We want to give our babies the best. This means that we go to great lengths to provide our little ones with the right educational toys, an enriching environment, and healthy and nutritious foods. For many of us this last point has us making the baby food that our babies eat.


However, I am here to tell you that making your baby’s food is not just about giving your baby a healthy diet, there are so many other benefits to doing so that will impact your entire family.


Mindfulness

Anyone who has struggled with his or her weight knows the danger of mindless eating. Conversely, those who pay attention to what they put in their mouths tend to have a better control over their physical health.


Of course, your baby cannot eat mindfully because she has little control over what you feed her. However, when you prepare her meals you will be forced to be mindful and pay attention to the ingredients you use.


Easy, Quick, Convenient

Making baby food on your own is easy. First of all, presentation is not going to matter and to a certain extent neither will taste because babies are naturally drawn to real flavors. They like the tastes offered by fruits, vegetables, and meats.


Because of the innate likes of babies, most baby foods can contain a single ingredient or, at the most, just a few. For example, to make a fine pumpkin baby food dish all you need to to do is bake, boil, or steam some cleaned and diced pumpkin until it is soft and then mash it or puree it in a blender or food processor. Then place it in a safe container and place it in the fridge to cool. It can even be frozen.


The process is the same for making all other types of baby food: clean, cook, puree, chill or freeze. You could even follow a schedule that has you creating an entire week’s worth of baby food on the weekend that is then stored in the freezer and then thawed as needed. If preparing meat for baby food, remove the fat and skin from the meat before cooking it and then add a little water to it before blending it.


Going this route will let you know exactly what--fresh whole foods--your baby is eating and exactly what she is not eating--preservatives, additives, chemicals, sugar, salt.     


Eat as Family

Another benefit to making baby food for your baby is that the food you feed your baby will be the same food that you are feeding your family. After all, adult meals are made up of vegetables, fruits, and meats as well. And, if your family’s meals currently are not so whole, making your own baby food will give you an excuse and the motivation to start preparing adult meals using the basic food building blocks.


I don’t know about you, but I miss the days that family members ate together without a television, tablet, or phone entertaining them. Making your own baby food is taking a stand against the modern world and vowing that you and your family will eat together and eat real foods.

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