- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
April 2019 Moms
lyse01
member
Product Spotlight: Baby Food Supplies
lyse01
member
We are eons away from baby eating solids, but if you have space to store them and a desire to make fresh purées at home, a registry is a great place for supplies. And if you are busy or lazy or just do a mix of things, consider this also a thread for baby food in general - jars, pouches, boxes, canisters, whatever!
Did you make food for your baby? What equipment was essential? What did you repurpose from your existing kitchenwares? What did you cook/warm/store food in? Did you freeze? Did your storage solution microwave well? How long did you need all of this/use it? Is there other relevant info?
Did you buy food for your baby? What products were awesome - or not? What did you and baby gravitate towards? How long did baby like that food?
Give us the pros and cons of what you have, or ask about what you want.
FTMs: when you look at baby foods, what’s overwhelming or confusing? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Did you make food for your baby? What equipment was essential? What did you repurpose from your existing kitchenwares? What did you cook/warm/store food in? Did you freeze? Did your storage solution microwave well? How long did you need all of this/use it? Is there other relevant info?
Did you buy food for your baby? What products were awesome - or not? What did you and baby gravitate towards? How long did baby like that food?
Give us the pros and cons of what you have, or ask about what you want.
FTMs: when you look at baby foods, what’s overwhelming or confusing? Ask away!
Want to discuss something else? Recommend it here, or second some recs by loving someone’s post (I’ll try to prioritize): https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12734953/product-spotlights-upcoming-or-requests
All product spotlights can be resurrected at any time for further discussion - type “Product Spotlight” into the search bar at the bottom of the page to find previous threads.
Re: Product Spotlight: Baby Food Supplies
We made baby food once - it wasn't hard - boiled sweet potatoes, pureed in our regular blender, and thinned out with a little breast milk. After that we decided to just feed table food (a la baby led weaning). Way easier IMO for our particular situation. Once we got past the big allergens (PB, eggs, strawberries) it was basically feed him whatever we're having except any form of honey (cooked or not) and whole nuts. But for real just don't give babies under one honey. Even in like, honey nut Cheerio form.
Did you buy food for your baby? What products were awesome - or not? What did you and baby gravitate towards? How long did baby like that food?
My aunt bought him some puffs that he went freaking nuts for, but those are basically the only "baby food" items we used.
Give us the pros and cons of what you have, or ask about what you want.
Can I pimp sippy cups in here? The Munchkin 360 cup was awesome - we always gave BM or a little water with "meals" and we used the 360 cups basically exclusively.
We also used Little Green Pouch reusable pouches, which were great for giving him yogurt or smoothies we made. He gets some store bought pouches still (he's a maniac for Go-Go Squeezes) but it was nice being able to just slop some smoothie into the reusable ones to give him on the go when he was smaller.
Best advice I have about feeding babies solids is - try not to stress yourself. There's a 50% chance no matter what you do in the early stages your toddler will only eat PB&J and hot dogs for a period. But they'll probably get over it. Talk to your pedi, Feed them safely and make smart choices, but don't kill yourself. There is a high likelihood they will not exclusively eat mac and cheese as an adult. Don't make meals a struggle/panic item.
I made most of my own and with no fancy baby accessories. I used a food processor, immersion blender or fork to mash it up. Anything hard was boiled or steamed then mashed. I then put them into ice cube trays, froze them, put them into freezer bags and labeled them. It was nice to grab a cube or two, mix and match to warm and serve. If there was a food they didn't like I'd pair it with something they loved and it went down easy, like acorn squash and sweet potato, or pear and parsnip. Even things like avocado and banana I would mash and freeze just so I had it on hand.
When introducing food, give one food, wait a few days then try a new one. If there is an allergic reaction you'll know which food it was instead of giving them lots and not knowing which food is the issue. You don't need anything fancy to make your own baby food. Seriously, just mash food and you're done.
Did you buy food for your baby? What products were awesome - or not? What did you and baby gravitate towards? How long did baby like that food?
I bought things like puree pouches and puffs for days we were out and about. Puffs are like crack to babies. I've never met a baby who didn't go nuts over them. It also helped us with the eye/hand coordination and feeding themselves.
I've never bought baby food in jars because the smell is just horrid to me and I couldn't put my kids through that.
I did buy puree prunes in a jar though. Constipation can be a major issue when you start solids. A couple spoonfuls each day was usually enough. That stuff is potent!
H: 36
L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay
BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
H: 36
L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay
BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
Pouches are life though. Kids love them, parents love them (fruits and veggies man).
