Masterchef baby!

[kemdupuis]

This is a great idea! I don't have any to share YET... but, I just ordered two baby food "cookbooks" on Amazon yesterday, so I should have some recipes to share then!

[mrsmonogrammed]

@hazeldublin you are stealing the show!

Uh, I pureed some sweet potatoes......

[griffindor24]

You ladies are all master chefs for your babies! I'm impressed. My version of making baby food is pureeing fruits and veggies and sometimes mixing them together (if I'm feeling fancy).

[carolyngrace]

Hope it's ok if I put food thoughts/questions here?

We went from purees to feeding DB whatever we're eating really quickly. So for example this morning he had scrambled eggs (made with a little cream and cheese), avocado, toast, and pears. He's also had lasagna, stir fry (minus the soy sauce, because sodium), etc...

Question 1: Is there anything other than honey I can't give until after 1 year old?
Question 2: As long as he's nursing before eating, and seems to be nursing relatively the same amount as before, is it ok to let him eat as much as he wants?

[carolyngrace]

@hazeldublin, Your recipes look awesome, and that pic is ADORBS, but all I can think is:

[belle0720]

carolyngrace We're doing baby led weaning so we're pretty much giving LO whatever we're eating (not like French Fries and cookies of course). I generally nurse her before and then let her eat whatever she wants until she loses interest. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes she'll barely touch it. And we give her water from a sippy cup during meals too. I haven't noticed any change in how often she's nursing either.

I think honey is the only major no-no unless you have a history of other food allergies in your families. We haven't done any sort of fish yet or nut butters but we will eventually and I'll just be extra vigilant watching her for any reactions (neither us or our any of our family members have food allergies).

[missjenniebean]

We should totally pin this for a little while so it doesn't get buried!

[carolyngrace]

belle0720, Thanks! I also haven't done PB or fish yet, just because it hasn't come up. But I will be more cautious when I do.

@hazeldublin, I'm curious, why wouldn't you do cream? Dairy in general is ok right? (yogurt, etc)

michyme123, You've got one with a big appetite too Yeah I think he'd eat all day long if I let him!

[missjenniebean]

We do baby lead weaning, kind of, as well. She actively wants whatever we are eating and has eaten a lot of what we eat - in moderation of course. She eats like a queen at daycare and they are shocked she wants it. Luckily, she'll still eat purée as well. But she'd much rather have the finger foods, so this is a great board!

[purple]

My question may seem slightly odd, but how on earth do any of you get your babies to let you feed them? We always intended to do a combination of BLW and some purées but she has never allowed either of us to put a spoon in her mouth. She puts a spoon or a fork in her own mouth but acts as though she's under extreme torture if we try.

[missjenniebean]

Jan 25, 2016 12:32:08 GMT -5 purple said:

My question may seem slightly odd, but how on earth do any of you get your babies to let you feed them? We always intended to do a combination of BLW and some purées but she has never allowed either of us to put a spoon in her mouth. She puts a spoon or a fork in her own mouth but acts as though she's under extreme torture if we try.

I'm sorry I love tit, but realize that made LOL bc I always wondered if there were babies like that! I can't get v to put food on the spoon THEN put it in her mouth. Just goes straight for the mouth.

[txngrl31]

Love this thread! I agree with @hazeldublin, making the purees seem like a lot but it really isn't. I usually buy extra beef, chicken and whatever veggies we are having that week. I've been making my purees more chunkier and adding finger foods. im def going to try pasta and spaghetti sauce this week! I'm sure it's going to be all over her haha.

Chicken Soup Purée: boil chicken; chop and steam onions, celery and carrots; chop cooked chicken; throw it all in the blender and add chicken broth.

Beef Broccoli Purée: brown rice, broccoli, ground beef, beef broth

Baby Version of Shepherds Pie: Beef, Peas, Carrots, Sweet Potato and beef broth

Chicken and Veggies: Chicken, carrots and sweet potatoes, green beans, onions, chicken broth

Veggie Medley: Zucchini, Squash, broccoli, peas, carrots ( basically all of the veggies I have) and water

I even do brown rice with veggie mixes.

[jillywilly]

Jan 25, 2016 12:32:08 GMT -5 purple said:

My question may seem slightly odd, but how on earth do any of you get your babies to let you feed them? We always intended to do a combination of BLW and some purées but she has never allowed either of us to put a spoon in her mouth. She puts a spoon or a fork in her own mouth but acts as though she's under extreme torture if we try.

DS is like this, but getting better. We've found that making our own baby food, so it tastes better and has more flavor than the jarred stuff you buy helps. We also don't puree things down to a super watery consistency, we keep it a little chunkier, and he likes that. Of course, sometimes he still just takes a few bites off the spoon for us and then refuses to go on unless he can feed himself, so we just try to roll with whatever he wants that day, and as time goes on, he seems to be doing better with all forms of food!

