What Rowan Eats

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The weather here was glorious, so I decided to give social media a little break and just soak up all of the Fall-ish weather, snuggles with my boys (and Ruby!), and drink all pumpkin spice lattes.

I've had a lot of requests for this post so I'm just going to dive right in! As I was writing this post I just kept thinking, damn if only I ate as healthy as Rowan! Ha. And if you're not looking for baby stuff, don't worry I'm haven't gone 100% mommy blog on you.

We opted to feed Rowan purees over the Baby Led Weaning approach for a few reasons. Our Ped did not recommend finger foods at all (even if they are soft starter foods - you should have seen the face he made when I mentioned this) until 8-9 months because the risk of choking is too high. I'm a worrier to that was basically all I needed to hear. But the mess and time involved with BLW confirmed it for me. I'm sure it works well for other families, but it's just not for us. Always check with your Pediatrician first!

Rowan has been doing so well with purees, chewing and demanding more after eat bite, so I'm really glad we went this route!

It takes me about and hour on a Sunday afternoon to do a couple batches of homemade purees for Rowan. I stick to making about 2-3 purees at a time and I do it while I'm prepping our own dinner. Generally he has about 5-6 different purees in the freezer and I make them once a week, or every two weeks if I was ambitious with my last batch.

We do still buy a few all natural purees or pouches because they are easy to grab and go if we're planning to feed Rowan while we are out of the house or traveling.

Ninja Blender. Ice Cube Tray with lid. Steamer insert.

No need for fancy baby blenders or steamers, just get yourself a cheap steamer insert and use that blender you got from your wedding registry and haven't used in months. (Or is that just me?)

For basics and how to make each puree, I always consult Wholesome Baby Foods. Also I buy organic whenever I can.

It's pretty straightforward though:
1 . Peel, chop + steam (at Harris Teeter you can get sweet potatoes already chopped up for you!)
2 . Puree in a blender or food processor, add water to thin it out (more on that below!)
3 . Freeze in ice cube trays
4 . Transfer to freezer bags and label

At night I put cubes for the next day in small containers in the fridge. I serve the fruits cold, and warm the veggies in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. Make sure you test it to make sure its not too hot!

Thinning: At first I thinned his food with breastmilk before serving, rather than prior to freezing. I still do thin some of the thicker purees with breastmilk but more often I just add water while blending the puree.

Easiest purees vs. hardest: Bananas and avocados don't need to be steamed, just mash them up with a fork! The hardest purees for me to make so far have been green beans and peas. They don't come out really smooth because of the skins, but Rowan doesn't seem to mind.

Rowan's Feeding Schedule

Just before he turned 5 months old, at the direction of his Ped, we started by feeding Rowan oatmeal cereal once a day. We upped that to twice a day for a month before moving on to other foods. (Again- this is what our Ped suggested so we went with that)
 
Now we feed him purees three times a day, about an hour after he nurses.

Breakfast: Oatmeal cereal + Fruit
Lunch: Oatmeal cereal + Fruit + Veggie
Dinner:  Veggies + Fruit
(Dinner this is around 4 PM, he still gets about 9 ounces of pumped breastmilk for his last feeding at 7 PM)

He has tried almost all of the fruits and veggies I can think of at this point. We introduce a new one every 3-4 days so we can pinpoint an allergy if there is one. (So far so good!)

Favorites: Basically any fruit, especially pears, bananas and blueberries. Sweet potatoes. Green Beans. His new favorite combo is sweet potatoes, apples, pumpkin and some cinnamon.

Tolerates: Avocados and Carrots as long as they are mixed with his favorite fruits. 

Hates: Butternut squash! The kid will gag and give me the most hilarious, angry face. I don't blame him though, that one isn't a hit with his parents either.

So I know this may seem like a lot of effort, but even as a working mama I still enjoy making his food and I think it's worth it!  It saves so much money and I know exactly what is going into his food.

Feel free to ask if you have questions!