Infant Baby Food - Fredonia, NY

My daughter is the same exact way with babyfood, she won't let me feed her with a spoon unless she is totally distracted. I've been giving her whatever the rest of us are eating, I just cut everything up for her. Anything with tomato sauce is good, like macaroni with a meat sauce. She also eats avocado, frozen peas that are cooked, frozen carrots that are cooked, and sometimes I boil potatoes until they're soft and cut them into little cubes for her. Also, broken up potato pancakes. Last night she had tomatoes that were cut small enough for her, and even some olives and pieces of cheese from a pasta salad that I made. The canned stuff is okay, but there has been some speculation recently as far as the safety of the cans themselves, the inside coating has that BPA that they are talking about in the plastics.

Hi M.,
There's another approach to introducing solids called Baby-Led Weaning (the name is a little misleading - it's not about how you wean your baby OFF of breast/bottle, but how you wean your baby ON to solids). The idea is that you allow your baby to self-feed (which it sounds like your baby is ready to do) and offer the baby foods that she can easily hold on her own, without necessarily needing to go through a puree stage. My baby doesn't quite have the pincer grip, so I give her foods like steamed carrots, apples, sweet potatoes, etc in shape like a large steak fry that are soft enough not to be a choking hazard, but firm enough that she can grab the food in her fist and feed herself. The larger-size pieces are much easier for little baby hands to manage. There are also these great mesh feeders if you want to avoid big chunks - you put the food into the mesh part and the baby can feed herself: http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Safe-Feeder-Starter-Kit/dp/B00...
This approach works great for us and I love watching my girl learn, explore and develop her motor skills. Here's a website with more information: http://www.rapleyweaning.com/. Good luck!

Hi M.,
Just an encouragement... your dd is right on target for her age. This is the age where she is practicing and mastering some fine motor skills. The "pincer" ability to pick up small objects using her thumb and forefinger is developed at this time. Being able to practice at meal time is essential. She's not capable of using a spoon yet. You'll find great recipes and ideas for cooking baby food. Just keep the spoon nearby and maybe around 24 months she may show interest in it.
Best Wishes,
H.
Mom to 3: ages 9, 2 and 3 months.

Hi M.,
At under a year, they are getting their nutrients from their breastmilk or formula, food is about tasting and experimenting, they aren't dependent on food for their primary nutrition til a year old.
Why do you need to use canned foods? You can still make your own fresh vegetables and dice them up. Frozen would actually be better than canned, retains more of the nutrients and the canned ones often have tons of salt. But again, I can't see why you couldn't just dice your own rather than mashing them

Hi M.,

The Super Baby Food Book by Ruth Yarron is fabulous!! You can use it now and through toddlerhood for the most nutritious (and creative) homemade diet for your daughter. Some foods like nuts and seeds are recommended a little early but I've held off on those.

Some ideas: Simply cube your steamed veggies instead of mashing them. You can do just about any vegetable (except beets-yikes.) I do up batches in advance and freeze them in little baggies inside one large freezer bag. I do carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, asparagus... and fruit too! ... peaches, pears, kiwi, melons, avocado, plum, grapes-peeled and quartered, mango, papaya.... Certain things get more mushy after freezing so I try to use those things fresh. Experiment! I also do egg yolk (not whites), well cooked organic brown rice noodles and the Super Porriage I make can be sliced into cubes as well for self feeding. Some things still need to be fed to her on a spoon so I slip in a spoonful here and there while she's feeding herself with no problem.

She's at a very normal and natural stage of wanting to self feed and you should encourage it. And yes, it takes much longer!
Have Fun :)
T.

