Homemade fruits & veggies

[scubagear]

Hi everybody! I have two questions that I would love help with!

1) When steaming/boiling fruits and veggies, do I have to peel, cut and try and de-seed (if necessary) prior to cooking, or do I do it after they have cooked?

2) My second question is that I've read different schools of thought on the order of intoduction of different foods. I've read all cereals, then all veggies, and lastly fruits. And I've also read a cereal, a veggie, a fruit and then repeat...

What is the most common, possibly effective way to go about it. I've heard (and not sure if it's a wives tale) that if you give fruit before veggies, then the child may then not take to any veggies because they aren't sweet like the fruits.

Help please! I'm excited to start this, but want to wait until I have a few opinions first!!

Thanks so much!

[nwaddellr]

I find that its easier to peel and dessed the fruits and vegetables before you cook them - then they don't just mush in your hands as you're trying to work with them. Chopping them into pieces can be done before or after, although if you want small enough pieces to feed your child, I'd do it after you cook the itm.

As for order of introduction, I've found it doesn't really matter. As I've read numerous times on this board, breast milk is sweet so if you're breastfeeding, they already have that taste in their mouth. They'll still take the veggies, though (my DS' favorite veggie is peas, which my husband just hates - go figure!)

Have fun with those solids, and don't get discouraged because its so confusing.

[jd11365]

Don't make make yourself crazy...have fun with it! Fruits first or veggies...doesn't really matter. Personally, we tried all the cereals first. I also followed Super Baby Foods in the beginning for advice. And start easy...like bananna and avacado...smush and go! Good luck!


Jamie
Mommy to Kayla
5-1-03

[signsing]

My favorite website is:
www.wholesomebabyfood.com
Has recipes for everything, has a good chart for food introduction. I've heard Super Baby Food is good, never read it though.

Enjoy
Betsey
Buddy's Mamma 6-10-2003

[jubilee]

1. it's almost always better to steam rather than boil, the water takes up so much of the vitamins in boiling. I peel and de-seed prior to steaming, and cut into large chunks. (A pear into fourths, for instance) If I cut into smaller prior to cooking, they tend to turn to a yucky mush while cooking. That's really important since I am not mashing anymore, and just making into small chunks for my one year old.

2. I personally tried rice cereal, then multi-grain cereal from Earth's Best. Then we tried a little of everything, depending what was on sale in the produce dept. If winter squash was on sale, that was the next food to try! And at this point he eats great!! :) He almost always loved the fruit on first try, but some veggies took a while to warm up to.