As we executive homemakers learn to feed our family the God-given nutrition rich in whole and natural foods, we ought not forget to feed our little ones healthy as well! I can count the number jars of Gerber processed foods that both my girls ate on my hands. (I didn’t learn about making baby cereals until the second child, though.) If processed, canned foods can barely remember where they came from, why would we feed them to our most vulnerable family members?
Fortunately, making baby food is easy once you get aquainted with it. In a short space, I will try to make a few quick suggestions and offer good refrences for further learning. Firstly, though most readers here probably try, please nurse your baby if at all possible. Mother’s milk contains SO much more for the baby, it is barely comparable. Others have written at length and better than I could on the topic. Here is a quick summary on “Why Breastfeed” that I found on Tulip Girl (who has a great archive of breastfeeding posts).
Then, sometime around 6 mo. we start feeding our babies otherfoods. I know mothers who have begun as early as 4 mo. and mothers who have waited until 9, all of them healthfully. At six months, the easiest food to start on is rice cereal. Rice is very easy to digest and rarely associated with allergies, but you can also start with barley, quinoa, or millet. The kind you buy in a box really barely remembers where it came from, being refined, cooked, dried and then again cooked, usually microwaved, by mom. Here is a simple way to make your own, whole grain, cooked once baby rice cereal. (Melissa - you are better at baby cereal than me - leave your tips in the comments!)
My First Cereal
Toast in a dry skillet over medium heat 1-2 cups of rice or other grain for 10 min. Grains should begin to pop.
Grind desired amount of toasted grain to a fine powder in a seed or coffee grinder. Whisk together 1 part cereal powder and 6 parts wated Bring to boil and simmer uncovered 30 min. or until soft and smooth.
With what I have learned about enzymes, I also want to start my baby on raw foods as possible, giving them an early taste for living food still full of nutrients and enzymes. Avacados are my favorite for babies, as they are a true supper food as well as being high in calories and healthy fats which babies need as they wean from momma. Unlike rice cereal and bananas, they don’t cause constipation. Peaches, pears, bananas, apples, squash, and sweet potatoes all make wonderful early foods. Acidic foods are to avoided because they can be allergenic.
To feed a yound baby these foods raw, you will need a food processor, juicer or a ‘baby feeder’ which is like a net pacifier. You place a chunk of food in the net and the baby can teethe on it to his hearts content. (So far my babies haven’t take to this, however. I only tried with one, though.) Otherwise, puree the food until very smooth. The homogonizing setting on a juicer works best and makes a very smooth fruit puree (you will have to cook squash and sweet potato). If you have a juicer, you can also juice these for baby. Don’t bother with store juice though, since it is refined and pasturized, it contains little more than simple sugars and a tiny bit of Vitamin C, neither of which babies tend to be in short supply of when on a healthy diet.
However, if baby seems to react to raw fruit, try steaming the fruit until just soft. Then puree. This will kill the enzymes and some nutrients (not all) but also break down the macro-nutrients down a bit more.
To make squash or sweet potatoes, you can chop them up into squares and steam them until soft. You can also bake the sweeto potato in the oven and then puree (it usually will need a bit more purified water this way added to make it nice and smooth). To cook the squash in the oven, just slice the squash in half, seed and place open side down in a 9×12 casserole. Fill with about 3/4-1 inch water and bake until soft and the tops of the squash are browned. Scoop out and puree, adding purified water as necessary.
My second baby was very picky about eating and refused anything pureed unless I hid it in yogurt. The first thing I could get her to eat was a cheerio. Thus, how I learned about being creative to get health into your baby! She seemed to hate the texture of pureed food and resented being fed by something other than her own hand. So what finger foods can you give baby and when?
Legumes are fair game starting at 7 months. It is best to buy them organic and then cook yourself, canned organic being second best. My second baby lived on legumes and yogurt it seemed. She loved how she could grab her own little beans.
You can start with homemade, whole grain bread around 7 months. Be sure to give tiny pieces to start and watch for wheat allergies. If there is a reaction to wheat, you can research breads and crackers made from spelt or other grain varieties. I started whole grain pastas at about 10 months.
I started my second on yogurt at 8 months, although some sources say 9-10 months. I ws desperate and she did fine. Other cultured foods are great as well, such as Kefir and cottage cheese. Be sure to buy organic yogurt that doesn’t contain additives and a minimal amount of sugar. You can make your own but this is not a world I have yet entered!
Scrambled yolks can be fed at 10 months, and egg whites at 12 months.
Nuts and seeds are recommended to wait until about 10 months old, due to the more complex fats. Grind nuts and seeds (make sesame, peanut or almond butters for example) with juicer, food processor or blender to spread on breads, pancakes and crackers. Avoid purchased ones with additives. Ground flax can go into babies pancakes, crackers and other baked goodies.
For more baby food making information and great recipies for the advancing eater, I highly recommend Simply Natural Baby Food 
by Cathe Olson (Thanks Allison Finch!). It is practical, concise and honest without being super radical. Several of my friends recommend Super Baby Food, 
which I plan to get, but it is over 500 pages and might intimidate the timid! I wanted to research websites, but I am running out of time this evening! One site I found that looks accurate and helpful is “Wholesome Baby Food,” but I haven’t had the time to really search it. I hope this information helps any reader who is wanting to get started giving their baby the best!
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