Baby Food Recipes

Newborn Feeding

Although my main goal in this blog is making baby food, I still believe the issue of newborn feeding is extremely important. It really is critical for his or her development. So I’d like to say a few words about this topic.

So what would be the most important aspect of newborn feeding?

Well I guess most people would say breastfeeding. It is the recommended newborn feeding method by most professionals. I know we’re definitely going to try it, but I think people have to remember it has to be comfortable for both baby and mom.

Breastfeeding has a few advantages:

Most suitable food for newborns – full of vitamins and nutrients
It’s probably the cheapest newborn feeding method
Don’t need to carry around anything with you – just yourself, assuming you’re the mom
Help getting back into shape by burning calories
The skin-to-skin contact does wonders for the mom-baby relationship

However, formula feeding has a few advantages of its own:

It’s not just the mom – everybody can help!
A newborn feeding on formula sleeps longer since it’s takes longer to digest
It’s easier to know how much the baby ate

Besides that you must remember that a newborn’s digesting system is still “under construction” and cannot hold anything but breast milk or formula. So for at least 4-6 months do not try to feed your baby with anything else.

Newborn feeding based on breast milk can be as often as 1.5-3 hours, which means 8-12 times a day. If you’re giving formula to the baby, it might take up to 4 hours between feedings. In any case, newborns are not supposed to go over 4 hours without a proper feeding.

If you’re baby is sleeping, gently undress her (leaving only the diaper) and get her close to you. The skin contact and the “rooting” reflex will do the job of waking her up and start feeding.

The best way of knowing if your newborn feeding is successful, is watching the baby’s weight and general development. Although babies tend to loose some weight after birth, they are expected to regain it after 2 weeks and then gain around 4 to 8 oz a week.

It’s very important to have regular checkups with your doctor to make sure the baby’s gaining weight, develops well and get any questions about newborn feeding you may have answered.

Traveling with a Baby Tip

I’m always impressed when I hear about people who travel with their babies. Sounds like such a hassle! I just finished reading about this guy who traveled with his wife and 1 year old kid in Ireland. Seems like he enjoyed every minute of it, but…

Traveling with a baby

Can you guess what his biggest regret was?

That he didn’t do it sooner!

Apparently it’s easier to travel with a 3-6 months old infant, since they sleep more, breastfeed or eat formula, less active etc.

Now that I think about it, I once met an Austrian couple who was travelling with a 4 months old baby. They were driving and camping for weeks! I remember being very surprised, but maybe it’s a bit easier than I thought.

Besides great tips for travelling with a baby, the article also has a good tip for making baby food while abroad (assuming you rented a house or an apartment with a normal kitchen): take a food mill with you and combine your baby’s food preparation with the rest of the family’s.

Making Baby Food

So let’s start with an overview on making baby food. Just a quick look at a few things. I think I’ll elaborate about each one in future posts.

Making Baby Food – When to Start?

One of the most important things is when to start making baby food, or actually when is your baby read for baby food? Well, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends keeping your baby on breast milk or formula for 6 months. Only then you can start making baby food and introduce it to your baby.

Other signs that indicate it might be a good time to start making baby food is if your baby can hold up his or her head and lost the reflex to push anything besides liquid out of the mouth.

Making Baby Food – The Advantages

When it comes to your baby’s well being and development, food plays a big role. There is no doubt that by making baby food by yourself, you know exactly what goes into your baby’s stomach – fresh produce and only specific ingredients. Have you ever read the labels of those little jars in the supermarket? Making baby food means no added starch or sugar, which means more vitamins and nutrients.

And of course – the money. Making baby food in bulk and usually buying the ingredients as a part of the family’s regular shopping list makes a big difference.

Making Baby Food – Where to Start?

One method of making baby food seems to be very popular, easy and handy. I’m talking about purees, which is usually the first thing you’ll be making for your baby. Either vegetables or fruits, cooking and pureeing them using a food processor is the way to start. Boiling is preferring since it keeps the nutrients, but even if you boil, you can use some of the cooking water when you process the food.

The Making Baby Food Biggest Tip

What was the best tip I encountered while researching making baby food? It was the idea to scoop the puree into ice trays and freeze them. This way you get cubes of approx 1oz of baby food. At the beginning, your baby won’t have more than that anyone. It is easily defrost, it can last for weeks and even a month or two, you can mix and match cubes of different purees. It’s great!

Making Baby Food – What’s Next?

Oh, this was really just a taste of making baby food (got the word play? ) I wanna get as many guidelines, tips, secrets and good advice on making baby food before actually start doing it. So more to come soon…

Hello Baby Food Recipes

Hi everyone and welcome to my new Baby Food Recipes website and blog!

As an “about to be a dad” and a person who loves cooking, I thought the best thing would be to join these 2 areas. And although I know it takes time before babies can eat anything else than breast milk or formula, I’m so excited, I decided to start my blog right now.

By the time my baby is ready for “real” baby food, I’m planning on being an expert in anything that has to do with making baby food, homemade baby food recipes and more.

And of course – I would love to get your advice, comments, suggestions and remarks. Let’s do it

Tom.

Baby Food Recipes

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