The World of Puree

Tommy's first rice cereal feeding

Several weeks ago, I made the first batch of "Monkey Food."  After talking to our pediatrician, we decided that we would start with yellow veggies, and then slowly introduce green veggies and fruits.  Our pediatrician told us that it is smarter to introduce vegetables before fruits because babies, like most adults, prefer the sweet taste of fruits; therefore, will refuse the veggies after having fruit.  I did a little research on my own and found that no matter what order you introduce fruits and vegetables, a baby is going to favor the fruit.  


My wonderful Grandma, Lorna Nobles, sent me a book called "Baby Love."  This book has been amazing at teaching me about making baby food for Tommy.  "Baby Love" says that it is important to teach your baby healthy eating habits now.  The younger you can "train" a baby to prefer fruits and veggies to junk food and sweet the better.  And that is what Tom and I are trying to do with Tommy. 


The first food that we introduced to Tommy was rice cereal.  There are many recipes that explain how to make single grain rice cereal but I decided that the Gerber Organic Brown Rice was the best for Tommy. After a very messy first attempt, Tommy has decided he LOVES to eat rice cereal.  We also introduced single grain oatmeal, which he still does not care much for. 


Carrots were the first veggie that we introduced to Tommy.  The carrots were cooked (steamed) and pureed in the Beaba Babycook baby food maker.  Instead of mixing the carrots with water to smooth out the puree, I mixed a little expressed breast-milk.  Putting breast-milk (or formula, if that is your preference) in your baby's food early on helps teach the baby that the stuff you are putting in his mouth will fill him up.  


Making Puree "Monkey Food" is super simple.  Using the Babycook has been fantastic.  When I cook I only make one dirty dish; therefore, clean up is really, really easy.


As of now, Tommy loves sweet potatoes and green peas. He hates avocados, aka baby guacamole. He gags every time we feed them to him; at least he does very good and doesn't spit them out.  I'm getting very excited to start mixing the veggies and fruits.