Making baby food- How to start??? Part one

First off, Why make your own baby food? 

• You know where everything is coming from!
• You know exactly what is in each item!
• You will save tons of Money!!
• Your baby food will be fresh and taste better then anything you can get in the store!!
• No added preservatives, ingredients, no weird colored things in your pantry! 
• It is really very easy!!

When to start?

Many medical professionals still advise introducing baby's first foods anywhere from 4 to 6 months.
However, this is a subject that has been hugely researched of late and the current recommendation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) is that:  no solid foods are introduced to baby for the first 6 months.

These days, most experts agree that you shouldn't be looking at introducing solids until baby is at least 6 months old. And there are good reasons for this ...

• Very young babies have poor control of their throat and tongue muscles. This makes swallowing difficult and can cause choking or gagging.
• The tongue thrust reflex is still strong and can make solid feeding difficult.
• The risk of allergies increases if baby's first foods are introduced too soon.
• Early feeding can cause obesity.

The best advice when considering starting solid foods for your baby, "Watch the Baby - Not the Calendar"

Things to remember:

ALWAYS follow the 4 day wait rule when introducing a new food to baby - offer your baby the same new food for 4 days to test for allergies to that food. This applies even when you are making homemade baby food. Never introduce more than 1 new food at a time.

ALWAYS use clean hands, clean cooking utensils, preparation surface(s), pots/pans etc when making and and preparing homemade baby food. Cleanliness and Food Safety is a MUST when making homemade baby food. I always use the sterilize selection on my dishwasher!!
 
Introduce New Foods During the Morning or Early Afternoon - Why? Just in case of allergic reaction you can call or go to your doctor!
 
Give food after you have nursed or given a bottle, so they receive all the nutrients from that first! If this makes your child not as hungry the try feeding half the normal amount or time then finish after you have fed the baby food!
 
Try and Try again later!!
Remember the rule- your child may not like the flavor or texture at first! It take up to 10- 12 tries before they may like a food item! So you can try and move on to a different item and come back to something if necessary. So don't give up!

Don't forget to read signs from your baby as well though. My son was ready to eat everything on my plate at 5 months and was holding his own head up very early on. He was clearly ready to start on solid foods. So, listen to yourself and your doctor!

Now that you haven't been scared off, lets start with the basics.

What do you need?

• Ice cube trays
• A good blender- I use a Bullet- Yes, they work awesome! It is better then my blender!
• Plastic baggies- large or quart freezer bags (you can use Tupperware if you  want but it takes up lots of room
• lots of fresh veggies and fruits 
• Some place to cook it - My favorites :A pressure cooker or steamer - OK you can microwave but i prefer not to unless desperate. My new fantastic method is the electric pressure cooker!!

Note: Don't worry about having the baby food mill or the baby food freezer trays you will do fine with what you have!

This is a pic of the pressure cooker i have!

 This first thing to start with is rice cereal and you may feed this till your baby taking it well and not spitting it out at you and eager to eat!

So get your tools together and part 2 coming soon.. What foods to start when?