Now that E is starting solids, I want her to have and taste REAL
foods. I really have nothing
against store bought/jarred baby food and it is definitely a route I would go
if I had less time on my hands.
This may sound funny or silly but since I have been “making” her food
since she was born (and even before that, I suppose) I wanted to keep the trend
up. I make dinner for Mike
and I so what is so difficult about making my daughter food, too? Seriously though, it is ten times
easier than I thought it would be.
I also love the fact that I get to choose the ingredients
and actually see/do the process from start to finish. I select, wash, cut, steam, and puree it and I know there is
no contamination. I’m “processing”
her foods but I am not buying and giving her processed foods. The hope in doing this is that she will
grow up loving the taste of non-processed and fresh foods instead of junky,
processed foods. Also, by
introducing her to textures and flavors at 5.5-6 months (instead of giving her
“one texture” purees and at a later age), I hope and believe that she will not
be a picky eater into toddlerhood.
Processed and fast foods have become such an epidemic in our
society, and I am victim to it. My
teenage years were spent eating fast food and drinking pop. I fell into the slump of eating a lot
of processed junk during my pregnancy and after having E and I am just now
slowly transitioning back to eating whole organic foods, again. I’m not going to withhold food from my daughter,
but my hope is that she will CHOOSE healthy foods over junk.
I know… high hopes!
So far, E has only had sweet potatoes, avocado, and green
beans. She basically despised
avocados (Heck, I hated them until I was in my 20’s), but seems to really like
the potatoes and green beans. I tried rice cereal about 3 or 4 weeks
ago but she seemed to get really cranky the rest of the day so I basically
skipped the cereals altogether.
I’ll introduce oatmeal later on.
 |
| HATES avocados! |
Theres is also the fact that making my own baby food is cost effective. I can make 10-20 servings for the cost of 2 or 3 of those store bought pouches. This isn't a huge reason I do this but it is a cherry on top!
The process is really quite easy:
1. Choose
organic, in season produce
2. Peel skinned
veggies and fruits
3. Wash
thoroughly (before being cut and once it is cut)
4. Steam
5. Blend in a
food processor or blender (adding cooking liquid to get the texture suitable
for your baby’s age)
6. Divide into
ice cube trays and freeze
7. Take food
out of trays and place into freezer bags (veggies and fruits are good up to 3
months in the freezer)
The only two exceptions are bananas and avocados. They do not need to cooked and can just
be mashed up with a fork as long as they are ripe enough. They also cannot be frozen.
Veggies need to be cooked until the child is 12 months old to
reduce choking hazard.
Foods suitable for 4-6 month olds:
VEGGIES: sweet potatoes, green beans, and squash (acorn or butternut)
FRUITS: pears, apples, avocados, and bananas
GRAINS: whole grain organic cereals (oatmeal, rice, and
barley)
Of course, always follow your instincts. If you don't think your baby is ready
for solids then wait. E loves to
breastfeed and nothing has changed from before we started solids.
