Saturday, November 26, 2011

first taste of rice cereal

Pearson has been a little fussypants lately during the day.  I think it's mostly because he has decided he doesn't like to nap.  I'm lucky if I can get two 30-45 minute naps in.  So in an effort to give myself something to do with him during the day, I decided to give him some rice cereal today.  I was going to start at 6 months, but he just 3 weeks shy of that and he's really acting interested in our food, so I went ahead and started today!
 I think he liked it at first since it was practically breastmilk with a little rice cereal.  
 But after a few bites, he didn't really know what to think. 
 He was definitely more interested in holding the brightly colored spoon. 
 The last few bites just kind fell out of his mouth.
 We'll have to try it again tomorrow.
**On a side note:  I followed the directions on the package and it said 1 Tbsp of rice cereal to 4 Tbsp of breastmilk.  It was way more soupy than I thought it was going to be.  Did I do it right??  When do you start thickening it up?  You don't always serve it to them as rice cereal "soup", do you?

And since I will probably be moving on to real baby food when he turns 6 months I decided to go ahead and make some baby food today.  I made some zucchini, sweet potatoes, and green peas.  I used the Beaba Babycooks to make my food. It steams and purees it!!
If you make or made homemade babyfood for your baby, what do you use to make yours? And what were your favorite foods to make?  I would love to know, since I plan on making more food for Pearson. 

9 comments:

Erica Ladwig said...

Yes, you followed the directions correctly, it is really soupy at first. Madelyn wasn't into rice cereal but really likes oatmeal. You just start thickening it up once he really gets the hang of it, probably after a few weeks.

I have made most of Madelyn's food too. So far, peas, apples, pears & sweet potatoes, but she only likes the sweet potatoes. I have to sneak the fruit in her oatmeal. I just cook the food and then puree in my food processor. I use this website: nurturebaby.com.

Hope that helps!

The Fants said...

I'm sorry he's been so fussy. Hopefuly he'll grow out of that stage suuuuper fast!

And yes, you made it right! at first it's like you're giving him milk with a spoon. ha! I started thickening it up when he could keep the majoity of the food in his mouth without drooling it all out, a few weeks later. Then, towards 8-9 months, it's like real outmeal that you would eat. :)

I always made Bryson's food and used wholesomebabyfood.com They have great directions and recipes for every food possible and the age groups in which to serve them.
Bryson always loved carrtos, butternut and acorn squash, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas. I did what Erica does, just cook it on the stove/oven and then throw it in my regular food processor. Worked great! I also made a TON of extras and freezed them in ice cube trays and then put them in conatiners in the freezer. :)

Christine said...

You did it right. We stopped following the directions really quickly, thickened it up and just eyeballed it. Naomi actually did much better with it thicker, but that's just her preference, texture thing or something. Even with other foods (either homemade puree or jarred) she does better if I thicken it up.

I've heard mixed reviews on the Beaba. Some love it and some say "eh" and that it's just not worth the investment. We didn't have a food processor at the time, so I used a blender, it worked okay though a food processor would be better. Ditto on the wholesomebabyfood.com. I also did jarred food some because I could sometimes get it really cheaply with coupons.

Have fun with it! It can get frustrating at times, so if you find yourself getting frustrated, just let him play with it and get really messy. :)

fancyashstyle said...

When I made Olivia's cereal I just poured in a little b.m. to get a consistency I liked. It was more like oatmeal and she loved it.

Unknown said...

Yes, it's super soupy at first, but it needs to be to help them digest it! She went to thicker things a little by little after about 3 weeks of "soup"

I made all of my own baby food once here in Madagascar: sweet potato, pumpkin, papaya,peas, apples, bananas, etc. My only advice? Since you started with rice dont let his next thing be bananas. Since you can only imtroduce 1 new thing every 3 days, rice & bananas are not a good combo - speaking from experience. Ryleigh got very constipated and it was NOT fun!

Lindsay said...

I have the Beaba but haven't used it yet. I'm planning on making Hudson's food also. I might start soon to have some stored up in the freezer.

Seitzs Stories said...

Good information to know. :) A friend of mine recommened the wholesomebabyfood.com website also. I haven't started making any baby food yet, but I have the Baby Brezza Baby Food Maker (found at Babies R Us)...I was told that it works very well.

Katherine said...

I made all of Isabelle's baby food. It was super easy. We waited to introduce foods until 6 months and she wasn't really interested in it for about a month or two so we just did mashed bananas. We never did rice cereal.

We slowly introduced foods but she wasnt interested in food until 8 months. I used my stianless steel steamer insert and my blender or food processor for making baby food (then froze it in good old $1 ice cube trays). I do wish I had the Beaba for defrosting the food. That would have been nice.

She didn't get constipated and I didn't want to give her lots of sugar so we don't give her any juice still.

Wholesomebabyfood.com was my main resource and superfoods (the book). They give you info about what foods to introduce when and recipes. Because we started solids late and Isabelle's personality, we didn't do a lot of purees. She went straight to finger foods/table foods at 8 months (after only eating bananas, purees of peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, apples, and pears) and she still prefers big chunks of food over mashed things! She had no gag reflex with food so she could handle regular food early.

Good luck with solids---it is an exciting time!! I kind of miss the exclusively breastfed diapers though..... :)

Unknown said...

I make all of Kaitlin's food. She has been eating solids since 4mos. I used a food steamer or on my stove top then blend/puree in my Ninja Kitchen system. It has 3 sizes of blending containers. I love it because I can do a little or alot. I also make a bunch and freeze. I bought the individual freeze containers instead of the ice cube tray. I can throw the little containers in an insulated bag and carry with to go. If you have any questions you know how to contact me. She would rather have food than a bottle.

Misty