I want to give my 9-month-old tofu, but I'm unsure how to prepare it. I have extra-firm tofu. Do I have to cook it or do I just cube it up and give it to him?
One way my 9 month old loves tofu is scrambled up with small chunks of yellow squash and zucchini. I just scramble it all together in a little bit of olive oil. He gobbles it all up everytime. I also make it sometimes for breakfast and just scramble it up with some egg yolks. :]
If there are allergies in you or your husband I would hold off on the tofu until later. Soy allergies are one of the most common in children because they get such an over-abundance of it in about 80% of all food. There are some things you don't want to do in young children: honey, nuts, soy, eggs, and fish to name a few.
Good luck. Believe me when I say if you're an allergic family you want to avoid a soy allergy. It's in everything.
I recommend you do some more research on soy products. They are horribly genetically engiineered (thus the increase in soy allergies), and very pesticide laden. I gave my son a lot of soy when he was small trying to be "healthy" (and he was allergic to milk). I regret that now - he has become horribly allergic to it.
i scramble like eggs!or make like egg salad
My little guy loves tofu -- it's one of his favorites. I just cut up the extra firm, add some soy sauce and toasted sesame oil (bottle doesn't always say toasted, but, if its fragrant, its toasted), heat it in the microwave for about 20 seconds to get the chill off, and voila! You can store the extra tofu, in its liquid, in the fridge. I will also add tofu to soup, or, fry it in some peanut oil as if making a stir fry. But, the quickest and easiest is the first way. Without his molars, he can't really handle chicken breast unless its in a soup, so, this is one of my son's big protein sources. Bon appetit!
The less soy, the better. Look into it a little more. At the very least, I wouldn't give him too much tofu so young. Good luck!
You don't have to do anything to tofu. You can serve it cold or warm, mashed, cubed, whatever. Just a heads up-Don't give it too often! I have eaten lots of tofu in my life, and love it in asian food, and we eat edamame, etc. Occasionally out of laziness I give my kids organic soy dogs cold for convenience, because I don't want them having real ones. Once in a while we prefer soy milk on cereal to real milk. But there are a lot of studies coming out showing that excessive soy isn't good, especially as a total replacement to milk for infants. It lacks a lot that milk offers and has some hormonal effects. Soy products made to mimic other products (milk, cheese, butter, meat products) are highly engineered. So keep those in moderation, and make sure your tofu is pure soy beans-read the ingredients! It is great protein.
Tofu's ready to go right out of the package, but it's fairly bland. First see if he likes it just cubed--and remember that kids need to be offered a new food about 10 times before they take to it! I like to cube it, then marinate it for a few hours in tamari (soy sauce--DON'T use La Choy or other so-called soy sauces which have sugar and "caramel coloring" added; it should just say "water, soy beans, salt"). Make sure the cubes are small enough to avoid choking.
You can also mash it with seasonings--I make a spread using dillweed, mayo, and a little veggie salt or tamari--for sandwiches or crackers.
Best of luck, and congrats on feeding your son healthfully (hopefully you eat it, too)!
L.
H.,
No need to do anything to it. Just cube it up and serve! That's why I love it and so does my baby who's now 2yrs old and still eating it. But I also cube it and put in soup and she enjoys it that way.
Take care.
Hi H.,
I don't want to discourage you from trying to keep your son healthy and I can respect why you might want to give him tofu in lieu of other processed junk or meat, but please be aware that some studys have recently proved that soy is not so good for human consumption. I read somewhere that eating soy is equivelent to eating plastic. So maybe you don't want to feed him a whole lot of the tofu.
But to answer your question, you can give him tofu however you want, or however you like to eat it.
Enjoy your baby!
My son's favorite dish when he was little was eggs, rice, and tofu all scrambled together (in whatever proportions you wish). He couldn't get enough of it! He also liked plain tofu when he was really little--especially since small cubes of firm tofu make easy finger food for early self-feeding. Also, since tofu is bland and will take on any flavors you add to it, if your son does not like it plain, try adding anything he does like to it to change the flavor.
