Making your own baby food has ups and downs — but mostly ups
My little one started solids when she was three and a half months, and she was not shy — nor quiet — about letting us know she was ready to take a big step.
Her first bite: sweet potatoes.
This milestone came a few days after Thanksgiving, so the tasty root vegetable was practically bursting out of my fridge.
I boiled one and blended it with a splash of expressed milk, and the baby loved it. I snapped photos of her smiling up at me as she waited for the next spoonful. She had about an ounce to start, and, at this point, I was also starting to put cereal in her bottle at night (she gets breastmilk and formula periodically, taking to the latter very well).
My child is almost seven months now, so she’s had her share of solids from apples and peaches to spinach and beets.
I love making her food, and she loves to eat.
The biggest challenge has been figuring out what she likes, doesn’t like, will tolerate and will grow tired of.
For example: these green beans. She loved them the first two days but after that, she wouldn’t touch them. She’d cry if the spoon came anywhere near her. Before I trashed them, I waited another couple of days to see if she’d changed her mind. Nope. It was made up. She’s not a fan of plain green beans.
She was the same with zucchini.
As a working mom with a non-stop schedule between work and home, making a bunch of food just for her to wind up not liking it felt time-consuming. I typically try to make her food for the week on Sundays. (She started rejecting zucchini on a Tuesday, so, after making her batch on Sunday, had to make her something else on that Tuesday night).
When she was getting ready for solids, I bought a bunch of cute, vibrant baby food containers, but small (4 oz.) Tupperwares work just as well to store the food in the fridge.
A TIP:
- Before blending, boil veggies until tender. The best test for this is to see if a butter knife can easily go through it. If so, then you’re ready to puree. It’s also best to puree while the food is still warm. Be careful with apples, however. They should not be overcooked; 10 minutes in boiling water should be enough for them.
So Mommies, what are some of your first foods experiences?