Yogurt is a natural and healthy food, usually loved by babies and toddlers. It is a fermented milk product rich calcium and it has active cultures that give great benefits to your baby’s organism.
Healthy homemade yogurt:
- helps with intestinal and gastric issues;
- boosts the immune system;
- is good food during hepatitis and jaundice;
- treats insomnia;
- is a good remedy for urinary tract infections.
Most babies can begin eating whole-milk yogurt after they start weaning, at about 6 months. As proceeding with any new food, you should introduce yogurt in your baby’s diet and wait three to five days before introducing a new produce. This way you’ll be able to tell if your child is allergic to yogurt, or not. Yogurt doesn’t contain lactose, so there is no danger of lactose intolerance, but there are other food enzymes which may trigger negative reactions (for example, histamine). Make sure you check with your baby’s pediatrician when it is the appropriate time to start giving your baby yogurt.
Although there is a wide range of yogurt types on the market to choose from, in my opinion, the best alternative is to make the healthy yogurt at home. Even if it sounds as a complicated and lengthy process, it is actually extremely simple to do it. The fastest and easiest way to make homemade yogurt involve a good yogurt maker, milk and a pack yogurt starter, to begin with.
The appliance we used to make healthy homemade yogurt
The appliance we use to make healthy homemade yogurt is called Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker and we are very satisfied with the result. It makes a smooth and creamy, 100% natural yogurt for our baby girl. We bought it when she was 7mo and we are using it regularly since then.
The machine has seven – 6oz/180ml glass containers in which you can make plain yogurt or up to seven different types of flavored yogurt, by adding pieces of different fruits in the jars.
The process is simple. All you have to do is boil a quart/a liter of milk and let it cool down until it’s warm (73-77°F/23-25°C). Then, mix well a small amount of it with 5g of culture (for the first time we made home yogurt, we used Yogourmet Casei Bifidus Acidophilus Probiotic Yogurt Starter, but you can use the yogurt from a jar to mix it with milk next time you prepare it). Pour it back into the quart/liter of milk. Mix it well, again. Optionally, add pieces of fruits. Incubate the mix in the yogurt maker machine for 12 to 15 hours, until the yogurt has reached the desired firmness. Refrigerate the jar afterwards to stop the fermentation process. That’s it. You now have a creamy, 100% natural yogurt to feed your baby.
As you see, the Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker does most of the work for you. The appliance has a timer on the side that marks the time when the yogurt will be finished cooking. It is BPA free and its glass jars can be safely cleaned in the dishwasher. It is an affordable product that is actually worth the price.
Do you feed your baby healthy homemade yogurt? Do you use a yogurt maker to prepare it or the traditional way?