Pears, Potatoes, and a Rice Cereal Hiatus

Gideon is a pretty outstanding sleeper, as far as babies go.  In general, we do his bedtime routine (bath, bottle or nursing and swaddle) around 6:30-7, he'll go to sleep very quickly, sleep until around 3:30 when he wakes up to nurse, and then back to sleep until I wake him up at 6:30 to nurse before work.  This schedule worked great from about 8 weeks until about 4 months old, when he started waking up for a 10:30 feeding every night.  I'd read that waking up for previously skipped feedings was a sign of solid foods readiness, so we decided to gradually introduce some solid foods.

Our "feeding table" from the pediatrician's office said to introduce rice cereal first, so we gave that a try.  While he tolerated the cereal pretty well, he wasn't a reliable cereal eater.  Some nights he would love it and eat every single bite, other nights he'd decide cereal wasn't for him (which is not okay when that cereal is mixed with breast milk!).  After doing some research, I realized that the American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't recommend rice cereal as a first food (they actually don't have a recommendation on which food to introduce first), so I opted to forego cereal for a while and introduce just fruits and veggies.  As I love to cook, I decided I'd try my hand at homemade baby food. I figure I'll update here with the recipes I try out and Gideon's reactions to his new foods.  This should be fun!

Some homemade baby food basics- baby food is prepared and placed in ice cube trays, frozen, and then the cubes are removed and stored in freezer bags.  Each "ice cube" is approximately 1 ounce of food.

Baby Food Prep Day #1
Total Kitchen Time- 1 hour
Total Money Spent- approx $8
Final Yield- 90 oz baby food

On this prep day I decided to stock our freezer with the basics- pears, apples, peas, sweet potatoes and butternut squash.  (Recipe note- while I used cooking liquid or plain water to thin purees, it would be best to use breast milk.  I don't have much extra to spare, so I opted to thin purees with water).

Sweet potatoes- Wash 2 sweet potatoes and prick multiple times with a fork.  Bake at 350 until tender.  Spoon the flesh away from the skin, puree, and add water if necessary.  Yield approximately 1 ice cube tray (I had one full tray plus about 5 cubes on another tray).

Butternut squash- Cut 1 squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds, and place face down in a baking dish with a small amount of water.  Bake at 350 until the skin puckers, spoon flesh away from the skin, puree, and add water if necessary.  Yield approximately 1 ice cube tray (again, I had one full tray and a few cubes on another tray).

Peas- Prepare one bag of "steam in bag" english peas according to the package.  Puree until smooth and add water if necessary.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray.  (This could be a smoother puree if done in a food mill instead of a food processor.  I don't have a food mill or a strainer, so hopefully Gideon won't complain).

Apples- Peel, core, and cube 4 medium sweet apples (I used Red Delicious).  Place in saucepan with a small amount of water and cook on low until tender.  Puree until smooth.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray plus a few extra cubes

Pears- Peel, core and cube 4 medium pears.  Place in saucepan with a small amount of water and cook on low until tender.  Depending on the ripeness of the pears, water could be optional.  Puree until smooth.  Yield- 1 ice cube tray.

So far Gideon has had sweet potatoes and pears, and has LOVED both of them.  I'm looking forward to trying more fruits and veggies here soon!