Any Baby Food Makers Out There?,

[jjcokc]

As my five month old twins get ready to start solids, I am determined that these babies will be better eaters than my 4.5 yr old is. I have hear lots of people talk about making their own baby food but thought I would ask all of the cooks on this board if you've done it and how and what fruits and veggies you used. The Gerber stuff doesn't taste like the real thing, and I thought maybe if I started the twins with the flavors of real fruits and veggies perhaps they would actually continue to eat them once they get to the age where they can eat them in their natural state. :)

[BethR]

With my first son (now almost 5) I experimented a little with making baby food. I put banana, mango, cooked apples, through a very handy little baby food mill that I got from The Right Start store, and froze 2 tablespoon portions to thaw and use later. I also tried it with corn, peas, and green beans. By the time my second son (he's almost 3 now) started on solids, we blew off the pureed baby food stage competely. Starting at about 6-7 months after he really had the hang of eating cereal, I gave him small pieces of soft foods to pick up and gum. Banana, mango, ripe pear and peach worked well raw; I'd cook apples, carrots, broccoli. He also liked pasta and small pieces of cheese. Meats were a little tricky -- I would try to shred up whatever meat we were eating. Often, I resorted to Gerber meat, turkey and chicken sticks, cut up into chunks.

[kwormann]

However, I always said if/when I do, we will make our own baby food. I hadnt thought about the taste issue....that is a GREAT thought. I was thinking about the "stuff" and fillers they out in the food!

[mightyh]

I did make some baby food for my son... I didn't think I wanted to, but then tried some of the baby food veggies and decided he should know what real veggies taste like--the green veggies seemed to be the biggest taste offenders. I did continue to buy baby food fruits just cause they were so convenient and tasted pretty close... There is an organic baby food maker... I think it's called Earth's Harvest.

Anyway, I used frozen green beans and peas and pureed them in my food processor as smooth as I could get them. If they are too chunky you can add a little water. Then, pour them into your ice cube trays and freeze in single serve sizes. I reheated them in the microwave for a few seconds and stirred to even the heat... He much preferred them to the jarred stuff.

I've talked to people who just do that with everything--whatever you're having for dinner, just puree it and give to your baby. They claim their kids are great eaters!

[BlueMoose]

The Gerber Organics baby foods are pretty good if you aren't making your own. My 10 month old, though, hardly went through a baby food stage. He wanted what we were eating pretty much from the start! i guess I didn't have a problem feeding jarred baby food because I've always pretty much stuck with the "single foods"...they don't add fillers, sugars, etc to those. Some of the veggies and the meats are pretty gross, though, and I haven't used them.

BTW...my kids don't really eat much meat, but one thing they both really like is refried beans!

[Irene Bartlett]

I have a 9 months old. Well, I've tried to make my own baby food and he didn't want it, then I've tried to give him jars and he didn't want it either. So actually he went right to table food (at around 6 months) and so far he's eating everything (and still nursing about 6 times a day). He has only 2 teeth and it doesn't bother him to eat. I have to add that we eat principally fish or chicken here and almost never meat. I guess meat would be hard to chew. I know a pediatrician who did the same with his baby so I don't think I'm on the wrong way. :)

[lorilei]

When I was a baby, my mother was a babyfood-making fiend. :)

She always fed me whatever they were having for dinner -- mashed it up by hand or in the blender. That way she made sure I had rounded meals -- and she did too!

[kbucky]

If you are really interested in making your own baby food, the book, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is a must buy, IMHO. I made nearly all of my dd's food and found this book to be an excellent resource, though not without a pro-organic foods and vegetarian bias (not bad things...)

It was loaded with info on when to start which foods, and how to prepare them, and recipes for toddler foods, and all sorts of nutrition info. I still look at mine now and then, and Claire is 1 1/2 years old...it's just good information!

[BosunsWife]

I'm guilty of feeding DD the store bought stuff. Although I fed her quite a bit of the organic lines because they seemed to have a lot more variety.

Now, as far as switching from jarred food to table food - it didn't make a difference to DD. She actually eats more different types of food now then she did when she ate the jarred stuff. Kid pretty much lives on veggies and fruits. As for types, she prefers more of the "exotics" than the normal. One of her favs is broccoli, she will eat asparagus, spinach, loves romaine lettuce and as far as fruits go, pineapple and mango top her list. Gosh, when I was two, my mom said all I would eat was peaches and pears. I just wish I could get her to eat more protein. Her doc said not to worry about it since she is growing just fine. Now if I could just get her to eat regular potatoes instead of "fench fies", other than rice, that is the only starch she will eat.

