Ever since I began the path to motherhood, I decided to explore the idea of making homemade baby food for my future child. It was one of those dreams to be the best mom possible and to give my child a great nutritional start. Honestly, I also wanted the chance to play in my kitchen and then to say to someone when he or she asks what my child is eating, "Oh, it's just some baby food I made."
By the way, I just read in Raising Adopted Children (Lois Rusaki Melina) that adoptive parents tend to "go into parenthood with idealized visions of what they will be like as parents" and "the adoption process, as well as the attitudes of those outside the family, can combine to raise their expectations of themselves [. . .] (135). So before you fill my comment box in defense of your choice to use jarred baby food, consider the psychology behind us crazy adoptive moms. We get a little obsessed. This is my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it!
Anyway....
On a practical level, I decided to make homemade baby food for my daughter for several reasons:
1: It's far cheaper than the jarred foods.
2: It doesn't contain some of the added ingredients found in the jarred foods like brown sugar and salt. (Why the heck does a baby need added salt and sugar? Hello, Americans! Are we trying to increase our already startling rate of type 2 diabetes?)
3: It's as sanitary as I can control. (Need I remind you of the peanut butter or spinach drama?)
4: It only takes a few steaming, freezing, and storing sessions to create a lot of food.
5: It's fun. Seriously.
An online friend suggested a wonderful website called Wholesome Baby Food. I found this website incredibly helpful.
Getting started was hardly expensive. I bought a steam basket, an ice cube tray (I already had two), and the foods (all frozen) I wanted to make. I already had my pots/pans, some storage baggies, and a generic Magic Bullet.
I started by making organic sweet peas, followed by cauliflower, and finally, organic peaches.
As I was making the foods, I even dared to taste them. Not surprisingly, each tasted like it's whole version (only a little mushy). And that's what I want, my baby knowing what whole foods, real foods, taste like.
If you have diabetes, you know your food choices aren't just food choices. They are life and death choices. They are trade offs. They are possibilities and consequences. I hope I can take what I have learned about nutrition and give my child a wonderful gift: the wisdom and power to make good choices for today and for her future. This isn't just about food. It never is.
3 comments:
I too made my own babyfood, and Liam loved everything but the peas and broccoli, which I had to buy jarred for him to eat. You should try Mashing Avacado too...Liam loved it, and it's full of the "good fat" that babies need so much of!
From one crazy adoptive mom to another...I might have to look into this. :)
This is such a good idea - bravo! I made almost all of my little guy's baby food, except the baby cereals (which next time, I might try making since Gerber's taste like cardboard). I picked up a few jars when they were on sale and they just didn't taste right (I tasted, too). Jarred veggies were just ick - fruits are better.
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