AIBU to ask what you feed you baby? Homemade, ready made or a mix of the two.

[Bumpandkind]

Weaning at 6 months and so far have made -obliterated- a few vegetables and fruits but also making use of the wealth of freebies that come with various baby clubs, boots, hipp etc. and what is baby rice? I am feeding Ds some freebies of this which he loves mixed with breast milk but my sister turned her nose up at it saying there is no point giving a 6 month old such things. I am on mat leave with just one child so I guess no excuses for not home cooking

I weaned at 18 weeks on advice of HVs (although I wish I hadn't bother as it didn't make a difference). I did home made food from day one but had to do purees as he was too young for BLW. He's 7mo now and I have give him a couple of jars when I've been out, but he hates them! He has finger foods and is fine with lumps etc.

Just give baby what you eat mushed up or in little finger food portions. No processed crap like baby rice, jars only for out and about. That was what I did anyway.

Don't want to steal your thread op but am curious about 'processed crap'. Can I assume certain brand are better than others? DD gets plum pouches which claim to be 100% fruit. They don't have additives so aren't in the 'processed crap' category right?

My babies have had whatever we've eaten. When I know we are going to be out I've put a portion in a sealed bowl. I've used jars and punches also, both children haven't turned into weirdos with two heads.

He eats whatever we eat (baby led weaning). I do give him mini breadsticks if shopping and he gets whiny. I've never bought him 'baby food' or 'baby rice' - can't see the point as it's expensive and he isn't fussy.

They may only contain fruit, weeblueberry, but it is heavily processed - heated to exceptionally high temperatures to improve the shelf life. Unfortunately it also affects the nutritional content. Otherwise it wily go off as quickly as , well, fruit. They aren't bad for a baby as such, but fresh ingredients are better.

Oh, and yes, some baby food contains starchy fillers and is pretty lacking in nutrition.

To my mind, it is the sane as with adult food: the fresher and closest to its natural form it is, the likelier it is to be good for you. Ready made stuff can be a useful timesaver, but if you're relying on it all the time, you may be missing out nutritionally

(And when I say 'wily', I mean 'would', of course...)

Both here as the nursery wouldnt accapt home made

Our family have quite simple homemade meals in the evenings. Ds gets the leftovers whizzed up with a stick blender and eats it the next day.

I makethings like roast chicken, beef casserole, salmon and rice - proper food but not poncy or time consuming to make. He even had sausage, chips and baked beans pureed last week. Tonight we had duck stirfry and noodles - ds will be having it for his dinner tomorrow. I find doing it this way is really easy to ensure he eats 100% homemade.

With my other children I did a mixture, but I was put off pouches and jars after the research published last year that showed they have little nutritional value. Even the posh organic stuff has been pasteurised (ie boiled) to within an inch of its life and has a high water content. The so-called 'chicken casserole' contains about 8% chicken. That is not to say Im completely anti processed food, its just that it's more expensive but less good quality. When you're out and about it's no harder to take a small pot of homemade food than it is to take a jar of processed. Whizzing up leftover family meals takes no time and you can control what goes in.

Another thing: babies can have salt! Just not too much. Google the exact amount (nhs website has daily recommendation) and it's a surprising amount. Food tastes crap without any seasoning whatsoever!

I have to home cook for my DD, the snobby little so-and-so won't touch anything pre-made. I've tried them all with no luck. Even when she was tiny and all her little baby friends were happily slurping down Ella's pouches, she still turned her wee nose up at them.