Comments on: Guest Post: Making Your Own Baby Food

By: Kris

Kris — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:47:55 +0000

Hi! Great info and comments. I’m wondering— has anyone tried making ‘teething biscuits’? Willing to share a recipe or point me in the right direction? Thanks!

By: Ann

Ann — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:27:25 +0000

I am the mom of 6 children, and used less and less baby food the more children I have had. I breastfeed all of them for at least 2 years-just let them wean themselves. Life is interesting to babies/toddlers and they eventually just have no interest in nursing.
I have done the jar baby food, homemade baby food in ice cube trays and just making some food. The thing I found works best is just delay food introduction until the child shows an interest in picking up the food and putting into their mouth for themselves around 8 months. Early food introduction is a way for allergies to develop in your child. The baby cereal is pretty much junk compared to fresh food. I would give them baked sweet potatoes, pease, maybe some cheerios, a graham cracker, cooked soft carrots, etc. Anything I could have soft and a good texture so they could pick it up. The baby would be very interested in feeding themselves and would amuse them for quite awhile. My children tended to be large babies, (largest was 12 lbs. 10 oz. )and nursing kept them fed until this time. When they would need to nurse more, I would recognize the growth spurt, drink more and eat healthy food. I would nurse the baby more frequesntly. My milk production always picked up. I never introduce any solids until after 6 months of age, and never any dairy until after 1 year. It doesn’t take buckets of $$ to feed babies. Hope that helps!!

By: JC

JC — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:52:48 +0000

I did this for my son when he was little and I still do it for somethings. It’s a great add-in for meals, quick soups, etc. Sweet potato is really yummy mixed with oatmeal.

Now that he is older I’ll make up a batch of spaghetti-os (whole wheat pasta, tomato sauce, meat/turkey dogs) or something else and freeze. It’s great for quick meals!

By: Belle

Belle — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:59:25 +0000

I used to do this when mine were little and I glad I did.

http://www.southerness.blogspot.com

By: Bridgett

Bridgett — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:58:44 +0000

I love homemaking baby food. I’ve helped several mommies do this & have spoken on it a few times. W/my first I shopped once a month and did one more run in the middle for produce & milk only! So my husband & I made all his food for a month. It usually took about two hours and we were set. I always budgeted $30/month and I never went over. Though he was always in the 10% for his weight by the time he ate stage 3 food, he was eating the equivalent of 3 stage3 jars every meal! The doctor said he was fine and some babys eat alot. My savings in making baby food for his stage 3 season was about $170/month! It only took 2hours a month to save 170 + health!

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:02:05 +0000

I bought a ton of the Ziploc 4 oz. plasic containers. I’d blend up all her food once a week, write on the container with a dry-erase marker (which comes right off) and then already have a container for any leftovers! (I usually served them at her next meal.) Now that she’s 18 months, I still store snacks in them and she feels like a big girl carrying around her own bowl. #2 is due in May and I’ll do the same thing.

By: Kate Duff

Kate Duff — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:34:10 +0000

I must also recommend the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.

Loved it for all kinds of info on how to make baby food, and what to feed them when and how much. Never bought a single jar of baby food for either of my 2 kids. Making your own is so much easier than people think.

By: Lana

Lana — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:37:15 +0000

I both buy and make my baby foods. I find that some foods are just easier to buy (like blueberries because I just cannot seem to blend them well enough), but some of my baby’s favorite home made foods are: prunes (done the same as fruit: boiled and blended), pork chops (also boiled and blended), and stews (a bunch of veggies and a meat mixed together). I also get a sense of pleasure to see my baby eat food his mommy has prepared.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:02:11 +0000

I also have an entry about making baby food!
I love to do it
http://amomsbusylife.blogspot.com/2008/11/blog-post.html

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:41:39 +0000

I LOVE this post!! It has been very helpful and encouraging. I breastfed my first baby 8 months, starting solids at 4 months. With the solids, I did part homemade and part canned. I found “Top 100 Baby Purees” by Annabel Karmel very helpful. I knew breastfeeding was sufficient, but with all the pressure and expectations from family/friends/ped. office my husband and I decided to start solids as our pediatrician (whom we have a great relationship with) recommended. However, I’m very interested in, and maybe now convinced with your post and these comments, that with my next baby coming in July I will follow a schedule more like you did. I know I will have to be flexible, but I love the idea of breastfeeding for 18 to 24 months and not introducing solids so early. Breastmilk is truly like medicine for our babies it is so good for them! I am curious how you handled night nursing – that is where I really struggled to find something that worked. Also, at what point, if any, did you try to schedule breastfeeding. I did demand feeding pretty much the whole time, but wow was that exhausting. I hope these aren’t too personal, I live in a rural area with very little breastfeeding support, so I’m always curious how other mom’s make it work so well.

