baby food???

Question

i would llike to make my 4 month old food.instead of buying the jars. but i have no idea how or where to start. please help.

Answer 1

Fresh fruit and veggies and a food processor.
Here are some you can start with: (after cereal): carrots, squash. sweet potatoes, peas,green beans, spinach and beets

Steam the veggies instead of boiling them, this will help preserve as much vitamins and minerals as possible

You can put it into ice cube trays to freeze small portions that are easily reheated.

Suggestions for thinners you can use water left from steaming, breast milk, formula, cow's milk, yogurt, broth, or apple juice.

Suggestions for thickeners: wheat germ, whole-grain cereal, cottage cheese, farmer cheese, cooked egg yolks, yogurt, mashed white or sweet potato.


Here's a great website with lots of information:
http://mo-river.net/Health/home_made_baby_foods.htm

Answer 2

If your baby is taking about 32 ounces of formula yet still seems hungry then it may be time to introduce solids. An exclusively breast fed baby doesn't need solids until after 6 months. Between 4-6 months babies begin to loose the tongue-thrust reflex used in sucking. If a baby sticks out his tongue and won't let a spoon in, then wait a couple more weeks and try again. You do not have to use commercially prepared baby food. Do use the boxed infant cereal, though. A baby's first food is often baby rice cereal. This contains the extra iron that a baby needs and is rarely a cause of food sensitivity. Finely mashed banana is a great first food for baby as is home made strained applesauce. You do not need to add any sugar. Try a Macintosh or an Ida Red, cook peeled apple pieces until mushy and then strain through a baby strainer or put in the blender until chunks are gone. Cooked sweet potatoes, squash, and green beans, mashed and strained are also good first foods. Mixing in a little formula, breast milk, or water may be needed to make the food thin enough for baby to eat. There is no need to rush into introducing your baby to solids.

Answer 3

Making your own babyfood is really easy. All you really need is the fresh food, a blender (or something like it), and some decent ice cube trays.

To begin with, there are some helpful website and books to help parents make food for their babies. Online, a good website to check out is wholesomebabyfoods.com.
As far as books, I have found Super Baby Foods, by Ruth Yaron, to be very helpful. They will provide charts/lists of foods that are appropriate at 4 months...5 months...6 months...etc. and foods that should be avoided. They will also provide guidance on determining whether your baby is actually ready for solid food.

That said, although the guidelines typically say a baby can/should be introduced to foods between 4 and 6 months, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) now recommends waiting until 6 months in most cases (there will always be exceptions, of course!). Why? The current thinking is that waiting will reduce the risk or incidence of food allergies. And, as far as nutrition goes, babies get (and should get) the majority of their nutrition from breast milk or formula for the first year of life; introducing them to foods at this point has other value, but it's not a nutritional concern, as breast milk and formula have everything they need. I'm not trying to dissuade you from introducing your baby to foods, but if you had not read or heard about the suggestion on waiting you might want to take that into consideration.

Whether you start now, or later, the best "food" to start with is generally rice cereal, which is easy to digest for the little ones and also probably the least likely allergen out there (or one of them). The easiest way to do that is to buy the packaged variety, rather than grinding your own (although the latter is certainly an option); either way, mix it with breast milk/formula until it is much thinner than you would think it should be, basically it's going to be more liquid than it is solid to begin with. And giving it to your baby is as much about introducing your baby to the spoon as it is about introducing food at this point!

Whatever you start with, keep with that food for several days (some say 3, some say a week...I keep with a new food for 5 days) and watch the baby for allergic reactions. After that period is up, you can try a new food. Try only one new food at a time so, if there is an allergic reaction, you'll know what caused it. And when you start, also look for signs that your baby may not be ready to eat. If your baby spits it all up, tongue thrusts a lot so that the food doesn't stay in the mouth, etc. these are signs you should probably put the cereal away for a week or two before trying again.

