Babies and Spices?

Hi,

My elder son, like me, has loved spicy food since he was a baby. No spice has seemed to bother him. My younger son, who is now 19 months old, likes nothing other than fruit, starches and Mommy's milk.

Lynne E

I like to use the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com to give me ideas of recipes to make and things you can and cannot use and at what ages...
My son is 10 months old and we use cinnamon often in his meals, he loves it.

Introduce as MUCH as you can, as early as you can. Every ethnicity that you can think of. At around age two, a brain chemistry thing happens that tags all new "flavors" as poisonous. And couples that with a gag response. It's actually a really cool brain chemical thing, and it exists with all mammals (of course, with it happening at different ages).

<Grinning> The theory behind that, of course, is Darwin. Two-ish is the traditional age that children were weaned, AND when they became more mobile. Children who had the gag/poison response didn't ingest things that didn't taste familiar and lived. Those who didn't, ate things that WERE poisonous and died.

So, all that said: introduce, introduce, introduce. Watch for allergies, but remember: if it's food, people eat it. In France babies and toddlers are given the stinkiest of cheeses, in India the most spiced of curries, in Japan raw fish, in Mexico salsa, in Mali goat, in Italy marinara, etc. etc. etc. And yes. I AM being stereotypical here, because these are foods that aren't thought of twice in those countries.

So try to get as many in as possible, before your little one turns 2.

And have fun! A deliberate year long tour of cuisines of the world, how many times in life do you get such a great excuse?

If the baby is accepting the foods, you don't need to worry about spices. Who cares if you think it is bland if she likes it? That being said, some babies really like spicy foods. My picky eater (over one year) child who tires of both jar and home pureed foods, will eat them again with a dab of salsa (mild). I give her whatever we are having at the table, pureed with a "magic bullet", I only have to worry about the size of the chunks. A microwave baked potato with butter and milk, added to steak or porkchops, a few bite sized pieces in the blender(after 12 mo. maybe), makes a nice, gooey texture that sticks to the spoon well and does not spill easily. Add more liquid if it is too gummy. It tastes really good, too. if she doesn't eat it after it has been offered a few times, the dog always will.

You can add spices. I heard that in India they start with the strongest spices when the first start feeding the babies so that they become used it them. I made all my baby food and I used onion and garlic from the start. It's how they do baby food here in Brazil and it tastes so good!

I started my baby on spicy food, even though it was blander than ours, at about 10 months. I added the spices I ate while breastfeeding (tumeric, garam masala, coriander powder, cumin powder, onion, ginger) in small quantities. We have held off on offering her peppers or that kind of hot spice, because she will let us know when she is ready! :)

Check this site out for spices made especially for babies http://www.thebabyfoodies.com/

My son seemed to come out sucking on a jalapeno and no I'm not hispanic of any kind. Go for it... Just as with regular foods make sure to watch for allergic reactions. It will teach her to eat foods with all sorts of flavors and will make things easier on you later.

I did the same thing and was surprised how much my son liked when we started. He liked garlic, basil, green chiles.... onion nothing seemed to upset him or be too spicey.

You can start adding spices now! It's great for baby. Store bought baby food is so bland. If you have time, try making food from scratch. It's really not that difficult - just steam and puree - I used a Cuisinart mini prep.

Spices are a fantastic way to get more flavor into foods. Cinnamon with apples, curry with cauliflower, peas and quinoa, even basil with any vegetable!-www.weelicious.com

i think that as long as its not over done a little bit wont hurt at all. jarred baby food has parsley and oregano. i think with her food it should just have a tiny hint to get her used to it. but a year old you can basically feed her what you eat. with my daughter i never made her food bland when it was table food. i did stay away from salt as much as possible though.

We were careful with our son because of food allergies in the family. Yes, some allergies are caused by spices, so just be careful. Always check with your doctor first. With our son, I started out with bland veggies, so that he got used to the real taste of the food and not covered up by spices. He loves veggies! All kinds. If they start liking things super flavored, it might be more difficult to have them eat things with less flavor. Nothing wrong with that.
After he was one, we were able to add more stuff to his food, but were still careful. Again, check with the doctor first.

I would have to totally agree with Riley J's response. Feed your child whatever you eat, since it is your food they will have to eat for the next 17 years or more. and the earlier you get their palates accustomed to whatever foods you want them to eat the better. and if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. good luck!

There is quite a large assortment of baby cookbooks at local bookstores. Perhaps you can visit your local bookstore and see at what point they start adding spices.

Hi E.,
I commend you for making the food yourself. Really, I don't know why store bought baby food is even a business.

Anyway, my daughter ate hummus as one of her first foods. I had a hand cranked small portable food grinder I brought everywhere, just grinding portions of my food for her. Today she loves all ethnic foods and is never picky. Actually, she hates white bread and processed cheese much to my delight!

Happy cooking,
Wendy

When I lived in Mexico they didn't give kids jalapenos until they were 4 or 5 because strong spices aren't good for their digestive system and it can back fire.
My son loved all kinds of foods and especially spicy foods until age 3 then he decided everything was too spicy-EVERYTHING. Toothpaste, pepper, onions, candy, EVERYTHING. We had to buy baby toothpaste until he was 8 because he couldn't handle the "spice".
At about a year start adding all the foods you like and then slowly add the taste of spices. Simple table pepper and really hot spices are the ones to avoid as they seem to cause the "backfire" reaction.
Good Luck