Baby food

[Guest guest]

I have a question. Why make baby food? I'm not trying to be

obnoxious--really! I just never quite " got it " about this. I am planning on

doing with our new

baby (four months old now) just what I did for the other eight kids, for the

most part. And that is I will wait until she can sit up, and has a tooth or two

to be sure she has her digestive juices working. Then I will give her

whatever I can of the foods we are eating. For instance, I will offer her a

mushy

piece of banana or avocado on her high chair tray, and let her learn to reach

and

grab and mouth the food. This is such a no-stress way of feeding babies that

I simply can't imagine making strained foods and spoon feeding an infant who

may or may not be ready to eat solids.

 

I think we as a society want our children to excel, and I believe early

feeding might be part of this spirit of competitiveness. Not every parent is

feeding their child at an early age for this reason, but I'm sure some do. And

many

parents think they HAVE to spoon feed infants, homemade stuff or jarred foods,

because it is simply what the next stage of life is. All the commercials and

all the neighbors and relatives tell them this is how things should be. But I

have seen with my own kids that this is not necessarily so!

 

If you really want to make your own baby food, and you know somehow that your

young infant wants to eat solids--go for it, by all means! But my own advice,

after 28 years and nine kids is to rethink how we feed our children, and not

just what goes in their mouths, but when and why. I personally prefer the EASY

way of letting the baby INSIST he or she is ready, and show me by his/her

body readiness, and then I do what comes naturally for me and I feed them just

what I am eating as much as I can. This has worked for me, anyway.

 

JMO. Marilyn

 

 

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