baby nutrition..

[libertytyranny]

So. My original goal for nursing was 4 months, then see where I was. I have reached that, and have decided to go on for as long as I care to now, knowing it is easy enough for me to do.

now that she's 4 months and nearly exclusively bf..I am going to be giving her a little iron fortified cereal ( I am low, and her stores are running out) but plan on waiting for other foods until she is 6 months.


nutrition is super important to me ( I am willing to be less than super mom with other things)

to my question...anyone out there make their own food? or rather, feed baby "real" food rather than jarred or pureed until it is unrecognizeable? I want to stay away from the jars unless I need it for convenience when out or something. I found that there are a lot of parents doing "baby led weaning" where instead of feeding jarred food and caring and documenting how much they eat..they give baby appropriately sized pieces of real food and let them feed themselves. I like this idea a lot..but I am a little worried about choking. I want her to eat "real" food ..I feel like the jars don't really taste like the food they are sup to be and since she doesn't need the nutrition really, whats the harm in letting her explore food a little...is this to hippy? I don't want to be a hippy.

so far I have resisted people trying to tell me to give her food ( I have a friend who was feeding her 7 week old fruits and veggies) and have no problem doing things my own way..but would be interested in hearing if anyone else did something different than "gerber" would have you do...

 

[lovinmaryland]

When we had steamed veggies w/ dinner I would process them (before seasoning of course) for my kiddos. I bought a special thing of ice cube trays specifically for saving any extras. Just pop them out and thaw. We did use jarred foods though also.

Have you seen that little contraption thing that has a mesh bag for you to put fresh fruit in for the little ones? My daughter loved that thing


I agree w/ you on the feeding baby solids too soon. My sister did this w/ her son (put cereal in the bottle) and it caused him to have bowel issues. He is 8 years old and STILL has them. Very very sad when your child is having accidents at parties, school, etc... in front of friends & family.

 

[libertytyranny]

When we had steamed veggies w/ dinner I would process them (before seasoning of course) for my kiddos. I bought a special thing of ice cube trays specifically for saving any extras. Just pop them out and thaw. We did use jarred foods though also.

Have you seen that little contraption thing that has a mesh bag for you to put fresh fruit in for the little ones? My daughter loved that thing :yay:


I agree w/ you on the feeding baby solids too soon. My sister did this w/ her son (put cereal in the bottle) and it caused him to have bowel issues. He is 8 years old and STILL has them. Very very sad when your child is having accidents at parties, school, etc... in front of friends & family.

I did see that, and was thinking of getting her one (shes teething something terrible, poor thing) and putting frozen something in there. milk maybe? or even a frozen strawberry or something wouldn't kill her I suppose.

 

[lovinmaryland]

I did see that, and was thinking of getting her one (shes teething something terrible, poor thing) and putting frozen something in there. milk maybe? or even a frozen strawberry or something wouldn't kill her I suppose.

I did ripe peaches, bananas, pears, etc... it makes a big mess though so be prepared

Also I couldnt find them anywhere w/ Mackenzie but those little Zweiback (sp?) toasts my other kids LOVED those. They'd gnaw on those things forever. Just watch because they get to a point where they get all mushy and break off.

 

[Nickel]

My SIL makes all of my niece's baby food. She just cooks it up and purees it with a Magic Bullet, then pops it in the freezer. She says its much cheaper than buying baby food and she knows exactly what she's eating.

 

[Lilypad]

Introducing solid food | BabyCenter

libertytyranny-do some reading....

 

[ICit]

My SIL makes all of my niece's baby food. She just cooks it up and purees it with a Magic Bullet, then pops it in the freezer. She says its much cheaper than buying baby food and she knows exactly what she's eating.

I just saw a thing on the news about the "baby bullet"... for making baby food.....

 

[libertytyranny]

anyone NOT puree things? as in handing her, say, a piece of watermelon and letting her have at it?

 

[Tigerlily]

I tried to make baby food for my oldest when she was 6-9 months old. Until the day I pulled the blade out of the food processor out and set in on the counter. When I reached over for the spoon the edge of the blade sliced my pinky finger wide open and after applying pressure for over an hour and it was still bleeding I ended up at the ER with stitches. Still have the scar to this day. That was the day I stopped making baby food.

Good luck to you though. I think the magic bullet might be the way to go. Seems safer anyway.

 

[libertytyranny]

Introducing solid food | BabyCenter

libertytyranny-do some reading....

you have NO idea the depth of research I have done. It borders on insanity. I am more interested in "real" people at the moment, helps flesh out the crazy amount of info I have taken in.

 

[Lilypad]

you have NO idea the depth of research I have done. It borders on insanity. I am more interested in "real" people at the moment, helps flesh out the crazy amount of info I have taken in.

Wonder what mothers 30-50 yrs ago did?? Somehow most of us survived.

 

[ewashkow]

At only a few months, I would suggest sticking with pureed foods or use the mesh thing that was mentioned earlier. It is easy enough to make your own baby food, especially this time of year when there is fresh produce available everywhere. Make a large batch and freeze it. I did peas, pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, chicken, and some others at a fraction of a cost of jarred. Cheaper, healthier, you know exactly what it is-what's not to like? I have some simple, baby friendly receipes if you would be interested.

If you are concerned about iron, give her some Tri-Vi-Sol. It is essentially a baby multi vitamin. Not only does that have high iron, but it has a few other beneficial vitamins in it.

