Feeding a Baby

Anyone watch the Office last night? If you don't have a baby, or haven't spent a lot of time around a baby, I'm guessing some of the night's events caught you off guard. Pam and Jim had their baby girl (sigh), hilarity obviously ensued, and the watching world was exposed to the scary, difficult experience that is childbirth and learning to breastfeed. The scene at the end where Pam finally gets their little girl to latch on was really sweet--I think I teared up. The writers wrote a very honest account (with the exception of the baby mix-up) of how scary it is to have a newborn and try to keep them alive, all on your own.

Before I had Finley, there was a lot I didn't know. For some reason, I didn't feel inclined to read up on how to have a baby or feed a baby or raise a baby or get them to sleep... I just assumed we'd figure it out. And for the most part, we have.

One area I had no idea I didn't know about was feeding a baby solids. Before I was faced with that decision, I guess I assumed that jarred baby food was the only thing you would feed a baby. Somehow, it didn't occur to me that I can mash up food just as well as Gerber... and it would be cheaper and healthier and fresher. And fill my garbage with fewer tiny glass jars.

Like most decisions I have made about raising Finley, I just did whatever I thought would be best for him and easiest for me. So for feeding him solids, I decided to go ahead and make my own food. The babies I knew who were slightly older than Finley were eating foods their moms made, so I assumed that was the easiest thing to do. And I really didn't want to carry grocery sacks full of baby food home from Safeway. Or feed him the horrible things I tasted at my baby shower.

So for those of you who didn't realize that you can make your own food (shocking!), here's a little bit about we do in our kitchen. It's surprisingly easy!


1. Go to the grocery store and buy delicious food. I'm trying to use mostly organic stuff for him... and it still ends up being cheaper than buying jarred stuff. Currently he eats lots and lots of produce, egg yolks, Yo-Baby yogurt and chicken and turkey... along with some other snack-y things.

2. Cook the food however its supposed to be cooked. Above is some broccoli I cooked that is all ready to be prepared.

3. Blend up the food to your babies level of smoothness. I've stopped using the food processor so much and have started using a potato masher. Finley has many teeth that he needs to sharpen... so I'm trying to make things a little chunkier.

4. Glob the mixture into an ice cube tray. Freeze.

5. Remove and put into gallon bags.

6. Take out a few cubes at a time for each meal!

It takes a little bit of time to cook the food--but once it's in the freezer, it's so convenient to grab a few cubes for mealtime. And having fresh produce around is helping Sol and I to eat a little better as well.

A note: Finley loves avocado which does NOT need to be cooked. I cut an avocado into quarters and just freeze the left over three sections. They keep pretty well in the freezer.

Another note: Pureed meat is repulsive.