Our first food was Sweet Potatoes (as recommended by our Pediatrician). We did a lot of research into the best way to prepare it and store it. Unfortunately, the starting costs can be quite a lot, but in the long run, it is much cheaper. I highly recommend getting a blender or food processor, if you do not already have one (if you do, bonus!!). While one specified for a baby is great (and I will tell you why), it is absolutely not necessary. If you feel motivated and strong, you probably can even mash it up by hand and then mix it with Breastmilk or Formula, but make sure that there are absolutely no chunks that the baby can choke on.
But, I am getting WAY ahead of myself. First of all, get something to puree the food. We actually got the Baby Bullet as a gift, and I love it. It is actually a common item on sales sites (like Facebook Marketplace) because of how short of a time it is used, so you may be able to get a good deal on one if you want it. It is also dishwasher safe (not the base!!), so able to be sanitized. We also have a blender, but there are three major reasons I love the Bullet. The first is that it can hold smaller amounts of food. It has two sizes that the blades can attach to, so if you are pureeing a small amount to try, you do not need to use a large blender for it that may or may not do well with small amounts. Bonus..... it is fast and easy to clean in the sink if doing multiple foods in a day (like we usually do). The second is that it comes with it's own containers that are 2 ounces each. There are 6 for the refrigerator (the plastic ones cannot be out in the freezer) and 1 rubber tray with 6 compartments for the freezer. While your LO will probably only be eating one ounce at a time in the beginning, it makes it easy to store and save it. Keep in mind that fresh baby food is good for about a week in the fridge. The third thing I love is that there are 2 different blades. One is for pureeing and the other is for grinding. So, if you are making something else for the baby, you can grind up things like oatmeal and spices to use and save more money. The only complaint I have is that when you are pureeing something large, like a pumpkin, you need to do it in batches, but it gives me a chance to take a break or pump more Breastmilk if I need it. Whatever way you choose, I am sure it will work perfectly.
The next step is deciding on a food to make. Our pediatrician likes first foods to be in the yellow/orange family. They said Sweet Potato, Carrots, Squash and Pumpkin (yes ,which technically is a squash) are all great first foods. They do not like starting with oatmeal or rice cereal because they have little nutrition and most babies hate it, so it can turn them off to food, but every Doctor is different. A lot of moms also like avocado as a first food, but it may or may not go well (our daughter HATES it!! We tried twice!). We chose sweet potato because it is simple and not a common allergy. We also bought Acorn Squash and Carrots to make and offer in case it did not go over well.
Both of us did way too much research and reading to figure out the best way to prepare the food. We found it very popular to steam the food in order to make it soft for pureeing, but read that baking it brings out the natural sweetness. That sounded like the best thing for us. Plus, we could put it all in the oven together and do something else while it all baked. We cut everything in half, pulled out the seeds from the squash, but it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for a half hour. The carrots finished quick, so we had to take them off and put it back in, but it gave us a head start on the pureeing. I had pumped earlier, so I had it ready to go, but you can also use formula to thin it out. The first ones we made very thin so it was easy for her to swallow and get used to. Almost a liquid. So we needed quite a bit of Breastmilk ready to go.
If you are using Breastmilk, it is best to use fresh. You have to keep track of how long it is in the fridge to make sure it does not go bad. Also, you cannot refreeze Breastmilk, so you cannot use any that has been defrosted and sitting out or in the fridge if you plan on freezing the food. If you are using formula, it is best to buy some liquid to use for this. There are mixed reviews on whether it is safe to freeze formula mixed from the powder and how long it is good in the fridge for. We had to use some with some of the squashes that were very dry (like Buttercup) because I could not pump anywhere near enough to make a good puree.
After making the puree ,we put enough in the fridge for a few days and froze the rest. We learned that ice cube trays are divided up into 1 ounce servings. That is perfect, since at this point she was only getting one ounce at a time and it allowed for us to mix however we wanted to in the future (which is a lot of fun, I must say. Babies will eat almost anything, lol). We filled each tray with puree and put it in the freezer for 24 hours, to make sure it fully froze since it is thicker that water. After that, it was easy to put in Ziploc bags that we labeled and dated, though we went through it much faster than the 3 months it is good for in there.
Each time we make food, we make it thicker and have learned she enjoys it a lot more when it is thick. Not she even enjoys some small chunks since she has 2 teeth. I like being able to make it the exact consistency that works for us, even if it is sometimes a little time consuming. But, we like to do a lot at once so it lasts us a few weeks (sometimes even a month). It lasted longer in the beginning, but at 6-8 ounces a day, we go through it a little faster now. I love picking out what she gets every night. I can pick 2 pumpkin, 1 pineapple and 1 blueberry and microwave it all together and she loves it! We have only had a few things (like that darn Avocado!) that she doesn't like, but when mixed with something she loves, she still eats it and it doesn't go to waste.
A tip.... DO NOT USE FROZEN FOOD!!!! It has to thaw completely to puree and even then, you still need to add a liquid to get it smooth. THEN it is too thin when you reheat it to even feed. We are adding iron fortified cereal to our purees now anyway (because I am a Vegetarian and we want to make sure she is getting enough iron), but we have to use no more than 1 ounce (of 4 we feed total at a time) of what we have from frozen fruit and mix in a lot of cereal to thicken it up. The veggies did a little better, but she did not like the taste as much and it was harder to get her to eat it. We thought that since frozen foods are more nutritious (since they are picked at their prime and frozen quickly vs the ones at the store that are usually picked before they are ripe and then ripen on the shelf) that it would be better for her, but it did not work well AT ALL!!!
We still use the Baby Bullet for making all her food, and the rubber freezer container because it is nice to be able to freeze some things 2 ounces at a time, but not so often the plastic ones for purees. We find them easier to use for other things like when we make her yogurt (no, not from scratch. We're not that crazy. We mix plain yogurt with our own fruit and veggies....yes veggies.....because she hates it plain, so we put it with what she likes.....Apples and Bananas!!!) and mashed foods that last a day or two, like bananas and potato.
I feel like this post may be a little scattered, but I hope it helped you get started with making your own baby food. It is work, but also fun. You get to choose what your baby eats and when. You can try new things whenever you like and pick from what is in season. And it is fun for the baby, too. They get to always try new things and get to have a little taste of what they are familiar with to slowly transition to this new way of eating (whether it be Breastmilk or Formula). Even if you choose the baby led weaning path, you may still offer some purees at some point or want to try the baking method of softening foods. There are so many different ways, so hopefully you learned something new no matter which route you decide to go with your LO.
And please. If you have learned anything along the way that other moms should know (tips, advise, etc.), share it below in the comments. It can save someone time, money, and most importantly frustration (like the frozen food).
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