Once little Emma hit her six month birthday I knew it was time to start the messy task of introducing her to solid foods. There are a lot of different “rules” when it comes to feeding your kids but personally, I rely on instinct. I’ve always started my children on foods when I knew it was the right time. If you really pay attention, babies will start giving subtle and a few not-so-subtle hints that they are ready to join the family table.
Some hints Emma has been showing us..
- sits up unsupported
- she doesn’t thrust food back out of her mouth with her tongue reflex
- her first tooth is well on it’s way through her gums
- stares at our dinner plates like she hasn’t eaten in ohhh say 6 months
- just grabs food right out of my hands
Yep, it’s time. The days of cereal and formula are gone, this girl is hungry for something real. We’ve been going through the motions as most moms do. Try a food for a week, try a new one the next week until you’ve gone through them all to make sure there are no food allergies. Test passed.
Now that we know she isn’t allergic to the basics we can finally go onto some new foods and have a little fun in the process. One thing I love about this stage is home made baby food. Sure the jarred foods are convenient, but there’s nothing better than the taste of fresh steamed carrots, no preservatives, no additives, just pure carrot goodness.
I first started making home made baby food when our daughter Kaydence was about 8 months old. At first I was a little scared and full of questions. How do I cook the food? How do I store it? What tools do I need? All of my questions plus more were answered at WholesomeBabyFood.com. This was my first and last resource! I still have a little binder with recipes I’ve printed in the past from there and will be putting them to good use over the new few months.
Did you strictly use jarred food or make your own baby food at home?
I make all my sons baby food. He is 6 months too and so far has had peaches, bananas, avocados, and pears! I think peaches are his favorite! :)
I love the idea of making my own food for the baby, but I tend to buy jars of already prepared baby food. I’ll be checking out the link you gave though.
My little nine month old started on solids about 3 months ago, and he took to his really well! He loves food so much that he rarely even makes a mess!
Cat,
Emma just keeps growing (sigh). I fed River jarred baby food, Lily went from the breast straight to the table (table food), and Canyon ate all of the homemade baby food I could make. I enjoyed making the baby food and was able to use fresh fruits and vegetables because of where we lived, so he had a variety of foods to choose from. I can’t tell you what it did for our budget (saved so much money) and I also eventually started introducing Canyon to natural seasonings.
I thought it was funny when my baby also started looking at our plates of food as if he’d never been fed as well as the food grabbing. Rude never entered my mind.
I made all my sons baby food and it was so easy and convenient.
I love the baby food face. Those pictures are priceless and good to hold hostage when she gets older.
She is adorable :) I was making most of my daughters baby food!
we have used both homemade and store bought baby food I loved how they learned how to eat in slow gradual steps
I made all her food..still do really. My Dr. said that it was important to give them a variety of food and that was a challenage for me. I didn’t know what was in season when or how to decide if it was good plus searching for a decent ____ takes time and she wasn’t one for hanging out in the grocery store. I found getting a produce box delivered was a great way to make sure we were all getting exposed to more then just carrots and peas. Another thing one of my friends did was buy into a farm share.
LOL I had to make about six batches of different teething biscuits until I found one she like and I could make well.
Love the messy baby face :)
I bet she’s happy that she can finally eat ‘real’ food. Lol
I just started my 6th month old twins on rice cereal and oatmeal and veggies are next. I plan to make baby food too.
With my oldest and youngest I used jarred baby food. But with my son I made our own because he was on a special diet due to health reasons. I always felt better about making it but with our last one I didn’t because I….got lazy! lol
So cute…My son often used to turn down the food which he took on a regular basis.I was worried about his eating habits but through one of the resource I learned to develop a healthy eating pattern in my kid.http://www.habitchanger.com/feedingyourkids/
i used mostly jarred food with my babies.
I only used jarred foods. Isn’t is fun teaching babies how to eat from a spoon. It’s definitely a no clothes task. lol
Thanks for the link! I’ve been wanting to make homemade, so it’ll be a great resource.
I think subscribing to a farm or getting a produce box delivered is a great way to get variety. I do that and try new things all the time. Plus it often has stuff you can’t get in my local grocery store.