babyfood tips

Ahh, baby food. When to begin feeding it to your baby. What food to start with. How to make your own. How to pack a nutritional punch for your baby at mealtime.

In case you haven’t noticed, I am a big fan of both nutrition and ease. To that end, we sometimes use both jars of baby food and mostly use homemade baby food.

But I’ve been on a big homemade babyfood kick with Stellan lately, as he is really starting to enjoy solids…and lots of them. One trick I use to make homemade babyfood making a little more efficient is to make up huge vats (read: food processor fulls) of babyfood and freeze the leftovers into ice cube trays for me to thaw and feed him later.

I made these protein cubes the other day and Stellan loves them. I blended together cooked egg yolks (no egg whites until age one, but babies can have the nutritious cooked yolk), oatmeal, plain whole yogurt, cooked kidney beans, prunes and a little bit of fresh spinach.

He ate a bowlful. I froze the rest, and when he wants more, I just let a few cubes thaw out. They’re easy for on the go, too. Just put a few in a covered glass custard bowl, toss in your diaper bag with a bib and spoon, and by the time it’s lunchtime when you’re out, the baby food is soft and ready to eat!

Another favorite of Stellan’s is split peas. I grind (dry, uncooked) legumes like split peas into powder. Then, I cook them in hot (distilled) water on the stovetop. When it forms a nice, mushy paste it’s ready to (cool off and) eat!

Again, I freeze the extra. This morning, for our little guy’s breakfast, I thawed two split pea cubes and mashed them with a half of a banana and some sprinkles of brewer’s yeast. I sometimes also mix them with (unsweetened) applesauce. He loves both. Freshly milled flaxseeds are usually sprinkled on top of his meal.

It’s always best to begin a baby on solids with single grain baby cereal or banana. But you can build from there as your baby’s tummy gets accustomed to food! Our other favorite baby foods:

cooked brown rice, blended, mixed with a little water/formula/breastmilk until runny/pasty/however your baby likes it

avocado (super duper source of healthy fats needed for brain development)

oatmeal (we like steel cut)

brewers yeast and cooked eggs yolks…mashed and mixed into anything

beans…processed into powder and cooked or cooked whole and then mashed

sweet potato (super source of vitamin A)

squash

kale (probably the most nutritious food on the planet)

carrots (I’ve heard it’s best to buy carrot baby food as opposed to making your own because of the something or others in carrots)

flaxseed oil (I dribble some into Stellan’s brown rice porridges)

And, well, that’s Stellan’s diet so far! As he grows, I gradually blend his food less and less so it grows more chunky. When his pincer grip gets better, I’ll start leaving some of the veggies whole (but small, like little cooked broccoli bits) so he can feed them to himself. It’s a slow progression from soupy to runny to thick to pasty to chunky to whole foods as a baby grows.

And remember that children, like adults, all have different likes and dislikes. It’s totally normal for your children to eat different things than mine, and vice versa! Tastes changes as children grow, too. There’s no single right or wrong way to feed a growing child!