You've probably heard it over and over again, "Do not add sugar or salt to
baby food". What about adding herbs and spices to tempt your baby's palate? Many
parents neglect spices and the wide variety of tastes that may be introduced
simply by adding a spice! In many countries, babies are not fed bland rice
cereals as their first foods rather they introduced to spices from the start.

Making your own baby food allows you to experiment with different tastes and
textures for your baby and further offers you the chance to use a wider variety
of ingredients than do commercial jars of baby food. When you make your own baby
food, you are doing so for a variety of personal reasons. One of the most common
reasons that parents make their own baby food is the benefit of being able to
control exactly what their babies are eating. This control helps to ensure that
your baby is eating healthy, nutritious foods without any additives or "fillers"
that are commonly found in commercial baby foods. These additives and fillers
typically enter the commercial baby food chain in the "Stage 2", Dessert, "Stage
3" and "Toddler Meals" varieties. Reading the labels of these foods may have you
wondering "Well if there's sugar or cinnamon in the commercial foods, why can't
I add a wee bit to my homemade baby food?"

While it is never recommended to add sugar or salt to baby's food, we do
advocate adding some things to "spice up" or flavour your baby's food. Often
when we think of additions to food for kids, sugar and/or salt immediately come
to mind. Parents may seldom think about adding herbs and spices such as:

• vanilla


• pepper


• garlic powder


• basil


• rosemary


• dill


• oregano


• lemon zest


• ginger


• cinnamon


• mint


• nutmeg


• anise

These aforementioned spices can be lovely additions to your baby's foods!
Introducing baby to spices that the family typically cooks with does not have to
be left until baby has reached toddlerhood! Early introduction of spices may one
day find you thinking, "Wow, we have never used salt or sugar in any or our
kid(s)' foods!". Imagine raising a child that is not reliant on artificial
sweeteners to entice the appetite!

A majority of pediatricians will recommend waiting until an infant is 8 months
or older to introduce spices. This recommendation often has more to do with
staving off digestive upsets than it does with possible allergic reactions. Like
any other new food, please follow the "4 day wait rule" when introducing spices!
As always, please discuss the introduction and use of herbs and spices with your
baby's pediatrician!

Try these spicy mixtures and put some baby zing into those everyday foods for
baby:

• Apple(Sauce) with cinnamon


• Pears with Ginger and vanilla


• Bananas with ginger


• Plain Yogurt with mint


• Sweet potato with nutmeg, cinnamon and/or cardamom


• Pumpkin with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and dash of vanilla


• Chicken with cinnamon and/or coriander


• Chicken with garlic powder and basil


• Carrots with basil & garlic - baked cinnamon carrots are yummy too!


• Green beans with garlic powder


• Mashed potatoes(white) with dill weed or garlic


• Pasta with wee dab of butter and oregano and/or basil


• Oatmeal or other cereals with fruits and cinnamon & nutmeg, dash of
  vanilla


• Rice Pudding/Custards with cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of vanilla, cardamom,
  ginger