Making Baby Food

JanisBaby14

I read the thread back in May about what appliances Bumpies have/suggest to use when making their own baby food. And even read up on the links. I got a great amount of information from that and of course some questions.

I'm leaning toward the baby Brezza for the steam and purée option. I am the least domesticated wife in the world! I even just texted a friend asking if a food processor steams or purées .

I've got some time for research since DS won't be four months until Dec. 31 and will wait for pedis directions/suggestions/orders when to start.

My questions as a FTM are: do the recipe books, like Top 100 Baby Purées, lean toward one appliance over another? I tried to see a sample but the smarty pants don't give any recipes, and for a good reason obvi. I might try to get a Barnes and Noble to peak at one as well but thought I'd ask from experience.

What are STMs tips about making baby food for the most inexperienced person of kitchen appliances in the world?

What recipes were the best you tried? As in steps not if baby liked it because I know every baby is different.

Any other advice for FTM looking to make their own baby food?

JanisBaby14

@mamakate12345 Can you let me know which one you are getting because mine is also going to be a Christmas present?

portentosa

I had a steamer/purreer thing with DS but after a couple weeks moved to just boiling and blending large batches in my blender. I would freeze them in ice cube trays so I'd have ready made portions.

And I really hate being the one to bring up a mom war thing but I wanted to share with you and other FTMs that may not know. Aside from some mom's that give cereal early for reflux issues and other things the recommendation of the AAP is to wait until your LO is closer to 6 months old to introduce solids. Every child is different exactly when they are ready.

The signs to look for are
* sitting up on their own (propped in a bumbo or otherwise being propped up is not sitting up on their own).
* showing an interest in you eating food.
* baby has a pincer grasp.
* baby has lost the tongue thrust reflex where they automatically push food out of their mouth.

I totally get the excitement of feeding baby their first food. I watched impatiently for the readiness signs in my first and fed him his first solid food a week or two before he hit 6 months.

Other random advice. Avocados, sweet potatoes, and carrots were all great first foods my DS enjoyed. wholesomebabyfood.com is an amazing resource for feeding babies.

JanisBaby14

@tromboner Thank you! I have been reading up on the recommendations as well and major of the consensus is closer to 6 mo, which kind of bummed me out cause as you can tell I'm anxiously waiting to have DS try new things! And I will also consult with pedi and take her recommendations into consideration too.

portentosa

Thank you for not freaking out on me. 4 months/6 months/whenever LO shows readiness and cereal/vegetable first food debates got ugly sometimes on DS's BMB.

We're about to be flooded with the topic in the next couple months.

portentosa

cpj7 said:

I've also read (as another FTM here) to introduce one food at a time to check for allergies, maybe STM can give advice on if this is a necessary step. There is also baby led weaning which you could research. This doesn't involve lots of blending & purées.
I'm with @tromboner‌ though re waiting until 6 months - unless your Dr recommends something else specifically.

Yes. I think it's 2 or 3 days between new foods. And spices too! I intro'd yogurt and cinnamon too close together and it took me some trial and error to figure out DS was sensitive to cinnamon... yogurt (milk) allergy being much more common I thought it was that.

JanisBaby14

@cpj7 that is great advice about the one at a time and spacing it out! Thank you!

JanisBaby14

I just found this blog from a Pin on Pinterest:

https://www.babybulletblog.com/category/recipes/phase-1/

It looks specific to Baby Bullet, but looks like a good read.

seamonkey0814

I just took a class on introducing solid foods and the dietician really advocated waiting until 6 months unless baby isn't thriving on milk alone. She gave us a texture guide and explained that because babies are starting foods later now, the real "purée" stage is very short - as little as two weeks. Basically, she recommended giving baby mashed potato consistency purées until they get the hang of eating, then moving to a "chunky mashed potato" consistency which for most foods except meats can be achieved by cooking well then mashing with a fork. Meats can be given finely diced.

Because of this, I've decided not to invest in a baby food maker for now since it doesn't look like I'd get much use out of it.

JanisBaby14

I also read about the Baby Led Weaning ... And think that's a great option for people who make well rounded meals for themselves. I have a confession DH and I are horrible eaters! Not fast food necessarily but lots of frozen pastas ... Pizza. Nothing really baby friendly at any early solid eating phase I feel.

Maybe this will get me motivated to eat better to make sure DS is as well. And to make well rounded meals and meal plan! I've never done that!

jht14

I plan on making baby food as well. I plan on steaming and then pureeing in a blender. I have read reviews on the steam and purée machines and you need to be careful because they can get moldy if not properly cleaned. I have not bought any baby food cookbooks yet but have been looking at them.

My pedi also said no cereal until 4 months. He hasn't mentioned when to start baby food but I'm assuming it will be like what @tromboner said with the guidelines.

doglover31

I plan on making my own baby food too. We got the Baby Bullet as a gift. I need to look at some baby food books, I can't wait till we can start making it! At  our 4 month visit the beginning of January I plan on asking when we can start and all of that.

ldbryan

I bought a silicone steamer basket from Target. It sits in a skillet, you simmer about an inch of water, cover with a lid, and steam. Then I used a blender, and then froze batches in ice trays. I got a baby bullet as a gift after our second DD, but it was a mess to clean, and I didn't like the storage cups.

dizziedune43

With my twins, we got a baby bullet but I found I rarely used it and ended up giving it away instead. It took up too much space and didn't make very large portions. I pretty much only used the food processor to create purées and since it was already on the counter it was easy to use. I would just blend up the leftovers from whatever we made for dinner and freeze in ice cube trays. They were perfect for portion control and were very fast to reheat. I would also often make a large batch of, say, apples, carrots, squash etc. to mix in with any protein if I didn't have a meal already. For example, I make broccoli, chicken, rice and carrots fairy frequently. Even if I only had rice and chicken left over I would blend them into a puree (add water from the steamed broccoli if it was too thick) and freeze. You can then label and store them in a freezer safe bag. When it came time for dinner I would thaw a couple cubes and then mix in whatever veggie I felt like! Makes the process so much easier. I never got a recipe book, but would just look up recipes online. My twins were always picky eaters so I would mix apples in everything!