Baby food!

saloved · August 2015

I don't plan on starting baby foods until 6 months but as I begin to prepare that journey I am wondering who is planning to make your own.
From STM who made food before any tips? Any good websites or books?

CanadaMom17 · August 2015

Hmm. I'm leaning towards baby led weaning - so letting them feed themselves with little bits of whatever on their plate/tray rather than purees lacking any texture. Maybe a combination of both, we'll see.

In the beginning, it should just be the food item, no seasonings, etc. so no recipes needed!

I have a Kitchen Ninja if I do want to blend purees (adding a little cooking liquid or breastmilk to thin them if needed), and freezer cube food thingies. I also have a couple of mesh feeders for foods, and meats for lo to gnaw on.

For me, I'll honestly likely start with sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, meats, avocado, fruits, shredded cheese, yogurts (whenever the doctor says those types of dairy products are ok). Baby cereal is basically garbage nutritionally, so I'll skip it. I eat paleo though too (except for my lactation oatmeal), so...lo's diet will follow that as well.

When she's old enough, she'll eat what I eat. You can find guidelines on when to start adding mild spices, etc. like cinnamon in apple sauce and so on. It might have been in my "What to Expect the First Year" book.

rileysmama2007 · August 2015

I didn't with my first because I was working full time and jarred food was just easier, but I get to stay home this time around and plan on making my own. I've been collecting recipes and tips on Pinterest.

saloved · August 2015

I've been reading up a lot on Pinterest too. Lol. I am working full time and a single mom to twins so I am VERY nervous about it being to time consuming for me. But I am also a little excited to try.

saloved · August 2015

CanadaMom17 said:
Hmm. I'm leaning towards baby led weaning - so letting them feed themselves with little bits of whatever on their plate/tray rather than purees lacking any texture. Maybe a combination of both, we'll see.

In the beginning, it should just be the food item, no seasonings, etc. so no recipes needed! I have a Kitchen Ninja if I do want to blend purees (adding a little cooking liquid or breastmilk to thin them if needed), and freezer cube food thingies. I also have a couple of mesh feeders for foods, and meats for lo to gnaw on.

For me, I'll honestly likely start with sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, meats, avocado, fruits, shredded cheese, yogurts (whenever the doctor says those types of dairy products are ok). Baby cereal is basically garbage nutritionally, so I'll skip it. I eat paleo though too (except for my lactation oatmeal), so...lo's diet will follow that as well.

When she's old enough, she'll eat what I eat. You can find guidelines on when to start adding mild spices, etc. like cinnamon in apple sauce and so on. It might have been in my "What to Expect the First Year" book.

I've never heard of baby led weaning?! Tell me more!

supersarah77 · August 2015

STM here, I am already making and freezing purees for in a couple months. I freeze in trays and then dump into a labeled freezer bag. It's so easy and not much work at all. Babies eat so little for so long. I like www.weelicious.com for baby, toddler, and family recipes. They have all been a hit in my family. Just made a batch of roasted pear and banana purée last week.

saloved · August 2015

How long do they last? How long does it take to make? Coming from someone who has done its experience is it doable with twins and just me and a full time job? Is it something where I could make some each night after I get them laid down or is it an all day task? I am mostly worried about time but if it's possible I would MUCH prefer to provide them with homemade instead of store bought. But I dotnt want to be more stressed and killing myself to do it.

odawg · August 2015

am starting to make some now. Green beans is first on the list. I gave heard to only do veggies for a while because once tgry taste sweetness of fruit it can be hard to get them to enjoy veggies. They can last up to 6 months in frezzer but suggested to use by 3 months due to loss of nutrients and crystal build up. You just steam them, then put in food processer till right texture. Place in ice cube tray to frezzer..pop them out n place in freezer bag until needed. I think this stage is important in terms of learning to digest

CanadaMom17 · August 2015

saloved said:

I've never heard of baby led weaning?! Tell me more!

