Baby food basics: In the beginning...

My fellow blogger mom, Samantha at Mamanotes, has a baby boy who is just starting solid foods, and she is so good about keeping her readers up to date with his progress. She recently posted about her methods in feeding him (which happen to be pretty similar to mine) and it has inspired me to write about Cami's experience with food so far.

I know the 6 month mark is usually when babies begin solids but we waited 'til 7 months, only because she turned 6 months right around Christmas and it was too hectic a time for a perfectionist control freak like me to begin such a detailed, tedious venture.

So in January of this year my baby who had only ever tasted breast milk and water, experienced real people food for the first time. It was a big day. I had a spoon of soupy avocado in one hand, the camera in my other hand, while Josh handled the video camera.

**We skipped rice cereal only because it has so little nutritional need or value and is primarily used to familiarize baby with a new texture and taste other than milk. I am not opposed to rice cereal and eventually ended up mixing it in with other foods for her. I was just anxious to allow her taste buds to dive into more fabulous flavors! Three days shy of her 7 month birthday those little taste buds didn't know what hit them.

I mashed a couple spoonfuls of avocado and slowly mixed in my breast milk (so it'd taste somewhat familiar) until it was as soupy as possible yet stayed on the baby spoon. Of course most of it ended up on her chin and bib as she gave us looks like, “You people are crazy if you think I'm going to swallow this.”

We did this at lunchtime, and continued our avocado lunch after her midday breast feeding for one week.

**I chose to start with avocado because it really is a perfect food. The nutritional value surpasses pretty much anything else condensed in such a neat, convenient little package, easy to slice, spoon or mash.

Once she got the hang of actually swallowing this strange substance, and seemed to accept the new taste, we moved on to the next taste.

**We began with citrus colored veggies, packed with nutritional value, and bland enough to ease into. Fruit came later, as I was pretty certain she'd love it because it's so sweet. I wanted to tempt her taste buds with bland flavors before she became addicted to sweets (like her mommy is!)

Carrots were up next and since raw veggies are out of the question for a tender little digestive system, we did a lot of steaming. I used organic regular size carrots (never the baby ones), washed, chopped, steamed, then pureed, adding a bit of purified water. A friend (and fellow baby food maker) recommended the Cuisineart Mini-Prep Plus to puree baby food and boy did it come in handy! I will say this... a blender will do just fine as well, especially when making larger batches to freeze, but this little mini-prep gizmo fit right in on my counter top (and it came in PINK!) Easy to use, easy to clean. My only complaint is the loud, shrill noise that scared poor Cami at first. She's totally used to it now, but I would have to take the darn thing in the laundry room and shut the door to use it!

Anyway, back to carrots. Mixed in breast milk, and eventually transitioned to mixing in only water.

**Each new food should have at least 3 days by itself once introduced to be sure of no allergies, and also allow baby to get used to it. I would sometimes go a whole week before introducing the next taste.

After carrots we were on to squash. Winter, acorn, and butternut (her fave.) You can sometimes find these frozen but I always opt for fresh if they're available. Butternut has become our favorite. It's a bit time consuming to prepare but much easier to peel than acorn squash (of which I don't even waste my time anymore.) And a large one will make a pretty good size batch to freeze.

I've made her squash two different ways:

1) cut in half (longways), remove seeds and seed mush, place in dish w/half inch of water and bake, then scrape cooked squash flesh (I promise that's what it's called) and mash or puree to desired consistency

or the way I prefer -

2) peel entire squash with veggie peeler, cut into approximately 1-square-inch cubes, remove “seed innards”, steam in steamer, puree adding water as needed. Voila.

Almost a month after the avocado event, we introduced cauliflower. This was a tough one at first, but ended up becoming a favorite. I confided almost daily in my sis-in-law (who could seriously write a book on this stuff...and should...hint, hint), and one thing she told me was to keep trying the new taste even if they hate it at first. She said to try it for up to 26 feedings! (I know... WHAT?!?! But she knows her stuff so I trust her and so should you.) Unless of course they develop an allergy of some sort. I've learned this is good for both mommy and baby. Baby learns how to acquire a taste for new foods. Mommy learns to be consistent and to not give in just because baby resists something at first. This will help in the long run for baby to not be a picky eater.

At this time we were doing a lunch and a dinner solid feeding and I think I might've marked on the calendar 13 days from then when I could give up on cauliflower. Much to my relief it only took four. I eventually started mixing in a bit of organic extra-virgin coconut oil with her veggies. We use it all the time in our food. Another excellent source of good fats! And Cami loves the taste!

By her 8 month birthday we started her on greens. Green beans first, then peas. Steamed or cooked, then pureed. All I will say is this made for some interesting diaper changes. But that is a whole 'nother post... which you will not find on this blog. Though in person I can get into some serious baby poop talks. Those who know me well know it to be true.

ahem

Anyway...
Broccoli was a biggie for me 'cause I'm a big fan. It went over better than I thought and to this day she will choose it over mac 'n cheese. No lie. I'm telling you...perseverence is key here.
Zucchini went well although a little frustrating to prepare being that it's slimy and watery by itself. It's a good one to mix in with other things or make into zucchini bread.
We introduced sweet potato right before fruit (not counting avocado) since it's so sweet. I was pretty excited about sweet potato day. She of course loved it, but alas, like with her cousin Eli, it caused diaper rash. So we held off on it for the time being and now she has it in very small portions only once in a while.

I hate to do this but....
I will continue my “baby food basics” talk sometime in the near future and tell about our experience with fruit, combining different foods, freezing methods, the question of meat and dairy, what spinach looks like on the way out...wait, no...I said I wouldn't go there, and just how many French Fries are too many??

It's such a fun thing to experiment with and learn about and I just love hearing what methods others have tried. But it is late at night (actually early morning) and the Florida/Tennessee game is on tomorrow (Go Gators!!!) and I will be a sorry excuse for a hostess if I don't skedaddle to bed this instant! (See, my weird late night talk is emerging!)

Stay tuned for more... (whatever that means.)