All three of my children have been breastfed exclusively up until around 5 months. At this point I started offering rice Cubes of Pureed Food cereal, which was mostly breast-milk with a little rice cereal mixed in for texture. None of them were crazy about it and I only fed them a little here and there when I was in the mood. Rice cereal has very little nutritional value and I didn't want to fill them up on empty calories so I found that I rarely felt like it was worth cleaning up the inevitable mess created when they spit out it anyway. Once Lauren, our first who is now seven, was old enough to start trying fruits and vegetables, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at making my own baby food. While perusing a popular parenting magazine, I came across an article about preparing and freezing individual portions of homemade baby food in an ice cube tray and it looked easy. I bought fresh organic produce--apples, broccoli, spinach, pears, bananas or sweet potato and cooked and pureed them in my blender. Then I spooned the food into an ice cube tray, wrapped them in a plastic freezer bag to prevent freezer burn and then froze them. I loved that I could take the cubes of food out to thaw individually as I needed them. I also loved feeding our children fresh organic food and that I knew exactly what was in it. Sure there was some work involved in the preparation but it was well worth the effort. I'm glad I did it and I recommend trying it if you have a baby who is ready to start eating solids. It's so easy, it saves money and best of all, you don't have any glass jars to recycle or tote around. You can easily thaw and bring the food in a plastic baby bowl with a lid. At seven, four and almost two, my child have a wide variety of preferences for food. Lauren will eat broccoli but won't eat a blueberry to save her life. She also likes things like spinach salad with goat cheese drizzled with vinaigrette. Kate loves fruit and veggies but won't eat pasta. Cooper on the other hand, loves both fruit and pasta but won't touch meat or vegetables. It's tough to find one meal that will fill everyone's belly. I often find myself longing for the days when breastmilk and pureed baby food were all they needed. Do you make your own baby food and if so, how do you do it? Do you use your regular blender or one made especially for babyfood? Please share any recipes that your baby loves because if you are like me, you might sometimes get stuck in a "babyfood rut" and end up feeling like you are feeding your child the same favorites over and over. Happy Feeding!
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I am obsessed with making my own baby food. I use the BabyBullet system and love love love it! We do both fresh and frozen (its nice to have a stash). My 10 month old son’s favorite blend is chunky avocados with brown rice & carrots. My 4 year old daughter also steals bites of brother’s food because its tasty!
I’ve been making my own baby food for my almost-9-month-old since she was about 5 months old…I use the Baby Bullet and Steamer and LOVE it! I will blend meals we’re having, like BBQ chicken and rice, and sometimes I’ll unintentionally make a new creation (the first time I steamed blueberries, I steamed them too long and all their juices went into the water. so I mixed the pulp and steamer juice with yogurt, banana, and oatmeal to thicken it up and made a smoothie for her out of it!). Of course, she’s also able to eat some soft non-pureed foods now (like pancakes and waffles broken into bits, or mandarin orange slices). I probably still give her too much pureed food…I’m afraid of her choking!
Not yet, but I’m planning to!
My first is an awesome eater and she can put away more than myself. My second is really picky and it’s difficult to get her eat anything. I fed them both jarred baby food. We are expecting our third girl this spring and I’m going to give making my own baby food a try.
They really only eat purees for a little while so I won’t be upset if it doesn’t work out. I really want to give it a try though considering store baby food has a shelf life of two years. Ick!
By my third and last child, I was making homemade baby food exclusively. I loved knowing that I was providing fresh, organic food for my baby that tasted good. It was so much less expensive, and easy! I made it fresh at each meal so I never tried to freeze it. As far as picky eaters, I heard that a baby/child has to try something 9 times in order to know if they like it or not.
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