From what I've read and understand, it's just letting baby feed themselves from the beginning - they get to pick up and eat as much of what they want. Food's just well cooked and cut up tiny, and mashed a bit as necessary (i.e. flatten peas with a fork so baby doesn't choke). Some babies object more to the puree texture of foods than the foods themselves, so it avoids that. Things like apples get shredded with a cheese grater or you can still cook them into applesauce, etc. The key is to still not introduce too many new foods at a time, same as with pureed food. I'll see how it goes when the time comes! I'm home for a year, so I can play around with what works for us when we start.

I'll likely just start cooking extra towards the six month mark and freezing a little for DD. Once she's had some foods, I'll just give her portions of parts of my plate (depending on what I'm having!).

As to recipes, there's lots out there...but I think it's good to remember for tens of thousands of years babies have just eaten what the adults eat, just cut up or ground finer. If you eat a well balanced diet, baby will be fine. And for me, I don't want to get in the habit of making two meals for every meal time.

ETA: I've heard the fruit thing is bunk too - breast milk tastes sweeter than fruit, so there's no harm in introducing fruits too.

TheEA · August 2015

I made baby food for my now two-year-old and plan to do it again. I used Super Baby Food as a guidebook. It has feeding charts, when and how to introduce new foods, tips on how to make and store the food, etc. I borrowed it from the library and made notes in a notebook to refer to. I went ahead and bought it for my second baby. It doesn't take very long to make a batch of food and when compared to buying store bought, the cost difference is huge! (1 jar of puréed carrots is about $1 and can be 1-2 servings depending on how much your baby eats. 1lb of organic carrots $1 on sale and will make at least 8 servings!) I would make a batch of food about once a month and it would take a couple of hours total. I would make 4 or 5 different types of food in each cooking session. I would use a couple of different cooking methods so I could cook several things at once - bake sweet potatoes and pears while steaming green beans and flash boiling peas. Then I just puréed in my food processor. I would add cooking liquid to get the right consistancy. Then I would freeze in ice cube trays and pop into a freezer bag once they were frozen. It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't that bad. I would actually have my baby sit in his high chair to watch while I made his food. He loved it because I would give him little tastes here and there while I made everything.
I can't wait to start making food for my sweet baby girl!

MrsWhiteToBe · August 2015

What is cooking liquid? I keep seeing it but I've never heard of it before.

rileysmama2007 · August 2015

When you steam your veggies/fruit, it's the liquid left in the pot. You can use it to thin out your purées. You can also use breastmilk. @MrsWhiteToBe

saloved · August 2015

TheEA said:
I made baby food for my now two-year-old and plan to do it again. I used Super Baby Food as a guidebook. It has feeding charts, when and how to introduce new foods, tips on how to make and store the food, etc. I borrowed it from the library and made notes in a notebook to refer to. I went ahead and bought it for my second baby. It doesn't take very long to make a batch of food and when compared to buying store bought, the cost difference is huge! (1 jar of puréed carrots is about $1 and can be 1-2 servings depending on how much your baby eats. 1lb of organic carrots $1 on sale and will make at least 8 servings!) I would make a batch of food about once a month and it would take a couple of hours total. I would make 4 or 5 different types of food in each cooking session. I would use a couple of different cooking methods so I could cook several things at once - bake sweet potatoes and pears while steaming green beans and flash boiling peas. Then I just puréed in my food processor. I would add cooking liquid to get the right consistancy. Then I would freeze in ice cube trays and pop into a freezer bag once they were frozen. It sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't that bad. I would actually have my baby sit in his high chair to watch while I made his food. He loved it because I would give him little tastes here and there while I made everything.
I can't wait to start making food for my sweet baby girl!

So you only make food about once a month? And it last the month?! That is something I could do. As long as it's not a once a week thing I feel like I could plot out time! I know it's more cost efficient and I am so weird about preservatives and all that and then all the reports of glass on the food I would like to just avoid that drama. I'm getting excited! Although I don't want them to be at that stage just yet haha!

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