Is your baby about to start solid foods? Are you thinking of

making your own baby food?

When you make baby's first foods, you can save money and reduce

waste. You also can choose more nutritious options. Fresh foods

are typically more nutritious than canned, and you can purchase

organic food to prepare for baby if you wish. You can also avoid

unwholesome ingredients that show up in commercial baby food.

Making baby food doesn't have to be expensive or time

consuming. In fact, the easiest and cheapest way is the best

way!

The easy way to making your own baby food:

1. Don't bother with buying one of those baby food grinders.

They're hard to clean and too much hassle.

2. If you wait until your baby is 6 months old to start solids,

you can almost always just mash with a fork to the desired

consistency.

If you're breastfeeding, you can even wait until baby's "pincer

grasp" is developed and offer him small finger foods like peas,

bits of grated apple, and the like. The pincer grasp is

developed when baby can pinch small objects (like those bits of

carpet fluff or food on the kitchen floor!) inbetween his thumb

and first finger. In fact, if you have a family tendency

towards food allergy, waiting longer to start solids may be

preferable. No matter what baby's age, always offer one food at

a time and wait several days to watch for signs of allergy

before offering another. Take it slow.

3. Start with fresh single ingredient foods like:

Banana

Steamed carrot, turnip, potato, yam

Avocado

Ripe pear, peach, melon, plum

Cooked squash

Grated apple- raw or steamed

Peas

Well cooked beans

Hard cooked egg yolks (avoid the whites until 1 year)

Some of these foods could be served raw. Others are lightly

steamed (steaming retains more nutrients than canning), to make

them softer for baby.

4. It's not necessary to make a big deal of preparing baby's

food.

If you want to take a lot of time blending food and freezing

them in ice cube trays, you could certainly do that. But I'm

all for the easy approach!

Although you do want to avoid giving baby salt and sugar (and

spices that may upset the tummy), you can usually just take an

ingredient from your own menu and "make" baby's dinner.

For instance, if you're steaming veggies to serve at dinner,

take a tablespoon of them out of the pan before you add butter

and salt. Put this in baby's plate and mash away. Voila!

Instant baby food with no extra work. Or take a bit of beef

from your roast and mash mash mash until it's very soft.

Even when you're at a restaurant, you can either bring an apple

with you and "grate" it finely with a spoon at your table, or

bring along a banana or other portable food. Any restaurant

with a salad bar would have cooked beans or avocado. Or give

baby a bit of your baked potato (before you add the goodies on

top).

Life with a new baby is challenging enough. Keep starting

solids simple!

For more helpful tips on simplifying life with kids, visit:

http://www.natural-moms.com/homekeeping_organization.html