More on making my own baby food

The method

I'm quite the obsessive when it comes to baby food (I only realised this after speaking to other mothers) so I wrote down the 5 yellow veggies (pumpkin, butternut, sweet potato, carrots and gem squash) and did a little table in the front of their notebook.

I then mark off when each child has successfully had 4 days of that vegetable.

To date, they are both okay with all 5.

Kendra seems to like carrots the most and Connor favours butternut and gem squash.

I don't take nonsense from them though; they both need to eat everything whether they like it or not. I don't force feed but I do a whole song and dance (literally) because I am not going to be cooking 3 different meals when they can eat our food. No way!

And so far, they eat everything - they gobble their favourites faster than the rest but they eat everything.

I've just started introducing green veggies this week - I mixed broccoli and butternut which was a hit with both kids.

Tried peas with Connor on Monday and he HATED them (don't blame him, actually, I don't eat peas either).

Once we knew that they were okay with a particular veg, I started mixing up two of a particular yellow veg, all the time keeping careful notes, like carrots and sweet potato, gem squash and carrots, etc.

* By the way, be warned that carrots will stain your lovely baby utensils horribly.


How we cook and puree the veggies

Viola peels and cooks the vegetables for me while I'm at work. We boil them in a pot with a bit of water, just enough until soft (to retain nutrients).

I then use a stick blender to puree the veggies. I find that I have to add about 60 ml cool, boiled water (about 2 oz) to about 500 g veggies (half a pound). Start there and adjust the water as necessary. Otherwise it seems as if the veggies are too solid and they're more likely to choke.

You'll have to add a lot more water in the beginning when they first start having veggies. As I mentioned before, the paed said to not go too fine for too long otherwise they'll gag if there's the slightest lumps in food afterwards. Again, not having that kind of fussiness.

The easiest way to cook gemsquash

• Stab the hard outer skin about 5 - 6 times with a sharp knife, preferably after you're stressed, so you really get out your frustrations.
• Place in a plastic bag (we use old bread bags) and microwave on high for about 5 - 7 minutes (that's for 3 medium-sized gems).
• Once cooked and cooled, slice open, scoop out the pips, add a tiny bit of water and mash with a spoon or fork.

Another of my quirks - I LOVE the smell of cooked gemsquash but also don't eat it.

Sidenote - Kendra is eating BEAUTIFULLY these days. Kendra! I never would have believed it.

She is such a little girl, all dainty and neat and even opens her mouth when she's finished a bite. Too cute! Basically she's as clean at the end as when we start feeding whereas Connor is such a messy boy (I love it!). I took a photo this week of the butternut ALL over his face. Will blog.

Cooking the fruit

We do it in much the same way as the veggies - peel, boil in a tiny bit of water, puree. So far we've only given Connor apples, pears and bananas. Kendra started on bananas this week.

Bananas are easy as you just mash, no cooking, so they're also my fruit of choice if we're out. When avocado pears go on special, I'll be trying those too. Someone at work told me to also give them mangoes and papaya - yummy!

I don't like them to have a lot of fruit as it's sweet, so they both only get about 50 - 60 g (I can't remember - made a gigantic load about two weeks ago and we're still going through all that) plus two heaped tablespoons plain yoghurt. Again, I don't want them getting used to sweet things.

Yes, I will be one of those "no sweets or chocolates for my kids" mothers.


Storing it

I happen to have a storage container obsession and had quite a bit of these small plastic containers lying around, all brand new and unused and perfect for the babies' food.

Kendra is eating a lot more than when I first posted so she now also gets the big containers.

Kendra started with about 50 g food (I am precise - I use a kitchen scale and weigh everything - it makes it easier for me as I'm a black and white sort of person) and is now eating 70g. Connor has 100 g.

I started small (even with Connor) because I hate wasting food. If they polished it off and still seemed hungry then I increased the portion gradually until they look happy.

The babies "tell" you when they're done eating by trying to escape the spoon.

* A word of advice - label your food. After it's all frozen, the food all looks the same. I use masking tape and a permanent marker. Masking tape is cheap, lasts forever and peels off easily when you need to re-label the containers.


Defrosting

In the evening while preparing/ heating supper, I make up their bottles for the night and the next morning's first one so there isn't a big rush if V is a bit late. I can't STAND a baby screaming for food.

That's when I take out the frozen food portions for each baby for the next day and put into the fridge to defrost overnight.


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I think that's it!

Please ask questions in the comments and I'll keep editing until I answer all questions :)

Also, to the others who make their own baby food (Heather, Saffy, etc.) please share your tips!