raw food and baby mills?

[princesstutu]

My 5 month old loves to eat, but I'd rather feed her raw foods than cooked foods due to enzyme levels. She was born with gut issues and so I even have to watch what I eat as a breastfeeder. She's outgrowing her allergies and sensitivities, but I would still rather she eat raw as much as possible if she's going to insist upon eating solid food (and she does...I refuse to ignore her screams).

I have seen baby food mills for forever and almost bought one recently, but it seemed to be for turning cooked food into puree only. Would it work for raw food, as well? I didn't see anything on the package about that. Anyone here have any ideas and experience with raw foods and baby food mills?

Thanks!

edited to add: I already give her naturally soft foods, but I don't want to restrict her to avocados and bananas (which break her face out, anyway, so I don't give them to her anymore). Plus, I want her to eat more veggies than fruits.

[LaughingHyena]

I used to give mine grated apples and carrots etc. I just used my normal grater.

The food mills that I have seen have all been for pushing the food through a fine mesh. I can't see it working well for raw foods.

[tankgirl73]

Read up on "Baby Led Weaning" -- they don't need purees and they can have more than just naturally soft foods too. You might want to lightly steam some things, but for the most part she can just eat what you eat if she's truly ready for solids. (5mo is young for that, but it's not unheard of) Things she can hold in her hand, in spear shapes, are ideal.

A lot of it won't get chewed and swallowed, just mouthed and tasted and explored. That's fine, it's not about nutrition at this age (that's all still from the breastmilk) and in fact you don't want her tummy filling up too much with the less-nutritious food when she still needs her milk. It's about taste and texture exploration.

[Brigio]

I'd recommend lots of fermented foods for enzymes versus raw food. Babies do not digest raw foods well. Cooked food are actually better for their digestion...

[princesstutu]

Thanks for the responses!

Brigio, what fermented foods would you rec. for a person allergic to dairy, soy, and rice? I would gladly giver her miso or yogurt, but she can't have it (nor I while nursing her).

I know she's going to simply gum most of what I give her, I just thought that if I could baby mill something, it would be nice for her. She still mostly spits out what I feed her, of course, but I wanted more options. I had one of those net things to put foods in and keep them from being a choking hazard for an older kid, but it turned out to be a waste of money.

Thanks, again! I saved time and money because of y'all and I truly appreciate it.

[tankgirl73]

Originally Posted by princesstutu

I know she's going to simply gum most of what I give her, I just thought that if I could baby mill something, it would be nice for her.

Well... to be honest, she doesn't really need it, you know? If the only way that a baby would actually swallow solid food is to mash it beyond recognition, then maybe that's nature's way of telling us that they shouldn't be having it in the first place.

If she's just gumming and spitting it out, she only wants to explore taste and texture. There's no benefit to her actually swallowing anything, and the only difference that milling something will make would be that she might swallow it -- especially if you spoon-feed it, which bypasses and circumvents a natural protective mechanism (ie, both in terms of choking (gag reflex) and in terms of controlling their own food intake).

If you just want more options, just give her more of what you're eating, in large pieces that she can hold in her hand while gnawing at the end of it. If she happens to gnaw off a bit and gum it for awhile, then spit it out... fine. If not... fine. It's all exploration.

My daughter was just shy of 6mo when we started with solids. Her first food -- other than a momsicle -- was a tree of lightly steamed broccoli and a piece of cooked asparagus. She loved it. But she was a good 7mo before she started swallowing anything with any frequency, and a good 8mo before swallowing was the 'norm'. By then she was eating whole pears, apples, bananas, watermelon, lots of veggies, and 'adult foods' like pizza and curries and chicken soup. For instance, here she is at almost 6.5mo eating a pear slice:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovecat...7600330803313/

By milling foods to a puree, we can actually interfere with their normal, instinctive progression of solids. Especially if you're into raw foods, you know that the least processing is the best. Why would it be any different for baby?

This is a good article about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...5/foodanddrink

But there's lots more online too. Oh, just be aware that the article (and many other sites) use the British meaning of "weaning" -- so when it says "start weaning at 6mo", it means "start the process of gradually shifting from an all-milk to an all-solids diet, which can take years to complete", rather than "stop breastfeeding" which is how it's used on this side of the pond.

I know you're excited about giving your baby more options, especially with allergy issues. But by avoiding purees and letting her self-feed, you'll be giving her more control and ownership of the process and by all accounts, BLW works better for allergic kids because they'll frequently naturally avoid their problem foods, taking out some of the guesswork for parents.

[Magelet]

if you want fermented foods that aren't dairy, rice or soy, I would suggust fermented fruits and veggies, like lacto-fermented chutneys, and veggies. (also like sourkraut, though at that age, things that are bigger would probably be better)

how about fermented carrot sticks (with or without ginger). I think there's a recipe in the fermented foods thread in TF (the big thread.) It's the nourishing traditions ginger carrots recipe but with sticks instead of grated.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by princesstutu

Brigio, what fermented foods would you rec. for a person allergic to dairy, soy, and rice? I would gladly giver her miso or yogurt, but she can't have it (nor I while nursing her).

Kimchi! We make our own, it's a lot less spicy than truly authentic recipes, but it's so yummy. Homemade pickle spears too--Sandor Katz's recipe, on his Wild Fermentation website, is really good.

There are also recipes for coconut milk yogurt around, I haven't tried them though, I was never a yogurt person even in my dairy-consuming days.

[princesstutu]

Okay. Thanks for the help and advice, mamas! i think my main concerm was that when I give her food to stop the screaming she does when she sees others eating, I wanted it to be something she wouldn't choke on, but tonight, I simply gave her a piece of a slice of potato I was eating and she mouthed it for a bit, threw it down, and seemed satisfied, so I won't worry about this anymore. I guess I simply needed reminding about why babies this age "eat". Thanks, again.