First, let me just give a great big THANK YOU to Maggie for her Baby Food Expertise!! Most of the following is from her fantastic handouts.
Bonus prize to anyone who can name all the foods pictured above!!! What a rainbow!
Let's talk about Making Your Own Baby Food! All you need to get started is the following: big pot, steamer, food processor (or food mill or blender), ice cube trays (or "Baby Cubes") and an excited team of Mom & Babe!
Some have started solids earlier, but the American Academy of Pediatrics (or AAP for those of you who like abbreviations) does recommend breastfeeding (or bottle feeding) exclusively for the first 6 months. Most babies are showing signs like watching you eat, reaching for food, and just don't seem as satisfied with just bottles or nursing by this point.
FYI- there is not any research that I am aware of that your baby will sleep better when eating solids- an old wives tale.
How to make Baby Food- most anything can be washed well, peeled, steamed, blended up and fed to your baby! The favorites to start with are: rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, apples, and butternut squash. Try each new thing for 3-4 days by itself before starting a new food- this way you can make sure that your baby is not allergic!
Here are the names of the books that we talked about:
First Meals by Annabel Karmel (this has nice pictures, but mixed review as far as recipes and info)
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron (this is a thick book with no pictures, but has great advice and good recipes)
So Easy Baby Food by Joan Ahlers and Cheryl Tallman (simple and easy, just like the name)
The Baby Cubes are from One Step Ahead and are $7.95, the So Easy Baby Food Kit (book and storage trays) is available at One Step Ahead for $37.95 The So Easy Trays are available at Target for $13.99.
Here are a few of my favorite baby foods-
1. Canned pumpkin- can it get any easier than this?
2. Pureed peaches mixed with corn- they're the same color, so why not? The baby LOVES it!!
3. Pureed organic applesauce
What's your favorite baby food recipe?
2 comments:
Hey everyone, I just had a grand idea and tried it out for dinner for Sylvia. It was to add cooked pastina to her vegetable cubes to give it more of a texture. She ate it up like there was no tomorrow! Another fun thing we tried: give frozen sweet potatoe cubes to your toddler and she will eat it up like it is ice cream!
Eliana's favorite is mashed avocado mixed with organic mashed banana and pureed cooked organic brown rice.
Post a Comment