More on Solids

Sweetpea is well on her way to eating and exploring the wonderful flavors of food. Within the last week or so, proteins has been introduced to her diet in the form of egg yolk, and more recently, chicken. We found a recipe for the chicken that included all the foods she has previously been introduced to; we doubled the recipe so daddy and I can have some too, and the whole family enjoyed it. I thought it might be helpful to share some tips on solid food for all our friends and families who have little ones who will be starting solids soon or will be in the coming months. Feel free to comment and add some more advice and/or site/book recommendations from your experiences!

* How often: At about 6 months, when the baby is ready and is just starting solids, it is generally recommended that new foods are introduced to them using the 3 or 4 day wait rule. This allows parents to be able to figure out the source of any allergic reactions or digestive issues.
* Resources: A great site that we have been using quite often and actually use as our primary resource is WholesomeBabyFood. It contains lots of information including sample schedules to help guide parents in introducing food to their baby and lots of recipes/food preparation tips. This is where we found the chicken recipe :) To add more variety to Sweetpea's growing palate, I am just now looking into checking out some baby food books from the library. Another recent site I found that may be great for this economy is $5 Dinners; I'm linking specifically to the baby recipe section. This site is also great in planning separate adult meals on a budget as well.
* The Basics: Boil or Steam Veggies or Fruit (avocado & banana does not need to be cooked) to retain the most nutrients. Then, puree with breastmilk, formula, or water.
* Storage: Covered Ice Cube Trays (we use one made by OXO) and/or BabyCubes (these also work great for bringing food and snacks along outside the home; I'd probably skip the one oz and just get the 2 oz cubes and use the fill lines). Both stack in the fridge, and one tip that people use to maximize tray/cube usage is to transfer the frozen food cubes into labeled ziploc bags and reuse the trays or babycubes.
* The Tools: Trying to minimize exposure to bpa, pthalates, etc seems almost like an impossible task when most everyday appliances including many blenders and food processors contain some form of potential chemical leaching plastic. To minimize, try using blenders with glass jars for making large batch of food or stick/immersion blenders. Other inexpensive alternatives include the basic food mills such as BabySteps manual foodmill by Kidco or the Munchkin baby food grinder. Want electric? Kidco also makes an electric grinder that uses bpa free plastic. Want the fancy gadget? Take a look at Baeba Babycook. I've been eyeing this nifty all-in-one machine for a few weeks now. It is/was very popular in Europe but has just recently entered the US market via William Sonoma. It steams, purees, defrosts, and warms up baby food; also, being able to make small meals and clean just one thing is very intriguing. I'm so tempted to redeem my cc rewards points for a gift certificate to get one without spending extra mula. If anyone sees any coupons or discounts for WS or babycook, let me know. I've never redeemed anything with my cc and have continued to accumulate points... so it may be time :)

I hope this post is useful and gives some ideas and/or good references/tips into the wonders of homemade solid foods.