The Stay at Home Dad Blog

If you’ve looked at the price of baby food lately, you might be surprised at how high it is.  Plus, if you want your food to be organic and not full of preservatives, you have to pay even more.  With a little time and work, you can save money by making your own baby foods.  It’s easy and simple to make delicious, nutritious meals for your baby.

What you’ll need:

A steamer.  Don’t boil baby food; it takes away nutrients from your baby’s food.  You can get an inexpensive steamer that cooks quickly and leaves all the vitamins and minerals your baby needs

A food processor.  While most people would think to use a blender to puree food for your baby, you’ll probably be sadly disappointed with the results.  Blenders not only make a mess, they also make lumpy food your child may not be fond of.

Ice cube trays, freezer bags, and lots of space.  Unless you want to cook up food for your child everyday, freezing is the way to go.  Instead of having to make new, you can just pop it in the microwave and be ready to go in no time.   Ice cube trays are a great way to store food and make convenient portion sizes.

The first step is to wash and skin fruits and vegetables then cut them up into small pieces.  This will make them easier to use later.  If skinning and peeling gets tedious, you can always use some prepared food from the grocery store, like baby carrots.  This way you just have to wash them and skip to the next step.

The next step is to cook your food.  For vegetables, use the steamer.  Once you’re done steaming, keep the water.  You can add it later to thin out your food to the right consistency.  If you’re preparing meat or pasta, just cook it on the stove as normal, but don’t add any oil or spices.

After your food is done cooking, you’re ready to start processing.  Put the foods separately into the food processor.  For pureed foods, you can leave the processor alone because it may take a while.  Later on when the food needs less processing, you may need to monitor it.  This is also the point where you would start fruits like banana that don’t require cooking.  You could also try throwing in some of last night’s leftovers.

After your food is prepared, pour it into the ice cube trays.  If you don’t have enough room in your freezer, simply put sealed food into the refrigerator until you do have room.  Once the cubes are frozen, put 4 of them into a Ziploc back and put them back into the freezer.  At first, you should keep the same kinds of foods in the same bag, but eventually you can start mixing and matching.  For example, put in two meat cubes and two pasta cubes for a mixed meal.

When you’re ready to go, just take a baggie out of the freezer and pop it into the microwave; simple as that.  If you don’t use microwaves, you can heat in hot water on the stove; just be sure not to melt the bag or cook the food more.
With just a little work, you can make great tasting, inexpensive meals for your baby.

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One of the newest trends in parenting is baby sign language. People in the deaf community have known for years that babies could communicate through sign long before their vocal cords allow them to speak, but the trend didn’t really catch on because of the false assumption that signing led to later verbal language development. We now know that not only does signing not keep a baby from talking; it actually helps them to start talking sooner and have better language skills.

By using sign, children learn how to express themselves with words, and some will even start to put words together in sentences before they turn one. Sign is also great for relieving some of the frustration you and your child face because they can tell you exactly what they want. This is especially helpful if your child is ill. Imagine a child under a year being able to tell you not only that they’re in pain, but where it hurts.

Before you start teaching your baby to sign, you should decide what signs to use. While the logical choice would be American Sign Language, some people discourage this because the signs are too complicated for developing hands and fingers. If you want to use simpler signs, there are books and videos with signs that are easier for babies to perform. Or you can make up your own signs, whatever works best for you. Just be careful with non-ASL signs. Some parent’s have unknowingly taught their children to use offensive language and been very embarrassed later on. Even if you use a sign from a baby sign book, that doesn’t mean you’re safe. It’s best to check with someone who knows ASL before teaching a new sign to your child.

Once you’ve decided what signs you are going to use, you need to take the time to learn them. If you do decide to use ASL, there are many resources online to learn from. Not only are their online ASL dictionaries; there are also specific resources that include only signs babies will need. They even have videos so you know you’re doing them right. To learn the signs, you may want to start using them even before your child is ready. This way you’ll be in practice when they are. The important part is to be consistent. Once you choose a sign, stick with it. And use it whenever the baby is in the room. That way, they think it is a normal part of communication.

Teaching a child sign language takes a little time, but is fairly simple. If you use hand signs, you can start around 7 to 8 months; however signs involving the lips and tongue can be taught starting at birth. You can teach your child to stick out their tongue for pacifier, or purse their lips if they want milk. To teach a sign, simply make the sign or facial expression every time you use a word. To keep your child from getting confused, teach them one word at a time. Once they’re successfully using that word, add another. Since this process might go slowly, teach them the most important words first, like: milk, wet (diaper), and ow (pain). These will also be the most useful words to you.

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Teething can be a horrible time for babies. Not only does a new tooth cause pain and discomfort for your little one, it also can be scary to have something new growing inside their mouth. While there are lots of products on the market, such as baby Tylenol and teething gels, these products can be dangerous for your child. Before you go shopping at the pharmacy aisle, try some of these natural remedies to stop teething pain.

What most people don’t realize is that not all babies are in horrible pain while teething, they’re simply uncomfortable and scared. The option many people skip to cure teething pain is to distract the baby with a toy. Focusing on the pain can make it worse, so try to give them something else to think about.

Another natural cure for teething pain is giving the baby something to chew on. Pressure on their gums will not only feel good, it will distract them from the pain and discomfort by giving them something to do. Here are some ideas for what to give your baby.

