[rumi]

hi dd is 11 months old now and it is getting harder to keep her out of our plates which are filled with spicy food. i am not talking about salt (i can do with little or none) but<br><br>
cumin seed<br>
mustard seed<br>
asafoetida<br>
fenugreek<br>
coriander<br><br>
which are all spices we use daily.<br><br>
those of you who use these spices, at what age did you give them to your li'l ones?<br><br>
what about stuff like ginger, garlic, onions? i am guessing we should avoid the red chili peppers altogether though i have heard of a baby who loves them ... but she is now having other health problems which of course may not have anything to do with the spices but how to know.<br><br>
then spices we use ocasionally like cinammon, black pepper, cardamom etc ...<br><br>
anyone know whether any of these are esp good / bad for babies?<br>
how long do we impose the bland diet???<br>
those of you who enjoy spicy food, how did you decide when to let baby eat from your plate (she's already done it a couple of times and i don't think anything bad happened so i would love to let her do it more often)<br><br>
r

 

[captain optimism]

Wait, is spicy food supposed to be bad for babies?<br><br>
Uh oh.<br><br>
My son has been eating curry for quite awhile, I think since he was 10 or 11 months also. I didn't know we weren't supposed to do that. Seriously. No ill effects that we could detect.

 

[BeeandOwlsMum]

My best friend's son has been eating spicy indian food since he started reaching onto her plate. I think it is fine.<br><br>
He never seemed to have problems with it. Course Mom's side of the fam is Indian...so that might have something to do with it. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/winky.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Wink">

 

[1jooj]

ITA with above.<br><br>
I suppose if you had a sensitive baby, or if you had allergies going on, you might take greater care.<br><br>
We do it all as soon as they are table-food ready (meaning more than single-ingredient).

 

[Evergreen]

I agree, like Indian babies, your child was exposed to these flavors via breastmilk. When dd was 7 mos old we began to make our own baby food, and we included spices in hers (not salt, of course). At 8 months old her favorite food was finely chopped carrots, onions, and garlic sauteed with olive oil and mainly squash and sweet potatoes, it was spiced with black pepper, basil and oregano. I felt it was important for her to get used to spices and flavors.<br><br>
She is now 16 months old and she eats what we eat, except really hot peppers and the like. She loves spicy food and salsa! Many spices are actually very healing for people in bad health. My father used a diet of juices and hot peppers to cure his prostate cancer. Just don't overdo it on ones that may be particularly heated, and keep a glass of water handy, incase she doesn't really enjoy the taste.

 

[Welovedante]

We aren't Indian, but I like to cook Chicken Tikka Masala and Saag Paneer, when I get the chance. Our 8 month old son crawled over, grabbed a handful of both, along with rice, and shoved it in his mouth before we could stop him. (That's what we get for eating on the floor so he could play while we ate). Anyway, he loved it, and I put almost all of the spices you mentionned in there. He was fine with it. I was more worried about the cream (dairy) and tomato (acidic)...<br><br>
Heidi

 

[Rainbow]

We basically let them eat when they started eating. We didn't start them on solids until they started grabbing and eating off our plates- and we eat spicier foods... soo... they've eaten them for awhile. I think it would be safe.