Hello. I make all of my sons "baby" food, but now that he is getting a bit bigger, I feel like his meals should be getting more diverse. Honestly, it seems like he eats apples with oatmeal in the morning and green beans with rice cereal in the afternoon. I understand that most of their nutrition is from breastmilk for the first year and solid food is just "practice", but he seems to be interested in eating more foods. So... my question: for those who make and freeze food for their babies, what sorts of "meals" do you make that freeze well. I work full-time, so I usually make his foods on the weekend and freeze it in cubes for the week. Sharing what I eat at dinner isn't very practical because he goes to bed at 7:00 and I eat later.
Thanks, Jennifer
J. ; yes i would freeze them in the ice cube tray, but if you got any left overs you can save those and reheat those for him also, if mushed up, mac and cheese, can go a long way, you can mush it too, just enjoy life, and keep up the good work, D. s
Hi J.,
First, YEAH for breastfeeding and understanding that the majority of your little ones nutrition should come from that for the first year! WOOT!
Ok, now onto your question. Have you ever considered just giving him table food? The new name for it is "baby led weaning". This is what I did with my daughter. At 6 months instead of doing purees, I did soft cooked table food. Veggies to start broccoli, and parsnip were big ones then. I paid attention to high allergy foods... no eggs and peanut butter until later... and also was prudent with things that I knew would take a lot of teeth to chew... like meat.
Pasta is great. Barilla has a new kind that has protein and Omega 3's in it. Barilla Plus. Love it. Whole Wheat pasta is also packed with nutrition. Peas were a big hit with my daughter. I just looked for things in 'normal' food that I knew she would be able to eat.
In reality a baby can choke on a puree as easily as they can a small chunk of food. How many times has your water gone down the wrong way? If you soft cook the veggies (it only takes a few minutes) then they are very easy to gum if your little boy doesn't have many teeth.
One advantage I have found is my daughter is NOT picky in any way shape or form. She will literally eat just about anything I give her. There are some foods with 'skins' on them that she is still having a hard time with. But, she will at least TRY anything I put in front of her. She's used to it. At 20 months I don't make any 'special' food for her. It's whatever we eat and she loves it!
If you still want to do your own purees here is a great site...
I think making your own is wonderful. You KNOW what is in there!
Good luck!
Hi J.---I agree with many other posts about just feeding him the same meals that you eat. I make lots of casseroles and I just put leftovers in a mini-blender for lunch the next day. If he is at all picky, you can get some tips from www.askdrsears.com. Dr. Jim Sears, of the TV show The Doctors, is one of the 3 Dr. Sears pediatricians I have the pleasure working with in my business.
I am a Wellness Educator and I have a number of resources I can share with you, if you'd like. One I really like for recipes is www.eatingwell.com. If you expore the website, you'll find a whole section of kid friendly recipes and other articles. I've never been disappointed in the recipes I get from that site.
I also have compiled a great shopping list for healthy foods, along with serving size requirements for different ages/boys/girls. Another list makes recommendations on how to incorporate more colorful foods in the diet, as each color represents a different nutrient and variety is VERY important.
I have so much fun sharing what I learn with others. It is my passion and great honor to help other families learn how to optimize their health through whole food nutrition. Feel free to call me at any time.
In health, D. ###-###-####
Try sweet potato mashed with a little cheese and milk - my two used to eat a ton of it - sometimes with a little tuna or cod mixed in!! Also avocado, mango, mashed strawberries. Any thing that either starts out soft or you can mash works well at this age. I agree with just mashing up last nights dinner too..
J.,
I agree with other's responses. I did it with my children. I would fix a plate of dinner and throw it into the blender, adding liquid if needed. It usually made enough for at least two meals for the baby. After some experimenting we found the right texture and preferred food items. Even now as a toddler I employ this method by blending his disliked vegetables and mix it into pasta sauce or whatever so I know he is getting proper nutrition.
Good luck. You are one awesome mama.
