Making Vegetarian Baby Food

My daughter, Maya, turned 6 months recently, on 8/8/09 to be exact. This was a big turning point for me, as it meant the world of food options would open up "big time." I had been feeding her baby cereal since she was a little over 4 months, and could now feed her protein and other choices of vegetables, fruits, and grains.

What I have realized in the past few weeks of my feeding adventure is that there are not a lot of choices of vegetarian baby food with protein, as alternatives to meat baby food. As a native of India, I have been able to rely on my heritage for food choices that I can modify for her. For instance, instead of making regular dal out of lentils, I took some cooked lentil out for her before adding the spices to make dal. I put some in several baby food jars and later added some to baby cereal and breast milk or formula to make a healthy protein rich food for her in addition to vegetables and fruit. This is also vegan. For now, I am raising her vegetarian and include dairy - just yogurt for now. She has loved kefir - plain and peach.

I have also used a little silken tofu mixed with cereal and formula or breast milk. Although, there seems to be a little controversy with tofu so I lean more towards other choices for protein. Maya is in the 97% for height and about 70% for weight. I can not attribute her size to her diet, but at least I won't be accused of hampering her growth with her diet!