It's baby food time baby!

Many of you have requested my thoughts on baby food. Now that the girls are starting to eat baby food I thought this would be the perfect time to share!

As most of you know I have a deep love for healthy eating... so you can imagine I can be a little particular about baby food. {grin}

It should come as no surprise to hear that I swim against the current of common baby food. I exclusively breast feed our babies for most of their 1st year -- only adding small amounts of baby food as their bodies show me they are ready.

How do I know they are ready? Their teeth will tell you!

Teeth usually come in pairs. The bottom front two teeth typically show up first, followed by the top ones -- when the 1st pair have made their grand entrance it is time to start with a fruit or veggie. We like to start with Avocado -- which is a fruit by definition I believe.

Avocados are one of natures perfect foods -- filled with vitamins, minerals and super rich in good fats! They are perfect served right from their peel. Roll your ripe avocado around on the counter -- slice in half -- whack your knife into the pit to remove -- and start mashing!

Once the 2nd pair have worked their way through it's time to add more fruits and veggies. We have started the girls on mango and raspberries so far.

Right now the girls eat 1/2 an avocado during dinner time -- but after I have nursed them. They do not eat baby food everyday yet. A few times a week we will give them the fruit in the mornings. We will be adding sweet potatoes next -- followed by our dinner veggie when they are a bit older.

I try to make sure to only use organic -- if needed -- for babies. Since berries are a must buy organic and they can become quite pricey, I like to buy frozen organic berries and puree them with my stick mixer. I do use berries very sparingly.

You CAN mix in large batches and freeze but I tend to not do this -- why you ask? Since we eat fresh fruits and veggies everyday it is very easy for me to mash or puree whatever fruit or veggies we are eating for our babies.

In a pinch I have been known to slightly chew up a veggie or fruit and then feed it to our babies on my clean finger. Finger feeding can be an excellent way to start feeding your baby -- much easier than the foreign silver spoon sometimes. {grin}

I also tend to not mix up foods -- I like my babies to learn to love and enjoy each unique flavor before mixing and changing. I don't like to eat bananas and squash mixed together so why would I think my babes would?

I couple big no-no's -- no cereal, grains, meats or diary. Their bodies are not ready to process any of these and will only sit in the gut for up to months! NOT good for them. It is a shame that baby cereal is aimed towards such young babies.

::::::there has been a lot of questions regarding grains sitting in the gut -- I will speak with our doctor and clarify shortly. I will also ask her for books/sites that have additional information about this. If this is wrong and I misunderstood I will completely correct this! As for water, that is 100% correct -- young babies do not need and should not have water.::::::::

And no water -- they do not need any other hydration other than moms milk. Letting them have water will lower their electrolytes and dehydrate them.

Back to the teeth leading the way....

So we have 4 teeth through and now the side front teeth (lateral incisors) fill in -- usually around 1 year. These pearly white teeth tell us they are ready for protein -- such as beans or eggs.

Garbanzo beans {chickpeas} are a very easy bean to mash without becoming a puree. By this age I like to start letting them have chunkier foods too. Mashed hard boiled eggs or scrambled eggs are another great 1st protein.

If you have any history of egg sensitivity you should start your baby on the yolk only -- easiest way is to hard boil the eggs and remove the yolk to mash.

Now the molars and then the canines, which are the pointy teeth next to the front teeth. The back molars erupt last. Filling in the rest of these teeth indicate your baby is ready for grains -- around 18-20 months.

By this time our babies are usually eating every fruit, veggie and bean and enjoying most of our meals with us.

I am a firm believer in baby led feeding -- they, along with their teeth, will show you when they are ready and how much they want to eat. Remember that breast milk is their main source of nutrition still.

Fruits and Veggies also make phenomenal teethers. Freeze the pip of a fresh mango, cold carrot and cucumber sticks, unsulfered and unsweetened dried mango, pineapple, apples and peaches. I like to put big chunks of frozen fruit in a safe feeder too -- it can be messy but they LOVE it!

So now you know how we do baby food! Glad you asked!?!