Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker/Steamer/Blender - opinions?

[Clarina]

Hi. Preparing to wean my 23 week old DS, combination of BLW & purées, don't have a microwave (for defrosting/warming), looking to make preparation as simple as possible for various reasons, have a M'care voucher...does anyone have any experience of the Babycook? I know it's a luxury but I have read some good reviews. Also a HV told me they don't recommend baby rice anymore but that I could start him with porridge - is that right? Many thanks in advance.

[PinkPepper]

BLW doesn't involve any pureeing/blending other than eating what your eating so you could save the money by doing that? And prep is mega simple as you can cook same for everyone

Otherwise if your doing traditional weaning I don't know sorry!

Normal porridge is fine from 6 months

[TeaOperated]

I bought a second hand beaba from gumtree for £20 and it would have been handy but baby won't take a spoon so we're BLW all the way. Don't think it's worth full price, you'll be moving from purées to mash to solids so soon.

But Aldi currently have copies for £25 (or my branch did on Sunday) worth a try?

[Clarina]

Thank you for your replies & for the idea re Aldi. I had thought i would get most use out of it for steaming for the BLW or does that stage also not last long either?

[TeaOperated]

We do use it for steaming, but not often - it 's amazing how quickly you get on to just giving them a spoonful of whatever you're having (we're just 3 weeks in).

I do slightly wish we'd just bought a steamer... My more experienced mum friend uses one to cook veg for the whole family, and mushes up her son's food with a spoon!

Not much use for your Mothercare vouchers, I know, sorry.

[Clarina]

Thank you. I am sure I will find something to spend my M'care vouchers on!

[PinkPepper]

Oh sorry didnt see it steamed. We just used microwave or over pan steamer

[Novia]

I have the Avent steamer/blender and I LOVE it! It's been really useful and minimal mess. I usually batch cook and freeze the excess.

[AHardDaysWrite]

BLW doesn't mean "finger foods". It means giving your baby control over what he chooses to put in his mouth, at every meal. So by definition, you can't combine BLW with purees, as purees aren't BLW because the baby isn't putting them in his mouth himself. What you're talking about doing is traditional weaning (a mix of spoon feeding and finger food). Which is fine, just not BLW. If you want to do BLW, you don't give any purees unless it's something you would eat pureed yourself (eg mashed potato or soup). So you won't need a special blender. You can steam or roast veg easily to make them soft enough without using expensive kit.