My take on baby's first foods

My sweet Abbi is now 6 1/2 months old and recently started trying out real food! Since feeding her is on my mind a lot (she begs for it anytime we are in the kitchen!), I thought I'd share my approach on feeding babies. I also highly recommend Lindsay's post on the topic: Feeding Baby Naturally, because she follows a similar thought pattern as myself and is much, much more thorough in her explanations than I am going to be. It is very interesting, easy to read, and the best simple article that I've read on the subject. I'm simply going to share what I have done with my babies, but Lindsey shares the research and reasons behind it. So if you don't have much time, read her article instead of mine because you will be much better educated. :) Another great article is Including Baby at the Family Table from the WAPF website. And if you do have time, I also highly recommend reading Nina Plank's Real Food For Mother and Baby. It is available at most libraries.

I'm all about breastfeeding if you possibly can. I know it is difficult for some people and I don't fault them for it at all. But if it is at all possible, the benefits to both Mama and baby are worth it! So I exclusively breastfeed my babies for the 1st 6 months.

Around 6 months, I usually start introducing foods to my baby. I wait until my baby can sit up all by herself, because that shows me that she is probably developmentally ready. But I don't worry about how much she eats, because at 6 months, she is still getting everything she needs from my breastmilk. I start her out on table food simply to get her used to different tastes and textures, and also so that I can eat in peace! (If she doesn't have food of her own, she is fussing and grabbing at my plate during mealtime :)

With my first baby, I pureed tons of fruits and vegetables and froze them in little ice cubes. But the 2nd time around, I totally skipped all that and was glad that I did. Instead, I just fed her whatever veggies and meat I fixed for my family for dinner. I made sure they were soft enough and would smash them with a fork if they seemed too big. I also added in a lot of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil because babies need healthy fats more than anything. I let her pick everything up and play with it and eat what she could. I didn't feed her anything with a spoon other than home-made yogurt, cod-liver oil, and a soft-boiled egg because they are just so good for her. I wanted her to develop that pincer grasp and good hand-eye coordination as well. So she mainly just fed herself. It was definitely more messy, but much less work since I did not need to puree and freeze. Plus, she was quite entertained and I could eat my dinner in peace!

I'm pretty much taking the same laid back approach with Abbi. I started giving her fermented cod liver oil around 4 months instead of the Vitamin D supplement that most pediatricians recommend. When she started acting like she wanted to eat when we did around 6 months, I first just gave her a spoonful of coconut oil or butter to chew on. Then I let her have fun with some avocado and soft-boiled egg yolks. I've also let her have plain yogurt and fresh cheese from my farmer. I will not give her any cereal because babies can't even digest it well until around a year old. I try not to let my babies have any grains until at least a year, and I'll hold off longer if possible because they need the healthy fat and protein so much more. My goal is to give my babies only real food -- not processed at all. But I'm not ridiculous about it. With Karlie, we went to visit the grandparents and Nina had bought some baby food and really enjoyed feeding Karlie with a spoon and that was fine. I knew that 90% of the time Karlie was feeding herself real food that I prepared.

I've found that around 8 months, my babies start actually "needing" to eat table food more because my milk supply can't quite keep up with their growing bodies. But that's just me. I have friends who have successfully fed their babies only breast milk until one year old. But my body just can't seem to do it. Instead of supplementing with formula, however, I just make sure my babies get enough fat and protein from real food. I continue nursing my babies every 3-4 hours during the day and give them lots of healthy, real food. I've also found that my milk supply keeps up better if I continue to wake them for a late night feeding before I go to bed even once they start sleeping through it. I know many people wouldn't want to mess up the sleep cycle, but it is worth it to me to be able to keep up my milk supply.

Eggs are truly the best food that I can give my babies. They have plenty of protein and iron and fats. They actually contain every nutrient that your body needs other than vitamin C! So I tried to make sure Karlie ate at least one egg yolk every day once she was about 8 months. (And not all eggs are created equal -- please read THIS POST to see why free range, pastured, not-from-a-store-eggs are soooo much better! Quick synopsis: to have healthy eggs you need a healthy chicken. A healthy chicken needs lots of sunlight and bugs to eat. You can't find healthy eggs at a grocery store -- you have to get them from the farm!

I also gave Karlie a lot of avocados -- a great first food for babies because of all the healthy fat. I usually mashed it up with good quality olive oil or coconut oil to give her even more healthy fats! Some times I would mix it with plain home-made yogurt because yogurt is good for her as well and I wanted her to get used to the sour taste of unsweetened yogurt. Avocados are the perfect healthy "fast food." I kept them on hand in case I sadly did not make a healthy enough meal for my family and wanted to be sure she ate real food. They were also my first choice to take for Karlie when we went out to eat because they are just so easy!

So there's my quick overview of how I approach feeding babies. I know it might not work for some children if they have a gagging problem or other eating issues, but it has worked well for my girls so I thought I would share. Feel free to ask any questions!

