Home made baby foods?

Question

when my infant is ready to start eating solids i was thinking about making home made baby foods for her aswell as giving her the gerber jars ....id like to know any recipies and foods i can puree for her when shes ready and if anyone has done this with their child how it turned out

Answer 1

Recipes are pretty basic for feeding solids to an infant. Cook a fruit, meat or vegetable, puree it (use a blender or a hand food grinder), freeze in ice cube trays. My beautiful, healthy child ate all kinds of foods prepared this way. Infants need no salt or other seasoning in the beginning. Check with your pediatrician for when to introduce which kinds of foods and what to stay away from.
We had great success with peaches, green beans, sweet potatoes, winter squashes, peas, and lots of others. Gerber (and others) are convenient, but do add up. Mostly I just cooked whatever we were having and mushed it up until he had teeth.

Answer 2

Actually, making your own baby food is SO easy. I was a nanny years ago and used to do so for their baby. First thing you need is a really good food processor - like a Cuisinart. The only ingredients you truly need are the fruits or vegetables and some of the water you cook it in.

For example, for sweet potatoes...peel off all of the skin, cut into cubes and boil until soft. When done, just put the soft cubes in the cuisinart and add in some of the water that you boiled them in (this will keep the vitamins in the food). Add as much or as little water you need depending on how soupy you want it. Zap it in the Cuisinart until well pureed. Voila! Done!

Another helpful tip is to prepare ahead of time and spoon the baby food into ice cube trays. Store each type in freezer bags. Then you can just pop a couple of cubes in the microwave for about 30 seconds any time.

Don't do this with peas until she is a little older. Peas have kind of a hard coating on them that will be too hard on baby's tummy until she's about 9 mos old or so.

Finally, you can add rice cereal or formula if you ever want to mix it up a little.

Good luck..you can do this with bananas, apples, pears, peaches, even meats (also boiled). (FYI - Bananas will not need to be cooked first and cannot be frozen.)

Answer 3

As a mom and an Infant Care Specialist professional I recommend pureeing table foods for your baby. It's good to start this at 4 months. Babies love the taste of "real food". Carrots, peas, broccoli and if you are a meat eater, chicken. Skin off of course. Place these foods in a blender add some water. I peel apples and make my own apple sause. The babes love it! Gerber is okay..... nothing beats mom's cooking! Good luck!!!!!

Answer 4

I only made my baby's food, after reading a book on what could be in jar food.
I had a baby grinder, It had a crank on the top and would puree the fruits and vegetables without allowing air into the food, which a blender would do.
Besides nursing, a baby only needs fruits and vegetables until they are 1 yrs old. Their stomach can not digest cereals or meats.
Just cook any vegetable and grind it. Remove skin from fruits and grind it. Do not add anything else. Basically, any veggie you steam for your dinner, you make theirs. These baby grinders are great to take to restaurants and just ask for plain steamed vegetables.

Answer 5

Yes, I did this. You don't need a recipe. I had a book called "Feed Me, I'm Yours" which was helpful. I'm sure you can find some kind of natural baby food book in a health food store or on line.

Basically, you take vegetables, meats etc. Cook them yourself and then puree them in the blender. You can freeze portions in ice cube trays and then transfer the frozen cubes to air tight containers so they won't get freezer burn.

It worked out very well and is much less expensive than baby food from jars. Good luck!

Answer 6

Children when they first start to eat absolutely love potato and pumpkin togther, then after trying that for a couple of days try adding some vegetables in maybe one at a time, to change the baby's flavour's. You will soon notice what your baby does and does'nt like, and you will get joy out of your baby being content. I never used jar food, always done from home, even there desert's and when i took the children out i would always make sure i pre cooked some for those occasions

Answer 7

I started my baby with cereal first at four months. About a month later I started giving solids. I made all his food fresh. It's really not that much work. It's not that fancy mainly steam and puree. I purchased a baby food processor at babies R Us for $20 - it's just fantastic!

Here's a website with some recipes....

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/FruitRecipes.htm

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/VegetableRecipes.htm

Good Luck!

Answer 8

I did both, I made it when I could and the jars when I was going out, or was busy or what ever. The good thing about you making it though is you know exactly whats in it. and for fruits and veggies its so easy. Cook, if necessary Puree done.

Answer 9

Yes easy use your own imagination , and just steam veggies, and fresh potatoes, green beans, corn, peas,etc... make sure you don't use can products...all fresh..and juices too..with fresh fruit too, use a juicer, watermelon, apples, oranges, etc...have fun..I did it to my girls...and soon my grandson but he is just born but soon..I will do it...