Yep, count us among the BLW crowd. When DD has good head control and was showing interest in our food (and we were done moving), so around 8 months (5 adjusted), we started in on purees. Basically this meant using an immersion blender in a quart jar containing whatever steamed/baked/otherwise softened veggie we were having for dinner, though sweet potatoes were really easy to throw in the oven while prepping anything else. We didn’t get any special equipment except Sage Spoonfuls 4 oz glass jars, which were perfect serving sizes and worked well for freezing and microwaving. We prob used them consistently for 6-8 months, shifting from purees to leftover prepped foods for her (washed berries, cut fruit, etc) that I saved for the next meal. They now work well for snacks and other small storage requirements in my kitchen (eg excess buffalo sauce).
Did you buy food for your baby?
We have bought a few pouches - universally a mess - and Grandma bought a lot of rice crisps that DD liked for maybe 4 months and now has no interest in. They were a convenient quick snack but mostly unnecessary in my book.
Yes! I made his food until he was 1 and it was not as awful as everyone led me to believe. Of course things like banana and avocado are super easy, cause duh.
What equipment was essential?
I steamed all of my veggies in a rice cooker and baked all of my meat in the oven then blended it all up in my Ninja! I boiled a few things on the stove like blueberries and quinoa/rice but did NOT use the microwave on ANY food DS had before he was one.
What did you cook/warm/store food in? Did you freeze?
I stored all of my food in Ziploc plastic containers and froze them. Link
I started with the super cute actual baby food containers, they were way too small and expensive for the amount of food I was making
Did your storage solution microwave well?
I didn't use the microwave for his first year, because I was THAT mom.. but I'm sure it would have.
You can find lots of recipes on Pinterest and also other baby foods in the store just to see what goes together. DS's fav was kale and blueberries.
prevously helloblueeyes
Me:32 DH:33 Married:04/2012 DD:07/2014
BFP 8/14/2018 #2 due 4/18/2019
Has anyone raised their baby vegetarian? I am not opposed to baby eating meat every once in awhile but I am not interested in preparing meat as I haven’t touched it in over 15 years.
Our pedi was also really on board and very helpful through the process.
We did not make "baby food." We did BLW. Easiest thing in the world! Most solids before 1 yo are just for fun and practicing anyway.
Did you buy food for your baby?
We LOVED pouches. They are amazing especially when LO reaches the magical age where they can hold them and eat them all by themselves without making a huge mess. They are so easy to pack. Love. DD loved cheerios and constantly ate them as a snack. Great for developing pincer grip.
@midway_mouse We were practically vegan when DD was little. She really didn't eat meat until she was much older. As a result she generally doesn't care for meat and prefers alternate protein sources. We have since switched back to an omnivorous diet but do not push meat at all. When I make a meat main dish she always has the option for a PB&J alternate meal. DS on the other hand would be a carnivore if we let him... DD's pediatrician's only concern is that she wasn't a "carbivore" (her words) and that she ate more than just breads and refined carbs. As long as she was getting veggies and protein from beans and/or legumes she wasn't worried.
We grow a bunch of veggies in the summer and freeze them to use for baby food the rest of the year. Like peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, etc
I got a Babycook Beaba food maker as a shower gift and I love it. I just cubed or cut up and it steams and purées the food. FYI I don’t have a food processor but I if I did I’d probably just use that.
I would then freeze in ice cube trays(the silicone ones are the best) and then store in ziplocks.
Did you buy food for your baby? What products were awesome - or not? What did you and baby gravitate towards? How long did baby like that food?
I still bought some food to keep on hand and for traveling. They liked the fruit ones but definitely prefer fresh veggies over the the packaged. My kids also loved the puffs and apple sauce pouches.
we we did a mix of baby food because Wic gave it to us and table food. I bought reusable pouches to fill with the canned baby foods, yogurts and applesauces and now she’s almost 3 and we still use them for such on occasion.
We did intro food carefully because I have allergies and we wanted to check if there were any with her. We also introduced peanut butter pretty early with the newer guidelines because we want to help protect her from developing an allergy.
I really don’t offer a Single speck of food before 6m with all other markers of readiness because I also want to protect future digestion.
Secretly I’m like “that explains a lot”
to to be fair that’s what the drs said to do and she never managed to breast feed and was not offered any support.
i didn’t feed solids until there were solid signs of readiness - reaching for our food, sitting upright, head control - and I was prepared to provide a safe place for eating (ie not while we were in the middle of moving).