• Frozen teething ring. While the cold helps numb baby’s sore gums, freezing normal rings can make them hard and uncomfortable. They now make soft teething rings that stay soft when you freeze them. Just be careful; soft rings can break open if chewed to hard. Make sure the ingredients inside wont harm your baby.
• Frozen washcloth. Just wet it down and pop it in the freezer. It has all the benefits of the teething ring, but it’s softer for more sensitive babies.
• Food. Frozen bananas can be something new and different for a baby that doesn’t want their teething ring. Plus they taste good too. Just don’t give a baby with teeth since they can break off and choke on.
• Teething Biscuits. While the teething biscuits that your mother gave you contain chemical you probably don’t want baby to have, they do make new organic biscuits you can give. Just be sure to check that they’ll dissolve in your mouth before giving them to your child so there’s no risk of choking.

If you’ve tried all these options and nothing’s working, don’t worry just yet. There are natural products and herbs you can give your baby before turning to medicines. Here are just a few that others have found helpful. Check with a doctor before giving anything to your child.

• Natural teething tablets. The best one’s to use contain Chamomilla for irritability and Belladonna for inflammation. They come in a form that dissolves in your child’s mouth so there’s no risk of choking.
• Clove oil. This is pretty potent stuff; so you want to dilute it. Just mix a few drops with 2 tablespoons of safe, edible oil and rub into baby’s gums. The rubbing action will also soothe them as well.
• Vanilla extract. Rubbing a little bit on baby’s gums not only feels warm and soothing; the vanilla also has a calming effect.

If you’ve tried all these remedies and nothing has worked, take your child to their pediatrician. A common problem is that parents may miss signs of an illness because they think the crying and fussiness is caused by teething. The most important thing to remember with a teething baby is patience. When you get upset and frustrated, you child gets upset and frustrated too.

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Nothing can be more nerve racking for a parent than the wail of a baby who can’t be comforted. You can lose a lot of sleep and at some points come close to losing your sanity. While everyone has their own ideas for raising children one of the best things you can do for your baby is calm them naturally. Here is some information to help you finally calm your baby.

Many parents and doctors will tell you to just leave your baby alone when they are crying. The philosophy is that if no one comes to help the baby, they will learn to “self soothe”. The truth is small babies don’t have the emotional capabilities to self soothe. Yes, the baby will stop crying eventually, but only because it feels it has been abandoned and has given up on seeking help. A baby who isn’t comforted when they cry believes their parents no longer care. This can destroy the parental bond and the child’s self esteem. Letting a baby “cry it out” may not always be the best option.

On the other hand, your psychological health matters too. There’s bound to be the occasional time that you can’t take it anymore and no one is around to help you. If you feel you’ve reached your breaking point, it’s all right to take a break from your child for a few minutes while you regroup. If your child knows you’re coming back eventually, they will be less likely to feel abandoned.

The best way to learn to soothe your crying baby is to get to know them. Most of the time, the child is crying because something is wrong; they’re hungry, tired, grumpy, sick, bored, or have one of a multitude of other needs, and every one of these problems has a different cry. If you spend time with your baby and listen carefully, you should be able to distinguish one cry from another. You should for other cues such as facial expressions and body language. The sooner you learn to interpret your child’s crying, the sooner you’ll be able to satisfy their needs.

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When I first went grocery shopping for my son, I compared the prices of jarred food with frozen vegetables. To my astonishment, the jarred food cost three times what a bag of frozen lima beans cost. The bag constituted four times as much food than the jar.What I’m trying to say is don’t buy jarred food. A jar of baby food costs roughly $.50 at my local grocer. It holds four ounces of food, but is supposed to be given in concert with other jarred food.Therefore, you have to store an opened jar of food, which will go bad in a few days. So, three jars will be opened for one meal, unless you feed your child nothing but blueberry crumble.By contrast, a bag of frozen peas, or a can of peaches cost about $1.29 at my grocery store. The peas can be cooked (then mashed for newborns) and placed in ice cube trays for storage in the freezer. One cube will be enough for a newborn, while two cubes will feed toddlers.Therefore, in an average ice cube tray, you’ll have at least eight meals for the price of 2.5 jars. The same is true for the peaches. This can also be done with potatoes as well as other fruits and vegetables. One minute in the microwave ensures a quick meal.But I didn’t have time to make baby food. I had a job and I was going to school. Little did I realize that I could make the food while I cooked my own dinner. The placing of the veggies in the trays took no time at all. Now, I had single serving vegetables, with no preservatives.If your environmentally conscience, you can be happy that all those jars that you’d buy won’t have to be recycled.We all want what’s best for our kids. Most people and many chemists don’t know what chemicals are in baby food. By buying a sweet potato, cooking it, mashing it and throwing it into your freezer, you know exactly what your child is eating. This also cuts down on possible allergens your child maybe exposed to. Introducing certain chemicals to your child too early in his/her life may cause allergies.The one warning I have has to deal with carrots. The nitrates in carrots maybe too high in both jarred and fresh carrots for children. Buying organic carrots is your only real choice. Unfortunately, anything organic is likely to be costly, so it’s a good idea to make carrots a specialty.In the end, you’re saving money and are in more control of what your child eats. A wise person once told me “If you’re saving money, you’re losing time.” This is the best way to save money without losing too much time.

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