Making Baby Food

I didn't with my DD, but am thinking about it this time.

Any thoughts on savings, special equipment used, Etc would be appreciated!!

 

Skip it and try baby led weaning instead, that's my advice! I made baby food for the tiwns, it wasn't horrible but it was a pain. With the baby, I just started feeding him real food and skipped the mush all together. Saves money and time!

If you're set on making food, all you need is a food processor and ice cube trays. Boil the veggies/fruit, throw them in the food processor and add the water you boiled them in to get the consistency you want. An ice cube tray compartment is 2 oz, so fill the ice cube tray with the puree, freeze it, then add 2-3 in a plastic freezer baggie to store in the freezer. I usually would set aside one day a month to do this in bulk. Just go through one crazy day of boiling and puree-ing.

 

I steamed all of my fruits and veggies as opposed to boiling. Except squash and sweet potatoes, those were roasted. I also found that this blender worked much better than my food processor for some reason. I, too, just used ice cube trays and it worked well A lot of people rave about baby led weaning and I wish I was more comfortable with it. It's so foreign to me and I had such a great experience making the girls' baby food that I will do it with this one as well. My girls are also GREAT eaters so I'm going to try to keep up the same methods and hope for the same with baby #3

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CSNVE2/?tag=mytwins02-20

 

Emily,

I was a little leery until I read a book about it to understand some of the biological precepts behind baby-led weaning. I highly recommend the book.

Yes, we do straight up fruits, veggies (mostly steamed), chicken and bread- no purees for A. It's freakishly easy to plop a piece of food in front of her and let her go to it rather than spooning food in. I like that I can eat with her instead of just feeding her.

 

I am interested. Do you have the name of the book?

No puréed food is attractive to me...,.my DD is a horrible eater and I truly blame myself for feeding her baby food too long.

 

I did a combination of baby led weaning and pureed foods - because of Sierra's throat constrictions, I have to be careful of the size of her food. Wholesome Baby Foods link is a great website to start with, on what foods to introduce, their nutrition intake etc as well as all the methods, equipment you need - I love her recipes, she bakes/roasts everything, which gives such great flavours which babies love, she also has a comprehensive list of which foods to introduce when and why. I love that her info is backed up by research with the links provided and she also has a fan page on facebook Fan Page which she will reply to if you have any questions. Her book was like a bible to me in the beginning because of it's great recipes.

I also like Fearless Feeding facebook page - she has a book coming out soon which I'm hoping to get. Fearless Feeding

I loved making baby food, I got some joy out of feeding them healthy, nutritious and yummy foods, it really does not take up much time.. if I have the oven on for something, I will also do a tray of vegies for them which I cut and freeze on a lined tray and then pop into a resealable bag for use later. I also used to puree in the beginning and freeze in ice cube trays but my girls weren't on purees for long so I didn't find it a chore, plus you can make some great combinations of food with purees which gives the bubs some real fun with taste.

I also bought lots and lots of little containers (BPA free), I found these easier to store combinations of food for both of them and to put leftovers in to freeze.

Good luck and have fun!

 

For those that skipped purees and went right to table food, what was your LO age? My twins just turned 7 mos and the only table food they can eat on their own is a cracker - they'll gnaw on it. I have been giving them both purees - DS will eat everything I feed him and DD will only eat a couple bites.

What table food were you giving at 7 mos?

 

Here it is

I started at 6 months exactly and never did a puree. I don't even hand it to her, usually. She's able to pick it up from the tray and get it into her mouth. We started with steamed broccoli, carrots, baked sweet potato- very basic foods- anything you'd feed them in puree form, really. We cut things into 2-3" sticks that she can hold and eat at the same time.

 

I did a bit of a combo blw and mush with previous babies. I started with the prepare in bulk stuff then found it was just as easy if the baby ate what we ate, i'd just cook extra veg, give them some bits to feed themselves/ play with while i mashed some with a fork on the side of my plate and spoon fed them that. No special equipment or anything needed but I understand I have saved a heap on buying jars of commercially prepared stuff!

 

Well I didn't skip puree but we did use a mix of table foods (I've always done this anyway, now they've just got a name for it! Lol) so I wasn't afraid of the gagging reflux but DH sure was! My girls have a very healthy appetite so I gave them a variety of foods at every meal to pick up and eat for themselves.

Some of the things I gave: dried banana (you can get from the health food store) - get the sulphur free, looks yucky but it is actually quite yummy and it's easy to hold, at least until it gets all slimy.
I also put frozen fruits (watermelon, banana) in a mesh feeder - which is great for when they're teething. I also used leftover apple/pear juice from when I baked them and froze in ice cubes.
Cut up avocado, banana, peeled and quartered grapes, kiwi fruit thins, wholemeal toast fingers with unsalted butter and for jam you can use baked peaches/apricots, cooked peas slightly squashed - these are all great too for developing their pincer grip - mandarins - I used to peel these initially but I've seen babies eat them fine without being peeled, baked peaches, apples and pears, corn puffs soaked in milk, shredded cheese,

Anyway this is was just at the start, have fun with it - it's wonderful for babies to try different foods and develop their taste buds - just remember, infants and children take about 10 attempts before they definitely don't like something or not, so try it again another day if they don't seem interested the first or second time.