With my son, I breastfed him for about 9 months, made him mostly fresh baby food and with little Livey, I was only able to breastfeed her for 3 months. She had a lot of colic, and I was really stressed between her colic, having a 15 month old toddler to run after, a newborn to care for, run the household and a c-section to recover. I think thats what not only made my milk dry up and she just wouldn't latch on. It's amazing how babies percieve everything at such a young age. So I kind of have always had a little guilt that I haven't done the same for her as for my son.
Until one day, my little Olivia started to not be too thrilled when I offered her baby food. She would take one bite then just wouldn't eat anymore of it. I was buying her Organic Baby food at the grocery store by Plum Organics, Ella's Kitchen and Happy Baby, which are acctually pretty good. So I figured I would try making her fresh baby food, like I did for my son when he was a baby. Here is a little step by step guide on how to make chicken, broccoli, zuccini and sweet potato baby food.
Ingredients: (you can use regular or organic veggies)
1 zuccini
1/4 of a fresh split chicken breast
1/2 of a large sweet potato
1 bunch of broccoli
Materials:
blender
medium pot
baby food cups to store the baby food (Munchkin has some great ones that you can store in the freezer as well. I know NUK and baby bullet make some too)
(When I was pregnant with my son I bought a baby food maker, used it once and then never use it again. It had too many pieces to clean for me haha but if you would prefer to use one, go for it! :))
1. You have to make sure that you wash all of the materials well (veggies, blender, pot, etc) and chop/ peel all of your veggies.
2. Fill your pot about halfway with water
3. Boil your split chicken breast and veggies together until you see that the veggies are soft and the chicken is cooked...if the chicken is not frozen, it shouldnt take more than 30 minutes.
4. Put all of the cooked veggies in the blender and cut out about 1/4 of the chicken breast. Shred the chicken a little bit and put in the blender. DO NOT throw out the chicken stock!!
5. Put about 1/3 cup of the chicken stock from the pot (the water that you boiled the chicken and veggies in) into the blender.
6. Cover the blender with the lid and blend away! I usually use level 4 which says Puree on my blender. Blend until you can see no more solid.
7. Pour into the individual cups and store.
This lasts me about 2 days (4 feedings) for Olivia. You can make it in larger quantities and freeze it so it will last longer and maintain it's freshness.
The possibilities are endless with this! If your little one isn't ready for meats yet (the pediatrician will let you know when you can start adding meats to his/her diet)then you can mix and match as many veggies as you want or even go by, the combinations of premade baby foods!
Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments!
xoxo
Elda
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