My heart is heavy as I write this post. I plan to wean Miss B off the bottle by age 1. I found it to be very easy with my first baby, but I just hope she does as well as he did.
I sound like a broken record, but this is another sign that my baby is growing up. I just have to remember that there are many, many wonderful memories and milestones to come!
Every parent is different. Every doctor has a different opinion. On what, you ask? Well, almost everything...but today, I'm talking FOOD. Dylan started eating many table foods at the age of 10 months. When we were kids, I think our parents fed us anything and everything by age 3 months. Haha, I'm kidding, but they did start much earlier!
Dylan was an easy baby. Happy, great eater, great sleeper, intelligent, etc. Braelyn is an easy baby. Happy, great sleeper, intelligent, etc. Did you see what I left out? GREAT EATER. Sure, she loves her BA-BA. She is not so fond of some of the foods that we have introduced to her. She does not like anything green. She does not like most vegetables. She likes most fruits, especially pears and applesauce. She likes cookies. She likes Baby Mum-Mums. (Teething wafers)
I have been worrying and worrying about weaning her off of the bottle because I do not want it to be difficult for her. If she is not finding a lot of foods that she loves, this will be extremely hard.
Honestly...I'm starting to think she just does not like baby food. I have given her tastes of my "big people" food and she seems to do really well. This has only been over the past couple of days AND now that she has teeth...WHY NOT???
Gerber, I do not care if you have Gerber Graduates up to age 5. Not doing it.
Now starts the transition to table food. I have decided. I don't care whose doctor says what. She's 11 months old. It's time.
No more bottles when she wakes in the morning. We will go straight to the kitchen and whip up a yummy breakfast. This is our first step. Wish us luck!
I ran across a couple of great table food recipes for baby:
Applesauce Muffins
2 oz (1/4 cup) softened butter
2 oz (1/4 cup) sugar
1 egg (if your baby is under 1 year, you may prefer to use egg substitute)
3 oz (3/8 cup) applesauce
4 oz (1 cup) flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch cinnamon
Preheat the oven to 200 deg C, 390 deg F.
Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light.
Beat in the egg until fluffy.
Beat in the applesauce.
Stir the dry ingredients together and add them to the bowl, blending just enough to moisten the dry ingredients.
Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for around 15 mins, until golden.
Baby Chicken Fingers with Apple
8 oz (1 cup) ground
chicken
1 medium
carrot
1 medium
apple
1/2 garlic clove
1/2 small onion
1 small egg yolk, beaten
1 oz (1/4 cup) fresh breadcrumbs
pinch crushed, dried thyme
pinch freshly ground black pepper
Peel and grate the carrot, apple, garlic and onion.
Place into a mixing bowl, along with the ground chicken.
Add the beaten egg yolk, breadcrumbs, thyme and black pepper. Mix well.
Take small balls of the mixture and roll into 8 little "sausages".
Place on a grill pan (broiler) and heat under the grill for 10 mins on each side.
Allow to cool.
Serve, or store some in the freezer for future use (if
you haven't already eaten them!)
Butternut Squash Ravioli
Soft and 'squishy', this ravioli makes the perfect gummable finger food for tiny diners! You can, of course, substitute the butternut squash filling for another of your baby's favorite veggies - but I think butternut squash is so healthy and tasty!
2 oz (1/2 cup) flour (unbleached)
2 oz (1/2 cup) semolina flour
2-3 fl oz (1/3 cup) very warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
around 6 oz (3/4 cup) butternut squash, peeled, cooked and mashed
pinch of sweet paprika (optional)
Mix the flours together, then slowly add the oil and water, mixing well (this is easiest to achieve with a food processor set at the lowest speed).
The mixture should become a ball of dough - if it seems too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time until a ball is formed.
Knead the dough thoroughly, then divide into two pieces.
Roll out each piece VERY thinly.
Stir the paprika into the butternut squash.
EITHER
Take heaped teaspoons of the butternut squash and place at intervals along 1 sheet of pasta.
Place the other sheet of pasta over the top and press down around the 'mounds' of butternut squash.
Next, cut around the butternut squash mounds with a very sharp knife.
Create a decorative edge for your ravioli by pressing all the way around the edge with the wet prongs of a fork.
OR
Splash out on some ravioli moulds.
They are inexpensive and make it much easier to create perfect ravioli shapes!
NEXT...
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then carefully slide in your ravioli shapes (I find it best to cook just three or four at a time).
When the shapes rise to the surface of the water, they are ready. Carefully remove them with a slotted spoon.
Serve as they are - with a fresh tomato sauce - or even with a sauce of another veggie puree thinned with a little stock!
Do YOU have any baby recipes that you would like to share? I would love to do a guest post on this topic!!!
Have a great day!
Jaime "Peanut's Mom"
