Homemade Baby Food

YUMMY! I figured since I have all this extra time on my hands...wink, wink...I would take up the art of making baby food. Rice cereal, have you ever seen that stuff? It looks like shreaded paper that you mix w/ formula/BM/water & serve. YUCK! Now, in true mommy form, I did taste it before I started giving it to the babies & for what it looks like coming out of the box, it ain't so bad. Still, it left a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended) & I started to research what it would take to make my own baby food. Now, I have to say that I thought the other foods such as sweet potatoes, bananas, avacados, etc would be what I would be doing BUT I found a wonderful website, www.wholesomebabyfood.com, that has wonderful recipes. No need to buy a book!

Well, I found that site & come to find out, you can make your own rice cereal! Why it is call "cereal" is beyond me b/c all you do is cook rice & feed it to them. Hmmm, could it be b/c it looks like oatmeal & maybe has formula or BM in it? I don't know but either way, I find it silly to say "rice cereal" when it is just "rice". For those of you that are curious how I make it, here is what I do...

*Brown rice (short grain if possible)
*Take uncooked rice & make in to powder. HOW???? I used a coffee bean grinder to do this & it turns the rice in to a fine powder.
*Boil 1 cup of water.
*Add in 1/4 cup of the rice powder.
*Simmer for 10 min, whisking the whole time to prevent clumping.
**Add BM or formula or water to preferred consistency.

I make 2 servings & am hoping it will last 3 days. I serve it warmed up just a bit. WARNING: VERY STICKY! My kiddos get it all over their faces & it is sticky, just like steamed rice at a Chinese restaurant. EWE!!!! The kids seem to love it, more than the instant rice cereal & I feel better about them getting it.

Saturday morning, I am going to try sweet potatoes b/c it is my understanding it is best to introduce a new food in the morning to see if there is any reaction to it. I'll have to let everyone know how it goes. I think Gabi will like it much more than the rice (she isn't too fond of it). I would like to see her start eating more b/c she is downing some serious BM at every feeding 8 oz, sometimes 11 oz!

The breastfeeding is still progressing. I have now switched Ian over to the breast only at the 9am & 1pm feedings. He nurses for about 40-45 min & seems to be satisfied until the next feeding so that is 2 less bottles I have to fix during the day. I am having issues w/ Gabi. Seems as though she wants the milk IMMEDIATELY & it doesn't come out of me fast enough so she screams. I give her a 3 oz bottle to help quench her thirst/hunger but yesterday she screamed every time I tried to latch her on so she ended up not BFing which broke my heart. Today the same thing happened but instead of giving up, I kept trying. Granted, it took 6 oz via bottle but I did get her to latch on for 20 min after that. God only knows how much milk she got...OINK, OINK!

This weekend, I hope to try tandem BFing w/ Gabi & Ian but I am going to need Todd's support to do so. I plan on starting 30 min before a regular feeding so that Gabi isn't starving & hopefully will be easier to work w/. I really, really want to be able to BF both her & Ian during the day & just have to bottle feed Sofi. Don't worry, I still try to latch her on too but she is STUBBORN, just like her mommy! Wish us luck!

Pictures...I have been taking more videos & don't know how to upload them yet so I am going to have to take pics this weekend & post again shortly. I PROMISE!