I've been using my Vitamix blender to make my own fresh baby food for my 7 month old. This is a commercial grade blender that blends nearly as smooth as store bought. Yet she perfers canned pea taiste to fresh peas and so on. Esspecially the fruit she perfers store bought. I'm buying fresh seasonal fruit and blending at the peak of ripeness. Should I add some agave nectar? Maybe some Karo's syrup? Just kidding on the syrup. Any advice to get her to perfer my cooking? I've chosen to use store bought for convinience when we are out and about. Sometimes when I sense she's not filling up on my food, I offer the store bought and she gloms it down!
Thanks every body. Karen Y, yours was the best advice. Homemade baby food, esspessially fruit, is more tart than store bought. Mixing it with formula and rice did mellow it out a lot (she went for it!). Many suggested to only give my own homemade food. But I don't find that realistic for traveling, crazy busy days, or when I leave my husband in charge (Who God bless him, made it through medical school, but cannot figure out how to choose and defrost from my array of frozen baby food ice cubes!)
Its probably just because she is already used to the taste of the store-bought stuff. Don't stress; she will learn to like the fresh food in time too.
Hello Heidi,
Great job in feeding your baby homemade, natural food. It's a great start for her.
The reason she may prefer the store food is for probably the same reason some of us adults crave the processed foods. There are ingredients placed in all processed foods, even baby foods, that make them taste better, whether it is better for us or not. Because without those ingredients, like MSG or High Fructose Corn Syrup, our food would taste bland to us. I'd definitely stick to your homemade foods, your daughter will get used to them and be healthier for it too.
Food label names that always contain some MSG:
monosodium glutamate
hydrolyzed protein
monopotassium glutamate
textured protein
glutamate
hydrolyzed oat flour
glutamic acid
yeast nutrient
gelatin
autolyzed yeast
calcium caseinate
yeast extract
sodium caseinate
yeast food
Accent
Glutavene
Ajinomoto (in Oriental foods)
Food label names that often contain MSG, or create MSG during processing:
malt extract
carrageenan
malt flavoring
bouillon
barley malt
broth
maltodextrin
stock
whey protein
natural beef flavoring
protein isolate
natural chicken flavoring
protein concentrate
natural pork flavoring
protein fortified flavoring
pectin
natural flavoring
protease enzymes
seasoning
enzymes
soy sauce
protease
sauce extract
enzyme modified
fermented
ultrapasteurized
Best of Everything,
If it were me, I just wouldn't buy the store bought stuff. She will eat what you are making if she is hungry. It sounds like you are doing great, and no on the agave. I use it in my tea/coffee, the taste is no different than honey so you will basically tame her taste buds to prefer sweet, sugary foods. The more bland you serve things the better. No salt, butter, sugar... when you can. Remember up to one year, you are just introducing solids/foods. Her main nutrition should come from your breastmilk or formula. You don't need to fill her up on the other stuff. Check the store bought food ingredients. I would hope it is just peas or just peaches, etc.. but maybe they add salt to the peas and corn syrup to t he fruit? If so, that might be why she is favoring it.
You also don't say how many teeth she has.. but you don't always need to use your blender. you could steam apples, peaches or carrots and just make them soft but not pureed. Banana's and avocado's are great first foods. Lot's of options.
M.
You might want to try adding a bit of breastmilk or formula, and even add some rice cereal...especially when introducing something new. My son doesn't like the veggie/fruit purees straight (too sweet/tart for him), but loves it when I milk it down a bit. Good luck and don't give up!
Just don't feed her store bought food (= When babies are hungry, they'll eat.
Props to you for making your own food! (=
Good for you for making your own baby food. I did the same for both my children 1 & 4 years. Neither one of them liked peas, but if I mixed them with other veggies they ate them. For example,( I also used Vitamix) I would steam carrots, peas, squash, sweet potatoes and blend them together. Sometimes I would add garbonzo beans. When mixed together they taste sweet. I noticed in some of the jarred foods such as Earth's Best they have peas with maybe some kind of fruit in it. I personally do not like peas so why would I expect my little ones too. good luck
Hi,
Try passing it threw one of those metal strainers, one of the smaller ones. It makes it even creamer, like the store bought kind.
Sounds to me like you already know the answer, sugar! I can't remember if it's listed as an ingredient but the store bought stuff is sweeter. I tried all the stuff I got for my son just so I would know what I was giving him.
I would just keep offering the stuff you make and not give her the option of the store bought stuff. She won't let herself starve and will eventually eat what you offer her.
Good luck.
Good for you blending your own baby food. It is so nice to know exactly what they are getting. I would say just keep trying it is probably that she is just used to the store bought and needs to adjust to the new taste. Even mixing then 1/2 and 1/2 until she gets used to it. Like every thing else in parenting it's persistance...Don't give up!
M.
Hi heidi, it could be the taste the texture, store bought baby food is designed for babies, the stuff that we make from our own food isn't, although I make homemade baby/toddler food as well in my daycare. You can try adding a little agave nectar,but not much.Glad you were kidding about the syrup, how ever it was used when I was growing up to get babies to eat certain things. J.
Don't give her a choice of store bought and she'll learn to like your HEALTHIER version. Store bought have a lot of sugar & salt added and who knows what other chemicals. You're doing the right thing, keep it up.