 

[lovinmaryland]

anyone NOT puree things? as in handing her, say, a piece of watermelon and letting her have at it?

I personally wouldnt risk it.

There were times giving the babes the starter jars they gagged and I got all freaked they were going to choke so I wouldnt have been able to handle chunks when they were that young.

Plus I dont think they grasp the pointer finger thumb pick up til they are about 6-7 months. At least that is when mine started to do it on their own. I would cook chunks of carrots (those get really soft and easy for them to mush) peas, peaches, nanners, eggs, stuff like that.

 

[lovinmaryland]

At only a few months, I would suggest sticking with pureed foods or use the mesh thing that was mentioned earlier. It is easy enough to make your own baby food, especially this time of year when there is fresh produce available everywhere. Make a large batch and freeze it. I did peas, pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, chicken, and some others at a fraction of a cost of jarred. Cheaper, healthier, you know exactly what it is-what's not to like? I have some simple, baby friendly receipes if you would be interested.

If you are concerned about iron, give her some Tri-Vi-Sol. It is essentially a baby multi vitamin. Not only does that have high iron, but it has a few other beneficial vitamins in it.

OH I forgot pumpkin Mackenzie still loves some pumpkin! We just made pumpkin bread for NNO and she was eating it straight from the jar plain

 

[libertytyranny]

Wonder what mothers 30-50 yrs ago did?? Somehow most of us survived.

I don't want my baby to just "survive" I want her to have the best possible start..not to mention she has unfortunate weight genes on both sides so this is an important way I can help her develop good eating habits to stay healthy her whole life. I don't want her to be part of the ever growing percentage of overweight children ( linked to formula, for starters as well as early introduction of solids)


I am not trying to be some sort of by the book super mom. or over think it (that may be to late ) Just interested in hearing what other mom's did, as part of developing my own plan for monster.

 

[libertytyranny]

I personally wouldnt risk it.

There were times giving the babes the starter jars they gagged and I got all freaked they were going to choke so I wouldnt have been able to handle chunks when they were that young.

Plus I dont think they grasp the pointer finger thumb pick up til they are about 6-7 months. At least that is when mine started to do it on their own. I would cook chunks of carrots (those get really soft and easy for them to mush) peas, peaches, nanners, eggs, stuff like that.

I don't plan on giving her anything until 6 months or so anyway..but I am worried about choking..the baby led weaning site has pictures of babies eating spaghetti, and whole chunks of all kinds of things I didn't know if anyone else was brave enough to do it! Though they do have a list of things that are better off pureed, like apples etc that are big choking hazards..i like the theory behind it..but am too much of a worrier.

 

[ewashkow]

anyone NOT puree things? as in handing her, say, a piece of watermelon and letting her have at it?

I am assuming your baby is only about 4-5 months old based off your original post. You also mention that you have been breast feeding almost exclusively aside from cereal. Pureeing food sticks with your babys current "just swallow" method of eating while introducing new foods and textures.

I would suggest staying away from watermelon given the results it has on most adults. I'm sure you change enough diapers a day without deliberately adding to it.

 

[lovinmaryland]

I don't want my baby to just "survive" I want her to have the best possible start..not to mention she has unfortunate weight genes on both sides so this is an important way I can help her develop good eating habits to stay healthy her whole life. I don't want her to be part of the ever growing percentage of overweight children ( linked to formula, for starters as well as early introduction of solids)


I am not trying to be some sort of by the book super mom. or over think it (that may be to late ) Just interested in hearing what other mom's did, as part of developing my own plan for monster.

I really dont have room to talk because I myself are a fat porker But we went to the mall this past weekend and I guess I never really paid attention before but I was shocked at how many overweight kids there were. Everywhere you looked there was very heavy little ones. It was really sad.

One mother was there w/ her 3 kids. The mother herself was very slim, but all three of her children were overweight and I mean overweight.(like from a Dr Phil episode) The kids were probably 10, 8, and 6 and she let each of them get a to go box from the japanese place that does the thing full of rice w/ meat veggies. All three of the kids finished the entire thing. I cant even finish an entire one of those

 

[libertytyranny]

I am assuming your baby is only about 4-5 months old based off your original post. You also mention that you have been breast feeding almost exclusively aside from cereal. Pureeing food sticks with your babys current "just swallow" method of eating while introducing new foods and textures.

I would suggest staying away from watermelon given the results it has on most adults. I'm sure you change enough diapers a day without deliberately adding to it.

true thing. It was more of an example. She is 4 months now..and I am thinking about giving her a little tiny bit of cereal..but I wouldn't giver her anything else till about 6 months.

 

[lovinmaryland]

I don't plan on giving her anything until 6 months or so anyway..but I am worried about choking..the baby led weaning site has pictures of babies eating spaghetti, and whole chunks of all kinds of things I didn't know if anyone else was brave enough to do it! Though they do have a list of things that are better off pureed, like apples etc that are big choking hazards..i like the theory behind it..but am too much of a worrier.

Stear yourself away from that site! There is also a website that says babies are born potty trained and know from birth so there is no need for diapers

I am assuming your baby is only about 4-5 months old based off your original post. You also mention that you have been breast feeding almost exclusively aside from cereal. Pureeing food sticks with your babys current "just swallow" method of eating while introducing new foods and textures.

I would suggest staying away from watermelon given the results it has on most adults. I'm sure you change enough diapers a day without deliberately adding to it.