moms who make homemade baby food

Sheree - posted on 02/07/2010

Yes its normal, babies shouldnt be eating everything runny, smooth or pureed. They need to learn how to chew. Try mashing the food with a fork or potato masher, that way they get the different textures and slowly learn to chew. Im not say to have big lumps in it, but small pieces that they can munch on.

Jacqueline - posted on 02/07/2010

thanks for all the advice. i have been using a food processor and the texture in some veggies is not smooth like it is in a jar. is that normal?

Amelia - posted on 02/07/2010

With my son i just bought a hand held baby food grinder and at meals i would grind up whatever we were eating and fed him that. Now at 2 he eats pretty much anything we do without a fuss. We plan on doing the same with our daughter when shes a little older.

Sashell - posted on 02/07/2010

The recommended age to start on "solid" food is 6 months. My pediatrician told us to start on rice cereal at 4 months. She takes food quite well now (6 months of age) I buy frozen vegetables when they are on sale. Boil, mash and refreeze in ice cube trays. Fruit I buy fresh and do the same.

Sheree - posted on 02/06/2010

I give my daughter everything we eat now. She is 7.5 months old. In the last fortnight, things i can remember that we have had are, apricot chicken, roast with roast veg, pork on the bbq, lamb loin chops and veg, meatloaf, rissoles, spag bowl, and chicken fettuccine. She loves it all.
For breakfast she usually has:
farex, weet bix, toast, pancakes or scrambled eggs
Lunch is fruit:
kiwi fruit, water melon, rock melon, apples, pears, banana, nectrines, oranges, mangos and avacados.
Dinner veg include:
sweet potato, potatoe, pumpkin, squash, beans, peas, spinach, broccoli, cauilflower, chokos, zucchini and carrots.
I only puree (magic bullet) the meats and apples and pears as she doesnt like them cooked (the apples and pears.) The rest i just mash with either a fork or potato masher.
hope that helps a bit.

Josie - posted on 02/06/2010

A sure fire method for veggies is to cut, boil, and blend. I found fruits like bananas, peaches, plums and honeydew worked well with just cutting, adding a tablespoon or so of water and putting it in the processor on the pulse setting. And for and extra sweet treatyou can substitute in a splash of 100% juice instead of water. Good luck It's a little bit of a hassel doing it by hand but the benefit of knowing what exactly is going inside your little one is worth the trouble.

Jeannine - posted on 02/06/2010

I used what we ate, added a little water and put it in the blender.

Stephanie - posted on 02/06/2010

Hi. At 6 months old, I just gave my baby whole pieces of food. He started with brocolli, and now at 8 months he will eat anything....steak, garlic bread, roast potatoes. He just picks them up and munches on them. There's a book called Baby Led Weaning which explains it all.

Brandis - posted on 02/06/2010

Check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com - tons and TONS of resources, methods, and recipes for babyfood. I just had a cheap hand cranked food mill and I would steam veggies (for longer than I would steam them for myself- until they're super soft) and mill them, but the food mill makes thing chunkier than they would be if you pureed them in a blender or food processor, so you may want to do that first. But the site I listed above give general guidelines as to what to feed at what age, how to prepare, and how to store. I personally started with green veg (peas and green beans) at just before 6 months. By 8 months I was just lightly mashing with a fork and by 10 just serving diced. Just like the purees, you can steam these ahead and freeze them in (BPA FREE) ice cube trays so you have serving sizes ready.

Vicki - posted on 02/06/2010

Depends on how old your baby is. At the beginning, I would steam my baby's vegies and then puree them in a blender and fit them into ice cubes so I could store them. As my baby got older, I would then mash her vegies and follow the same process.