[nym]

When can you give babies tofu? DS is 10 months old and we were thinking about giving him some tofu, but we don't know if we shold, and if we can, what would be a good way to prepare it for him. Any help?

 

[Thomi'sMommy]

My DD loves tofu. LOVES. I usually have it grilled with a sauce ....though she also enjoys it plain. It's really easy for her to grab (she won't eat if anyone tries to feed her, little miss independence).

The good thing about tofu is that it absorbs flavors really well, so you could pretty much chuck it into anything you're making. And it's so soft that you shouldn't have to mash it or anything.

 

[nym]

what kind of sauce do you put it in for her?

 

[Erin Pavlina]

We started my daughter on tofu when she was around 10 or 11 months. She loved it.

My son can't eat foods that are anything but liquefied, so he's gonna have to wait for that treat.

But I would limit soy intake especially before 1 year.

 

[nym]

Kai is ten months, and I am trying to find a way or two to put some protien in his diet. He is about 85% breastfed still, but he is eating a little bit. Mostly bread and Os, veggies, potatoes, peaches, bananas, yogurt, and water. He likes to eat, so I want to make sure that he has the right kind of food.

 

[Thomi'sMommy]

I often put tofu in a curry sauce or otherwise a yogurt-based sauce. I also make Costa Rican black-bean soup, and then add rice and tofu....it's Thomi's favourite!

I honestly don't do tofu too often (I'm a bean girl myself), but once every week or so I make it because dh likes it so. Although lately she is most interested in veggie burgers and is way into avocado.

The problem with tofu is that soybeans are the most GM crop on earth. I'm not into that. And there's something about all the meat substitutes that turns me off greatly. So, we just do a lot of different types of beans. There are so many different types and so many great ways to cook them!

Hmm....I think I'll go eat some beans!

 

[4Marmalade]

We have tofu once in a while here but ds doesn't seem to like it much. You can cut up tiny cubes to use as finger food. When he was younger I would buy the silken kind and mash it and put it in his infant cereal. I think I gave him some at around 10 months.

 

[KyleAnn]

I think I first gave it to ds at 11mos, and someone later told me I should wait until a year.....he loves it when I bread little cubes and bake it-we call them his "chicken nuggets."

 

[rubysmomjess]

My dd loves tofu. I bake it in olive oil with tomatoes, zucc, and any other veggies we have in the house. I alway get the organic, non GMO version. We also eat a lot of beans. DD will always eat rice and black beans, no matter how picky she's feeling.

 

[nym]

These are some good ideas. I got organic non GMO tofu. We don't eat it much, but I thought DS might like it.

Are beans okay to give a baby at 10 months?

 

[HeatherG]

Yes, I too would like to know how you all incorporate beans into food for infants. DD is 11 months and I would like to start beans but don't know how. I would think the skins would be a bit tuff. She does like hummus!!!! She eats lentils too, cook the heck out of them and serve with squash.

PS we do all organic too

 

[rubysmomjess]

DD is 18mo now but I think we did beans at like 11 or 12 months...I just mushed them up with the rice. I kind of lazy, though, and usually buy the canned beans (organic, of course). So I would heat them up while I was cooking the rice and mush it all together.

 

[nym]

Thats a good idea. I know that when i am making hummus, I mush up some chickpeas plain for the boy, since he doesn't like to be left out! He really seems to like them

 

[Thomi'sMommy]

Honestly, I give dd exactly what we're eating. Mothers in the non-Western world don't cook up extra unseasoned portions....I figure we just live in a bland culinary culture with sensitivity to "foreign" flavors. So we give our kids even blander food.

Thomi's favourite foods thus far have all been highly seasoned Indian dishes. I just plop a spooful of whatever I'm eating (organic, vegetarian, non-processed, homemade) right onto her tray. She refuses to be fed (Ms. Independence has to cram it in her own mouth), so she makes a gargantuan mess....but she's so cute all covered in rice and beans and she smells like a baby curry