Jaeger-Eater, bullet-list version
This is the quick Jaeger update on food, literary version to follow someday, I think:
*started eating rice cereal at one or two weeks past 6 months, because I didn’t want the hassle of packing, preparing, and cleaning food on our Thanksgiving Vacation.
*ate rice cereal exclusively for almost 2 months, because I was too lazy to buy or prepare anything else and it was easy (Hans began solids at not-quite-5-months and got something new every week).
*introduced cooked, pureed carrots, mashed bananas, and applesauce with rice cereal at 8 months, ate those three things for a little over a month before further experiments were made.
*by 9 months, with a little coaxing, he was beginning to eat fingerfoods (chunks of banana and frozen peas & carrots)
*at 10 months, he quit nursing. As with Hans, I was getting tired of nursing, he was eating gobs, he didn’t seem to be getting much anyway, and so I decided not to nurse unless he initiated. Hans had done so once and that was it. Jaeger did a few times over a couple days, then didn’t for one week, then tried initiating again. That was just too bad in my opinion, and he had to cry it out a few times and be happy merely with cuddles (he wanted love, not food).
*from 8-11 months, Jaeger ate more solid food than I’ve ever seen any baby consume. A cereal bowl FULL of applesauce with rice cereal was hardly a full meal. A cereal bowl FULL of carrot puree followed by a small bowl of rice or potatoes or oats in applesauce was about enough. One large banana was merely an appetizer. If I had been buying baby food jars, he would have eaten about 3 jars at breakfast and lunch and 5 jars at dinner — of the stage 3 size! He was fat, but only recently happy — only after learning to crawl and after we figured out how much food he really wanted.
*when he weaned at 10 months, he got an 8-ounce bottle of formula at night and sometimes a smaller one at naptime, depending on how much food he’d had at lunch.
*I was going to hold out on wheat until one year, but he was 10 1/2 months. Oh well, he seems to handle it just fine.
*At almost 12-months we cut the bottle (it needed to be replaced and we decided not to) and put his formula in his sippy cup, which holds 7 oz, so he gets about 6 at night and generally 4 at naptime. He drinks water during the day and with meals.
*I intend to move him to rice milk now that he’s over a year, but that requires going to Fred Meyer (best price) at some point, which I haven’t yet. Once I get rice milk he’ll get two 6-oz cups a day, and I will supplement it with a scoop of formula until it’s gone. I will add a drizzle of oil (preferably olive, canola if I’m out of olive) once a day in some serving of his food to replace the fat that he would be getting with whole milk. I’ll try cow’s milk at 16 or 18 months, watching for irritability or diaper rashes or rashes around the mouth. Since I wasn’t watching for corn-additives when Hans was little, it was probably corn syrup in random things and not dairy or wheat that gave him rashes.
*Jaeger will be kept from corn until 2 or 3 (pretty easy since I have to keep it away from Hans), and we’ll try peanut butter until at least 20 months, but I’ll try to hold out until 2.
Well…that was good enough, really, I doubt a literary version will be released! :)
Wow, you’re ambitious! I never thought to even try to make my own babyfood. I never would have the time anyways, but I commend you. What a good Mommy!
It’s too easy not to, really. Canned food is very nice for going places, but Jaeger eats so much that’s not practical for us. I just boil the snot out of carrots or rice (lots of water, boiling for an hour or so while I cook dinner or do dishes), then dump it in the blender with the water it cooked in (it has the nutrients) and blend. I do it in a big pot, put it in freezer bags or containers, then freeze it in portions so I only have to do it once or twice a month for 2-3 months. Then he’s only enough and I just add extra rice or potatoes or veggies to our dinner and he gets mashed up portions (it’s quick to just dump it in the blender or food processor, or just a fork when they’re older). As soon as he could pick food up, I just buy actual canned food (green beans, carrots, beets); it’s soft and easy. You could even dump some canned veggies in the blender and have baby food for cheaper.
Frozen peas and carrots (they come together) and frozen french fries (just straight from the freezer, dumped onto the tray) are great for teething (they’re cold!) and practicing to pick food up (they’re hard and not squishy) at about 9 months or so. :)
Amy, I realized I didn’t say that quite as I meant it. It is too easy for someone at home all day not to do it; if I was gone most of the day all week long, I’d be buying pre-prepped food, too! :)
Either way, I pushed both boys to eat food on their own as soon as possible. I find spoon-feeding quite dull, but if they are eating their own food, suddenly I have an extra half-hour where they are contained and occupying themselves! :) I would feed them until they were not quite full, then leave them in their chair with finger foods to play with and try to eat as soon as I saw they could pinch little things to pick them up. :) Hans was thrilled to be an independant eater; Jaeger thinks it’s ok, but we still spoon-feed him most of his dinner, because he just can’t eat fast enough (considering the quantity he eats) to satisfy himself or us! :)