Do you use baby food?

[sioleabha]

I am just curious, not looking for a debate! I always *knew* that baby food was pretty common, but it never really occurred to me to use it. For me, my babies were still getting plenty of nutrition from breastmilk by the time they were ready to eat regular meals with the rest of the family. I did start them out with softer foods, and sometimes smashed up a banana, let them make a big mess with a bowl of oatmeal, but I never really made or bought any "official" baby food. The couple of jars I was given sat unused in my pantry until they were past the expiration date and I tossed them.

Most of my friends are either much older than I am (so their kids were past the baby stage when I met them), and the ones who are my age didn't have babies as early as I did. Now I have friends with babies, and I'm noticing that *everyone* uses baby food. I didn't think I was that weird! No one ever questioned me about using baby food, or tried to talk me into using it. Not that I regret it, just that people usually question me when I do something "weird."

So, do you use baby food? Do you make it or buy it? Do you use it as a regular thing, or just every once in awhile? If you don't use it at all, do people think you are weird?

[AFWife]

I've never purchased baby food. We did BLW with DS. We started him with soft table foods when he showed interest (9 months) and progressed as he showed he could handle it. He's 13mo and eats whatever we eat as long as it's not too tough or spicy.

We do get funny looks when we're out to eat. Not as much now that he's older (he's the size of an 18mo so...) but when he was younger people at other tables would STARE when we handed him a piece of broccoli or something. Our friends don't have kids so they're just impressed at the variety of food he eats. ("I don't think he turns down anything you guys give him" "Well, carrots..." "Yeah, but that's it")

[eli's mama]

with my first i bought a lot and a lot went to waste because he just didn't care about eating until he was old enough to do it himself. for my second i never bought a single jar, but i did make some purees for him myself. He didn't care about them either. I've gotten a little smarter with my 3rd and just give her whatever we are eating if she seems interested. So i guess my answer is no, i don't use it.

[Bokonon]

DD still won't eat purees, and she's 12.5 months. If I try to spoon-feed her, she just gags. But she can feed herself crunchy snacks, bits of chicken, pasta...she's still resistant to fruits and veggies, and has a VERY sensitive gag reflex, but I'm glad I never made big batches of homemade baby food!

[candelaria80]

We do make and buy some baby food. We mostly BF and practice BLW, but I go to work for 4-6 hours once or twice a week and I do not pump. DH feeds her purees that I have made or organic from a jar. She isn't crazy about them, but they do the job in a pinch. Also, we always have some on hand in case grandmas or aunties come over, they just love to spoon feed (although she has become very good at spoon feeding herself and grabs at the spoon ). I had planned to never spoon feed, but it just works for us sometimes.

[Marsupialmom]

Jar baby food has its purposes. When I moved from Upstate NY to Minot, ND yes we used baby foods for about a month. I used it when it was just more convenient to have a prepackage jar.

While we were worrying about allergies we made our own. I never made the extra smooth baby foods. They were more chunky.

[Alisse]

We send our 8mo son to daycare with jarred organic babyfood because of convenience and he gets a better variety of food when it comes to fruit and grains. But at dinner we often give him some of what we're eating because he gets jealous/angry. Lately it seems he's starting to like chunkier foods so we might start grinding up food instead.

[CanBoo]

Never used baby food with dd1. No jar baby food, no home made baby food. Just whatever we are eating or we always have a little bit of noodles, soft cooked veggies, beans to feed baby in a pinch . Except for some mum mum cookies...

Pretty much the same for dd2, except that I gave a couple jars of prunes mix when she was constipated, because I could not have been bothered making her prunes puree.

But most people around me also expects babies to have baby food. So really normally, they just think I forgot it, or that I make my own, when I say that I don't buy it.

That said, I do buy baby food, I eat it sometimes Weird craving.
They also work well for some recipes. I have a killer bbq sauce recipe that calls for apricot baby food.

[cheryllynn]

I do both home made and organic jar baby food. I like the convenience of taking jarred foods with us when we travel. I am not comfortable with feeding food from restaurants to DD as the restaurants we visit are not organic. She enjoys her purees and when we give her small chunks she swallows them whole and they get pooped out whole - so I pretty much think that for now chunky food is a waste.

I also like starting with a jar of food and then add quinoa flakes or the organic rice we love to use.