Baby Food

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bknox

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As some of you know we had a daughter back in September and she is approaching a stage were we are going to begin feeding her baby food.

When I was a kid we did not have money and my Mom made all our food from leftovers, from what she tells me. I understand blending carrots or bananas to a sauce and feeding the baby but does anybody have any suggestions for baby food that would be tastier or healthier than just bananas or carrots?
 
Any veggies can be pureed, but keep in mind that a babys sense of taste is not developed the way your is so what is bland to you is not bland to them in all cases.

I would start with any pureed veggies/fruits that your doctor has OK's. Some doctors will tell you to stay away from things like strawberrys some other fruits so many sure you know which things you are comfotable feeding her.
 
then where does all of that gas in babies come from. :)

my son could work for a power company. and he laughs about it, the louder the better. diapers are multipurpose devices. urine and feces collection, fart mufflers....

that's my boy!!!!!!

bryan, i would suggest if you're gonna make your own baby food, try using organic foods whenever possible. when we were having trouble feeding my son because he was so sick, we switched to organic foods and it helped a lot. i've tasted them, and there is no comparison, especially with things like bananas, carrots, grapes, plums, etc..
 
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Brian - I used to bake squash and sweet potatoes, let them cool, mash them and put them in ice cube trays made for water bottles (long skinny) - they defrost faster than traditional cube trays. I also used to bake pears and apples, too. Bananas were a good fruit too.

When he was very young I would blend the ingredients in a blender - adding water as needed. As he grew, I would just mash.

Do not make your own carrots, however. In its natural form, they contain too many nitrates or nitrites, I cannot remember which one. Baby food companies remove them.

I agree with Buckytom, use organic whenever possible. As she gets older carry the organics through to dairy (milk, cheese) and meats as well as fruits and vegetables.

Hope this helps.
 
Michelemarie said:
Do not make your own carrots, however. In its natural form, they contain too many nitrates or nitrites, I cannot remember which one. Baby food companies remove them.
Very good point MM! I remember talking to our Dr about feeding the baby from my garden. She said anything I was growing was fine except carrots.
 
mm, afaik, nitrates are not removed from baby foods, but rather the foodstuffs used to make baby foods are "screened" so that high nitrated ones are avoided. organic veggies are naturally lower in nitrates because they aren't grown with high nitrogen fertilizers.
nitrates become nitrites in babies' stomachs, which interferes with oxygenating of the blood, causing "blue baby syndrome".
since you cannot test for nitrates in your own carrots, i would buy the jarred stuff.

that said, my son eats a jar of "earth's best" organic carrots every day still to this day. he'll probably be in college someday asking for money, and earth's best carrots.

bryan, here's a good site for homemade baby food: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

and the direct link to the nitrate/nitrite issue: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm
 
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A good trick is to portion out the pureed food into ice cube trays, and when they are frozen you can pop them out and store them in ziplock freezer bags or plastic containers that can go in the freezer. They don't take very long to defrost at room temp and then you just have to nuke it for maybe 30-45 seconds on med. high. Just make sure you test the temp. before you feed the baby.
 
Thanks for the info bucky. To this day my son also eats baby food carrots - he is 19 mos old! He used to do well with cubed veggies or little broccoli sprouts, but won't touch not a one now! He has become the pickiest eater. Earth's Best is the brand we use also. Gerber makes an organic chicken corn squash that he eats too - the only "meat" I can get him to eat. But lately he has been shying away from that, too.
 
OK, I made piles of baby food for both kids. I would make a huge vat of apple sauce and then I would blend half apple sauce with blueberries, raspberries, etc. I also bought canned peaches and pears and buzzed those too. The only one I was told to avoid was rhubarb because of the oxalates (sp?). The rest of the fruits and veggies were fine, including garden carrots. As long as everything was cooked and pureed it was fine. The basic info I was given is be sensible. If your family has sensitivities to things, avoid those things. Start slow, but babies can eat anything you eat, just in a more liquid form. And if you won't eat it cuz it tastes weird...don't make your kid eat it.

Having said that, I will now say that there are new thoughts on childcare and feeding every day. Try not to let yourself be ruled by the current trend, and just let your kid eat what they like. I had one who INSISTED that she get solid food far before any book said it was time to give her some. (She lunged at my strawberry and wouldn't allow me to pry it out of her mouth...3 1/2 months old.) Enjoy that baby, they are sooooo much fun!
 
mm, for a while we had a heck of a time getting my son to eat meat.

the break through came with veal and peppers in tomato sauce.

my son loves tomatoes, and pasta with tomato sauce. so one night, after months of struggling to get him to eat meat, i made a small pot of sauce, then browned some veal cubes, sweated peppers, and tossed it in the pot. the veal was simmered until it was falling apart.
ryan ate a little, but then just started sucking the sauce off the meat, and would keep a wad o' meat in his cheek like chewing tobacco, eventually spitting it out (where ever he pleased :neutral: ).

so one night, i made ziti, mashed up the veal and some peppers, and filled the "tubes" of ziti with it. he ate the whole thing, i was thrilled! mini veal and pepper cannelonis.

since then, he's gotten used to eating more types of meat. strangely, he'll only eat luncheon meat like balogna if the girl at the counter gives him some. he avoids it at home. he'll eat fish sticks, or chicken fingers, so he's finally trying more stuff.

but if he gets difficult, i mix mashed meat into saucy pasta or risotto, and he eats it every time.
 
buckytom said:
strangely, he'll only eat luncheon meat like balogna if the girl at the counter gives him some.
He is flirting with the ladies already BT :) Parents lock up your daughters. Little Bucky is on the prowl :LOL:
 
lol, gb. dw just said that it's starting already. she takes him to a toddler music class, and last week when she arrived a few minutes late, all of the little girls in the class got up, interrupting the teacher to come over and give ryan a hug and a kiss.

"now if i could only get one of them to do the dishes..."

 
Oh my gosh Bucky - Ryan is adorable!!! Thanks for the food tips - my son won't touch anything with a sauce - we have tried everything! He won't even eat ice cream or a popsicle or anything! Everytime he gets sick he eliminates half of his diet - we are now down to crackers, yogurt, rice cakes, organic wheat cereal and maybe, if you are lucky, a bite or two of banana. Once he starts feeling better (rsv/ear infection) - we will try pushing veggies. Thanks so much for your tips!
 
With our 10 year old I was so good, I'd make soups and blend them, and bake fruits and blend them ....
And then came daughter and I did not work as hard, and then another daughter and I worked even less...
With last one when she was 7-8 month I just mashed some food we were eating at the time and ever since that she not only ate what was on the table she started to eat by her self too. The 10 year old would be happy if fed him even now, the youngest one, forget it, she would not touch the food if anybody tried to feed her. She is 2 now, and she can eat things that are so spicy, I would not touch them my self.
The only thing is to watch for sodium and sugar content, other wise remember that the baby is as much of a person as you are, anything you eat she’ll eat too.
 
Pediatrician told us to introduce one veggie/fruit at a time for a few days just to be sure that there were no "allergies". That way you'd know what the "offender" was. Good luck in the baby gourmet department!!
 
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