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mac and cheese to babies

Discussion in 'Infants' started by sanjuruby3, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. sanjuruby3

    sanjuruby3 Platinum IL'ite

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    did anyone ever gave mac and cheese to their babies? If yes, at what age was it or should it be introduced. What is the recipe? organic all purpose pasta? wheat flour?

    I see on TV and hear people in US give it lot to their babies. But to me, it sounds little weird. I understand pasta shells being slippery in cheese sauce is easy for babies to bite & swallow in and cheese is of course good. But is not it heavy for babies? And all-purpose flour pasta? So thought of checking with you ladies.


    I see various recipes on internet. I love mac and cheese myself - ready to eat version or in restaurants but for baby I would prefer to be healthiest possible.
     
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  2. CrayoNess

    CrayoNess Platinum IL'ite

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    It really depend on the age of the baby. Over one year olds are able to eat "normal" food (including salt, spices, no need to puree) etc so of course you can give them mac and cheese at that point. But that should not be a staple as it is not so healthy (depending of course how you make it). But pasta equals to roti/chappati nutritionwise, cheese to paneer etc. It is not the name of the dish that determines can you give it to babies.
     
  3. anahita5

    anahita5 Gold IL'ite

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    I gave it to my baby when he was 14 months, i think. I was cooking pasta and he wanted to taste it. Next i know he started gobbling it down. I think this was one of the first food that was not pureed for him. I was cooking regular macaroni, may be a bit over cooked. There are lots of healthy version available. I use mushed avocado and cheese and he loves it. eats it by himself.
     
  4. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    I dont know your baby's age, but if you have any doubts regarding his digestion/health, you can easily use whole wheat pasta shells and use whole wheat for making the bechamel sauce! Just google for some recipes

    And if you want to cut down on cheese, add crumbled home made paneer !
    Not sure if he can take italian seasoning yet, just add black pepper and/or jeera!
    Cant decide if he can digest so much milk - add some carrot puree instead of milk to thicken the sauce

    I sometimes make pasta with fresh dhaniya and green chillies and paneer (I add no cheese at all) and my son and his friends love it ;-)
     
  5. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    OP, by the time i introduced mac and cheese to my baby, I had already introduced the ingredients separately to her. Pasta was whole wheat, cheese and all purpose flour. She loved it.
     
  6. EverydayBloom

    EverydayBloom Gold IL'ite

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    Dear OP

    If you are concerned about the ingredients/texture/taste used in any of the dishes you want introduce to your baby, you can make at home with "Healthy replacements" and slowly you can make traditional choices also- it will be easy when you are on trips...

    For Mac and cheese- As above posters said you can use whole wheat pasta shells, whole wheat flour for the sauce or even boiled and pureed cauliflower is a best choice for mac and cheese, you can use less cheese with some spices to make it flavorful, ideal time to introduce anything will be when baby is ready to have it try with small quantity and can increase slowly...as we use market available milk in this dish, you can wait till 1yr..

    Good luck
     
  7. sanjuruby3

    sanjuruby3 Platinum IL'ite

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    My girl is 10 months old.
    She consumes wheat flour in chapati/roti bits forms sometimes. Paneer - hardly once ..she had difficult swallowing as it was hard. I have not yet given her cheedar cheese and other cheeses.
    I feed her little bit thinned cow's milk also

    @rakhii - what was your baby's age? Baby's seem to love it. Its slippery so slides in well.
     
  8. Rakhii

    Rakhii Moderator IL Hall of Fame

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    Mine is 3 now but she loved it since the age of around 14 months. Another favorite of hers (in pasta family) is spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce.
     
  9. butterflyice

    butterflyice Local Champion Staff Member Platinum IL'ite

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    @sanjuruby,

    Your instincts are right!

    Wheat grown in India and in US is not the same. The protein content is much higher in US grown wheat. So pasta is not equal to roti even if made with whole wheat flour with/without eggs. If its made of maida, then its just junk. Again the cheese sauce is pretty heavy. The cheese that you add in mac and cheese is much much more than paneer dishes. I wouldnt feed home-made paneer to a 10 month old as I doubt the baby's ability to digest it.

    I would suggest you to wait a little longer before incorporating the healthy variations of mac and cheese suggested by posters above.

    You say you feed her thinned cow's milk, don't you feel cheese which is made from several cups of milk is going to be that much harder for your little one to digest?

    Like hrastro says, you dont need cheese to make yummy pasta. You can make marinara sauce and pesto sauce with all kinds of greens which will make it a healthy one pot meal.
     
  10. hrastro

    hrastro Platinum IL'ite

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    Yeah ! 10 months - dont start mac and cheese - is there any specific need ?

    There are so many foods they can have while travelling - there are many older threads in Indusladies - check them out !

    At this age, try the many varieties of vegetables and fruits and grains - introduce one by one and check their tongue's and stomach's reactions !

    If you want, you can make the multi-grain health mix - from home sprouted whole grains and make kanji !
     

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