Making Your Own Baby Food

I’m a second-time mom but a first-time baby food maker. I bought all of Zuzu’s food. I bought Bear’s too until I finally decided that now that I’m a stay-at-home mom I should cook and mush a few things.

Here’s what you’ll go through when you make your own baby food.

Stage 1: Research. You KNOW that baby food is simple and straightforward: just cook it and mush it. But you’ll still read everything you can find about it. Because you’re psyched out by the rules: no honey! No cow’s milk! This Puffs container specifically says my baby can’t eat Puffs until he crawls! and you don’t want to be the mom who does it wrong. Am I allowed to boil? Or does boiling make all the nutrients go away? I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to use a microwave … You’ll feel like the biggest dork in the world reading “recipes” for baby food. You’ll read an actual recipe for Peas. The recipe goes something like this: peas. It talks a little bit about cooking and mushing. You read all the recipes because you find it comforting.

Stage 2: Making baby food. “Making your own baby food is so easy!” all the websites say. But is it as easy as putting little Gerbers containers into a grocery cart? NOPE. It still takes time and requires WASHING DISHES. Plus figuring out the storage part. How much to refrigerate and how much to freeze?

Stage 3: Pride. Your heart will swell with it when you stand back to view the fruits of your labor: A bunch of Tupperwares filled with cooked and mushed food, carefully labeled and ready for the fridge and freezer. You’ll feel like you’ve entered a special Mommy Club.

Stage 4: Feeding your baby. Only about five percent of all that food you cooked and mushed and labeled and stored will make it from the baby’s mouth to his tummy. The rest will go on his clothes, his face, and in his hair. And some of it will just get thrown away. Of the five percent he eats, he’ll hate most of it, tolerate some of it, and actually enjoy about two percent of it. When your baby does enjoy it, you’ll believe it’s because you prepared it so well and made it with love.  You’ll tell yourself how silly those thoughts are, but you’ll still think it.

Stage 5: Experimentation. Your baby’s enjoyment of two percent of the baby food will inspire you to concoct delicious combinations that you’re certain will bring him the same pleasure. You add things like quinoa. And dates. He’ll love it! It’s so good for him! How about a sprinkle of cinnamon?

Stage 6: Disillusionment. Your baby hated everything. Your kitchen is messy and you are tired and you have TONS OF THIS STUFF. Besides a baby, who would want to eat this healthy, bland goop? A pig? You don’t have a pig.

Stage 7: Back to reality. Bananas. Bananas are the best baby food ever. Avocados. Apple sauce. You sigh with relief … maybe baby food is easy after all.