How you feed your baby is such a personal choice. For infants, it’s between bottle feeding and breastfeeding. Then it gets to the fun part, when babies can start eating solid (or mushy) foods (the currently recommended age is 4-6 months [1]).
According to The Mayo Clinic, they should also still be consuming up to 32 ounces of milk/formula as well. Some of the ways to tell if your baby is ready are if they can hold their head upright steadily, unsupported sitting, and interest in what you are eating [2]. If they have all these signs you can start feeding them additional foods.
One thing to consider is that it is recommended that meats shouldn’t be started until 7-8 months of age and shouldn’t be the first food that they eat [3].
How to Start
When starting to feed them other foods ensure that there is a window of time between trying different foods so that if there is a reaction you can determine what it is that caused it.
Now that you have an idea as to when and how to feed your child, let’s talk about making them that food, specifically chicken.
If they like this, soon enough you can start giving them what you are eating (enjoy it when they try everything, as a parent of a toddler I can tell you, that changes drastically at some point).
As stated earlier, there are plenty of ways to feed your child, and you can certainly choose the store bought route.
It is easier and more convenient for those that really either don’t want to do that work, are terrible in the kitchen, and also those that just want to make it a lot simpler while they have dinner to make for the rest of the family.
Then there are those that do want to make their baby food. Read on for the instructions on how to make chicken puree for your baby.
Making Chicken Puree
It’s really simple. When cooking your chicken you can roast it in the oven, cook it on the stove, or cook it in the crock-pot. The easiest way is either roasting it or cooking it in the crock-pot.
Ensure that you aren’t using any salts or seasonings for the first time they are eating it. Once it’s cooked you can take it out and let it cool, but save the chicken juices as well if you have any left.
Once you have the chicken cooled, cut it up into small pieces and place it in a food processor or blender.
Once blended into a fine powder start adding the liquid to it until it reaches the consistency you deem perfect for your little one it’s ready.
And that’s it, really easy and a way to make your child a healthy meal.
You Can Also Mix It With Something Sweet
If they don’t like the initial flavor of just chicken you can mix it with a bunch of other foods that can help make it better tasting for them. Some things to mix it with are listed below:
- Apples
- Sweet Potatoes
- Carrots
- Regular Potatoes
- Corn
Mixing these with the foods that they have can help your baby to enjoy the chicken (and other meats that you choose to feed them) a bit more because they may enjoy the sweetness better.
Storing Your Newly Made Baby Food
Now that you have made new foods you’ll want to know how to store it. You can freeze them (in freezer safe containers) for 3-6 months, but you’ll want to try to use them in about 3 preferably.
You can store it in the fridge for 24 hours safely. Ideally, one way to make it easier is to put the puree in ice cube trays and take them out daily for feeding to defrost [4].
Choose How To Feed Them
It’s up to you to decide how to feed your baby. You don’t have to make food for them and puree, soon enough you can easily feed them off of your plate in bite-sized pieces.
Even if they don’t yet have teeth, they can still easily gum soft foods; so if you choose to buy the containers, go for it (trust me, fast food is in your future no matter what you think), and if you want to make it do that as well.
Whatever you choose know that you are doing what’s right for your little one.
So have fun trying out new flavors with your child, it’s sure to be an adventure.
References
- Mayo Clinic. Solid Foods: How to Get Your Baby Started. [Link]
- See Above #1
- Momtastic. Homemade Meat Baby Food Recipes & Meat Purees for Babies. [Link]
- Momtastic. Everything You Want to Know About Freezing Homemade Baby Food. [Link]