Thanks again for your insight!!

By: Audrey

Audrey — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:35:00 +0000

I made baby food for my daughter too. I did it once every two weeks or so, and I thought it was so much fun! I always looked forward to it!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:27:08 +0000

I swore I would spend the extra money to save the time on making my baby food, but when we were forced to switch to formula at four months (after trying everything, I just was not producing enough for a starving chappy), I rethought my decision in an effort to save some more. After getting a hand blender for my birthday (a request for grown-up food), I realized how easy it was to make the baby food.
We have also done carrots, peas, and green beans–as well as the items in your blog. I found it so cost effective that I blogged about it too at http://mweyler.blogspot.com/2008/11/another-impartial-review-dirty-jobs.html and http://mweyler.blogspot.com/2008/12/bananas-and-such.html
In that blog I calculated out how much per hour that I had saved myself. Big bucks!!!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:50:53 +0000

My son is now 8 months old. He was introduced to food at six months. (Breastfeed until seven months). I make a large majority of the food he eats at home: either pre-frozen or use a KidCo food grinder. I HIGHLY recommend the book Super Foods as a great guide book.
When we go out for the day or the rare dinner out or even rarer babysitter, he gets prebought food : )
The biggest thing is to find what works for your family.

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:32:18 +0000

I have written two posts so far about making baby food. One of them talks about how inexpensive it is compared to commercial baby food:
http://www.thetowells.com/tag/baby/

By: Momma

Momma — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:12:25 +0000

It is true that you can save a TON of money by making your own baby food.

We recently wrote a fun post on this same topic. It’s titled, “Cheap homemade baby food… with ingredients you would never guess…”

You can read the article by clicking the URL above this comment (click on the word “Momma”.) It will take you directly to the blog post! Enjoy!

Momma
Feature blogger at Engineer a Debt Free Life blog
(lots of freebies, bargains, and money saving tips!)

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:06:03 +0000

Good post. I just did a post that included the same type of directions. And I did another post about the cost effectiveness of making your own food here: http://www.thetowells.com/2009/01/making-baby-food/

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:49:40 +0000

Yes, I did make my own baby food for my 3rd child. However, he wasn’t a big fan of baby food for but a couple of months. Funny story, I had about 12 jars of frozen sweet potato in the freezer from the springtime. My son wanted nothing to do with them, but I didn’t want to throw them out. At Thanksgiving, I defrosted all of them, mixed in some canned pineapple, and topped with marshmallows to make the classic sweet potato casserole. I didn’t tell anyone we were eating “baby” food! Now that’s frugal!

By: Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:46:41 +0000

I made my own baby food for my two boys(which are now almost 2 & 4). To me it was helpful to buy little plastic storage bowls with lids and freeze up two servings in each. I didn’t want to use the microwave to defrost or heat. So I would lay out a bowl the night before & serve both servings within 1-2 days of each other. The bowls were very easy for me that way on the run it was already in a serving bowl. Now my boys use those same bowls to eat soup & yogurt out of.

By: Lisa H

Lisa H — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:43:08 +0000

Crystal, I did nearly exactly what you do for my daughter, who will be 2 next month. Funny how they all end up eating lots of solid foods, whether or not you spend the money on baby food, or spend the time making it! Mine just fully weaned at about 21 months, though she was only nursing before bed for the final three months.
I am the only mom I know in real life who fed the baby like I did, but my pediatrician backed me fully, and no one gave me any hassle. I just don’t “get” the whole modern Western way of counting jars! We fed our infants for thousands of years before that industry sprung to life!
Blessings,
Lisa

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:38:59 +0000

Wow, great comments. Can I just tell you how much better I feel that some of the other bloggers just didn’t worry about baby food too much and went right to table foods? With my now 2 and a half year old, I literally shed tears over the fact that feeding her baby food was so complicated and frustrating. With our next kid, I am determined to just do what works. I might freeze and make some things and then buy cans of others or just stick to simple table foods that can easily mashed up. Thank you!