Solid Food Sage Monster

So we have started the Solid Food Adventure in my house. Miss Sagey Poo is taking to solid food like her sister takes to chocolate bars. It's a pure love.

I knew we were good to go with rice cereal, because we tried it a month or two back. Her tummy got upset so we held off on trying anything else, but there were no allergy issues. So this week, we've tried applesauce and sweet potatoes so far. It's kind of hard to wait 3 days between each food! It's so exciting, we want to just barrel ahead. Sage is now under the impression that a food utensil going towards a mouth should be heading in the direction of her mouth, so I think it's excitement all around.

I did buy some canned baby food, the organic Albertson's brand. The more and more I think about this new foodie journey though, the more I'm leaning towards making Sage's baby food. Have you tasted baby food? It's nasty. It's bland. I want Sage to like carrots, not something that once upon a time tasted like carrots. Not to mention, even with organic food, do we REALLY know what goes into those jars of baby food? (Now I sound like my paranoid hubster.)

This article has some pretty interesting info on baby food. Namely, that bland, gross canned food may not be the way to go. I love the idea of spicing baby food. On the off chance that it helps to make her less of a picky eater, I will dive right in. We all know how I would love to have a child who isn't a picky eater.

The underlying reason behind me making my own baby food? I want to be more involved as a mama. I made a promise to myself that when Sage was born, it would be different than the mess I found myself in when Lily was a peanut. I was young and had no idea what I was doing! While I realize that's true of all first time parents, my views on parenting from then to now have completely done a 180. I've promised myself to be more educated and less go with the flow because it's popular or EASY type of parent. I'm implementing more art and less TV with Lily as a way to connect with her. Making Sage her morning and evening snacks gives me that same type of connection. It also provides some serious satisfaction that as a mama, I've taken the time to care more and hurry less.

I'll let you know more as I get into this food making journey and we'll see if the costs outweigh the benefits. It could be that I end up scrapping it because it takes time away from both my girls. It could end up actually being more expensive. Who knows?

Here's some more info on homemade baby food:

Rust & Sunshine has a lovely post with easy instructions and pictures regarding her homemade baby food.
Weelicious has every baby food recipe you could ever want.
Wholesome Baby Food has some fantastic tips and techniques.