Making homemade baby food, my first attempt and some tips I learned

When Baby H turned 6 months old, I decided to start solid foods by making some of my own homemade baby food. I had a few samples and a few jars we bought at the store, but I also thought why not make some myself?

Trying to avoid encouraging a sweet tooth, I decided veggies would be better than fruit to start out with. I started with one sweet potato and some large carrots – figuring those were good and simple vegetables to puree for the little guy.

I decided to start with one solid food meal a day for now, and we will increase it later. For the time being, I feed him the puree when I get home from work as his “dinner” before I eat mine and nurse him.

Making sweet potato puree:

The sweet potato I cooked on a baking dish for about an hour at 400 degrees. I started at 45 minutes based on a recipe I found online, but it was still too hard so I left it in a little longer.

Then I scooped the potato part away from the peel and tossed it in the blender. I added some water and pureed, adding more water until I got the consistency I wanted. This ended up making enough for 4-5 meals.

If you’re friends with me on Facebook, I shared a photo of Baby H licking his bib after his first-time eating sweet potatoes. I think they’re a hit!

Making carrot puree:

I boiled water in a pot and sliced up the carrots to cook. I cooked for a while, checking the carrots until they were soft and a knife sliced through easily. Then I mashed them before putting them in the blender on the puree setting.

I ended up making way more carrot puree than I anticipated, and I had to puree in batches with a few scoops of carrot mush and water. I combined everything in a bigger bowl, then decided to use some of my extra breastmilk storage bottles to store the carrot puree.

That pic above shows the containers of carrot puree that I froze. One of those bottles provides about 3 meals for him so I just thaw it when ready and refrigerate leftovers until gone.

In addition to the food I made, a lady from my breastfeeding support group was giving away some of the extra baby food she made since she will be out of town much of the summer and didn’t want it to go bad. I was happy to help her out, so now we have so many different flavors and options.

When all that runs out I’ll make some more of my own, maybe switching it up to avocado, green beans, and squash. Just from talking to others making baby food I learned a few tips I plan on using next time I make a batch.

Tips for making homemade baby food:

• Freeze the puree in ice cube trays, then transfer to freezer bags – this makes an easy 1 oz serving to thaw at a time.
• Don’t add salt or sugar, but do mix flavors together.
• If the frozen baby food is too thick, dilute it after thawing with some water, breast milk, or formula before serving.
• Warm the food up in the microwave for about 10 seconds and stir to get rid of hot spots. Test before feeding.

 

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Do you have any tips to share? What foods did you pick for starting solids?