First, let's talk about ease in feeding your baby. By the time she's one, it's so simple, it's practically laughable. Prepare food, place food on tray, occasionally hand her a sippy cup, and that's that.
Of course, there's always the screaming that comes after dinner, while I'm busy cutting up a piece of fruit for dessert. The scream that says plainly: "You're not giving me my fruit fast enough gimme-gimme-gimme-gimme NOW!" Frantically cutting up pieces of orange, I'm praying I don't slice off my finger with the knife; finally, I practically throw the first pieces onto her tray and watch her gobble them down as I speed through preparing the next slice.
But other than that, it's easy. Not like some baby food preparation gadgets commercials would have you think. If you've been watching Comedy Gold during the day, you might know what I'm talking about. The Baby Bullet. Babies are sitting in their high chairs, screaming until they grow purple in the face, and all because mommy has the gall to try to feed them baby food from a jar. As if babies can tell the difference.
A young mom sits with her contented baby on her lap. "You need the Baby Bullet," she gushes. "It allows you to prepare the best organic baby food for your baby." Notice the redundancy of the word "baby"? The commercial would also have you believe that preparing your own baby food automatically means it's organic. But in order to prepare organic food, you have to buy organic. I'd love to know where they get organic sweet potatoes - I've noticed they're kind of hard to find at the grocery store.
And what about the extra sugar they claim comes in the food jars? Here are the ingredients for jarred apples: apples, citric acid. Oh, and by the way, if you want to save money, buy the unsweetened Mott's Fruitpacks. Same thing as what comes in the baby jars. Only much less expensive.
Preparing baby food is not complicated. It certainly does not require the entire Baby Bullet set. For the three months your baby will be eating purée (months 6 - 9), one might as well use the blender one most likely already has stored in one's kitchen.
My baby's pediatrician told me on the ninth month visit: "Your baby can now eat whatever the family eats. Except the obvious things, like egg whites and peanuts, at least until the first year. Just cut into little pieces. Oh, and not too spicy." That sounded just perfect.
Of course, meals have become increasingly messy. Pasta sauce in the hair, potatoes in the ears, and bananas up the nose. That's what happens when you eat with your fingers. But I love watching my baby eat and appreciate (and yes, even wear) her food. I also love occasionally taking her out to restaurants.
This afternoon, my husband and I took our baby out for a walk in downtown Montréal. It was a beautiful, early Spring day. It was 9 degrees celcius, the sun was shining and the snow was melting. We were in a carefree mood, and hadn't even brought a booster seat or (gasp!) a bib along with us. When we decided on an Asian restaurant for lunch, I wondered if we had come too little prepared. The restaurant had one high chair, but no tray. I figured we'd have to place her food directly on the table. But that was not necessary. Actually, we managed to have one of the most mess-free meals ever.
I started by giving her pieces of a half-a-muffin I had left over from that morning. I gave her one piece at a time straight in her hand. When our plates arrived, I decided to try something new. I had ordered a Pad Thai with egg and chicken pieces. The wonderful thing about Asian food is, the meat is already cut up into little pieces. I also discovered that there is in fact nothing so easy as feeding your baby with chop sticks. I had ordered a Pad Thai, and all I had to do was pick up a piece of chicken, egg, veggie or noodle (one of the short pieces), and placed it directly in my baby's open mouth! Easy! And, unlike with a spoon or fork, it makes virtually no mess! Plus, my daughter loved being fed by two bright red sticks, expertly handled by mommy!
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