Making babies'...
...food. Ha, made you look.
Bite this: Twins are a lot of work. Apparently they take up a lot of time which leaves less and less time for blogging.
So...are you still there? I do not blame you if you left and forgot about this hobby of mine. I sort of did. But, I am back! Have you poured yourself a glass of wine yet? Then let's get to the nitty gritty.
As a dietitian, I am fully aware that what you put in your body can have a large impact not only on how the body functions, but also how you feel overall. And if you have been following this blog at all, you know that I do not always practice what I preach. But, when it comes to my kids, if they do not know any different, why not make their first foods nutrient dense foods? By making my boys' food from scratch, I can ensure that they are getting the nutrients that they need without the added crap. In our household, we also choose organic foods. There is a lot of controversial and contradictory research out there about pesticides and GMOs and health concerns in children and adults, so we made the switch. We worked so hard to have these kids and are lucky that they are healthy, so my thought is why take chances? They did not have solid foods until 6 months of age, so why not start fresh? So that's what we did.
I puree our food to make it easy for the boys to eat, but I really love the idea of baby-led weaning. If you're not familiar with this type of feeding method, it's an awesome concept. It's really popular in the UK, so this is where I first witnessed it from a friend of mine. I actually posted about it here. Basically, you give your 6 month old bite sized pieces of food and your baby can choose what he wants to eat. There's no spoon feeding involved. Your baby learns how to pick up the pieces and gnaws on the food until it turns to mush and he is able to swallow. Besides not having to spoon-feed your child, this also allows the child to make the decision of what to eat and most of the time it also allows the child to eat what the rest of the family eats. It's amazing! However, I am scared to death of my boys choking, so this method is not for me. I do not intend to use my superior Heimlich manuevering skills I picked up from a 2 hour class during my 28th week of pregnancy.
That's okay because I actually love experimenting with different combinations of fruits and vegetables and love seeing the reaction on the boys faces when they try my concoctions. In a sense, they still eat what we eat, I just puree it in the food processor for them. (Finally, this wedding present has gotten some use!) It does take extra time to make their food, but when I read the ingredients in store-bought baby food, I feel like it's worth it. By making my own food, I know there's nothing else in there but food. I realize this is not feasible for everyone. I do only work 20 hours/week, which leaves time in the evenings for me to do this, hence no time for blogging. (Side note: We do have back ups of organic store-bought baby food for times when we're in a rush or not at home, but even looking at the ingredients in these foods, they are usually made from concentrate and have added preservatives. )
So what foods do my boys eat? Some of their favorite combos include: bananas and avocados (which only involves mashing with a fork), sweet potatoes and pretty much anything, chicken and avocados, oatmeal, apples, and cinnamon, blueberries and oatmeal, kale and peaches, and pears and zucchini. Some of these may sound gross, but honestly, as long as it doesn't contain breast milk, I try everything I make and enjoy it! (Something about trying my own breast milk weirds me out.) My favorites include cauliflower and sweet potatoes and peaches and kale - I actually highly recommend trying peaches and kale sometime. I also eat the apples, cinnamon, and oatmeal when the boys don't finish it. All of the sharing of dishes, utensils, and food just enhances our immune systems.
I realize that all of this hard work of ensuring my boys eat healthily will quickly be relinquished when they are old enough for grandpa to take them out for milkshakes, but at least they have a good start!
Sound bite: I dare you to try breast milk. They sell it in the form of ice cream in the UK for about $20.
Bite this: Twins are a lot of work. Apparently they take up a lot of time which leaves less and less time for blogging.
So...are you still there? I do not blame you if you left and forgot about this hobby of mine. I sort of did. But, I am back! Have you poured yourself a glass of wine yet? Then let's get to the nitty gritty.
As a dietitian, I am fully aware that what you put in your body can have a large impact not only on how the body functions, but also how you feel overall. And if you have been following this blog at all, you know that I do not always practice what I preach. But, when it comes to my kids, if they do not know any different, why not make their first foods nutrient dense foods? By making my boys' food from scratch, I can ensure that they are getting the nutrients that they need without the added crap. In our household, we also choose organic foods. There is a lot of controversial and contradictory research out there about pesticides and GMOs and health concerns in children and adults, so we made the switch. We worked so hard to have these kids and are lucky that they are healthy, so my thought is why take chances? They did not have solid foods until 6 months of age, so why not start fresh? So that's what we did.
I puree our food to make it easy for the boys to eat, but I really love the idea of baby-led weaning. If you're not familiar with this type of feeding method, it's an awesome concept. It's really popular in the UK, so this is where I first witnessed it from a friend of mine. I actually posted about it here. Basically, you give your 6 month old bite sized pieces of food and your baby can choose what he wants to eat. There's no spoon feeding involved. Your baby learns how to pick up the pieces and gnaws on the food until it turns to mush and he is able to swallow. Besides not having to spoon-feed your child, this also allows the child to make the decision of what to eat and most of the time it also allows the child to eat what the rest of the family eats. It's amazing! However, I am scared to death of my boys choking, so this method is not for me. I do not intend to use my superior Heimlich manuevering skills I picked up from a 2 hour class during my 28th week of pregnancy.
That's okay because I actually love experimenting with different combinations of fruits and vegetables and love seeing the reaction on the boys faces when they try my concoctions. In a sense, they still eat what we eat, I just puree it in the food processor for them. (Finally, this wedding present has gotten some use!) It does take extra time to make their food, but when I read the ingredients in store-bought baby food, I feel like it's worth it. By making my own food, I know there's nothing else in there but food. I realize this is not feasible for everyone. I do only work 20 hours/week, which leaves time in the evenings for me to do this, hence no time for blogging. (Side note: We do have back ups of organic store-bought baby food for times when we're in a rush or not at home, but even looking at the ingredients in these foods, they are usually made from concentrate and have added preservatives. )
So what foods do my boys eat? Some of their favorite combos include: bananas and avocados (which only involves mashing with a fork), sweet potatoes and pretty much anything, chicken and avocados, oatmeal, apples, and cinnamon, blueberries and oatmeal, kale and peaches, and pears and zucchini. Some of these may sound gross, but honestly, as long as it doesn't contain breast milk, I try everything I make and enjoy it! (Something about trying my own breast milk weirds me out.) My favorites include cauliflower and sweet potatoes and peaches and kale - I actually highly recommend trying peaches and kale sometime. I also eat the apples, cinnamon, and oatmeal when the boys don't finish it. All of the sharing of dishes, utensils, and food just enhances our immune systems.
I realize that all of this hard work of ensuring my boys eat healthily will quickly be relinquished when they are old enough for grandpa to take them out for milkshakes, but at least they have a good start!
What kind of fruit, vegetable, meat combo would you enjoy?
Sound bite: I dare you to try breast milk. They sell it in the form of ice cream in the UK for about $20.
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