Making your own baby food

When the time comes for your baby to make the transition from liquids to solids, preparing your own baby food puree is the way to go. Why rely on commercial baby foods to fulfill baby’s dietary needs when you can take matters into your own hands? By making baby food yourself, you have direct control over your little one’s nutrition, and can encourage baby to develop healthy eating habits from a young age. Preparing your own baby food puree also allows you to introduce baby to ‘real food’ flavors and textures, easing your little one into the transition to table foods later on.

Making baby food yourself is beneficial to both you and your baby. You’ll soon discover that homemade baby food puree is not only a good healthy option, but is also very easy to produce. You select the ingredients yourself – you can be as creative as you like and your baby’s age will allow. Most of the tools you need will be readily available in your own kitchen. No fancy, expensive equipment required! Making baby food consists of three main steps: cooking, pureeing, and freezing, so a pot and steamer basket, pureeing tool and freezing tray are really all you need to get started.

Simply follow these baby food recipe steps, and you’ll be underway in no time.

Step one: Cook the food. There are many ways to do this, including steaming, boiling, baking and microwaving. Choose your cooking method according to your baby food ingredients. Microwaving is quick, easy and less messy than other methods, but may cause some foods to lose significant amounts of nutrients when cooked at high temperatures. Steaming is your best option, as it makes food soft and easy to puree, not to mention easy for baby to chew! Steaming also maintains most of the nutrients that may be lost when boiling fruit or veges.

Step two: Allow your ingredients to cool, and then begin to puree. A food processor with a ‘puree’ setting will provide great results, but a hand puree appliance will do the trick. Add small amounts of liquid, such as formula, breast milk or plain water while you puree in order to thin. Adding such liquid gives the puree a nutritional boost while providing a familiar taste for baby. Make sure you allow the puree to cool properly before freezing to avoid bacteria growth.

Step three: Freeze your baby food puree for storage. Ice cube trays are great for this purpose, but the MumiandBubi Solid Starter Kit trays take out all the guesswork; freezing your puree in small amounts means that you can select the number of cubes required at baby’s meal times, without having to throw away excess food. Fill the MumiandBubi Solid Starter Kit tray with the puree, cover with the lid and freeze. Once frozen, remove the cubes from the tray by pushing down on the edge (do not twist the tray) and transfer them to freezer bags. This frees up your trays so that they can be washed and used again immediately. Label your freezer bags with the date and type of food, and store at the back of the freezer for up to a month.

At baby’s meal times, simply remove the required number of cubes, thaw, and reheat. And there you have it! Healthy baby food puree made from scratch with the love and care that your baby deserves.

Francis Frost is the owner of Module Marketing in Auckland New Zealand. He is the new father of a 8 week old girl and an advocate of making baby food with the MumiandBubi Solid Starter Kits.
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Your baby, for the first few months of his or her life, will only drink formula from a bottle or breast milk. But, after the first few months, your baby will be ready for some solid foods. Your baby will usually be about four to seven months old when this process begins, and you must remember that it is a slow process, as your baby needs to slowly be introduced to new foods.

Also, it is important that when starting new foods, you only do it one day at a time, and one food at a time. You want to make sure that when you give your baby something new, you can monitor your child for a few days to see if they experience any stomach problems, any rashes, or any kinds of allergic or dangerous reactions. That way, you will know exactly what caused it and know now to give that ever again.

Even as you introduce these new foods, make sure to still keep the breast milk and or formula as a regular part of your baby’s diet, as it still is one of the most essential food sources your baby can enjoy through to its sixth month. Knowing when your baby is ready for solids usually depends on your baby. If you notice that your baby’s appetite has grown or that he or she wakes up a lot more at night complaining of being hungry or needing more milk, then that might be a sign that your baby is ready for solid foods. Also, your baby will grow at around four to seven months and that might be a time that he or she develops a stronger appetite, as well.

One great option is baby cereal. This usually comes in a box and can be found in all grocery stores in the baby food section. This cereal is usually a powdery substance that is mixed with milk or formula and then heated in the microwave or stovetop. It is easy to swallow and digest and makes for a wonderful way to start off the day for your baby. Sometimes, in addition to the cereal, you might try feeding your baby some fruit for breakfast, as well. A good way to get this is to either cut up real fruit in cubes or to purchase jar food that comes in a great assortment of fruits and vegetables.

You can get a fruit medley, a pear selection, peaches, apples, grapes, almost all the different fruits mashed up and pureed perfectly for your baby to swallow and digest easily. Your baby will begin to show different kinds of preferences, so if he or she rejects the peaches, it might mean that he or she will like a different fruit instead. This part is very much about experimenting with the different flavors and options.

For lunch, you can also give your baby the same kind of thing but maybe mix up the flavors. After the usual dosage of formula and cereal, you can try feeding him or her some vegetables, like peas, or carrots, or squash, or sweet potatoes, or a mix of all of them. Again, your baby will be selective, maybe, but be patient with trying out new things. Now, the same can be given for dinner, as well, and you want to make sure not to introduce too many new things during the day. Starting out very slowly is important, and that means even if your baby responds wonderfully, you still want to give only small amounts so that your baby can get used to it and so that the digestive system will not suffer from being overwhelmed with all the new kinds of food.

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for http://www.polomercantil.com.br/
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There are a couple of important how to questions that need answers when you start using cloth diapers.

Cloth Diapers – How to Buy

You can get simple cloth diapers or organic cloth diapers. Organic cloth is highly recommended but it is also more expensive. You should also decide between flat fold and prefold diapers (these are actually types of diaper fabrics and not, as you might think, methods to fold diapers). The flat fold is one layer of cloth while the prefold has several layers of cloth that make the prefold diaper much more absorbent.

Next, decide whether you plan to use cloth of disposable diaper liners. It is a lot less messy to change and wash diapers when you go with the disposable kind, but the environmentally friendly way is all cloth.

Next, you will need to figure how many to buy. This should take into account your baby’s age and your lifestyle –specifically how many times a week you are willing to wash your baby’s diapers.

Cloth Diapers – How to Fold

First of all – you don’t have to learn diaper folding methods. Those who don’t feel like bothering with learning different ways to fold cloth diapers, can get cloth diapers that are already cut to size and even have Velcro, so they are as easy and hassle free to use as disposables.

However, if you do want to learn how to fold diapers – here is what you should know: You can get online instructions for any diaper fold that you may think of, but in the end you can settle on whatever feels comfortable and comes easily to you. In order to do an effective search, know which type of diapers you have – there are different folds for the flat fold and the prefold.

Cloth Diapers – How to Wash

Cloth diapers can be washed in a machine or by hand. Machine wash is recommended simply because it is more convenient. Before you wash the diapers you need to flush the solids or use a “diaper sprayer” on them. If something is left, rinse it with cold water.

Although there are a couple of diapers how-to’s to be mastered, the benefits are well worth it, as many parents attest.

Lily Parsons is an eco friendly home consultant. She uses natural and organic products in her home for her family’s health.
Read more about cloth organic diapers
and going green facts

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/babies-articles/cloth-diapers-how-to-1592717.html