Making baby food

kinnonam · April 2016

Have any STM+ made your own baby food what was your experience did you find it hard? My LO is 11weeks I know I'm awhile away from solids. My friend bought food and just spent so much money . Not to mention the foods her daughter didn't like that she just threw out. I like the idea of saving money doing it myself and also being able to use foods we already eat so it's not going to waste.

charliegoldengirl · April 2016

I did a little of both - kept the pouches and some jars on hand in case I didn't get to the store or have time to cook or whatever. Store bought was really convienent to have while out and about too.

Its not hard at all to make your own baby food. Iit is an extra thing to do and fit in your schedule...which is the hard part.

A lot of people love baby led weaning (not related to breastfeeding but has to do with how you feed solids). You don't use puréed foods but go straight in with finger foods. I used some of the concepts from it but still did purées.

shupertj09 · April 2016

I made my own and no it's not hard. One yellow squash, sweet potato, avocado, banana etc..makes a lot of baby food. I worked full time and still made my own (I bought a baby bullet) and I would take an hour or so every other Sunday and just make baby food.

VitaLuna · April 2016

I wasn't completely on-board/comfortable with all the baby led weaning things, but I mostly fed DD1 mashed up or finger type foods (avocado was a favorite, steamed sweet potatoes, etc). We started solids at 6mos and didn't really purée anything, just mashed it up with a fork and added a little breastmilk to thin. The most time consuming part was steaming the veggies.. Which really doesn't take that long.

I kept pouches handy for out and about, but you have no control over the quality of produce in them. DD1 still has them on occasion (she's 2.5), but they're more of a treat than anything.

tabauder · April 2016

I'm a FTM so I've never personally made it before but I used to nanny for a family that made their own. She used to freeze it in ice cube trays and then just pop out how every much you needed, thaw and feed. It was easy and convenient when I would babysit for them. I'm planning to make my own when LO is ready for food

blueberrymomma · April 2016

I made all of DDs baby food. It's not that bad if you just take a Sunday afternoon to make enough for a month.I got a baby food maker with my first and loved it(I know you don't need a special one but I loved that I could steam and purée in one container). I'd then freeze into ice cube trays and then transfer to zip locks. Bananas and avacados I just mashed up fresh
DD actually wouldn't eat most of the store bought kind since she was use to fresh.

kinnonam · April 2016

@shupertj09 how did you like the baby bullet? I was thinking of using my regular blender. But the bullet comes with portion cups so in torn. @baya5which one did you get? I saw one that had a steamer attached to the blender.

VitaLuna · April 2016

@kinnonam don't get hung up on the portion cups with the baby bullet. There are tons of portioned containers out there that you can buy, both marketed for baby food and also simpler things like ice cube trays.

ETA:
Ziploc makes microwave steamer bags ("zip n steam") that we never tried for baby food, but have used on veggies at dinner before.

We also recently bought the Infantino squeeze station. I wish we would've bought it sooner with DD1, but we were being cheap (which is ironic, considering the organic pouches we buy are $1.49)

BabyHope2013 · April 2016

I made about 95% of DS1's food and plan to do the same with DS2. I kept a few packaged baby food jars on hand---I found they worked better when I knew I would be gone for long periods of time. For example, I knew being out for 1-2 hours before needing to feed baby I could bring food I made with me without worrying too much about keeping it cold---but if I was still going to be out for several hours later, I would rely on the store bought stuff.

I would spend a few hours every other week or so steaming and pureeing food before freezing it in icecube trays and storing it in ziplock bags in the freezer. You can pretty much make anything. I even knew friends that would throw what they were eating that night into the baby bullet and feed the baby that---pot roast, peas, mashed potatoes and etc. We never went to that level. I did purchase a food processor and would recommend that over a baby bullet because you will get more long term use out of it. But that is just my experience.

blueberrymomma · April 2016

@kinnonam Beaba Babycook is the one I use. Mine looks just like this one. I know there are newer models that are bigger/fancier

