The Fit Student—Feed Your Suzy Homemade Pablum

Are you a student mom, breastfeeding your baby?  Or are you planning on giving birth?  Whichever you do, bring your baby top nutrition.  Homemade pablum could launch your baby into a healthier, happier life.  On the flipside, store-bought pablum can come loaded with sugar and salt.  You shouldn’t feed sugar to a puppy, never mind a baby.  So, stick with homemade pablum, as Paula Craven says in her book, Homemade Organic Baby Food: Healthy Food for Babies.  Learn How to Make Baby Food Yourself  “What’s freshly cooked will surely taste better, be cheaper, and you’ll have control over the ingredients.  You’ll be able to leave out salt, sugar, spices and other things that might not be the best fit for your baby’s nutrition” (24%).

Top health for your baby won’t cost extra according to Ms. Craven.  “Quality doesn’t mean more expensive.  It just means paying more attention and making sure the product is in top condition” (39%).  That means buying fresh and organic, free of blemishes.   “Always use organic products: vegetables, meat, potatoes, and fruits.  It’s been proven that they contain fewer hazardous substances” (27%).  As for me, pesticides in nonorganic avocadoes burn my tongue.  So, I cringe at the thought of what pesticides do to babies.

So when should you start feeding little Suzy homemade pablum?  “In very broad terms, at around six months your young child should have enough strength to hold its head straight and to be able to swallow easily.  It is now time to experiment with new foods” (26%).  You’ll still feed your baby milk (preferably breastmilk) but coupled with your homemade purées: “it’s recommended to start with rice cereal, and then trying an oatmeal cereal, and then the baby can progress to fruits and vegetables.  Babies can have mostly fruits and vegetables” (45%).  Just make sure the meals come well-mashed with a little breastmilk.

Don’t shy away from feeding your baby meat, too: “at six months of age babies can also do blended meats (depending on the parents’ choices).  So, you can do beef, chicken, turkey, veal and lamb… as long as they’re blended and mashed….  Fish is not recommended [because of bones]” (45%).  But stay clear of honey: “Babies cannot have honey until age 1.  Neither any kind of peanut, or choking nut, until age 3, because they can swallow it whole, and aspirate it into their lung” (46%).

So, how do you create your baby’s buffet?  “You’ll need a blender, any kind really, to make your baby’s purées” (40%).  You’ll also need a steamer, a cutting board, a digital thermometer, and ice cube trays for freezing your purées.  Here’s a simple recipe: place spinach and banana into a blender.  After blending, pour the mix into ice cube trays.  Freeze for 8 hours.  Easy! Then, “put the ice cubes in their own Ziploc freezer bag (labeled), and they’ll be good for 3 months” (76%).  Also, “when using the ice cube trays, make sure that you seal the top with plastic wrap … labelled and dated, and freeze immediately after preparation” (87%).

But don’t quit breastfeeding.  You’ll still want to give “your child milk 4 to 5 times during the day, approximately every four hours” (88%).  Immediately after you breastfeed your baby, feed the infant the homemade pablum.  You can wait thirty minutes after breastfeeding if the baby’s too full.

Why all the fuss for your baby?  When I was in grade one, Miss Smith played video cartoons that insisted, “The most important person in the world is you.”  Even as a six-year old, I knew she had it wrong.  Surely selflessness is what creates bonds—between Ma, Pa, and a healthy, well-fed baby.

References

Craven, Paula.  (n.d.).  Homemade Organic Baby Food: Healthy Food for Babies.  Learn How to Make Baby Food Yourself.  E-book