Weaning

[Annh17]

Did any of you make your own purée’s up? If so did you use fresh or frozen fruit and veg?

We are using jars at the moment, but when she starts bigger portions will be better off making own stuff.

[Lovefood1984]

We’ve made a few up before. I’ve used both fresh and frozen veg, haven’t made a fruit one yet as they are quite cheap compared to the meal ones (We’ve been using Aldi pots at home and pouches out and about for the fruit) I think the best thing to do is just to purée whatever you are having for dinner when the meals get bigger and vary the puréedness as more lumps can be tolerated. I have to confess to not doing as many homemade meals as we’d like just purely down to the number of food allergies we’ve found, most of our food isn’t suitable for her 😩 We need to get a bit better at planning alternative twists 😊 x

[Annh17 in reply to Lovefood1984]

Did you put some water in or they milk to make it like a purée, or did it just go to a purée. All new too this x

[Lovefood1984 in reply to Annh17]

We added a bit of water but you can add their milk too (hers is rank!) or from 6 months you can use regular milk (but just in cooking and making purées etc not as a drink). The amount you’ll need to add will just depend on how thick a paste the food becomes once blended. A hand blender works well. I think it’s all just trial and error and you’ll soon find what works well and what thickness and lumps your little one can take. Ours at 9 months is perfectly happy with 10m+ musli as a texture but a friends little girl who is visually impaired and the same age hates lumps (unless she’s eating something herself like a rice cake etc) and prefers the smooth 6+ porridge, she could eat toast etc sooner than my little girl, just takes different times to learn to chew properly x

[MissEd]

I use a mixture, as lovefood says, just puree whatever you are having, unless it has extra salt in it, thats what ive been doing, for example yesterday i made fish pie, so today that what my little one had for lunch. That had frozen veg in it.

I've got a tommee tippee steam and blender so thats how i did fruit, just shoved some pear and apple in there and puree'd that for him.

[Kempton]

I used fresh mostly, but maybe frozen berries, peas, sweetcorn, etc. As he got older, I just gave him the same as what we were having but without seasoning the whole pot. So probably from about 10 months, he'd having either a blended (or semi blended) portion of our dinner. Or just overcooked pasta, chopped up bits, etc.

I did a mixture of baby led weaning and spoon feeding, so he could get a feel for texture and have a bit of control. He's learnt to use a spoon/fork now so can feed himself, but I still spoon feed too as I want to ensure he's had enough (he's over 18 months).

It's definitely worth making your own, but the pouches are super handy if you are in a rush or out and about so maybe don't completely get rid of them yet.

[Cheekymonkey85]

Even now it's worth making your own. Frozen veg is just as good.

Home made just has more flavour, I find that the jars all tend to just taste the same. Anabel karmel cookbooks have some great ideas to start off on. An easy one is a combo of avocado & banana just mashed together. My son loved it, and still loves slices of avocado as a side x

[Annh17 in reply to Cheekymonkey85]

I’m definitely going too make my own, she doesn’t seem too be fussy with the pouches and jars, so I’m hoping she won’t be fussy with my food 😂🤷🏼‍♀️ x

[Cheekymonkey85 in reply to Annh17]

Yeah that's always a worry 😂

[Hidden]

We made our own. Just steamed up fresh veg and blended them up and then put them in ice cube traces and froze them x

[kt_11]

The only packet baby food my little boy has ever eaten is fruit pouches. Anything else he’s just turned his nose up at it and I’ve had to make it myself 🤦🏻‍♀️

I just initially blended a combination of fruit and veg together (generally fresh as I don’t have loads of freezer space for frozen fruits. I started with apple and pear, heated them up until soft in a pan with some cinnamon then blended it).

I then progressed onto casseroles with different meats & vegetables (always using low salt stock).

He had finger food alongside this and although at 14 months he can manage loads more textures, I still give him the casseroles to ensure he’s getting enough calories and nutrition as his weight gain really slowed down (he can use a fork and spoon himself now though so feeds himself).

He does still have the fruit pouches in his porridge too.

I found the Annabel Karmel Baby and Toddler meal planner book and also the Gill Rapley Baby Led Weaning Cookbook to be helpful in giving me ideas.

[Ellstar87]

I used to make sweet potato and peas quite often and blend when I first started wearing. I usually cut the potato into tiny chunks and boil with the peas, only takes 5 minutes. I don’t blend them anymore as he is 9 months so just mash with a fork and add a bit of olive oil and chicken or lentils. You’ll save a fortune batch cooking stuff like this and freezing it, baby food is crazily overpriced!