Saturday, 22 October 2016

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Day 3: Baby's First Food - The Brilliant Broccoli/花椰菜[huā yē cài]/


For babies from 5 months old

I chose broccoli as the third food to introduce to Baby C (5M6D) today 22 October 2016. It is more usual for moms to start with carrot or potato. But as carrot is sweet, I wanted to start with the less sweet stuff. I gave carrot as the first baby food to J, when he was a baby.

J has no problem eating broccoli, so I don't think it is so crucial the order of introduction. But then, although J eats broccoli, he is not totally that fond of it. So I am thinking that I would like to establish the liking for broccoli right from the start, before the sweeter food such as carrot, banana or apple.

Broccoli has a strong taste, so I am taking a risk whether Baby C would like it. I imagine that since it would be her first time tasting it, she would turn her head away and pull a long sour face. But it takes at least three tries, before a good habit is established, so I am prepared to bite my teeth.

I was excited to see her reaction. To my pleasant surprise, it wasn't so bad. I don't think she is so crazy about broccoli, but she was willing to eat it, although she seemed to prefer eating the spoon to broccoli. Here is a video of Baby C getting her first taste of broccoli :-)


I steamed the broccoli instead of boiling it. Steaming is a Chinese method, said to retain most of the nutrient, compared to cooking by boiling. However, if time is a constraint, boiling is perfectly fine. Actually, it takes the same time to boil and to steam, but steaming requires more equipment. Here is how I prepared the broccoli for Baby C.

Actually I would have preferred to give her kale or spinach, since these are the most nutrient packed vegetable, but because of the high nitrate in green leafy vegetables, which is not so suitable for young babies, I will wait with it.


Here is a picture of Baby C in her snowsuit today :-)

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