Wednesday, July 30, 2008

In Preparation of...

The other day, Garrett and I decided to go to Barnes & Noble. It's a nice little retreat for the two of us and allows me to do my own book browsing. Sometimes, I just sit and read while in the store...never fully purchasing a book. But, this time I had full intentions on buying a book. I bought FIRST MEALS, by Annabel Karmel. Ok, not exactly your 'run out right now, gotta read best selling novel'. Yet, these days it comes pretty darn close.
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Now, I know many of you are saying, "Isn't Garrett still a bit young for solids?" And yes, you are correct. But, in my defense he does turn 4 months next week- so getting ready for the world of solids now, rather than later seems the smart thing to do.
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Besides, I am still contemplating on when I want to begin his first foods. Originally, I had thought I would wait until 6 months, since that's the recommended age. Yet, now I am a little eager and thought maybe I would go for 5 months.
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According to Karmel, babies shouldn't be given solids until 17 weeks after their due date. This is due to a baby's underdeveloped immune system and digestive system. It can help trigger allergies. Ok, I get that, makes prefect sense and if I can prevent Garrett from getting my dreaded eczema than I'm all for it!
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This means that Garrett shouldn't have solids until he is just shy of 5 months old, since my little man came 2 weeks early. And that goes with my own magical number, so I believe that we will wait to start solids until then.
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Of course, now I have this book egging me on to start solids.
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It peers at me from the counter top, somehow more noticeable than all the other cookbooks.
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No, that's not quite true.
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It does peer at me, but not to start Garrett on solids. I actually read the first 50 pages the day I bought it. The next day, I was making baby food. It was easy. I should have taken some photos, but I was preparing it during one of Garrett's nap and was trying hard to finish before he was back up. On my next go around, I will be sure to share pictures.
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I have about 20 servings of the following foods frozen, just waiting for Garrett to try out:
Apples, Pears, Peaches, Blueberries, Carrots, Squash and Zucchini
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(My mother had brought the squash and zucchini from home so it is organic, but the rest were bought and I didn't have the money to go organic. I am going to try to give him as much organic or at least locally grown as possible. Regardless of organic or not, making your own baby food is the best route if you keep things clean. Plus, I get to know exactly what he's eating and I get to save us some extra money, too.)
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The cookbook by Karmel is really wonderful and covers recipes up to the age of 7. She gives some great combinations for baby food and a lot of creative ways to jazz up a toddler and young child's food as well. So, even if you aren't up to making baby food or don't have a baby at home you'll find it helpful. Next time your at the bookstore or library, see if you can't browse through it...
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And to all you Mommas out there, I have a few questions:
When did you begin feeding your little one or when do you plan to feed your baby?
And, what did you feed them? Any recommendations, advice or suggestions you can share?

3 comments:

Shannon said...

We started cereal at 4 months at our pediatrician's suggestion. At six months we started actual foods. My advice would be to start with vegetables when you get to that stage, as opposed to starting with fruits.

Becky said...

Let's see...I started rice cereal with my first at 5 months old. He totally STOPPED SLEEPING. We backed off and didn't try again until 6 months, and at that point I had done some research and discovered that rice cereal, though widely recommended as a first food, has hardly any nutrition at all so I didn't really see the point in going with that again and we went straight to fruits/veggies.

My second, I started sometime between 5-6 months, and she did totally fine with anything we gave her.

I loved the site www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They have lots of great "baby recipes", ideas, etc. Sorry, now you'll be even more eager to start solid foods, after taking a look at that website! Maybe this will temper your enthusiasm - just picture all the extra laundry that will be generated. :-)

C. Beth said...

We started just after 6 months with Ana. She wasn't very interested! We began with smushed bananas. I made my own baby food with her (not much since she was still mostly a boobie baby and didn't care for solids.) This time I'll probably just buy it to save the time.