-
@Pepper: lol rutabaga! I've never eaten one, but DS has gotten it in his pouches too! Haha
-
@lawbee11: I never made anything other than applesauce, which was really for myself, lol! I always squirted pouch purees onto spoons since that is how I want him to learn how to eat!
-
I did a mix . Stopped making them after awhile and refused to purée meat lol. Do whatever works.
-
Yeah, no desire to. I feel like I should, but...meh.
-
I did not make any baby food for DS. I just didn't have the time. DS eats Plums (before the recall), Happy Baby, and Ella's Kitchen. He still really likes the pouches so I continue to buy them.
-
I had no desire. We used Gerber.
-
I made food, my LO really HATED it. So, homemade food isn't for all babies. We had some luck with pouches, mostly Ella's and Plum organics (stocked up during sales and with coupons). But honestly, my LO preferred breast milk and what we were eating. So, be prepared that even though you might have certain plans, sometimes your LO has others.
-
We bought jarred! And plan on buying jarred again
-
Also, my DD will still eat Ella's pouches for a snack from time to time and she is 18 months old now. The only thing I kind of disliek about Ella's is that they all sort of taste the same.
-
I didn't mind making baby food. But whatever works!
-
I did a mix. I think I still have cubes of frozen peas, sweet potato, broccoli, and cauliflower in the freezer. I should use those in a meatball recipe or something soon.
Otherwise, I really like the Happy Baby brand pouches. We used to squirt them onto a spoon but now that he's older, he just eats directly from the pouch. Now I just buy pouches to mix with his yogurt in the morning. He eats those from reusable pouches. Spoon feeding takes awhile but I should probably have him keep practicing with a spoon.
-
Just wanted to add...BLW is definitely the lazy person solution to this problem. All I had to do was mash a banana or an avocado. We didn't make anything to freeze. If what we were eating lent itself to his diet, I gave it to him. My LO didn't start truly eating solids until around 8 months. Until then he mainly tasted it, and tried out the texture, etc. Which is fine because he was under 1 year and needed milk to be his primary food. So I would say, if you feel like you don't want to do homemade baby food, consider stepping in with BLW and see where you get. By the time baby is really eating foods, it will be time for table foods anyway.
Oh also we did packaged prune baby food for constipation! And a few pouches, but I tried to avoid them because they are so expensive.
-
I did a mix of homemade and storebought pouches. We bought Happy Baby, Plum and Ella's. My LO hated all pouches that had meat.
Avocado and banana are two easy purées that can be done with just a fork in about a minute.
-
@Boogs: excellent point! We had intended to do purées, but the first time we tried to spoon feed him , he grabbed the spoon! So that's when we decided to do BLW instead! They make their own plans for sure! And also yes if we had done purée, I would definitely have puréed our dinner for him! Great idea!
-
I have no desire to but since I'm feeding double, it feels too costly not to since making everything myself is a fraction of the jars. Plus, my nanny makes a lot of the stuff as well, so that helps me save on time but it really takes hardly any time at all!
-
I do a mix of making my own and organic pouches. Honestly, we use pouches more than homemade because he likes them more. I'm not as creative with the flavor combinations. I usually buy Plum Organics or Happy Baby Organics from Target.
We squeeze some of the pouch into the bowl and feed him with a spoon. When we are on the go, there are spoons that screw to the top of the pouches and allow you to squeeze directly into the spoon.
-
@plantains: yeah. Sounds good to me! I am not a domestic person but it has been way easier than I expected!
-
Gerber family here. Thats what they provided at daycare.
-
@rahlyrah: I didn't know they sold spoons that attach! We use a bowl and spoon for everything, even pouches, but that would be great on the go.
-
@Mrs. Sketchbook: I agree that BLW is the lazy way out. I don't wanna make purees and I don't to buy any.
-
@lawbee11: me! We did a combo of BLW and purees. L liked a wide array of pouches - Plum, Sprout, Gerber organics and Happy Baby - my target price for organic food was .90/pouch.
I liked pouches best once L got the hang of having food in his mouth. I bought pouch pops - these soft, silicone spout things - from Amazon.
-
I love the idea of the pouches and they seem really convenient, but I was just looking at some of the Ella's kitchen pouches at the grocery store and I noticed that almost all of the ones with veggies also have a fruit mixed in. I like that she'd get a mixture of things, but I don't want her to refuse to eat veggies plain because they're not sweet enough by themselves. Has anyone run into an issue with this?
-
I unabashedly love my jars and pouches with no shame!!
Now that they are getting better at finger food, they eat food I make more often, but that's only because I'm making it for us, too! That is one trend I have zero time, energy or desire to do.
-
@lawbee11: My LO has never eaten veggies plain with the exception of sweet potato and squash. I started with veggies and he doesn't like them. The only way I can get him to eat them is mixed with fruit. Although, tonight I'm going to try Swedishfish's suggestion of mixing with brown rice cereal.