4N6s · May 2016

Look into baby led weaning & skip the purees

MississippiCatfish · May 2016

My babies have really only eaten "baby food" for a month or two before moving on to very small bites of soft table foods. I would make sure that whatever portion they were going to have wasn't salted or spiced, and then fork mash it (at first) or cut it in to very small bites. I also usually have a banana or avocado on hand that I can mash in about 30 seconds. With my first, I made a ton of purees and put them in the freezer and some of it went to waste. Just food for thought:)

kinnonam · May 2016

@4N6s I def looked into the baby led weaning I purchased the books from Amazon just to read since that seems to be the only research on it. But videos of 6+month olds devouring chicken legs sent my BF into a tizzy and is completely on board with BLW.

kinnonam · June 2016

Decided to start since baby is 4 months and Doctor said we can start with some solids. We did sweet potato lastnight he LOVED IT!! I also made avocado and peas! I'm having so much fun

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/ek/wqsyk4mcgmev.jpeg

jarob747 · June 2016

Oh fun, my LO is 4 mo tomorrow with dr visit on Monday. I really don't wanna start solid till 6 mo, so he's EBF till then. But will see what Dr says. My DS is 12lbs 25" but totally healthy and has enough dirty diapers and is happy. Everyone says he's so little and give him solid, but he's healthy so I'm waiting as long as dr says he's OK. But it's gonna be fun when we do start.

kinnonam · June 2016

jarob747 said:

Oh fun, my LO is 4 mo tomorrow with dr visit on Monday. I really don't wanna start solid till 6 mo, so he's EBF till then. But will see what Dr says. My DS is 12lbs 25" but totally healthy and has enough dirty diapers and is happy. Everyone says he's so little and give him solid, but he's healthy so I'm waiting as long as dr says he's OK. But it's gonna be fun when we do start.

My LO is around the same 12lbs and 24in. I feed him around 6 times a day EBF and he never seems satisfied which is why she said we can start. He has been swatting at our plates and very interested in what we're putting in our mouths. We tried and he loved it

jarob747 · June 2016

kinnonam said:

jarob747 said:

Oh fun, my LO is 4 mo tomorrow with dr visit on Monday. I really don't wanna start solid till 6 mo, so he's EBF till then. But will see what Dr says. My DS is 12lbs 25" but totally healthy and has enough dirty diapers and is happy. Everyone says he's so little and give him solid, but he's healthy so I'm waiting as long as dr says he's OK. But it's gonna be fun when we do start.

My LO is around the same 12lbs and 24in. I feed him around 6 times a day EBF and he never seems satisfied which is why she said we can start. He has been swatting at our plates and very interested in what we're putting in our mouths. We tried and he loved it

That's exciting. My LO seems satisfied, but is interested in our food too. Guess we'll see what Dr says Monday. So did u add breast milk to the potatoes?

kinnonam · June 2016

Yea I used it in everything I used 1 potato 2oz BM and I got 8 cubes I guess 8oz worth since each cube is 1oz

jarob747 · June 2016

That's great to know. I wasn't sure how to make it. How do you unthaw it once it's frozen?

kinnonam · June 2016

I put it in a plastic food jar and in the fridge until it thawed and placed it in hot water to warm it. From what I read it's good in the fridge 24-48/hr since it has he BM in it.

jarob747 · June 2016

Ok, I'm excited to see my LOs reaction. Thanks for the info

jarob747 · June 2016

Mashing an avocado tonight for a snack for LO. Then sweet potatoes I guess

Kimbarbour08 · June 2016

I made both bananas and avocados with breastmilk for LO to try when he's ready! Frozen and good to go! Although I realized with the avocado that I was a dumb dumb because I ran it through the food processor with the milk . . . if shaking breastmilk is bad for it I bet running it through a food processor probably isn't the best idea. Oops.

kinnonam · June 2016

@Kimbarbour08 never even thought about that lol I guess something is better then nothing at least that's what I'm telling myself

Kimbarbour08 · June 2016

Me too! I'm definitely not wasting it, I'm sure it still has a lot of nutritional value!

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