The short version
You do not need a baby food maker. Start solids at six completed months (WHO and IAP), steam a small katori of the family's food alongside the idlis, mash, and introduce allergens like peanut and egg early in safe forms, with your paediatrician's go-ahead.
What happened
The baby food maker arrived with a recipe booklet, four attachments and a promise that I would steam-and-blend my way to a child who ate broccoli. It had a 200-ml bowl. I'd steam a carrot, blend it, and get three spoonfuls of orange paste plus fifteen minutes of washing up. By week two I was making purees in my regular mixie and pretending the gadget was for something else.
My mother-in-law watched this for a few days and then, without a word, put a steel katori of mashed dal-rice on the idli stand and steamed it with the morning idlis. Six minutes. One extra katori to wash. He ate it.
That became our system. Whatever was cooking, a small katori of it, unsalted, steamed alongside, mashed with the back of a spoon. Rice, moong dal, carrot, lauki, apple, banana. By eight months he was eating what we ate, just softer and without the salt and chilli. The food maker went to the back of the cupboard and eventually to a cousin.
The one thing I'd change is that I waited too long on allergens. I'd been told to hold off on peanut and egg until he was one. The research now says the opposite: introducing them early, around six months, as smooth peanut butter or well-cooked egg, dramatically cuts the risk of allergy. Our paediatrician confirmed it. Whole nuts are still a choking hazard until five, so it's a smear on a chapati, never the nut.
Six months, a katori, an idli stand, and a paediatrician's phone number. That's the kit.
WHO, the Indian Academy of Pediatrics and the NHS all say the same thing: exclusive breastfeeding for six completed months, then complementary foods alongside breastfeeding to two years and beyond. The IAP 2016 guidelines add: practise responsive feeding and avoid foods that pose a choking hazard.
Tiwari S et al., IAP Infant and Young Child Feeding Guidelines, Indian Pediatrics 2016;53:703. Source · WHO complementary feeding guideline 2023. SourceIn the LEAP trial (640 high-risk infants), regular peanut consumption from 4 to 11 months cut peanut allergy at age five from 13.7% to 1.9% in the skin-test-negative group, around an 80% reduction. The AAP's 2019 report says there is no reason to delay allergenic foods, and that infant-safe forms must be used because whole peanuts are a choking hazard.
Du Toit G et al., NEJM 2015;372:803. Source · Greer FR et al., AAP clinical report, Pediatrics 2019. SummaryThe verdicts
A 3- or 4-plate steel idli stand (Pigeon, Lifelong or any)
You probably own one. One katori of baby food steams with the family's breakfast. Our actual food maker for two years.
Small steel katoris with lids, set of 4
Steam in it, mash in it, store the leftover in it, carry it. Steel, so no staining from dal and carrot.
A silicone suction plate
Not for the food, for the physics. He couldn't throw it. That alone earned it a place.
Philips Avent 4-in-1 baby food maker
Beautifully made and used only a handful of times in our kitchen. A small bowl and four parts to wash for a few spoonfuls of puree. I would look at what my existing equipment can do before buying a separate machine again.
Product details are as we used them; the version on sale now may differ. Check the exact model and the manufacturer's instructions.