User:Bodyabode/Sandbox

Feeding Solid Food to Baby the First Time

I read in “Super Baby Food” that infant feeders or bottles with large holes are a big mistake when trying to transition a baby from breast or bottle to spoon feeding. They can actually delay development of muscles in the tongue used for swallowing more solidified food, and for clear speech patterns later. But there’s a real problem at feeding time when trying to use a regular baby spoon and the baby is trying to suck the rice cereal and milk mixture from the spoon. Because he's trying to suck, his tongue pushes the food back out and down his chin. By the time he swallows it, it's been reintroduced into his mouth several times and is half saliva. Not to mention he is swallowing air along with the mush.

New Kind of Spoon

I’m now testing out a spoon called Flowspoon that has a covered front to the spoon. It’s not soft or squishy, but hard plastic that’s all one piece, so it can’t come apart. The food scoops in the side like a normal spoon, then baby sucks the food out of a hole in the front of the spoon. The food goes right down. And the best part is that baby is not associating being fed with a spoon with spitting and splattering food everywhere. The food is being eaten, not used as finger-paint. Also, since there is much less air being swallowed, he is not spitting his food back up. It’s unbelievable no one thought of this a long time ago.

Easy Organic Carrot Puree

Did you know if you put fresh picked carrots in the freezer, they naturally go limp without losing any of their nutrients? This way you don’t have to cook them before pureeing. Remove tops from fresh organic carrots, peel, and scrub thoroughly with water and vinegar. Place carrots in a ziplock bag and put in freezer overnight (you can blanch in boiling water first if desired). Remove carrots, thaw in refrigerator, and place in food processor with a small amount of distilled water, pureeing them to the consistency of smooth applesauce. Easy! You can freeze pureed food in ice cube trays wrapped in a plastic bag. A great system is to have little pyrex custard cups with lids which fit perfectly on a coffee cup warmer (like a tiny hotplate). You can stack one custard cup with food on top of an empty custard cup to heat more slowly. Hint: if you cannot find lids, the plastic lids to coffee cans are usually the perfect fit (or just stack another custard cup on top).