Hi M.,
I have a 10.5 month old daughter and for the past two months, I have mostly fed her table food. I buy frozen vegetables and steam them in the microwave. I have heard frozen veggies are nutritious because they are picked fresh and frozen right away so the nutrients are preserved. There is no added salt or sauce. To steam, I put a mixture of veggies in a bowl, splash with a little water, cover with a dinner plate (so it completely covers the rim of the bowl). My microwave has a frozen vegetable setting on it. If your's doesn't, I would recommend about 3-4 min on 50 or 60% power. Or, you can steam on the stove - boil water and put veggies in a wire colander over the boiling water, covered. Don't put the veggies in the water or the vitamens will leach out of the veggies into the water. Once cooked (so carrots can be easily cut, peas will have dents in them), I cut into small pieces (peas are usually soft enough to easily squeeze in fingers, so I don't cut them). I serve this with 1/2 slice of cheese (cut up), some bread cubes, sometimes some cut up meat (ground or tiny bites) and sometimes some fresh tomato pieces. I also give her finely chopped up food of whatever we are having for dinner (if it's different than her meat and veggies, which we often have); sometimes pasta, potato, etc - just as long as it is nutritious (i.e., I don't give her cut up pizza on pizza night). I never mashed her food - I just cut it up very small. She picks it up with her hands. If it is in very tiny pieces, she may scoop it up and put more than once piece in her mouth at a time, but better to have it too small than risk choking.
For breakfast/snack, I have also given her cheerios (broken in pieces to start, then moving up to whole pieces) and total cereal, cut up ripe pear, plum, peach, etc. Occasionally, I give her baby food, but she doesn't really eat it often - I feel she gets enough nutrition by table food and breastmilk. Finally, I would sugget you ask your pediatrician for advice, too.
Good luck and hang in there!
B.

Hi,

If you do use canned vegggies - be sufe to use the no salt/no sodium versions. Of you do, then canned is ok. Veggies steam in the microwave very quickly (they even have steam bags now for the micro. Or just use a bowl with a bit of water. A handful of broccoli will take about two minutes to steam.

Also, try sprinkling her food with a bit of breadcrumbs - it will make everything so much eaier to pick up!! You can get them in whole wheat and low sodium, too - or make your own!

My daughter is a slow picky eater too - you'll just have to get used to it. At times, if we are in a rush, I just pop in a video and push her along.

Hi M.,

Just a quick note with a little info - I have read in several reliable sources that frozed veggies are often even better than fresh since they are typically frozen much closer to the source; whereas our fresh veggies travel long distances in ambient or even over-heated air. This exposure causes them to lose valuable nutrients. Not as bad as the canned foods you are concerned about though (although between canned and not eating or limiting her variety of foods, I'd still chose canned). To encourage your bright, independent daughter, you might try the frozen stuff - it's amazing what they have in frozen foods these days, just look to make sure there are no additives. Enjoy!

This all sounds just about right!!! You could be describing my twins right now. They did the same things...only wanted to feed themselves and it took forever, threw the spoon and food everywhere and couldn't care less about it! All normal. They are now 14 months and they love eating with a spoon whenever possible. I continued to offer it to them every couple of days until they started to show more of an interest. Now they love feeding themsleves. They like to dip the spoon into their food and then feed themsleves. They get such satisfaction from it. Just be patient and offer it to them sporadically, this worked for us. ALso, they dont take as long to eat anymore but they really do enjoy tthe whole eating/feeding process. Eventually more nad more will make it in her mouth too!! :) Have you tried the steamfresh veggies that come in bags, you pop them right in the microwave (or on the stovetop) My kids LOVE these. They eat corn, peas, brocolli, green beans... Try those, I bet she'll love them. Good luck...it will all fall into place!

There is a book called "Super Baby Food" that may be of help to you.

Use frozen veggies. Then you can make smaller quantities for her if you want. Let her feed herself, it helps develop manual dexterity and hand eye coordination. She doesn't have the coordination to feed herself with a spoon yet. My daughter loves those puffs that Gerber makes. And don't worry about baby food. My daughter never ate stage 3 foods. She didn't like them at all. She just started eating what we eat, at about the same age as your daughter. Just over cook pasta so it's extremely soft. Meats, I try to give the most tender pieces. Give her baby yogurt (Yo baby). I gave my daughter grilled cheese cut up and the crust removed. Soup. Mashed tatoes. Meatballs. Mac & Cheese Stay away from nuts/peanuts and fish/shellfish. But give her stuff right off your plate. There are no rules saying she has to eat baby food. Besides if she eats what your eating, there is no extra preparation and no more buying baby food. It also makes life a WHOLE lot easier when you go out.