Vegetable broth for babies: what you need to prepare it easily
The perfect recipe for cooking vegetable broth for newborns does not exist, a lot depends also and above all on the tastes of the child, and what you will have to do initially is to experiment. Meat, fish and vegetables will be the ingredients at the base of your recipes and to ensure that the cream is appreciated, do not forget the extra virgin olive oil. Let's see together how to prepare the first baby food for weaning, but first a video on pampering .
How do you prepare vegetable broth for babies?
At the end of the first six months of life in which the baby ate only mother's milk, it is time to start weaning and let him try his first meals. Some mothers let the child choose what to eat independently, and in this case we speak of self-weaning. Other mothers, on the other hand, choose to carry out a traditional weaning and will therefore have to learn how to prepare vegetable broth for babies, a simple and tasty cream that later on can also be based on meat or fish.
The vegetable broth is rich in nutritional elements useful for the child, and it is good to propose it to the little one to let him try new flavors and textures, starting the path towards a "healthy and complete nutrition essential for his growth.
Usually the advice is to start with the baby food only for lunch and continue with the breast milk for the rest of the day. After a few months from the start of weaning, the vegetable cream can also be offered to the baby at dinner.
Episodes of regurgitation, or stomach ache will be considered normal, as well as all attempts to make him burp after eating. So, the advice for mothers is to be calm and have a little patience.
At the base of any type of baby food there is the vegetable broth, which is why we want to reveal to you how to prepare it in the best way so that it is suitable for consumption by a newborn. In general, the vegetable broth is combined with creams (rice or corn cream and tapioca to start and after about a month the semolina or the first pasta) and meat or fish or cheese.
To introduce these last foods correctly, it is better to contact your pediatrician who, month by month, will show you which foods to let your child try. Even on the question of fresh or homogenized foods, it is better to rely on pediatric advice for the choice.
See also
Vegetable broth for babies: the recipe
Ingrediants
- carrot
- celery
- potato
- zuchini
Method
- Wash all the vegetables and remove the peel with a potato peeler.
- Cook the vegetables in a liter of water, cut into small pieces or left whole. You can use tap water, if it is not too heavy, or prefer a lighter packaged water suitable for the baby's stomach.
- Do not add salt to the vegetable broth and let it boil for about an hour, until the amount of water has halved.
The first porridge must be prepared only with vegetable broth, without the vegetables. After about a week from the start of weaning, it will be possible to add vegetables to the broth. It is always better to pass the vegetables, rather than blend them so as not to incorporate too much air.
What vegetables to use for baby vegetable broth?
The simplest and most suitable vegetables for weaning and for the preparation of vegetable broth are: potatoes, carrots, celery and courgettes. After about a month, other vegetables can also be introduced. The advice is to introduce a new vegetable every week, in order to notice if there are any changes in the baby, in this case we are not talking only about personal tastes, but also about any allergic reactions. As you will realize what is best for your child and you will be able to range with other vegetables such as artichokes, green beans, peas, spinach, chard, pumpkin, onion, fennel and lettuce.
Vegetable broth for babies: the question of tap water
What is the best water to use for the preparation of vegetable broth? Is tap water suitable or will it be better to avoid it? These are the most frequent doubts of mothers who are approaching the weaning of their child. To understand if tap water is good or a specific bottled water is preferable, we must rely on the advice of the pediatrician. Usually the general idea is to use bottled water, as it is subjected to greater controls, both as regards the chemical aspect and from a hygienic point of view. Furthermore, tap water is often too heavy and poorly digestible for the baby.
Cooking time for baby vegetable broth
Usually about 1L of water is used to prepare vegetable broth for newborns and it must be allowed to boil at least until the amount of water is halved. Generally the time it takes is about 1 hour, because this way the vegetables will have time to cook well. A trick if you are short on time, is to cut the vegetables into pieces and not put them to boil whole to halve the cooking time. In any case, do a test with a fork and check the cooking level of each single vegetable used. Put the water on the fire rather strong and use a large pot for the vegetables: when it starts to boil, lower the heat to low, so that it continues to cook slowly.
How to prepare vegetable broth with the pressure cooker or the thermomix
If you do not have an hour to keep up with the preparation of the vegetable broth, you can opt for the pressure cooker, the times will be significantly reduced. After inserting the vegetables into the pressure cooker, it will be necessary to add 3 doses of water and place the pressure cooker on the heat. From the whistle of the pressure cooker, lower the heat to low and then let it cook for 12 minutes. In a quarter of an hour your vegetable broth will be ready.
If, on the other hand, you want to use the thermomix, follow the doses of the recipe that we left you in the second paragraph and then proceed with these steps.
- Put the vegetables in the Thermomix cut in half
- Add the water
- Cook at 100 °, speed 1 for 30 minutes
- Drain the broth and blend the remaining vegetables in the mixing bowl on speeds 3 to 9 for 15 seconds
Vegetable broth for babies: how to store it
It is possible to keep the vegetable broth in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The ideal would be to prepare it fresh every day, but for many mothers it is impossible, therefore considering that with a liter of water, it is possible to prepare about 5 or 6 portions of broth. vegetable, the ideal will be to keep it in order to have it ready for subsequent meals. An effective method is to use the freezer: you can prepare the broth once a week and store it in the freezer, defrosting the portion or portions that serve.
Before placing the broth in the freezer, it must be allowed to cool completely to room temperature. It will then be divided into portions, using special containers. The portion of broth for a baby food is about 100/130 gr. The vegetable broth can be kept in the freezer for about 3 months. When you need to use it, let it thaw at room temperature or in a water bath.
Everything you need for the preparation of vegetable broth for babies
One last piece of advice we want to give to all mothers is to get organized in time to avoid last minute dramas.We have compiled a list of the "essentials" for the first baby food.
- Organic seasonal vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, courgettes or squash.
- Freezer containers for storing vegetable broth in portions.
- Immersion blender.
- Good quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Flour cereals suitable for weaning (rice, tapioca, corn, etc.)
- Specific dish for small children
- Weaning spoon: with rounded edges, made of plastic.
- Baby food bib.
- Small glass with spout.
- Kitchen paper and sponges
Prepare the vegetable broth and everything you need in advance, for example in the morning or the night before, keep ready: bib, small glass, bowl, teaspoon, saucepan, extra virgin olive oil, cereals in the form of flour, closed container with the broth, kitchen paper for any poultices.
