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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We were given a BabyBullet, and have been turned onto the Little Green Pouch by some friends in preparation for our first child. We do a lot of home-cooking with fresh local produce, so our plan is to utilize both the ice-tray method, as well as the Little Green Pouch (w/ spoon accessory, eventually).
I made my own baby food for my second daughter, and will do so again for my third, who is on the way. We mostly used a regular blender, except for bananas and avacadoes, which we just mashed with a fork.
I would steam cubes of chopped up fruits and veggies, put them in the blender with the water left over from the steaming and puree them, then I would freeze them in ice cube trays sealed with plastic wrap. I loved being able to make “unconventional” baby food! L’s favorite was nectarines!
We’re almost to the food (other than mommy’s) stage. I’m torn between doing my own purees, baby led weaning, and just smashing up whatever my husband & I are eating with a fork & letting her try those. Like most things, we’ll probably end up doing a little of each & seeing what works best…for us.
we never fed rice cereal, we just offered bits of our food (or other fresh foods) from 6 months on
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