Baby Love - Baby Food

Soon after Ryan was born I remember someone asking me if I was going to make my own baby food. I'd never given it any thought. Then I was given this book. After reading the benefits of homemade food I was hooked. And its actually super easy! With that said, I now make all of Ryan's food. In fact, he eats better than we do! Everything's fresh, except for peas (cause shelling peas is a pain), peaches (cause they're out of season), and prunes (cause plums are out of season). And I buy mostly organic. The biggest challenge has been finding frozen peas without salt, frozen peaches without additives, and prunes without additives (Whole Foods, BTW). So far he's loved everything we've given him. Here's the list of fruits and veggies he's eaten so far:

-apples
-pears
-avocados
-bananas
-sweet potatoes
-butternut squash
-carrots

Except for bananas and avocados, I freeze the purees in ice cube trays, store the foods in snack size ziplocks, and defrost daily as needed. Check out this latest batch of apples. I always puree with the skins on and the color heavily depends on the type of apple. These turned a beautiful pink.


Up next:
-peas
-peaches
-prunes

Other foods:
-We sometimes use rice cereal or oatmeal cereal to thicken his foods
-He eats apple slices and bananas (and soon frozen peach slices) in a mesh teether
-Cheerios



I love to watch him eat Cheerios. He hasn't mastered the pincer grasp so he picks the Cheerio up with his whole hand and then puts his whole hand in his mouth. Sometimes they make it in his mouth, sometimes they get stuck on his face, sometimes they fall in his lap. Then he gums the Cheerio slowly opening and closing his mouth as wide as he can (looks like he's chewing with his mouth wide open). It's so cute to watch!

At this point, I want the majority of his nutrition to come from breastmilk. I'm pretty sure he'd eat a ton of food if I let him, but then he wouldn't take as much milk.

I also rely heavily on wholesomebabyfood.com for recipes and tips (like plumping prunes and shocking peas!). And here is my sweet boy with a smile that says 'feed me'!