Several months ago, I was in the infant section of Target with my then 12 year old daughter, when a harried looking young mother stopped me and asked hopefully, “Do you have a baby or know anything about babies?” I told her that I did have a baby (didn’t mention that I’d had eight, though!).
She wanted help selecting the right baby food, and I had to regretfully tell her that I wasn’t the right person to do that, as I made baby food for our babies. And it wasn’t much of a process, since I just mashed up the suitable veggies that we were eating and gave it to the baby.
She couldn’t believe it – “You mean you can do that?!? Just mash up some of your own food and give it to him??” And then she gave me sample foods she made and I told her which would be appropriate to give her baby. But I think the idea was too novel or too threatening for her, since when I walked by a half hour later on my way to check out, she was still there, looking at the labels on jars of baby food.
My daughter was surprised and amused that a grown woman would be so astonished by something as simple as giving your baby food that you make. As obvious at it seems to many of us, for those who believe that the experts know best, it makes sense that a parent would trust the food manufacturer’s ability to make the food that would nurture their baby more than themselves. Definitely misplaced trust, but still, it’s understandable.
I’m remembering this story today, since this week, we started giving our current baby solids. Most of my kids started eating when they were about six months old, but this baby hasn’t shown any interest until very recently (he’ll be eight months in a few days).
I start off with something like baked yams or butternut squash. That has a soft consistency and pleasant flavor, so it’s always seemed to me to be a natural first food – you don’t have to do anything more but spoon it into their tiny mouths! As they get older, I introduce more foods, and purposely don’t mash it perfectly – it’s good for them to get used to eating food with texture. Sometimes babies who are used to pureed foods balk when there are little lumps since they aren’t used to anything but a very smooth feeling in their mouths.
Today I whizzed up some cooked carrots in the blender with a very small amount of cooked brown rice – it’s so quick and simple to do this – (maybe three minutes total?), and it easily made over three cups that I put into the fridge for Donny (that’s the baby). I usually don’t use a blender; I hardly remember doing it in the past. But rice is tough to chew when you’re toothless. 🙂 Actually, I reminded myself afterwards that I shouldn’t have used the rice for him yet. It’s good to limit grains for infants, even of low allergenic/easy to digest grains like rice and millet, until they’re at least a year old. Babies aren’t able to effectively break down grains.
You can also add some good quality fat to their veggies, which helps the vitamins be assimilated. I use coconut oil, butter, or rendered animal fat. Delish!
Making your own baby food means that you know what goes into the food, where it came from, and how it was prepared. You don’t add lots of artificial ingredients to make it stable for store shelves, or kill all of the beneficial vitamins in the processing. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it saves you the time and in driving to and from the store to pick up those ridiculous little jars of baby food.
Avivah