[jillywilly]

Tonight DS is getting chicken and apples - basically 1 chicken breast, 1 apple, 1 sweet potato, baby carrots, and Italian herbs cooked in chicken broth and blended to whatever consistency. This makes probably 15-ish 1 oz cubes to freeze.

He also likes his "baby mashed potatos" - sweet potato, regular potato, peas, and baby spinach, cooked together, then add a touch of whole milk and some cheese before blending together.

[Bluedaisy]

@hazeldublin, and carolyngrace, here (Canada) the recommendation is anything but honey after six months. Honey after a year and homo milk to drink after a cup has been introduced. No skim milk until after two or three becuase it's not high enough in fat.

No warnings for other dairy (yogurt, cheese, etc) other than to make sure and wait a few days between because it might upset their tummy more than most foods.

[erbear]

So, if I want to start giving LO some pieces of veggies or fruits, how do I do this? I gave her some tiny cubes of avocado last week and she LOVED it. Her pincher grip is really good. She has no teeth, but mashes puffs and yogurt melts and mum mums well.

She's basically drinking purees, so she's showing me she's ready to move on to chunkier things imo. H is very very skeptical about giving her anything with texture other than avocado (he wasn't happy about me giving her chunks though) or a thicker purée I made (like green beans).

Also, what about strawberries? I know you're supposed to proceed with caution.

[jillywilly]

Jan 25, 2016 14:25:07 GMT -5 erbear said:

So, if I want to start giving LO some pieces of veggies or fruits, how do I do this? I gave her some tiny cubes of avocado last week and she LOVED it. Her pincher grip is really good. She has no teeth, but mashes puffs and yogurt melts and mum mums well.

She's basically drinking purees, so she's showing me she's ready to move on to chunkier things imo. H is very very skeptical about giving her anything with texture other than avocado (he wasn't happy about me giving her chunks though) or a thicker purée I made (like green beans).

Also, what about strawberries? I know you're supposed to proceed with caution.

DS just got his first tooth over the weekend, but hates being spoon fed most of the time, so we've been letting him do finger foods mixed in for a while. For things like veggies (broccoli is a favorite), I'll take out ours a little earlier, and cook his extra long to make sure it's nice and soft. Then I just cut it up small and put it on his high chair tray and let him go to town. It started off in a huge mess, but he's getting really good at actually getting the food into his mouth.

[erbear]

So...if I cut a banana into circles and then cut that circle in fourths, like that? Do you try plain toast? She liked gumming pizza crust the other night; toast would be easy to try.

I feel so dumb over this.

[tiffbot]

Jan 25, 2016 14:35:47 GMT -5 erbear said:

So...if I cut a banana into circles and then cut that circle in fourths, like that? Do you try plain toast? She liked gumming pizza crust the other night; toast would be easy to try.

I feel so dumb over this.

Generally I cut bananas into 'sticks' for her. And I do toast with a little peanut butter on it, also cut in strips. It depends what you are comfortable with of course.

[carolyngrace]

erbear, With bananas I mashed them the first few times, but just left it pretty chunky (not pureed). I spoon fed that a couple of times, and would also put little bits on the tray for him to try out.

Pears were one of my other first fruits. I would cut off the sides and just leave enough on the core for him to gum on. (once they were super ripe and juicy).

If the fruit is a bit firmer I cut it up into tiny pieces and spoon feed. Did that with a mango last night. Because I feel more worried he'll choke on a big piece. With soft juicy fruit it seems more likely to slide right down his throat!

[erbear]

carolyngrace, was it the free mango from GE? I gave her a few small pieces that were musher when I got mine and pureed it the other day. H was again terrified over me giving it to her. She handled it well!

She LOVES pears. I might need to go get some to try Thursday. I think I'll try some plain toast tomorrow, too.

[mbjune13]

I have no recipes as we use store bought purée with a mix of stuff off our plates. I am going to try the stew recipe tomorrow!
Question: would you give wild meat, like moose, if that's what you were making?

[purple]

Jan 25, 2016 12:52:14 GMT -5 jillywilly said:

Jan 25, 2016 12:32:08 GMT -5 purple said:

My question may seem slightly odd, but how on earth do any of you get your babies to let you feed them? We always intended to do a combination of BLW and some purées but she has never allowed either of us to put a spoon in her mouth. She puts a spoon or a fork in her own mouth but acts as though she's under extreme torture if we try.

DS is like this, but getting better. We've found that making our own baby food, so it tastes better and has more flavor than the jarred stuff you buy helps. We also don't puree things down to a super watery consistency, we keep it a little chunkier, and he likes that. Of course, sometimes he still just takes a few bites off the spoon for us and then refuses to go on unless he can feed himself, so we just try to roll with whatever he wants that day, and as time goes on, he seems to be doing better with all forms of food!

