It’s an exciting time once your baby is 4-6 months old and you start to introduce solid foods. It’s fun to watch their expression as they try new foods and you get to see what their tastes are like.
It’s also an important time to start establishing good eating habits. The more you can reinforce a variety of fruits and vegetables, the more diverse their palate will be and the more they will enjoy those healthier foods later on.
Why Make Your Own Baby Food?
So as a busy mom you may have read that title and thought,
“Why should I go through the hassle of making my own baby food when it’s so easy to just buy it at the store?”
There are two very convincing arguments for making your own baby food, despite the hassle and time it may take.
First, making your own baby food is so much more cost effective than buying it. You almost always save money when buying in bulk and when you make your own food, you can buy bulk ingredients and use them for a variety of different baby food recipes.
Second, if you’re anything like me, you want to feed your family healthy, all-natural foods that haven’t been modified or chemically processed. When you make your own food, you know exactly where it’s coming from and it makes it way easier to make organic foods for your baby. If you’ve got a green thumb and can keep plants alive (not me, thank goodness for my husband’s gardening abilities…) you can save even more by growing your own fruits and vegetables to use for baby food and you know even better where the food is coming from and exactly how it’s processed.
Getting Started Making Baby Food
There are some important things to consider when making your own baby food, and starting your child on solid foods altogether.
Start With The Basics
As any pediatrician will tell you, you can’t start out by giving your baby table food and expect everything to go well. Remember that your child has never experienced any food other than the milk or formula you’ve given them, so you have no idea how they will process new foods or whether they have any allergies.
The best plan of action is to start with the basics. Start with adding cereal to your baby’s milk or formula to get them used to processing something solid in their stomach. After you transition to cereal, you will start to try other new foods.
Our pediatrician told us to introduce one new food no sooner than every 3 days to give their body a chance to process it and to give you a chance to monitor how they handle the new food and make sure they don’t have any allergies or sensitivities to it. This is extremely important with allergies because if they do have a reaction, you know exactly what the new food was and you can eliminate it from their diet and avoid accidentally giving it to them again.
Our pediatrician also suggested that we alternate introducing fruits and vegetables. In other words, one day we would give our son carrots for the first time and 3 days later we would introduce apples, and 3 days later, peas. Mixing up fruits and vegetables is supposed to keep them from developing a sweet tooth or from only wanting to eat one or the other.
Beware of Common Allergies and Gas-Inducing Foods
When it comes to allergies, you never really know if something your baby eats is going to cause a reaction until you test it. But there are some foods that are known to be common allergies among many people, as well as other foods that tend to cause gas and can create issues for your baby as well.
Common Allergies:
- Eggs
- Milk
- Wheat
- Soy
- Tree nuts
- Fish
- Shellfish
These are some of the most common food allergies and you should be prepared to monitor them closely when giving them to your child for the first time.
Gas-Inducing Foods:
- Beans
- Dairy
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Onions
- Fruit Juice
On the other hand, these foods may not cause allergic reactions, but they can cause gas and discomfort in your baby and you should still monitor their reaction in order to plan for the future.
Plan Your Storage Method
Another consideration for making baby food is how you will store it once it’s made. Many people like to make huge batches and freeze it to help it stay fresh longer.
- Ice Cube Trays – Ice cube trays are one of the most inexpensive ways to store baby food because you can purchase them for a dollar or less and reuse them over and over. Just puree whatever food you’re making and pour it into the ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen, you can seal them in ziploc bags or vacuum seal them for even better preservation.
- Plastic Baby Food Containers – Other people like to use baby food containers to store their food. There are tons of tiny containers on the market that hold 4 oz. or less of baby food and they usually have specially designed lids with a rubber seal to preserve the food. Make sure you get containers that can be frozen or refrigerated to maximize your usage, and I would recommend dishwasher safe containers to help with clean up.
- Glass Jars – Some people like to save old baby food jars and reuse them. After all, it’s both cost effective and some people just don’t like to store food in plastic. However, if you’re reusing old jars, make absolutely sure that you thoroughly wash them and sanitize them before using them. You wouldn’t want to spend the time to make a bunch of baby food only to not be able to use it.
10 Baby Food Recipes You Can Make Yourself
Once your baby is old enough, and has experienced enough baby food, you can start combining different flavors to create more diverse food. Here are some great combinations your baby is sure to love!