Monday, January 26, 2009

feeding mamatouille's baby

Ice-cubed homemade baby food: turnips, peas, carrots, apples, and prunes

Most mothers in Japan are stay-at-home mommies and they make their babies' food. First of all, it just seems to be more the traditional thing to do here, and also, if you read the labels on the commercial stuff, you'd know why they do it themselves. Not only is it prohibitively expensive, but it's also full of salt and sugar, neither of which I want to put in my little bundle's mouth. There's not a lot of choice here, either, and the stuff you can buy in the store mostly comes as mixtures (such as potatoes and carrots together). But if you're watching for food allergies, especially as you start feeding your baby solids, you want to wait at least a few days in between introducing new foods. I try to do it one at a time, so I make my own, too. You know what you're putting in your child's little tummy and you save money as well.

It's not hard work but it does take planning, energy, and time, and if I was working outside the home I'd probably throw in the towel. It's not rocket science, though - anybody could figure it out, and maybe I'm posting this just for posterity's sake. (Joel, if you're reading this in the future, know that you do like spinach. In fact, you guzzle everything I give you! Mama's amazed! The only thing you don't like is if I don't feed you quickly enough.)

This is the first of a series I'm starting, and each post I'll introduce one or two foods to you that I'm feeding to my little sweetpea. Bon bebe appetit! (I'm just guessing at the French here and hoping I'm not saying something wacky like go out and eat a good baby.)

"Helping" his mama make special baby food in the kitchen

13 comments:

Kim said...

Boy, I could have used this series two years ago, when Jun started solids! I don't know what I was thinking, but the possibility of making my baby's food just NEVER crossed my mind. Then I went to the store to buy baby food. Yes...not what I would want to eat either. Till I got a system down pat, I nearly went crazy. I think I have a low threshold for going crazy = well did then, anyhow. Good old sleep deprivation! I blame EVERYTHING on it! HAHAHAH!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Kim, boy, do I know about the sleep deprivation! I'm in it again with Joel now...feel like I'm in constant mama-jet-lag. Sometimes you do just have to buy some baby food for sanity's sake, hey!

K and S said...

this is brilliant, I wonder if my cousin did this when she was making her son's food?

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

K and S, I think a lot of people, if they are making homemade baby food, use ice cube trays to freeze it into cubes, so maybe your cousin did do it this way! I wouldn't be surprised.

Rachael Hutchings said...

I loved living in Japan with Squirrel so that I was forced to learn this stuff! Plus, have you ever tasted American baby food? YUCK! I'm glad that I'm already comfortable with making my own because Little Fuji is NOT going to be eating that junk! I can't wait to see what you post! I used this site a ton: wholesomebabyfood.com

Reeni said...

He's so cute!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

FM, thanks, I'll check out that website. I always just wing it! :)
And no, I've never tasted American baby food. :) Maybe now I'm glad about that.

Reeni, thanks, he's my little Beansprout, growing like a weed! He eats a TON. :) I love your new cupcake profile picture - looks good for Valentine's Day.

The Duo Dishes said...

Neither one of the Duo has a baby, but this is still fun to read!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Ah, thanks, Duo Dishes, I was hoping I wouldn't bore non-babyfied-blogger friends. :)

Cate said...

oh yay! baby purees! both of my kids never had store bought food at all, and it was much less expensive than getting jarred foods. we didn't feed them one food at a time though. our pediatrician is french, and he seemed to think it's fine to just feed them pretty much whatever fruits and veggies and grains you have on hand.
i cannot wait to hear more about what you do, mamatouille!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Cate, thanks! :) That's interesting about the differences between the French and American way of thinking about introducing foods to babies. Joel has devoured everything I've given him, and I'm mixing and matching all his food these days. He loves it all!

Teresa said...

I made all of Ruthie's food too! And, of course, I'm going to start all over again w/ baby #2!! Maybe I can learn some new tricks - or new foods to introduce... I stuck to the pretty common American variety!! :)

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Teresa, I'm not even really sure what the common American varieties are! What kinds of food did you make for Ruthie?