I got a lot of questions when people found out that I start to make my own baby food shortly after I realized that the baby food in jars was nasty. Seriously have you ever tried to eat a spoonful. Imagine getting all of your nutrients from that stuff.
Yuck!
It is also easy, and you can get a week's worth done in about an hour. It sure beats lugging the jars home from the store.
I didn't use anything special, just the blender and some pots that I already owned. I would make a puree by mashing it (bananas ands avocado) or boiling it and blending it (practically everything else). Then I would freeze out in ice cube trays and store it in freezer bags. I think this was the website I used as a guide on momtastic.
You may have noticed that I mentioned purees before. The reason is that your baby is not that great at self-feeding in the beginning. It's giving them mushy, gummable foods, and letting them feed themselves, essentially. Peas, cooked carrots, broccoli, apples, ect. shredded meats, bananas, anything like that really. There's no need to start off with purees. "Food before one is just for fun". At 6 months, they are capable of "chewing" soft foods, and whether it be purees or self-feeding, the first month or so, they won't be swallowing much anyway.
Their skills will develop and he will get better at it. It's a gradual transition toward eating more and more solids. If you wait until 6 months to start solids, there is no need at all to feed them purees. Purees are for people who decide to start their baby on solids at 4 months, before baby has the necessary skills to feed himself (like sitting up and grabbing things and maneuvering them effectively).
And even if they are eating most of a baby's diet still comes from breastmilk/formula until 1 year anyway, so that's not a huge issue.
Yet we followed the motto "food is for fun before age one."
They can gum up an enormous amount; it doesn't have to be too soft. My baby is nursing so I don't worry about "enough" food going in.
They recommend starting with things like broccoli since it has a sort of handle. We went through a lot of steamed asparagus, broccoli, whole wheat mini pitas topped with pesto and veg and cheese, apple slices, cheese curds. Most of which helps them out with self feeding, rather than spoon feeding for months, which can put them a bit behind on learning how to feed themselves with their hands.
There aren't any rules for what constitutes "enough" anyway; babies are well-programmed to take in what they need.
There is a weird satisfaction with "beating the system" and preparing foods for our babies.
I've always been baffled by the foods one kid likes, but the other one can't stand. I remember when I was growing up that my little broter loved carrots. He would eat them everyday, in fact he ate them so much that he turned slightly orange. My mother was humiliated.
I'm not sure how people survived pre-immersion blender days. If We have been doing smoothies with yogurt and pureed foods. I guess you could just do breast milk and pureed foods too. Once you realize how inexpensive it is to make baby food then it's like, "Damn, those baby food companies really screw us over!"
And once you learn how to make it and and actually start doing it seems so much fresher than the stuff in the jars or even the organic stuff in the bags. The only problem we had was with meat. It seemed gritty no matter how we tried to make it.
We had one of the Graco travel systems for my first.
It isn't bad. And I will admit that it's a decent lightweight stroller, but I did find it to be a bit too bulky for things like shopping or taking a casual walk around the neighborhood. It was good for going to large outdoor events, Disney, basically any place where there would be a lot of walking and I would need to bring along a diaper bag or other crap to put in the bottom bin.
Then we received the City Mini from my sister. Her son is two and a hald and didn't use it anymore.
And what can I say? After using the Graco Snugride, well, I love it soooo much. And I wish I had it from day 1. It's so lightweight and easy to steer, it's easy to fold up for the car. A pricier stroller is worth the money, but they aren't all created equally.
We actually originally wanted to go with the iGo. When we broke it all down, I realized that the chairs were really uncomfortable to hold. The Evo has little hand holds where the buttons to take the chairs on/off are, and it's really easy to switch them out and hang onto them (especially if there's a sleeping baby in the bassinet part). I found the iGo chairs to be really awkward to handle without the handles.
If I had to say two things that are a must, they should be lightweight and easy to break down.
I never in a million years would have thought I would get so excited over a stroller, but it's the one thing you really learn to appreciate and the City Mini is not the stroller I wanted, but the one that I needed.
I think family responsibilities is the main reason you don't see more women in engineering. I live in NY and it's rare for male software engineers to actually take parental leave.
One reason for me is clear.
IT jobs tend to be interesting and challenging work. The pay is great. In general it's a wonderful job.
With that all said, it's also a very conservative job with a lot of old school attitude going around, which may be where the looking down on people who take time off for families comes from.
Another thing to keep in mind when having kids is that IT allows you to work remotely. If your work has the option then why not use it to work remotely.
When my husband and I had our child I made enquirers and learned that this would be doable. Note doable.
If it's technically possible, but not politically doable, encourage them into trying it. Once I told them I planned on taking the full 12 weeks allowed by FMLA (though the leave is not required to be paid, mine was partially), it was amazing how fast I got set up to work from home. A year later & I'm still working from home 2-3 days a week.
