Baby Food Questions

I would also recommend the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. It maps everything out for you, which foods are appropriate for what age, how much, how to make them, even daily schedules such as cereal in the morning and night, veggies in the afternoon, etc. Makes it all very easy.

I made all of my daughter's baby food since she started eating solids. I never used a book or recipes, just made my own versions of what the store-bought foods offered, plus some things they don't. The basics are all the same: orange veggies first, then green veggies, fruits and meats. That's the order I prefer and what I recommend to the clients of my home daycare. The foods I avoided were just a few: broccoli and cucumbers because they are gassy (save for finger foods when she's bigger), beets because fresh beets are a huge pain and I didn't want to give her the vinegar soaked ones in a jar, citrus fruits because they're too acidic. I made large batches of each individual food as I introduced it, pureed it and then froze it in ice-cube trays and store the cubes in baggies in my freezer. When my daughter was older, I made any combination I thought would taste good just by mixing cubes and I wasn't limited in the variety I was able to offer her (lamb, spinach and spaghetti squash one night, bison, sweet potatoes and apples the next). Portion sizes are easy to adjust this way also, as each cube is equal to about an ounce of food, so you can just make more as the baby gets bigger. When I wanted to add texture to her foods, I made small batches of rice and tiny pastas that I added to the purees during heating.
As for how to cook each food, I baked the squashes and sweet potatoes (watch they don't get TOO carmelized), boiled apples, pears, potatoes and green beans until soft and steamed spinach and anything else I could. For the meats, I started with ground, all natural meats and just made sure I cooked them all the way through before pureeing. I used my food processor mostly, adding water only when necessary to get a smooth puree. Tough things with skin, like corn and peas, need a food mill or a very patient, strong arm to push them through a strainer.
As for cereal, you definitely shouldn't cut it out of her diet. By about 6 months of age, babies should be eating 1/4 cup of cereal twice a day. I suggest upping the amount of cereal you're giving her over the course of a week, so it's not too much at once, and fitting in a 1 oz. working up to about 2.5-3 oz. veggie feeding around lunchtime. That will also give you half the day for any allergie signs, if any, to show up.
I had a lot of fun making my baby's food and being able to offer her variety. While it may not look much better, my food definitely tasted better than the jars. Good luck and enjoy watching your baby grow!

PS. My doctor's office sent home a great feeding chart that a lot of my clients have found useful. I will gladly scan it and email it to you, if you'd like. Just message me on here with your email and I'll get it to you right away.

I used baby food for both of my girls, but I started with the red vegetables 1st (Carrots, Sweet Potatoes and Squash). I then moved to the green vegetables (pees & green beans) and then the fruits starting with bananas, pears, applesauce, and peaches. I don't think it necessarily matters what order they fo them in. I think you can still give up to about 1/4 cup of cereal per day when introducing the other food. As long as they are drinking enough formula or breastmilk- you can give them as much food as needed. I would wait awhile before introducing strawberries or any other berry.

The first veggies I always give are in this order: peas, carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes. My children always ate the orange veggies the best. the very last veggie I introduce is corn around 8 months. What you might do since things have changed so much in the last several years is go down the baby food isle and check out what is in the 1st foods section and go from there. You might want to wait to introduce a new food at five days since some children can take a little longer to have a reaction (day six we discovered ours was allergic to strawberries after a mysterious rash and a visit to the doctor).

I recommend getting the Super Baby Food Book by Ruth Yaron. I made all my own and it is so confusing at first! But the book gave some great ideas and laid out a very good eating plan. It was filled with good info about how to pick, cook, and store produce also. I give it as a shower gift now if I know they are interested. It makes it much easier to figure out, and you can do as much or as little as you want from the book.

Here are my two favorite websites also:

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

and here is a food blog from a mommy who makes her own babyfood. Check it out when you have time to get ideas of recipes and combinations for later on: www.weelicious.com

Personally, I did squash first. I did several yellow veggies, then green veggies, then fruits. But I didn't stick firm with that rule if there was a good price or something looked good at the store.

I did cereal first, then added a veggie at dinner. So I kept the cereal feeding for breakfast, then veggie at dinner. After a couple/few weeks he seemed to need another solid feeding, so I added in lunch. At that point, for one veggie/fruit feeding I would do something we had already introduced (I used a 4 day rule, but I have heard 3 too) and then for the other feeding I would give him something new that I was introducing. It wasn't long before my son didn't want plain cereal anymore. I would sometimes mix it in the veggie, but not always. Once I started doing fruits, I would do those for breakfast mixed with cereal, and veggies for lunch and dinner.

There are really no rules about it, you will quickly see what works good for you. The only thing that I would say should be a rule is about waiting 3 or 4 days between new food. And no honey before a year. I gave my son everything else except choking hazards by slowly introducing them. He did great. I worked my way up to the more acidic stuff, and didn't do yogurt until 8 or 9 mos. No cows milk until 12 mos. See if you can find that book, it is in bookstores and sometimes on Amazon for much cheaper, it was a lifesaver. And if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Good luck!