Gluten Free Baby Food

When its time to wean your baby the safest method is to start with gluten free baby food recipes, especially if other members of your family are diagnosed with coeliac disease.

What is gluten?

Simply put it is the protein containing section of wheat, rye and barley grains. Coeliacs are unable to digest this protein, and eating it will damage their guts, preventing the body from absorbing the nutrients it needs.

For more information see my page on What is Gluten.

What are the signs to look out for if you are worried that your baby may have an intolerance to gluten?

he will not put on weight
he will be lethargic
he may have smelly diarrhoa
he may be unhappy and cry a lot

These were the problems I had as a baby in 1960 (you can read my story here) when solid food was introduced much earlier. Fed on rusks I ended up very poorly and was hospitalised by the age of 5 months.

Back in the 1950's celiac disease infants were often known as banana babies, as the fruit was easily digested and didn't cause any side effects. It wasn't until later that gluten was found to be the culprit.

Play safe and use only gluten free baby food in your baby's diet until after the age of 6 months, then you can start introducing gluten containing foods gradually, one at a time.

What is gluten free baby food?

Today's baby food manufactures in the European Union are required to label any gluten containing grains on the packet. Checking the ingredients is the most important precaution you can take over your child's food. Watch out for the inclusion of rusk, wheat starch, wheat germ or semolina all of which contain gluten. You will find a full list of foods containing gluten on the site.

Rather than feed packaged foods you may decide you want to make homemade gluten free baby food. This is not difficult and can even be fun. When my daughter was young I used to get together with another young mum and we would have baby cook-ins. Each of us would buy enough ingredients for a dozen meals, then once cooked we would split the results and have a variety of ready prepared meals to freeze.

So what can you feed your baby, apart from pureed bananas, on a gluten free diet? All fresh fruits and vegetables are suitable, as is meat. Pulses such as butter beans can add protein to a meal but nuts are best avoided for any baby. Rice in all forms is a fine substitute for oats, which although they don't contain gluten, are normally not included due to the risk of contamination on conveyor belts.

Infants will need their gluten free baby food liquidised or blended until smooth. Your normal food processor can tackle this if you are cooking in bulk, but for individual meals a baby food mill such as that contained in the BabySteps Complete Feeding Systemby Kidco, is ideal.

Another option is the Magic Bullet Mixer Set as seen on TV. Small and easy to use this little gadget will prove indespensable to the gluten free chef.

As the child grows, you can revert to just mashing the food, perhaps leaving some chunky bits for him to investigate with his fingers and mouth.

Once the baby is able to pick up small objects it is time to offer finger foods. The normal rusks or pieces of bread are not an option on the gluten free diet, so you need to consider alternatives. Rice cakes, fruit, cheese and vegetables are all suitable for the baby to suck or chew once he has teeth.

Homemade gluten free baby food recipes

Some of your own meals will be suitable, liquidised, for your baby, but as you shouldn't give your baby salt you may find things a bit bland! But it is easy enough to cook a separate portion for him. The following recipes will give you a head start and perhaps some fresh ideas.

Ground Rice with apples

1 small eating apple
2 tablespoons ground rice
4 fl oz (110ml) milk or milk substitute
1 tsp reduced sugar jam

You can use a microwave to prepare this meal, but allow time for cooling as you could burn your baby's mouth if you feed it to him too soon.

Core, peel and slice the apple. Place it in a small bowl and microwave on high power until soft. (My microwave is an old 650 watt version and it takes 3 minutes in there.) Mash with a fork or pop in the food mill or processor.

Meanwhile place the ground rice and half the milk into another bowl and mix to form a paste. Add the remaining milk and microwave on high power for around 4 minutes. I like to check after two minutes, give it a stir, then stir again after each additional minute until it is smooth and thick.

Mix the apple pulp and jam into the rice, cool then serve. (I even like this myself as a quick breakfast sometimes).

Coconut Raisin Pudding

1 small apple
1 oz raisins
4 tbsp unsweetened apple or orange juice
1/2 oz dessicated coconut

Peel, core and slice the apple. Put into a small saucepan with the juice and raisins and cook on a low ring for around 10 minutes or until the apple is soft. Take off the heat and stir in the coconut. Liquidise, cool and serve.

Chicken with vegetables

1/2 chicken breast
1 tomato
1 small potato
1 slice carrot
1 slice onion
4 broccoli spears

Place the chicken, onion, carrot, and tomato into a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for around 45 minutes until the chicken is tender. Meanwhile, cut the potato in half and place in a steamer, along with the broccoli, over a pan of boiling water. Steam for around 20 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked, strain, reserving the stock. Skin the potato and add, with the broccoli to the other ingredients.

For young babies place in a liquidiser and blend until smooth. Add some of the stock to moisten if necessary. For older babies you can puree the chicken, but just mash the vegetables, leaving some texture for the baby to explore.Cool and serve.

Summary of gluten free baby food

Hopefully these simple recipes will begin to show you that cooking gluten free baby food is not difficult and will not take too much time.

You will find lots more recipes at www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com

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Copyright© 2007. Please note I am not a doctor, just a fellow sufferer of coeliac disease.
Therefore no information on this site should be taken as medical advice.
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