NewsRecord Weekly Publication

All Baby Talk
By Georgene Rhena P. Quilaton-Tambiga

Homemade delights

Nothing is not instant today.
During the boom of the working mother generation, everything became instant and disposable including, of course, baby food.

I am one of the working mothers who struggle to maintain a part-time job just to be a hands-on mother full time—a feat that looks impossible, no less. But every morning, heavy eyelids and eye bags aside, I wake up before my children do to cook my baby girl  baby food.

Applesauce and rice porridge plus breastmilk.

When I and my two bundles attended a children’s party recently and I fed my girl with mashed rice and carrots infused with mashed broccoli, another working mom got amazed. She told how, with her two kids, she was never able to prepare such Spartan but nutritious delights to her young because she hasn’t got the time. Always, she resorted to boxed baby food that only requires hot water and it’s good to go.
Back when my little boy was still on the baby food stage, I resorted to boxed cereals and preserved vegetables in glass jars, too. I thought they were the best things I  could feed my baby but after months of struggle on the high chair because he has such a picky palate and a three-spoonful appetite I knew I had it wrong. That, after all, an Ilongga supermom who once told me never to give my kids boxed cereals was right.
Preparing baby food is easy as one, two, three. The Internet is replete with recipes, sure, but it is also important to note that most of the ingredients those recipes list are either not available here or are too expensive for a crumbling budget. So, I stick to what is available in bagsakan, the Sunday farmer’s market we have at the bus terminal.
I started off my girl with the Filipino classic lugaw. Preparing this does not only involve putting a heap of water over a fistful of rice but it takes constant stirring and mashing of rice while the pot is boiling, that is if you do not have a baby food blender or processor just like me. Gently scoop the boiling rice using the back of the ladle to the sides of the pot or just flatten it out until you get the ‘Cerelac’ consistency. This should do for baby’s first food for her first week of solids.

Mushy steamed apples ready for mashing.

For working mothers like me, baby meals can be prepared in the morning. I usually prepare one batch for the three meals of the day. When my working schedule for the next day would be hectic I prepare for two days and divide the batch into two so that the other half goes straight into the fridge when it cools. I can just add a little more water to it and place it on the heat again the next day.
In the US, many mothers prepare baby meals good for a week or even a month. But this is only fine for those who have deep freezer system at home to guarantee freshness.
Mother’s milk also does wonders in making home-prepared baby food even more delicious and nutritious than they already are. To soften up your lugaw add expressed breastmilk when it has cooled. Do not add breastmilk while the pot is still boiling or as you have just removed it from the heat because this will ruin the quality of the milk. Remember to add breastmilk only to one batch of meal to make sure that the whole batch you prepared does not become stale.
Another nutritious easy-to-cook baby delight is one made of apples. The applesauce meal is so easy to prepare but it would require good quality Washington apples, something that we do not have everyday here. I was just luck that it was Christmas time when I got my baby girl on her first month of solids.
After washing whole, unpeeled apples thoroughly put them on a steamer or on a rice cooker with a steaming contraption, and steam away!
Do not put too much water for steaming as the apples’ juices will drip down and mix with the water and this too can be used for adjusting the consistency of your applesauce later on. Poke the apples with fork and when they are mushy, they are ready for mashing. Remove the skin as you mash. The water with apple juice dripping (you will see that the steaming water will change in color) may be added to make the meal more watery if the baby prefers a watery meal, or breastmilk can do the same trick.
Refrigerate the extra. If carefully handled, the batch can last up to three days without need to freeze.
Then, there is the other Filipino classic monggo delight that even the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) recommend to Filipino mothers. Just get a good batch of green monggo which is very common in the market. Wash the beans thoroughly and boil. The same technique as with the lugaw must be applied, constant stirring and mashing. When it reaches ‘Cerelac’ (Gerber, if you prefer) consistency, then it is good to feed baby while she’s comfortably set on her high chair.
Both monggo and apple preparations can be mixed with lugaw.
These recipes are tried and tested. They do not contain salt or artificial sugar or flavoring and I do not ever add anything extra to add color or to preserve them. I shall share more recipes that I and my baby have personally tried.
After all, mother prepares the best.