Six Month Check up

Amazing how these past six (6) months have flown by so quickly, it still seems like yesterday we just brought her home from the hospital! 

Well the doctors appointment was the same old thing, weigh in, measure height and the usual check up.  I must say that I love my daughters doctor, he’s talks “do what you think is best for your baby and don’t listen to what people TELL you you should be doing… you know your baby best and she WILL tell you what she wants and when she wants it” kind of talk.  Very laid back and seems to work with my parenting and my hubby’s, although my hubby hates how laid back I tend to be at times. 

With that being said, her doctor said what your having for dinner blend it up and give it to your daughter for dinner.  Really, in my opinion it just makes sense!  She’s been introduced to all single foods already with no reaction other than not liking it or loving it, typical baby reactions.  So far she’s loving most of our dinners, the ones she doesn’t like I don’t blame her they taste awful blended.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post I am making my own baby food but… I did purchase some jarred baby food.  I did this to see if my daughter would eat them for those just in case times, of course that’d be rare to happen but you just never know.  She loves the fruit but hates everything else.  The mixed foods are so bland, they just taste awful so I can’t imagine how my daughter feels about them.  A big part of me is happy that she doesn’t like them but a small part of me thinks well what happens for those just in case moments.  Well, now with the information from the doctor she can just eat what we’re having… sigh of relief (also has helped to ease up on the food preparations for the baby food).

One big thing that the doctor mentioned, lower the crib to the lowest setting.  Definitely makes sense, babies are getting to those milestones where you just don’t know what they’ll do next.  A few days before her appointment she did try to pull herself up in her crib and was almost successful, that was my cue to lower it.  I think this is very important as babies are starting to become very unpredictable.  The doctor said it best, “your baby’s biggest danger to her is herself…” and it makes a lot of sense!

I’m looking forward to the many milestones ahead, and am grateful for such a great Paediatrician.  Hope your doctor gave you some good information that is helpful to you as mine did! 

Simply Homemade

I love cooking and maybe that is one of the many reasons I have chosen to make my daughters baby food.  I’ve heard of so many friends that making baby food is a long and hard process also that jarred baby food is quick.  One thing they got right is that its quick – you open the jar and heat.  Homemade baby food is almost just as simple… ALMOST. 

Like I said I do enjoy cooking, which could help to factor in why I feel homemade baby food isn’t a long and hard process.  I did buy some of the baby cereals and mainly because of they are iron-fortified, have a doctors appointment for my daughter for her six (6) month and will ask the paediatrician about homemade cereals and if I will need to add an iron supplement to it. 

Sweet potato was very simple, wrap in aluminum foil bake at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit until you can poke a fork through with ease.  Blend with a blender, baby food processor or whatever you have… I have a Braun Hand Blender and a Magic Bullet at home and love them both for these purposes to puree her food.  Puree until soft with no lumps and add a little bit of water or breastmilk/formula to make for a more liquid consistency (this is baby dependant).  Separate the food into small containers or ice cube trays and either freeze or keep in the fridge if you plan to use it up within about three (3) days. 

Pureed Pears was very easy, I chopped up the pear (cored and peeled, you can also peel after cooking) to make for a faster cook time.  In a small sauce pan, I added a little bit of water to cover the bottom and added the pears, cooked on a medium/high heat until soft throughout.  Puree with the same methods as the sweet potato. 

I suppose if your not much of a cook making homemade baby food would be a chore, but I do suggest to try it out and see how it goes.  You just never know you may find it easy and its always nice to know what exactly is going into your baby’s food, plus to boot you’ll save some money in the long run.  Check out this site Wholesome Baby Food for a Cost Break Down, gives you an idea of costs if you care to know.  Also, its a great site for other information re: homemade baby food. 

From my experience, I won’t be buying store bought jarred baby food, of course there are some exceptions – traveling with no access to a kitchen to just name one.  But so far I’m enjoying it, and there may be a few that I would like to try because maybe a fruit isn’t in season or something…  I was looking at some of the jarred food today at the store and I felt that there was a lot of limitations in regards to what is available.  The possibilities are endless when it comes to making your own food for your baby.  I will continue to update this topic as this is just the beginning for me!  I look forward to sharing more.

Did you try to make your own baby food? If you did what did you think? Would you go to buying store bought? Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

Starting Solids

The day has come and gone now!  My daughter has started feeding on solid foods.  I was hoping to wait until she was about five and a half months because she was getting to the point of “not completely satisfied” like she used to be just on her formula.  She was getting to the point that when she saw us eating she would get mad, so the other day I told my hubby that I don’t think we can wait.

She was definitely ready for starting solids.  She ate about a tablespoon of Rice Cereal with no problems and seemed to love it!  She took to her food as if she’s been eating like this from since she was born.  I was, for about a few weeks, putting a little bit of her formula on her spoon to see how she would take it.  She always gave me this look like “Hey, this is the same stuff from my bottle!”.  At first she spat out the formula and eventually started swallowing the formula, she was exercising her muscles to change the way she eats.  I do feel this helped her, I will never know if it did or didn’t but I like to think it helped with the introduction to the solids. 

I bought iron-fortified rice cereal to start to see how she would take the solids but my intent is to make all her food.  For me and my family we very rarely eat ready made food, we eat and cook at home pretty much all the time.  So with that in mind I wanted to make her her food as we do our own.  I googled homemade baby food and found some great and very easy recipes, for baby cereals as well as other foods.  I also purchased this book called Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes it has some great ideas and good tips for feeding as well as recipes!

The beginning stage foods are very simple to make as well as the later stage foods and not as time consuming as one would think.  My main concern about store bought baby food is that I don’t know what is in it compared to homemade food; I know exactly what’s going in and feel like there’s a bit more control with what she’s ingesting. 

I just started my daughter on solids the other day so I will be adding updates to the site.  So far all is well with her and she’s enjoying every mouthful.  Next up, I’ll be feeding her homemade Oatmeal cereal and I’m hopeful that she’ll enjoy it as much as the rice cereal.  The starting of her solid feeding has come just in time for Easter dinner, traditionally my family has a turkey dinner and one of the vegetables will be sweet potato.  I will be setting some aside for her to make sure they remain plain – no adding butter, sugar or whatever else can be added to them.  First veggie to come on the weekend! Looking forward to seeing how much she loves or hates it!

How was your first time with introducing solids to your little one? What was their first food? What’s your preference – homemade baby food or store bought baby food and why?  I look forward to hearing your comments and emails! Happy feeding!