Handsocks Mama Blog: Preparing Baby Food for 1st Time Moms!
Hadsocks Mamas!
Let’s talk food! Are we team purées, Baby LED Weaning, or a happy medium of both? And if you’re all about purées- did you buy the pre-made jars or did you put your chef hat on and get to work in the kitchen?
Being a first-time momma, who loves to cook, I decided with baby boy I was going to make all his food. Boy! Was that a huge task to take on! Although I never regretted it, I wonder if I’ll do the same for my second babe.
More on Handsocks Blog: Easy Meal Time: 2 fast finger foods
Once baby turned 6 months, Sundays were dedicated to baby food. My kitchen literally turned into a Gerber baby food factory. It was rewarding and oh so satisfying, especially after seeing baby gobble it down, but BOY was it exhausting. By 4 pm on Sunday, I was POOPED!
Breakfast, lunch, dinner & 3 snacks a day. That was A LOT of work. But don’t get me wrong, I loved making my baby his food, knowing exactly what was in it & can I tell you- it’s soo MUCH cheaper than buying the prepared baby food.
But I noticed as month 7 & 8 rolled around I was giving him more and more table food and he was loving it. Still loving his purées too but it got me thinking... “Hey, I can probably scale back on the baby food factory if he’s eating what we’re eating”. By month 10 I had stopped making baby food altogether and baby ate exactly what we ate; breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I can honestly say it is so nice to have my Sundays back to do whatever I want and not be stuck in the baby food factory!
But I wonder with next baby will I just try full on BLW?? I’m leaning more towards yes. Mainly because with the 2nd baby I’ll also have a toddler to run after. Not sure how much energy I’ll have to dedicate an entire day, every week, to make him/her food.
What about you guys? What did you do? Store bought baby food? Homemade purées? Baby Led Weaning? Whatever you do- FED IS BEST!
Handsocks Momma,
XO #mamachante
P.S.
My baby food recipe:
I just chopped the fruit or vegetable up into large chunks and either steamed/baked it. Then threw it into my ninja food processor with either chicken stock (for veggies) or water (for fruits) & blended it up! I started out with adding breastmilk but only did that for about 2 weeks!
P.P.S.
Baby Led Weaning is a HUGE thing now a days. It’s where you don’t give your baby any puréed food. Starting around 6 months you give them what you eat for every meal. Doesn’t matter if they have teeth or not. It’s supposed to make your life easier and help you raise a NOT picky eater. It also teaches them fine motor skills because they feed themselves 100%. There are moms out there who are scared to do it, including myself, because gagging is a big part of BLW. It’s to teach the babies to chew and how to help themselves if they were to swallow too big of a piece. I just always gave Ro really small pieces and he did gag a few times, which scared me at first, but he got the hang of it very quickly.....&& now this kid eats ANYTHING you put in front of him. Friday night he was eating steak, onions and peppers. Not many people can say that if there 10month old.
There’s sooo much information out there on BLW. Just type it into google and you’ll find soo much! Hope this helps!