This go around (should we get pregnant), I will probably make baby food because there are now three of us eating table food and my mom bought me one of those "outboard motors" for my birthday which makes pureeing (sp) a snap.

[JKS]

jjcokc,

I have 2 kids with spacing similar to yours: DS=5 1/2 yrs. and DD=16 months. Beware, you will be continuously amazed at the influence your older child will have on your twins. My son didn't touch refined sugar until he went to preschool at 3. My DD now yells for Kool-aid squeezers and lollipops!! She can already spot junk food from a mile away. We keep little of this stuff in the house, but she already knows what's "special" to DS.

However, she also did a very short stint with babyfood for the same reason -- she wanted what he was eating, and in the same form as him. After a week of rice cereal, I did the intro weeks, where you do one food at a time with the organic jarred food. Then, I pureed everything we ate for a few weeks and then started fork-mashing. I microwaved or steamed apples, yams, carrots, potatoes, squashes, pears, peaches, etc. Then I'd puree, mash, cube--gradually giving bigger and bigger bits. I would freeze tiny portions in snack-size ziplocs and tiny tupperwares to be ready to pop in the microwave whenever she needed something more/different.

Now she gets upset if I cut anything--she'll take her steak whole, thank you! LOL!! With my DS, I would boil chicken w/o anything--ick. But DD ate the spicy stuff with us. She loves curry, cinnamon, and red pepper. She also eats broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and cucumbers raw. DS is also a good eater, so I don't know if this has anything to do with it. But I say go for it! It's not that hard and worth the effort if it works in the future. Also, a hopeful word, now DD is having an influencing effect on DS--he wants to do the stuff she gets attention for. So maybe feeding your twins well will get everyone on track! Good luck!

[brendat4]

My baby is 7 1/2 months old and although I've not really made any of my own baby food, I've done a lot of "research" on it. Basically read some books on how to prepare and store my own baby food and also asked my SIL who made her own baby food.

Unfortuately we don't have a lot of freezer space (YET, we are supposed to be getting a "big" freezer soon though!) so making up a bunch of food and storing in ice cube trays is a bit impractical. I did buy this hand food puree-er (not a real word) from Babies R Us and it is good for soft foods like bananas, sweet potatoes, etc. I was afraid that my daughter would outgrow the baby food stage before I could make my own, but at this rate, I'm not so sure. I've been trying to introduce some more foods with texture and boy, does she not like that! Makes the funniest faces--even just with regular applesauce vs. baby applesauce. What a little sensitive tongue she has! So who knows how long it will be before we move on to more solid foods! LOL! I will definitely try to make my own baby foods if we have another child.

It's funny that some of you don't think the foods taste like the real thing. I think they DO taste exactly like the real foods. Maybe we're (adults) just so used to having salt & seasonings on our foods that the real thing tastes nothing like what we're used to. I don't use a lot of spices on my fruits & veggies so maybe that's why I feel that way. Weird, huh? And BTW, if you check the labels there are usually no "extras" in the food--just that food (say peas) and water so shouldn't be any "fillers".

[growlingbelly]

I heard that if you start babies with carrots they will be less inclined toward sweets.

[BlueMoose]

Until my dd was about 2 she was a really great eater. She ate all kinds of foods, veggies and fruits, very little sugar. Then all of a sudden she became a picky eater. GGGRRRRRRRRR. It's so frustrating! Now she claims not to like many fruits and veggies that she used to eat all the time. So, of course, give it your best shot (which is what I'm doing with my son now), but just be prepared for the possibility that no matter what you feed to your kids, they will be the ones to decide if they are good eaters or not! I keep hoping that my daughter will outgrow this incredible pickiness! BTW, one day she asked me if she could have a "bowl of butter" :eek: ! Thanks to my DH for introducing her to butter!:mad:

Keeping my fingers crossed!
Chrisi :)

BTW, growling belly....nothing that I know of will make kids less inclined toward sweets! :D

[brendat4]

Growlingbelly,

Yes, according to the books and doctors, you are supposed to start with the veggies first (carrots is just usually the first of the veggies) so they don't develop a sweet tooth. But as soon as we started fruits, that's definitely what my daughter prefers. She'll still eat the veggies, but devours the fruits! Who knows what would have happened if you reverse the order. . .

Brenda T.