Baby Food

Thanks for responding. Did you start with one food at a time, or just toss your dinner in the blender and serve? Did you not feed certain foods until a particular age? Did you store and freeze, or just make enough for that meal? I'm new to this, that is why all the questions. I feel I am doing what's right, but when I do research or talk to someone else, I begin to feel I'm doing it wrong.

There is no right or wrong way at all, I think that your instinct for your baby and the babies reactions will tell you that you are doing right. When my babies first started on solids they needed everything purely liquidised as they do! I would make a lot of casseroles for the family and so what I would do is make the casserole up but add no salt to it until I took babies portions out. I would then liquidise that, and then taste it and add little bits of seasoning just to give it a bit of taste. I always went by if I liked it then I would give it to my baby, if I did not like it I would change the taste so that it was nice. I always used to store it and freeze it, no harm came to them from doing that. Some meals I did used to just put in the blender all together, but sometimes it was not nice. A sunday dinner all blended together is yummy though! To be honest with you, there are so many things we get told to give them or not give them it used to drive me nuts. I gave them what I thought they would like and so I think that you should do the same. Only one of mine has been a faddy eater and he would eat nothing, but puddings he liked a sweet taste, so what I did for him was to boil potato's liquidise them and then put apple sauce in it, he loved it. OK not the healthiest food but he would not eat nothing else, he liked that and so that is what he had! I used to be the same as you I would be fine until I spoke to someone else and then I would feel inadequate. But I have four aged 16,7,6 and 2 and they eat everything put in front of them, so I cannot have done too bad!

None of my kids are overly picky, my 2 year old is a garbage disposal, lol. But I've always done the jarred baby foods until now. I started the baby on cereal a few weeks ago, and have only introduced 2 foods since. I plan to introduce 1 food at a time like the doctors say to, and eventually just puree whatever we're having for dinner. It's nice to have a bit of reassurance that my insticts always know best! Before today I hadn't given it a second thought. I figured I was doing a wonderful thing, then I read these websites that basically said I'm doing everything wrong, and poof, my self esteem is shot. But I don't plan on changing a thing. My baby is perfectly healthy and happy, and he ate all his carrots today that he tried for the first time! So I'm going to continue my plan and know that I'm at least saving money!

It really isn't. I didn't read up on it or anything before I decided to try it. I just used my own common sense and decided to go for it. All it really requires is for you to cook the fruits or vegetables, puree them in a food processor or blender, then store them. I will store a small amount in the refridgerator for a few days (I don't add formula until serving time, so it will stay fresh longer in an air tight container) and a large amount in the freezer. I'm currently using mason jars, the kind you'd use for jams and jellies, but I plan to switch to baby food jars when I recieve some from the Freecycle group. So it takes perhaps an hour to cook and puree the food the first time, but I make such a large batch that I will probably only have to do that particular food once or twice before he's off "baby food". The only cost is the initial purchase of the fruit or vegetable. I spent $3 on apples, and used half of them to make his apple sauce, and I have a pint of that in the freezer plus a pint I've been feeding him for a few days. I spent $2 on carrots and cooked 6 of them, again I have about a pint in the freezer and a cup in the fridge. When I'm ready to serve I add a bit of warm formula.