4 important feeding tips for your baby

I'm please to announce that Avairy is now an expert eater! These days you cannot get the food in her mouth fast enough. Not to mention how much she's starting to eat in one sitting!

It's so exciting giving those first spoonfuls of food to your little one, but it's also important to be aware what you're giving them as well. Thankfully, Jordan and I have the same views on this and are so strict when it comes to what we feed Avairy.

The way I look at it, babies are as pure as they come. They aren't tainted with cravings for sugary or salty foods. Let alone have any desire for them. Remember, you aren't hurting baby's feeling by not giving them those cute snack puffs because they wouldn't know they exist in the first place if you don't introduce them to it. Which brings me to tip #1.

Tip #1

By starting your baby off on healthy eating habits and continuing for the years to come, you can help encourage a proper diet. If there's anything I would highly stress on any mother, it's that no matter how much work it may seem or how small of an idea it may be, just do it. You'll help your children live longer and healthier in the long run.

Tip #2

Skip the juices and baby snacks. Most of these are filled with sugar, dyes and preservative chemicals. I almost got excited when I saw this box of organic baby crackers and thought it couldn't be that bad. Until I saw it had sugar in it. Maybe I'm too strict on this, but I think of it as this: there's only so much a baby can eat in one day so why waste it on things that don't benefit them in any way? You could give them a handful of rice cookies with no real benefits or give them a bowl of banana with plenty of nutrients.

Tip #3

Use organic or natural foods (if you can). Some people don't see the point and others may not want to spend more on what they can buy cheaper, either way it's up to you. But if you're interested in buying organic, but don't want to spend the dough, then check out this link to the Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen. It shows you the fruits/vegetables with the most and least pesticides. So, save a few dollars by buying regular sweet potatoes since they're low in pesticides, but shuck a few bucks on things like strawberries that have a high pesticide content. The website also tells you how much chemicals are in a single fruit. For example, peaches were found to have more than 60 different pesticides! Yuck, not in ma baby! haha

Tip #4

Make your own baby food. Sound daunting? Not at all. One morning I made mashed cauliflower for Avairy and it took less than 30 minutes (including prep work!). You get the satisfaction of seeing them eat what you've made for them and knowing that some company didn't add a little of this and a little of that in there. Look out for a post on how to make your own organic baby food soon!

Lastly, have fun and get messy! This is all an exciting learning experience for both of you so if things get a little crazy, it's alright. Bibs and sponges were invented because babies exist. haha

Happy eatings!

mealtime must-haves & first food

Today was a big day for my little bug. She turned 5 months and had her first taste of solid foods! I was going back and forth between feeding her avocados, sweet potatoes or bananas. All great first foods, but in the end I chose to go with avocados. It has a ton of vitamins and is packed with good fats to help brain growth and development. Avairy was definitely ready about a week ago, but I wanted to wait for her 5 month birthday. Just to make the day extra special.

I'm so excited to share these adorable pictures of what she thought of her avocado lunch!

She didn't really care much for the avocado, but she was such a good sport about it! I'm not too worried because it is the first time trying something other than formula. She'll get the hang of it.

This picture gets me every time. haha If she were eating spinach I'd call her Little Miss Popeye! Toot toot!

ALL DONE!

I was so excited for today that it honestly felt like Christmas morning. I got to open up my Baby Bullet and finally use it. And let me tell you, the storage containers are stinkin' adorable! It gives you pretty much everything you'll need to make your own baby food. Really handy! So, when it's time for your little one to start solids it'll be helpful to buy everything you need beforehand. Here's some of our favourite finds for mealtime!

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I highly suggest buying silicone bibs with a crumb catcher. Ulubulu has really cute ones with a lot of different monster faces. I made the mistake of buying a plastic one and found it was too bulky. It kinda cut into her chin/face a lot so for the time being I just switched it up for a cloth bib.

If there's anything else that I'm missing on our list let me know! Also I would love to hear about your little one's favourite foods to eat, maybe Avairy can give it a go too.

getting ready...

I thought I would share with you what I've been doing to prepare for Avairy's first foods. Since she's turning 5 months on the 19th, I think now is a better time than any to introduce her to something with more taste to it. Not to mention she is definitely ready. She's always so curious and anxious to get her hands on whatever mommy and daddy are eating and you can't run from the waterfall of drool that I have to mop up when she sees someone eating something!

This is probably one of the most fun and exciting milestones babies will go through. But the best part about it all is choosing what to feed her first. I'm so excited to see the funny faces she'll make when she first tries a banana or some green beans! Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures to show when the time comes.

So to prepare I've been read tons of books and websites on what to do and I've always come back to these two books. If you want to do some of your own research, I would suggest Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes and The Wholesome Baby Food Guide by Maggie Meade. But my all time favourite one would have to be Maggie Meade's book. If you don't feel like buying her book, her website is just as informative. Check it out at http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com she has awesome tips and recipes for every stage of feeding.

I've also been looking into some foods that are the most nutritious and easiest to digest. I wanted to stay away from the traditional (might I add myth) of feeding bland first foods like rice cereal. So far the top three fruits or vegetables are avocados, bananas, and sweet potatoes. They can be made into smooth and chunky consistencies very easily and pack a lot of punch in the nutritional department. 

In the meantime, I'm gonna leave you guys with this adorable picture. Try not to roll over and die from cuteness haha I'll keep you guys posted and let you know how everything turns out with Avairy!