Which Baby Food Preparer Is Right For You?

Your baby food preparer can really be one of several things

• a grater

• a ricer

• a potato masher

• a food mill

• a herb chopper

• a knife and a sieve

• a hand held blender, or...

• a full scale food processor.

The point is that babies have tiny mouths, tiny stomachs and tiny appetites. So...

You Have Two Choices Preparing Your Baby Food

• either make very small amounts several times a day, or...

• you can have a longer session once or twice a week and make up lots of food, divide this into portions and freeze or otherwise preserve the majority.

Not that you have to feed the baby the same food all the time. You will soon build up a larder of many different foods so that you can give your child the variety he needs for a balanced diet.

At first baby needs smooth food - a little perhaps mixed with some breast milk or formula. This means either a very good food processor or a sieve. Push the food through with a wooden spoon.

Later you can make the food a little courser and then start to introduce food as you would eat it, just cut up small - even the cleverest baby has a very narrow throat and large pieces of food can be just too big.

There are lots of different baby food preparers available.

About Baby Food Mills

Happy Baby make one that can be easily cleaned and sterilized. They deal with small amounts of food better than a liquidizer or most food processors. You can use a grater to prepare pieces of cheese or carrot and other vegetables which can be steamed. You can cook the food in the microwave, but remember that this may be a little uneven, so stop half way and stir.

The smaller and younger the baby the smoother and thinner the food must be. You can mix in some milk, formula , water or the cooking liquid. However avoid using water that carrots have cooked in as they may be high in nitrates.

If you are going to store prepared foods in the freezer cover the ice cube trays with cling film rather than foil as foil can be brittle and bits can break off and get into the food. There are available special trays where each cube has an individual lid. These are known as Baby Cubes and are available from One Step Ahead.

You can get manual baby food preparers like the Oxo Good Grips Food Mills or even the Norpro Multi-Purpose Mill and if you like the electric food mills, look at Kidco Baby Food Maker or even the BabySteps Electric Baby Food Mill. Or else, look at the many other great options.

Bottom line is, you really do need these small amounts. How you make it is up to you.

Preparing & Using Baby Food

Some babies start off eating as little as half a teaspoon at first. When that first spoon is introduced the contents are as likely to come back out as to be swallowed. Learning to get food to the back of the throat and to swallow has to be learned, but he will soon master it.

As his appetite grows you don't need to make bigger cubes, just defrost a few at the same time.

These are early days, but before you know it your child will be as tall or taller than you with an appetite to watch. So grab the spoon and stand back.

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