Many of you know that I make my own baby food. When I’m at the grocery store, I don’t ever buy anything from the baby aisle (other that diapers). It’s just so much healthier for baby to make your own, not to mention it’s cheaper. I feel like parents shy away from it, because they think it’s going to take too much effort and be too time consuming. It’s quite the opposite, really. Setting aside 30 minutes once a month is all you need. You can prep your purees and then stick them in the freezer for up to 4 months.

4-6 Months – Pureed Sweet Potato

This one is so easy! All you do is poke some holes in the sweet potato with a fork and put it in the microwave for 8 minutes (4 min on each side). Peel the skin off and put it in the blender with breastmilk (you can also use formula or water) until smooth like apple sauce.

6-8 Months – Pureed Chicken and Apples

This is one of Hollins favorites, and has been since the first time she had it! Slice two chicken breast into tenders. Boil in water for about 10 minutes. Cut the cooked chicken tenders into cubes (mostly to make sure there are no pink spots). Peel and slice 2 golden delicious apples. Boil apple slices in the same water you boiled the chicken in. Add the boiled chicken and apples to a blender with about half a cup of the water used to boil them. Blend together. The older the baby gets, the less you have to blend the purees. It’s all up to your baby’s ability to chew their food.

8 Months – Eggs and Rice Cereal

At 8 months, baby can pretty much eat most finger foods, as long as she is good at chewing and swallowing. Scrambled eggs are a great finger food for an 8 month old. Before I realized Hollings had a slight egg allergy, she used to love them! You can get a little fancy by adding them to some baby rice cereal. First mix the rice cereal with breastmilk (or formula or water). Then add the scrambled egg. When scrambling the egg, you don’t want to use any butter on the pan. You also don’t want to use any salt/pepper. Really, you should just be scrambling the egg. Cook it to where it’s not too runny, but also still fluffy enough for baby to mush in her mouth.