Freeholder said:
All the proposed uses are great (and babyfood jars are very useful items to have around) but my thoughts are running along the same lines as Mushrooms -- why are you buying babyfood? All you have to do is smash up whatever you guys are eating, and give baby that. The Eskimo peoples chewed their babies food for them, and I did that for my girls -- I suspect this is one way children get innoculated with the necessary organisms that live inside us and help you digest your food. Don't do it if the adult involved is sick, of course, but otherwise it's a perfectly good way to make baby food!
Kathleen
A good post, Kathleen. Once babies, who are usually on Mom's lap during dinner , while Dad cuts her meat and makes her feel semi-handicapped, grab for stuff from Mom's plate, they are ready for "finger-food". That means, let them soothe those aching toofie spots while gnawing on a "drumstick". Let them taste everything healthy and non-allergenic that is on Mom's plate...
Best foods for baby at 6 months can be either humongous chunks of cool stuff, like apples and carrots, which feel so good in the tingling gums, or soft mushy stuff, like little teensie steamed carrot cubes, bits of bananna, little pieces of hamburger, tiny cubes of chicken.
But, watch them carefully at this stage. They have a tendency to stuff their mouths full, and then try to swallow a "glump". It is best to watch them closely for swallowing the first few bits, making sure they have gummed these down, and actually swallowed, before offering a few more bits. More toddlers than you can think of have choked by stuffing their little gullets full before chewing up the pieces, so only offer one or two pieces of little bits of stuff at a time!
Cheerios are good for whole grains, but again only two or three at a time. This is a chance to build brain skills with "hand-to-mouth" coordination. If your wife insists on canned baby food, put a dab or two down, and let the baby fingers do the work. Clean up is so much easier, believe me, and they learn some valuable motor coordination skills at the same time.
Again, do not put more than two or three bitsy pieces on their high chair tray at a time, or one humongeous chunck for gnawing, and do not "spoon feed" them stuff. That starts some pretty odd parental/child interactions that can lead to lots of food refusal later on. Always be cheerful when sitting with them while they explore food, and be enthusiastic about whatever they chose to eat! Make them feel great about the new skill of feeding themselves!
Best advice to you, eat the kinds of food you want your child to eat, make sure they get lots on teensie tastes, and let them play with their food. Respect their appetites, but keep on offering the good stuff. It might require 6 or 10 tries before they decide they like whatever. Pay no attention to the first refusals, just quietly keep offering while you set a good example by scarfing down the broccoli or green beans with gusto.
Eventually, they figure it all out, and do a pretty good job of balancing their own diets, if we eat properly, and set a good example.