We did rice cereal for maybe a week before moving on to oatmeal, which is less constipating than rice (plus, my babies really don't like rice cereal (having tasted it, I don't blame them!) and prefer the oatmeal). We did cereal for a month all told, before moving on to fruits and vegetables. Some of the best "first foods" for babies at this point include sweet potato, banana, pear, and avocado. (Unlike other foods, which must be cooked first, banana and avocado do not require cooking; all that is needed to prepare either of those two foods is a fork, although pureeing in a blender still works best for avocado, which otherwise may contain stringy parts that present a choking hazard for baby.)

Sorry this has turned into a novel, but I hope it was helpful. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

Answer 4

My son's pediatrician reccommends starting solids at 4 months. The first poster had some good ideas, BUT:

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE A BABY UNDER 1 YEAR OF AGE COW'S MILK.
There is a HUGE risk of allergies with cows milk. Breastmilk or formula are the only liquids baby needs right now. At 6 months, it is okay to introduce some diluted juices.

ALWAYS test out solids one at a time, to ensure that baby is able to digest them and does not have any allergies. It is reccommended not to introduce more than one food per week.

If baby seems to have any problems with digestion, he is not ready for solids yet. Wait another month and try again under the same guidlines.

The best thing to give a baby for their first solid is rice cereal. It is easier to digest than some of the others. Mix it with breastmilk or formula to the desired consistancy.

Answer 5

Good for you! I did that for my daughter. You just decide what you want to make and then buy some. Let's say you buy a butternut squash. You cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake it in the oven. When it's done, scoop out the flesh of the squash (leaving the peel) or peel it with a vegetable peeler. Put the flesh in the blender and add enough water to make it blend. When it's done, pour it into ice cube trays. Freeze it and when it is frozen (should be a few hours) take the little cubes out and put them in ziploc bags in your freezer. Then you have a supply little squash cubes that will last you quite awhile. At first just defrost one at a time (either in the microwave or by taking it out the day before you want to use it and putting it in the fridge). Eventually my daughter got up to eating four squash cubes at a time. Then on another day make a supply of a different vegetable. I also did sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and some other stuff that I'm not remembering. You're not supposed to do carrots before eight months, though, because of nitrates in them (canned baby food is tested for this but we can't just test our own carrots at home) For fruit I just used fruit canned in its own juice. If you have a hand blender you can just drain out the juice and stick the hand blender right in the can and blend it up. Or you can pour it in the regular blender. I just kept the fruit in the fridge because she went through a whole can in a few days. I also used regular applesauce (not baby applesauce) with no sugar added. Bananas and avocado you can just mash up with a fork. You don't want to do these in advance because they turn brown. I also fed her regular hot cereals instead of the baby ones. The main one I used was oatmeal, but I didn't start cereal until 7 months. My doctor told me not to use whole grains before seven months, and since I didn't want to start on refined grains, I just waited on grains entirely until then.

Answer 6

All you gotta do is buy some veggies and fruits, steam or boil them until they are really soft and mash them up with a fork or put in a food processor. Carrots, Peas, Green beans, apples, pears, bananas, any thing you think would be good for your child. I'm not sure about meats tho. you would probably have to cook until done and then process it in the food processor. Good Luck.

Answer 7

You should really wait until closer to 6 mos to start solids. This is what the AAP recommends. Starting too early may increase the risk of allergies, diabetes and obesity.

Good first foods are bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes. The bananas and avocados are simple. Just mash a little up with some expressed breastmilk (or formula) to thin it out. I would boil the sweet potatoes and use either some of the water they were boiled in or some breastmilk to thin them out.

Answer 8

at 4 months old ? should be starting on cereals and baby food in the jars are like pured food, dont give the baby too much real food because that makes their stools too hard and can cause constipation.

Answer 9

I used to make carrots, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. All you have to be is boil them or steam them till they are soft and put them in a blender or processor. The easiest fruits are bananas and pears and you just put them in the blender or processor. For the most parts all veggies could be done this way those were just my sons favorites. Just me creative and remember to watch your little one for food allergies.

Answer 10

buy a food processor.....b4 you put the veggies or fruit in...make sure you boil/cook them first so that they're soft. you can also take anything you are eating (with out salt/pepper...etc.) and mash it up really fine to give them . Make sure that when you add a liquid to it to make it more smooth like baby food....all you use is water...dont use juice or milk. good luck!!!