5 homemade baby food combinations that your baby will love, and how to store them.

It’s true what they say about each child being different. I have 3 young boys, and while they are similar in many ways, they are very different in others. This is especially true when it comes to their tastes in food. My 7 year old will eat just about anything, and my 4 year old is very picky!

We just had baby boy number 3 at the beginning of this year, and we are finally getting to see some of his personality. With my first two boys, they were perfectly content to eat any baby food that we gave them, but our most recent addition to the family loves homemade baby food made with different combinations of flavors.

We started him out with rice cereal and he enjoyed that for awhile. That was convenient for me of course, because all I had to do was add some water and stir until it was ready to go. Whenever I made rice cereal for him, I liked to use Gerber® Pure® Water. I use it to mix his rice cereal and to include in homemade baby foods, because it is specially purified for babies. Anything that I can do to help my baby grow up strong is good in my book! You can find out more information about Gerber® Pure® Water here and you can buy it at your local Walmart.

After a few weeks of rice cereal, it was clear that my baby was going to need something else. I gave him baby food from the store for his age, but I quickly found that it was easier to make my own homemade baby foods and he liked them even more! Today I am going to share 5 of the best homemade baby food combinations. My baby loves them and I am sure that yours will too.

1. Apple, Banana, Cinnamon, & Oatmeal

This one is made by adding half a cup of old fashioned oats with one cup of Gerber® Pure® Water and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in a small saucepan. Then heat it over medium for 3-5 minutes. While that is cooking, peel the apple and cut it into small cubes. Finally, add the oatmeal, bananas and the apples to a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Spinach, Sweet Peas, and Flank Steak

To make this delicious combination, cook the flank steak in a pot with a couple of cups of boiling Gerber® Pure® Water. Once cooked, you can shred it or just cut it into small pieces so you can blend it easier. Open a can of sweet peas, drain out the liquid, and rinse. The last ingredient is half a bunch of spinach. Add the steak, the sweet peas, and the cleaned and disinfected spinach to a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Carrots and Squash

Take one bag of baby carrots and cook in one liter of boiling Gerber® Pure® Water until soft. Do the same with one squash. Add the carrots and squash with a pinch of ground turmeric to a blender and blend until smooth.

4. Mangoes, Kale, and Ginger

Take the meat from one fresh mango (or a can of mangoes in 100% juice) and a half bunch of kale and add it to a blender with a pinch of ground ginger. Add a couple of tablespoons of Gerber® Pure® Water and blend until smooth

5. Blueberry, Avocado, and Pears

Drain the juice from one can of pears, rinse and add to a blender. Do the same with a can of pears. Finally, add one mature peeled and cored avocado to the blender. Once everything is in the blender, blend until smooth.

Storage Tips

1. Mason Jars. You can find small glass mason jars with white plastic tops. This is where you can store the food that your little one is going to eat within 1-3 weeks if refrigerated. Just add the baby food and tighten the lid before storing in the refrigerator. If you need to store it for longer, you can *freeze in these jars or follow one of the other tips below. Don’t forget to label them!

1. Plastic Storage Containers with Lid. Another way to store these is to add the baby food to a small plastic storage container with lids. You can refrigerate these as well or *freeze them. You will want to label each of these as well.

1. Ice Cube Tray. One of my favorite ways to store homemade baby food is to put them into the individual spaces on an ice tray right after I make them. Then you cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can remove them just like you would an ice cube and store in individual, labeled bags in the *freezer. When you are ready to serve them to your baby, select 3 or 4 “baby food cubes” and heat in the microwave for around 1 minute, or until it returns to the original consistency.

*using each of these methods, you can store the baby food in the freezer for up to 3 months.

My baby has been a happy camper ever since I started making these homemade baby foods for him. The great thing is that you can make all of these in less than an hour, you can make a lot, and you will save money in the process.

What combinations of baby foods have you tried? Let me know in the comments below.

The post The 5 Best Homemade Baby Food Combinations appeared first on My Latina Table.

I recently wrote a post titled, “The Breastfeeding Survival Guide for First Time Moms.” In that article I talk a little bit about the difficult experiences that I had breastfeeding my first born and how I survived that difficult stage with lots of help, including these 10 products. They helped me to gain a strong bond with my baby during the breastfeeding process and in the end we were able to learn so much together.

Keep breastfeeding if you can, don’t give up, and I promise that it will get better every day, and before you know it breastfeeding will seem just as natural as taking a drink of water.

1. Electric BreastPump: This tool will quickly become your best friend in this new adventure. It performs a similar role as your baby in that it creates a sucking motion that helps increase your milk supply. I used it quite a bit in the first few days when my baby wasn’t latching on correctly and I needed to avoid an excess accumulation of milk. I also liked to use it about 10 minutes before nursing, because it helped get the milk flowing which kept my baby from getting impatient and crying. 
2. Breastmilk Storage Bags: These don’t need much explanation – if you are using an electric breastpump, you will need somewhere to store the extra milk where it will be safe from bacteria. You can find many options on Amazon.
3. Nursing Bra: You will need a good nursing bra that is comfortable and that provides easy access for your baby. When you are not home, this will be one of your best friends.
4. Nursing Cover: Whether you buy one or make one, you will definitely want to have one of these in your baby bag so that you can comfortably feed your baby in public. If you go to this site, and enter the code SAVE35MLT, you can get one for free and you will just pay a small amount for shipping.
5. Nursing Pillow: This, without a doubt, was one of my favorite products. It allowed me to hold onto my baby more comfortably when I was nursing him. You can get one for free at www.nursingpillow.com using the code A4E56C
6. Nursing Pads: I never had to worry about leaking milk until I started breastfeeding. Of course at first I was filled with pride, because only a few weeks earlier I was so worried that I couldn’t produce enough milk, and now I couldn’t get it to stop! The truth is that it isn’t a great experience to be at a meeting or activity when you start leaking milk. Keeping a pack of these nursing pads in your bag can definitely help you to avoid those embarrassing moments.
7. Clean Towel: It is important to have a clean towel nearby when you are breastfeeding so that you can dry the nipple area after nursing. Humidity in that area creates a perfect environment for bacteria, and you want to avoid that because your baby will be eating from there again very soon.
8. Lanolin: Fortunately there are a lot of great nipple creams on the market, including Lanolin. These are 100% safe for your baby and they provide instant relief for dry, cracked nipples. I used this at least 2-3 times per day in the first few weeks and it was a lifesaver!
9. Gel Pads: These are amazing and they also provide instant relief. I had a couple pairs of these and I always kept one in the refrigerator so that they were ready when I needed them.
10. Nipple Shield: I had never heard of these until one day that my nipples hurt so bad an were so cracked that I thought I couldn’t bear any more. That day, one of my friends suggested that I try these, and although they can be a little bit uncomfortable at first, they definitely do the job and protect your nipples on especially painful days.

Without a doubt there are countless products available to help us in this difficult, but wonderful job of being a mother. If you aren’t sure what some of these products are called where you live, just copy and paste the word and search the internet and you will be able to find lots of options! These products were so helpful for me, ad I hope that they help you as well.

Remember, failure isn’t not being able to do something, failure is never having tried. Good luck and congratulations on your decision to breastfeed!

The post 10 Breastfeeding Essentials For First Time Moms appeared first on My Latina Table.