Ok, so you have mastered the breast feeding thing unless, you chose formula, and now it's time to think food. I read that at about 4 months old is around the time to start to try to feed real food to my baby. So at 4 months old I decided to try!
I have always been a person who eats mostly fresh foods. I don't eat processed meals and don't make them for my family. When I was thinking about what I was going to do when the time came to feed my baby actual food, I knew I wanted to feed her something real.
If you ever read the back of a jar of baby food, organic or not, you realize that you either cannot say the ingredients or there are preservatives in them. Otherwise how could they have a shelf life of so long?? Neither of these things interested me in any way.
I did a lot of research and came up with my solution. I decided I was going to make my own baby food!
I researched all the ways to do it and chose the Beaba Babycook baby food maker. I decided to test it out while I was pregnant to see what it did. My first experiment was with organic carrots. I put them in the machine and it steamed them, then pureed them. It was so easy I couldn't believe it! I tasted them and was totally surprised! They were great! I even made my horrified husband try them. He was not happy about eating baby food. But it was really only steamed, pureed carrots.
I knew right then it was the right choice for me. I also figured out that if a baby only eats a small amount of food at first, this was going to be a great money saver as well. I could buy a bag of carrots, green beans, peas, etc and they would last a long time. Even buying only organic it was so much cheaper than buying baby food in jars. I normally made her meals fresh because it really only took 15 mins. You can also pre-make food and put it in the refrigerator.
My first time feeding my daughter food was exciting and nerve racking! I read that you should start with veggies so that your baby doesn't get used to the sweetness of fruits first so I went with green beans. I was so nervous. Will she hate them? Will she choke? Is it too soon?
I gave her her first bite. It was like she had been waiting 4 long months for something of substance. She ate the entire bowl full. I remember she had this look on her face like it was Christmas morning! My mother-in-law, who had purchased the machine for me, and I were floored! Yes we got it on video!!!
I decided to stay with veggies for a month to make sure she would develop a test for them. I made carrots, peas, asparagus, any veggie you can think of. She ate them all. She ate them with abandon. I felt like super-mom. I was feeding my child and I knew exactly what was in it. I bought ONLY organic veggies, and then eventually fruits. Whatever I made her, I knew the only ingredient was what I put in the machine! No preservatives, no fillers, nothing I couldn't pronounce. It was green beans, etc.
To this day my daughter is not a picky eater. She still loves the veggies and fruits she ate and then some. She doesn't know the difference. They are they same taste, just a different preparation. Since she never had "baby food" she never had to adjust.
I will warn you that there is something interesting, or disturbing, that happens once you start your baby on food. Their poop changes. While you are breast feeding it is all nicey-nice and there literally isn't an odor. Not like a poop smell. Then you start to feed them food. Holy Cow!
I remember the first time I changed my child after the food began. I called the doctor to see if she was ok. It was THE color of what she ate. It also took on a new texture. It was actual poop.
OK, you know that before you had kids you NEVER talked about poop before, at least I hadn't. Now here it is, you are amazed and even fascinated by poop.
The other thing that I did not know was "do not feed them too much of the same thing or color or their skin color will reflect that". When my daughter, who loved carrots, started to look like a pumpkin and I called her doctor she told me that advice. Beware!!
You will also need to store some food in the Fridge for quick meals. I bought some glass jars of baby food from the grocery store and emptied them to use for this. I recommend going glass as plastic, BPA free or not, still has the ability to leach into their food. You don't want your young child eating something that could harm them later. I also recommend all organic since you don't want your child exposed to pesticides.
It's an adventure. The one thing to remember is that this is your time to guide your child's food habits. It's easier to start healthy than to try to change it. Good Luck!
Till next blog....
No comments:
Post a Comment