-
@lawbee11: We started doing spices from about 7 months. We did a lot of italian seasoning, cumin, and cinnamon. No salt really until around 10 or 11 months. At 16 months he eats everything we eat, although not necessarily with the same enthusiasm! But we can usually find 1-2 veggies he will eat for a few weeks, until he decides he has a new favorite!
-
@Dandelion: seriously. I know this sounds so stupid, but I always thought it was so cool that I didn't have to pack any jars or pouches when he was little. I would just put a banana in my purse, and good to go. No snack cups or pods or anything. It really helps cut down on the things I have to think of, and I am always looking for ways to reduce that list!
-
@Mrs. Sketchbook: Yep...especially when I'll be ebfing, so the less I need to carry, or deal with, the better, lol. Laziness drives my desire to bf, too, lol
-
@lawbee11: Try Gerber. They aren't in pouches but if you are going to feed from a spoon who cares. They have mixes veggies, spring veggies. It was the only way we could get R to eat green veggies at first. Now she eats green beans ( not purée) and I need to get peas for her too. I hate them so I never buy, ha .
These are like $1.10 for 2 2.5o containers or $1.30 for 2 3.5oz at target.
-
@lawbee11: I buy the pouches, but I also by the Gerber ones that @Smurfette: is referring to. They have more plain veggies and veggie only mixes. We give them a lot of those, so they are used to eating veggies plain, as well as in mixes. Plus, added perk, those Gerber tubs are CHEAP!
-
@Smurfette: @Mrs. Blue: Awesome...Gerber it is!
-
@lawbee11: I mean you have to save for the BG fund any way you can
-
@Smurfette: Exactly!
-
We do a mix of homemade purees and jarred food. I make things that are in season or easy to buy organic at my supermarket. I buy the stuff in jars that's not available locally right now (peaches, strawberries, etc.)
If I'm making it I can control the texture. Most of the stuff I've bought so far is really smooth. I'm trying to get him used to different textures. We do some finger foods too.
I make a bunch of stuff on the weekend and freeze it. I try to give him a variety of foods each day.I don't think there's a wrong way to feed your baby! Whatever works for you and your family is best!
-
@lawbee11: we do BLW, so I don't have a ton to add to this conversation but as per the sweetness issue, my LC who also taught a class on BLW that I took put it this way,"Breast milk is way sweeter than any food you'll give your baby, so people who say you're setting your baby up to only like sweet goods if you start them on fruit don't know what they're talking about."
-
@lawbee11: Companies mix fruit in for flavor and to keep the pH of the product low. Products with a low pH (typically fruit) have a much faster cook time. Faster cook time = more throughput = lower cost for same pouch.
I started with homemade baby food but once day care admitted she only ate applesauce there I gave up. Her new day care makes food. I give her jarred purees and fresh finger food on the weekend. Making baby food was easy but I didn't like packing it up with a cold pack for transport. Bottles were enough to worry about.
-
@plantains: Totally agreed. It's hard for me to understand, honestly, why people would pay for baby food when they can just smash up some fruit or make some extra broccoli with their dinner and then just blend it.
Then I see the baby food books and the special cooking devices and I understand the reluctance. Nope! Not for me. I just gave my daughter smashed up versions of what we ate, mostly. Seemed easier than buying a bunch of purees.
@heartonastring I love that! I always had to refrain my snark when my sister got all up on her high horse about feeding her daughter veggies first, then fruits. Now both our kids eat everything, case closed.
-
Gerber here as well, though I just ordered a whole bunch of Earth's Best jars from Wal-mart. Gerber is still always the best deal though - they have 2-packs of stage 2 purees where each tub is 3.5 oz and pack is usually less than $1.50. Babies R Us had them on sale 10 for $10 recently (you could only buy 20 of them at once though...) CJ eats anything but likes fruit a lot better than veggies so far. I'm hoping that the variety of veggies in the Earth's Best packs will convince her otherwise. And I love the Ella's Kitchen and other types of pouches because they have such a variety of flavors, but they are too expensive to buy all the time, in my opinion. So they are special treats, when they are on sale.
-
Don't feel bad. I'm like one of the only moms I know IRL who did the purees myself that I know.
I did buy a couple of pouches to try different foods before I made my own. They ended up being more wasteful than the homemade stuff bc K would never finish a pouch, not even in 3 days. And I'd get grossed out and throw them away.
The purees ended up being a lot simpler than I expected. And I could freeze small portions when she was just starting out. And I could end up making my own combination/mixtures with whatever I had. Now she almost always eats table food when we're out (or even at home if it's suitable), so I think even pouches are kind of short-lived.
-
@tinypiglet: will your day care allow glass jars? Ours won't
Now that they are getting better at finger food, they eat food I make more often, but that's only because I'm making it for us, too! That is one trend I have zero time, energy or desire to do.
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
79 comments