I made things like lentils, sweet potato, all kinds of veggies and fruits. She even liked mashed tofu. Avocados are also good. Most vegetables are great mashed, cauliflower and broccoli, carrots, whatever. Mine was picky about texture, so I used a blender and added some milk so it was creamy and smooth. Everything froze fairly well. I used ice cube trays and then popped them out into freezer bags.
As your son gets bigger try just mashing with a fork, so the texture changes. Then do small pieces or things like peas and corn. Try different hot cereals as well, grits, cream of wheat, oatmeal, the adult versions, once he's ready for more texture.
Best wishes!
Hi, I totally agree with J.. If you have a small hand held food blender (stick blender) then put whatever you ate the night before in the chopper cup that came with it and add some water. It will puree nicely. I did this with all of my kids. I would even blend homemade chicken soup, spaghetti, etc. You might even be able to start "over cooking some of the vegetables and cutting them into tiny cubes for him to start using as finger foods. You can cut ripe advocado into tiny cubes (mine loved this). Just about anything. If he has trouble mashing it, you can try it again later. I used to test my foods by mashing them against the roof of my mouth with my tongue. If it didn't mash easily, or bounced back to it's originally shape, then I didn't give it to my little ones.
Good luck and have fun. This is an exciting time for both of you, keep it simple, you don't need it to be a second job.
Hi J. - if you're eating later, save some dinner from the night before in a tiny portion so he can have it the next day - if you make a casserole, just chop it up very small or blend it and leave out the salt when you cook (add it for yourself at the table). My babies always loved avocado, with or without cottage cheese mixed in, eggs when he's a bit older (can't remember, could be after a year), mashed banana, sweet potatoes mashed with a little margarine or butter, (in fact any cooked vegetables warmed and mashed with a little butter), mashed soft peaches, tiny pieces of bread and butter.......have lots of fun and don't be too scared to try new things - my five-year-old is a fabulous eater and eats everything and I really think it's because I gave him a huge variety of foods when he was very small - good luck - Alison
My 10 month old has been eating whatever her sisters eat for a couple months now. I have one of those small Cuisenart food choppers and just chop it up a bit (or even do it by hand). She loves pretty much everything I give her, it just has to be in tiny pieces and preferably smooshable or dissolvable since she doesn't have teeth.
Some of the stuff I feed her: lots of scrambled eggs (a favorite!) pancakes, soggy cereal that's been sitting in her rice milk for awhile, variety of chopped fruit, lentil soup, chopped noodles, potatoes, snappea crisps, well cooked chopped veggies, rice, any meat we eat chopped into super tiny pieces since she cannot really "chew" it, mashed potatoes with frozen spinach, pureed squash, and canned chicken all mixed up (another favorite).
Hi J.,
I have to admit, I did not read all the replys so this may have already been suggested.
A friend gave me the "Blender Babyfood" book and my son liked most of the recipes. It isn't "rocket science" by any means, but just gave us interesting ideas of how to mix foods for his various ages.
We eat a mostly vegetarian diet and didn't do the "non-veg" recipes so I can't speak for them.
I will say that my son is now two and still has a very healthy diet that is mostly fruit, veggies, whole grains, dairy and beans.
Oh, and I also made most of his food on weekends and froze it-the recipes are suited for that.
Good luck,
M.
I have a 5 yr old and a 6 month old. What I did for my 5 yr old - what ever I ate she ate. I do not have a food processer however, I have a blender. What ever we ate, I put into the blender added water to get the correct texture & she ate it. I never had a problem. She was eating spaghetti by the time she was 9 months old. That is with everything in it. That being said, she has no food allergies and had 9 teeth at that time. Gerber & first years makes nice small bowls with lids that freeze well. I would make our dinner - blend hers and put extra in the freezer for a sitter or while we were out. *Mashed potatoes do not thaw well. Don't waste your time freezing them.
My 6 month old has 6 teeth; however I am more reluctant to give her more because she has GERD really bad.
So what ever you are comfortable with do.
