuck to 'Finnish' only berries, but thought I had to do a whole lot of things to make them 'edible' for a baby....so that is excellent help, thanks! We have berries from MIL but she has put lots of sugar in them, so unwilling to use them for my son.....but glad that I can give them simply like they come, as nature made them!! I thought they would be too sour ..... he makes terrible faces at everything so I never know...

[Idefix]

You can find Cheerios in the cereal isle, there is a kind that has several grains in a mix, and not much sugar.
Also, try small pieces of fresh avacado, my boy loves it.
Try fruityogurt too.
Even in Finland I would think you could find fresh imported mango, or other exotic fruit in the winter too?

To keep a babys diet low on preservatives, sugar, etc is a good cause, but also see this as a time when you need to make him/her used to eating different kinds of foods and try different tastes, otherwise you might get a very picky child later on. Some preservatives and sugar etc you might want to consider you can live with, since establishing eating habits is also very important. He/she has the rest of his/her life later to avoid "bad" stuff. But if he/she never learns to eat a variety of food, I think he/she will be worse off in the long perspective.

[internatwoman]

I maybe made it sound like im only wanting to feed my son food that is totally free of most things...but the reason I posted here is I would like to actually find out about the different options here that are on the healthier side if there is a choice here in Finland. Like I said I did not find the rice porridge till quite late as I had only seen the pre-mixed ones not even realised there were ones which you could make up (he has a dairy problem)....I am by no means a health freak, I quite like food, of all kinds! I just want to give my son the best food I possibly can and here I find my hands are a little tied as well I generally dont know what is contained in them as I dont speak the language!!...So yip I realise I need to introduce him to a range of everything and I am slowly doing it...Its just sometimes if you dont know about different options you just dont look or know where to look...so I suppose im also asking for ideas/options of things you have fed your babies...Like I realise some cereals are loaded with sugar and then there are the more 'natural' cereals out there that are just as good. So I do not want to create a fussy eater at all...I just want my son to be a healthy well balanced child, this is one large area I can contribute positively towards his future...im just nervous as like I say I miss alot due to the language differences!

[Rosamunda]

I think most 7 mth old FInnish babies are still being breast-fed and this is complemented with fresh fruit and veg (most likely home-made soups and puree) and then some rice pudding and / or porridge. There is a large range of fruit and veg in the shops so it is relatively easy to make up a huge variety of soups and purees and simple finger food. Personally I would steer clear of any cereals-in-a-box which are basically all full of bad fats, salt and sugar and are way off balance in terms of nutrition versus calories.

Have you looked in the library for a book, even if it is in Finnish there might be some pictures etc that help (ask a librairian to help you). You could also ask your health centre for advice (they might know of a local mother/baby group that could give you some tips) and then of course there is the Mannerheim League http://www.mll.fi/in_english/ If you call them and explain your needs they can probably put you in touch with an English speaking volunteer in your area who would be able to talk you through Finnish baby foods.

If your baby has a dairy problem then you do need to be very careful how you diversify his/her diet. So, maybe it would be a good idea to get "proper" advice (from your health centre or from MLL)

[santtu1979]

...and to be int he same theme....(baby food)
in Italy we ususally put in the milk cookies (they are not really cookies but just vitamines and iron) from the real beginning.....in here do they give just milk? or they give (soon or later) something else than JUST milk?
thanks for you suggestions

[biscayne]

I would say Penelope is spot on. Most 7 month olds are still getting a lot of nutrition at the breast, then you can give almost all veg. pureed, banana is always popular. Cooking up a lovely soup made of the freshest veg. and making sure it is nicely pureed for the baby is a great way of getting in the required nutrients. For giving cereals, you can boil up barley and then put it in the liquidizer to smoothen it, barely is one of the best cereals/grains and has been shown to rarely cause any allergies. I wouldn't yet give a 7 month old frozen berries to suck on etc., but making a berry compote or puree should be fine. One thing my daughter absolutely loved was/is Polenta, which (in case you are not familiar) is popular in Italy, it is basically cornmeal which you boil with water or milk, babies tend to love it because it is so smooth and creamy in texture with a very inoffensive taste. Again, I think Penelope is quite right, I wouldn't give handfuls of Cheerios etc., to gnaw on, they are absolutely loaded with sugar.

Just don't do what these parents did:

About 13 years ago I was dealing with a family whose baby had "failure to thrive syndrome", the baby was undernourished but the weight was within norms. We were trying to get to the bottom of it, as the condition of the baby was awful, hair like straw, falling out, mouth abscesses etc. We asked what they were feeding him, and they said "the same as we eat, just liquidized". When we asked what they eat, the answer was "McDonalds". They were feeding a 9 month old liquidized McDonalds........................................

[Idefix]

Again, I think Penelope is quite right, I wouldn't give handfuls of Cheerios etc., to gnaw on, they are absolutely loaded with sugar.

Cheerios is a great first "finger food", they melt in the mouth and are the right size for small fingers to grab. I don't know what kind of berries you have in Finland, but here berries have more sugars than Cheerios. I also bought Finish Cheerios last summer, and they are not "loaded" with sugar, if you pick the healthy kind.

Cheerios "is recommended by 4 out of 5 pediatricians as a finger food for toddlers."
Cheerios "has only 1 gram of sugar per serving. "
http://www.cheerios.com/ourCereals/Chee ... rFood.aspx

[biscayne]

Mmmm, the 4 out 5 pediatricians will have been paid by the cereal parent company to endorse the product. One gram of sugar per serving? First, what are they suggesting as a serving? It is usually a tiny amount, which means the grams per day could really add up. And saying "one gram of sugar per serving" can be misleading, it might mean the amount of white sugar used in making the product, but the actual amount of carbohydrate which "sugars" in the product could be higher (there might be maltose, fructose, glucose etc.....) We've all given handy snacks to our kids, that's not the issue - I just wouldn't believe a thing they say on the packets or the websites. The companies are profit driven.