A great way to expose your infant to cooking while allowing them to explore, is to let him touch and feel the foods you are working with. On this day, I had been peeling carrots and when I had all the peels piled up, I placed them on O's tray for him to investigate. He slowly grabbed handfuls of peels, feeling and making funny faces at the coldness, wetness and was certainly curious with this new texture. He put one piece to his mouth but made a disgusted face and didn't do it again. After a thorough exploration, he eventually picked up handful after handful and dumped them over the side of his chair. While the gave me something to clean up, the process of clearing his tray was a first and seemed almost purposeful and methodical.
Other foods that are good for exploring are mashed potatoes, applesauce, peeled potatoes (whole or chunks), apple peels, raw broccoli heads and anything else you can think of with an interesting texture that is safe for baby to put in their mouth.
O was about 6 months at this time. He had just started solids, though I wasn't necessarily concerned with him eating a peel since I was standing with him the entire time. But, I would be cautious when selecting a food to explore that it not have any known allergens such as nuts or ingredients that babies should not have before 1 such as honey.
No comments:
Post a Comment