Questions & Answers

I know its exciting but resist the urge to make anything! You never know what your baby will or wont like or may have an allergy to. Also, if your baby is anything like mine, mine didn't start solids until 9.5 months, she just wasnt ready, so no point in all that homemade food sitting in the freezer

I would tend to agree that baby needs to start on something other than milk WAY before 12 months. This way you dont have a picky or uninformed eater when entering the second year of life where it is so crucial to start to have people food. ALSO you will find that babies who start at the very least at 6 months adding other foods to their diets besides milk WILL be happier and will give you a BIGGER stretch of night time bliss. Food like cereals, oatmeals, and simple one ingredient foods (at first) and then of course add to them... will stay with them a lot longer so start introducing when you think you are ready:) Good luck and remember it is not too early to plan and think about your parenting style and preferences.

Definately dont start making things and freezing them until at most a few weeks ahead of time. I know the nesting and preparing thing is going on, but resist on this one. Where you were asking about how to plan and when to plan for your babies meals: First it is hard to know what to plan for sure because sometimes babies have a favorite as well as you dont know how much your baby will eat and at what stages. So to plan this far ahead for that is real tough. For now, I might suggest doing some research about the amounts needed and what makes for the most balanced meals... then maybe have a little outline in your head of what sounds like the best fit for your family. As a poster has already said it is great to explore at first and that is where your array of ideas might come in, but as soon as possible it is SURE great to have a machine to whip up w/e you are having to make it the easiest. This way no planning, no freezer space needed, & no prep time... (It is real time consumi

mkry - technically a baby doesnt need to eat food until 12 month, anything before that is for the learning and experience. A lot of women actually choose not to start solids until after 12 months. If you start BLW at 6 mo, by 12 they are very proficient at eating...EVERYTHING! haha. i loved it because the baby always was able to eat what we ate, when we ate it, and i never had to sit around shovling mush in his mouth. If we were having green beans and mashed potatoes and chicken breast or steak, i'd just put some of each on his high chair, maybe put a few slices of peach too. And then we all ate as a family. He was eating everything we were by 8 or 9 months, before that he just experiemented with food and tasted things :)

Just looked up that babyled weaning and it's pretty interesting. Logically it makes sense for the baby to learn how to chew then swallow... but do they get the same nutrients as if mashing up some carrots? I'm planning on breastfeeding the whole year like i did with my first, so i know that won't be an issue when it comes to nutrients, but just trying to get a better idea. :)

I would wait. You want your baby to have freshest stuff possible. Something sitting in the jar for months, or in the freezer isn't going to be as good as something you prepared today or last week. The baby food maker is so that you can use the freshest stuff possible for your baby.

I also second the recommendation for baby led weaning.

I would wait until your baby is a couple months old. I have a great baby food maker kit and my son just turned 4 months and isn't on solids yet. I probably won't start him on solids until he's 6 months. You wouldn't want the food to go bad after sitting for months in the freezer. Just my opinion. I definitely think that making the food is so much better for the baby, and cheaper too!

I never did mush. http://www.babyledweaning.com/