solids - preparation and storage and feeding

hi there,


been thinking about this to get myself ready. i have some questions that i hope people in this forum can advise on:


preparation

1) do we need to buy new pots/pans, etc just for babies or can we use the ones we normally use for home cooking?

2) sterilisation of weaning bowels, spoons: necessary or not? some books advise hot soapy water, some say sterilise.

3) boiling vs steaming of veg: i suppose steaming is recommended because with boiling you lost the nutrients?

4) electrical food blender, food mills, etc: useful or just a waste of money?


storage - the bub is v active in the day and sleeps little so hard for me to cook in the day. so:

1) the big batch cooking and ice-cube storing method : would you recommend that?

2) i personally want to make his food as fresh as possible but since i might not have a chance to cook on the day itself, i was thinking: cook evening before after his 7pm bedtime and store in the fridge for next day. my question is if it's safe to store food in fridge for one day or is it safer to freeze?


feeding

1) is a food thermometer necessary?


many thanks!

one more: heating up in the microwave or throw food into pot again?

This is what we did:


No new pans

Steamed only so far

Use our current hand held braun blender

We have continued to steralise, but we have a steraliser and it is mainly because I feel more comfortable with the amah taking extra care than for germs.


Food prep

No Cooking - - some food like avocados, banana, mangoe, papaya, etc... are mashed up raw - so no issue there.

Cooking - we steam sweet potatoes, then mash

Rice/Oatmeal - from the box, mix with breast milk, formula or water, heat - really easy!


Mixing - we mix everything with breast milk. We have also stored our breast milk usig ice cube trays and zip lock bags - so this is easy for us - ie. 4 sweet potato cubes + 2 breast milk cubes = 1 meal now.


Food storage

We love the ice cube method - works great for us.

We have ice cube trays with lids.


I make a batch of sweet potato, leave enough in the fridge for 2 days, and make cubes with the rest, store in double zip lock bags in the freezer with the date. Lasts for a few weeks.


The night before, I take out the 'cubes' I need for the next day meals and defrost them in the container I will feed from in the Fridge. Very easy (as long as I remember!)


As stated in another post, we use our borrle/food wamer to warm the food - works perfectly and very easy - it is square, and our food containers are square.


They make food thermometers? I just test with my finger. Ironically, we have a spoon that is red and turns yellow when food is too hot - but we use it in reverse - when it turns yellow we know the food is done warming up!


Check out:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

for more information and instructions

crj,


do you mean some the fruits can be taken raw right from the beginning? i was under the impression that we had to cook everything just to be safe!


so you mix everything with breast milk, will your bub still drink his breatmilk or is he too full then?


i can't seem to access the wholesomebabyfood site!!


thanks for your comments, cara...i plan to sterilise bottles until 1 year...but for bowls and spoons, i think just stick with hot soapy water because i don't think all are suitable for sterilising?


i want it to be easy too, i barely have time to cook for myself!! hahahahaa...

what have you cooked so far?>

Wheelymate


Our first food was the organic brown rice.

When we moved to Avocado we just mash up ripe avocado and mix with breast milk and warm. He loves it.


For us, we do a breast feed first, then solides, then more breast feed. I would think it is similar with formula and bottle feeds.


There is the other thread on solids where I went into detail on what food we started with etc... Lots of other people added there experience too, it is a useful thread.

http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/momsdads/threads/85714.asp

Hi,


I think it really depend on how old is the baby.


Most books begin the weaning at 4 months old. We now know that it is best to wait till at least 6 months old.


The older the baby, the less we have to be afraid of "contamination" as the baby is getting stronger and is suppose to have a better immunization system.


If you breastfeed, you have even less reason to be too stress out as you share your immunization defense with your baby...


Like crj, I mostly steam, even now, as it is the best cooking way to keep vitamins and so on...

I also didn't buy anythng specific for baby. But I'm very careful when cleaning (hot water and dish detergent, and very good rinsing) and am very careful with the storage date: first in first out method, and at the same time trying to diversify a little. In the beginning, you should try to introduce food one at the time, to be able to check out any food reaction.


Like crj, I let her eat raw fruits, well washed.


Actually, I do quite a lot of thing like crj. LOL..


Except, to test the food, I use my lips and not my finger. Lips are more sensitive to heat ;-)