Mamas that make homemade baby food....

[aliceinwonderland]

ok, someone give me the real deal. The book says, on avocados and bananas for example, "just mash them up with fork, add EBM or formula" and you are basically set. Well, I don't know, my bananas never form a semi-uniform puree...there are chunks in it. Same with the avocado. He has not choked yet, but I don't want to chance it, obviously. How mushy does it really have to be to be safe? Is a bit of texture ok?

Also, my little chunky I think loves cereal and bananas but not so crazy about avocados...Is because the first two are rather sweet (Earth's best cereal is probably not that sweet, but mixed with EBM...)

Also, do you just mash the whole fruit with a liquid and then store in fridge? 'Cause I'm wasting a whole lot of food(and precious EBM) due to not knowing whether it is safe to store in fridge (esp. with EBM in it)
Should I try peas next? I need him to eat something green so I feel better!! LOL!

Looking for a REAL system! Many Thanks!!!

[jubilee]

For both bananas and avocados they need to be fairly ripe to get the smooth texture- like for bananas at least half brown/half yellow. As my son got more familar with texture, I stopped mashing them as much and even stopped adding the EBM. The whole goal is to advance to textured foods, the only reason to have it super smooth is to help the baby get used to food. If your little one is fine with the texture, that is wonderful!
And my guy didn't like avocado either. He loves tons of stuff that aren't sweet, so I know it's not that... he just doesn't like the taste or texture I guess. I don't blame him, I don't like them either!
Any item mixed with EBM should only be stored 2-3 days. I tended to make food twice a week.
Peas are great, my son loved them right off. However I think it's necessary to use a food mill or sieve to remove the pea shell? from the interior. You'll need to do this for green beans too. Once my son was used to and liked each item, I would gradually move to just fork mashing the item instead of the food mill.
This system has worked really well for me. My 18 month old eats absolutely everything I do, and I just have to cut it into bite sizes or make sure he can bite it off himself. I have no complaints about his eating. (Crossing my fingers!!!)

[KGoes]

My homemade baby food was always a bit chunky and DD never had a problem, even though she only got her first tooth at 12 months - I used the blender to puree. I did not thin with breast milk, but used cooking water or fruit juice because I was making batches to last a week or more. I put mine straight into the freezer.
As for specific foods, DD never went for bananas and only came to like avocadoes later. She loves applesauce (I cooked the apples and then put them in the blender); pureed pears (I steamed the pears); carrots (just buy baby carrots and steam them) sweet potatoes (steamed them too) any type of squash (steamed them); loves peas (steamed frozen peas until quite soft, then blended); I also used frozen mixed veggies, although anything with corn in it was not popular.
HTH!!

Kelley
DD born 7/03
And the next one due 4/18/05

[aliceinwonderland]

Thanks ladies
Super baby food says I should wait till 7 months to start peas...Is this set in stone, and if so, any reason?

I really want to start him on a veggie this weekend, and I was thinking peas...Maybe I should do carrots instead??

THANKS AGAIN :)


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[kamal]

Our pediatrician did not say anything about waiting on peas... Just that we should follow the 4day rule for each new food. We started DD on solids around 6mos and early foods were banana, avocado, sweet potato, beans, carrots and peas. So I'd say check with your ped and go right ahead with peas if you want to.

Agree with the others on home made foods...Steam veggies until really soft and mash with a fork or puree it. A little bit of texture helps them to get used to it, but even now at 10mos DD has only 2 bottom teeth and so she tends to not chew... so if there are pieces of fruit or veg in her meal, they always get swallowed !

GL