She's never been offered jarred baby food and probably never will :-) We can load a spoon for her and she'll take it and eat what's on it, but it's very slow. Oh well, like your little one, she's getting better at food every day, and feeding herself is the ultimate goal! Maybe I just need to let go of this :-)

[purple]

Jan 25, 2016 15:02:45 GMT -5 madymoiselle said:

Jan 25, 2016 14:35:47 GMT -5 erbear said:

So...if I cut a banana into circles and then cut that circle in fourths, like that? Do you try plain toast? She liked gumming pizza crust the other night; toast would be easy to try.

I feel so dumb over this.

This is me, feeling very dumb too. I am super scared to introduce finger foods but she drinks purees so I think she is ready for a bit more texture. She is doing fine with mum mums but choked on a puff yesterday and vomited a bit. Not helping with my paranoia of solid food

Did she actually choke or did she just gag? I definitely don't want to play down how scary it was, but gagging isn't dangerous and is actually an important part of learning to eat. L still gags if she's really enjoying her food and eats too fast, but she hasn't choked at all. If your little one coughed and pushed the food back out, that's gagging. Tiny babies have a gag reflex that's very far forward in their mouths and it prevents them swallowing anything other than milk. The gag reflex moves back as the child gets older.

Choking is silent and dangerous, and much less common than gagging - because gagging stops a lot of things getting far enough to cause choking!

TL ; DR Gagging is good, choking is bad, and it might help the paranoia if you can tell the difference.

[ashbash]

Purees
- mashed up avocado and mango
- pumpkin and apple
- beets and apple

Finger food
- boil tofu, baby carrots and red pepper strips in coconut milk
- avocado toast strips
- almond flour crepes with but butter, hummus or applesauce
- orange slices
- pear or mango slices
- cubed potato and peas boiled in chicken broth
- veggie meatballs (cook beans, quinoa, carrots, peas and basically whatever veggie you want pulse until chunky form into balls and bake)

I also add spices to most purees like cinnamon to apples, ginger to pears, nutmeg to sweet potatoes, rosemary to potatoes etc)

I also love the Dr Pragers brand of veggie patties. They are frozen and so easy to pop in the microwave, DS will inhale a while one

[erbear]

So, do you keep the tops on broccoli? Or just the stems?

[purple]

Jan 25, 2016 16:26:31 GMT -5 erbear said:

So, do you keep the tops on broccoli? Or just the stems?

L holds the stem and eats the top - the umbrelliferous bit. Broccoli is her favourite vegetable so far.

[Deleted]

Jan 25, 2016 12:32:08 GMT -5 purple said:

My question may seem slightly odd, but how on earth do any of you get your babies to let you feed them? We always intended to do a combination of BLW and some purées but she has never allowed either of us to put a spoon in her mouth. She puts a spoon or a fork in her own mouth but acts as though she's under extreme torture if we try.

Sometimes it works better if you give them their own spoon to hold and then you feed them with a separate spoon that way they are kind of distracted. Have you tried that?

[purple]

Jan 25, 2016 16:50:52 GMT -5 madymoiselle said:

Jan 25, 2016 15:56:24 GMT -5 purple said:

Did she actually choke or did she just gag? I definitely don't want to play down how scary it was, but gagging isn't dangerous and is actually an important part of learning to eat. L still gags if she's really enjoying her food and eats too fast, but she hasn't choked at all. If your little one coughed and pushed the food back out, that's gagging. Tiny babies have a gag reflex that's very far forward in their mouths and it prevents them swallowing anything other than milk. The gag reflex moves back as the child gets older.

Choking is silent and dangerous, and much less common than gagging - because gagging stops a lot of things getting far enough to cause choking!

TL ; DR Gagging is good, choking is bad, and it might help the paranoia if you can tell the difference.

No she choked, she became red and I taped on her back holding her head and she vomited a bit. She basically took the puff and swallowed it immediately like she does with purees.. So i guess it got stuck and then dissolved itself in her throat! Needless to say no more puffs for her for a little bit

I like the steamed carrot strings idea or other long cooked veggies/fruits, too big to swallow in one piece. Maybe i'll do that and get back to puffs once she is used to it.

Thank you for your advice everyone, we will get there before she is 18... Maybe

That does sound scary :-( Good luck. You will get there!

[ashbash]

Jan 25, 2016 16:41:44 GMT -5 @hazeldublin said:

ashbash the veggie meatballs look great, I'm going to try them. Does your DD eat those too? It would be so handy to give my two the same.

Yes! A toddler favorite for sure

I forgot to add our usual breakfast scrambled eggs, pancakes and yogurt

The pancakes are 2 eggs, one mashed banana, dash of cinnamon and vanilla, cook on a griddle silver dollar size