**And as a disclaimer -- I am not a doctor in any way and my advice should not be taken as professional. I am simply fascinated (my husband would say obsessed :) with nutrition and have read a lot about it.

How to get your kids to eat their vegetables

One word for you: FROZEN.

Since my youngest was about 10 months old and teething, I have given my kids frozen fruits and vegetables. This is a quick, simple way to get vital nutrients to your kids in a fun and delicious manner.

When Samuel was 10 months old I had a friend recommend giving him frozen peas and carrots to eat. The cold veggies felt good on his teething gums. And the small size provided great development of his fine motor skills (the pincher grip). Since the veggies are pre-cooked, they are actually easy for a baby to chew and swallow.

Even now at ages 3 and 4, my boys love frozen fruits and vegetables. I love it too because it's easy to keep a few bags on hand and shake them on their plate at mealtimes or for a quick, refreshing snack.

Some of our favorites:
Sliced Carrots
Peas and Carrots
Whole Green Beans
Blueberries
Strawberries

My boys hands-down favorite is Frozen Blueberries. They love this simple snack. It is especially great in the winter when it's harder to get quality fresh fruit.

Do your kids enjoy frozen fruits and veggies? What are your favorites? Does this post encourage you to try it?

Starting Solids and Weaning

Did you realize that when you begin giving your baby solids this is considered the beginning stages of weaning? That made me sad when I learned this in one of my courses, but I guess it really is true. . . although "weaning" could still be year(s) away!

I first wrote about this topic a little over two years ago. I don't want to recreate the wheel and think the advice I wrote there is still what I'd say today. Since I've been able to breastfeed my children, I've found figuring out when to introduce solids to be challenging (since I wanted their primary nutrition to be breastmilk the first year). With Lydia, I felt pressure from everyone - family back home and friends where we live - to feed her, and feed her early. Even when I started trying to feed her (around 7 1/2 months), though, she never really cared much for it until pretty close to a year. I went back and re-read my advice when I was thinking of starting solids with the boys and then decided to wait a little longer (they just seemed so small!!. . .well, they were, but, little did I know, one was also READY).

I started solids with the boys at 8 1/2 months. The only reason really that I started solids was that they had increased the number of times they were nursing a day from 6 to anywhere between 8-10 each. While I do love nursing, I also vividly remember several occasions where I just felt like a cow. Since by adjusted age they were still under 7 months and they really didn't show other readiness signs, I really didn't think introducing food would solve my problem. But, in stark contrast from Lydia, Luke loved food from the first time the spoon hit his mouth. (James was more like Lydia and it took a couple more months for him to start eating.) The second neat thing happened (in addition to me no longer having to nurse so much) was their growth curve shot straight up. While my boys are small (they are 13 months old and 17.5 pounds for example) they had always followed THEIR growth curve, which is really all that matters. But when I introduced food their chart almost went straight up!

Other advice I had written to myself with Lydia was not to make batches of baby food to freeze. Rather, do simple things I could mash easily and try to give her what we're eating. This was very hard to do with the boys. Pretty early on, they started eating a large quantity. And, James had a gag reflex (this is totally undiagnosed but I do think he had some low muscle tone issues) and his food had to be the consistency of yogurt if he was going to eat it - definitely not as simple as mashing it with a fork. And Luke really liked food this consistency as well. About this time, my brother sent me the most thoughtful gift anyone's ever gotten me - a BEABA Babycook. (I will talk about this more on our featured products week coming up next month.) Suffice it to say, it has made cooking for my boys SO.MUCH.EASIER.

So, here's a couple more links and thoughts. I found this baby food book and have thoroughly enjoyed it: Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson.

I am, again, SO thankful I gave my children cultured dairy (plain, whole milk yogurt/kefir/buttermilk) early on so they would develop a love for this nutritious food. All of my children love plain yogurt and kefir.

I like Dr. Jack Newman's article on introducing solids although one point he says is just to let your child try whatever is on your plate. Of course, you all know me with nutrition. . . I agree, as long as it's healthy :).

Happy feeding babies!

Great Feeding Advice

This is off-topic for this week, but I thought I would pass along a helpful link. Meagan has posted a list of finger food ideas for older babies and toddlers that you all might enjoy. Check it out here.

Leah: The Way I Did Food Homemade

I did not do all of my baby food homemade. But I did do a large portion of it that way in order to save money and cut down on the amount of preservatives Samuel was eating. I mostly found making my own baby food to be very simple. I have actually been looking forward to this week b/c I think some of the other ladies out there do a really good job with homemade baby food and nutrition in general. I have learned a lot so far this week.

The point of my post is to encourage you moms who’ve never made your own to at least do a few things on your own to save money and give your baby fresh/fresher foods. Here are just two ways to get started:

1. Start using fresh fruits with your baby. This is pretty simple to do – just buy some fruit in the produce section and mash it by hand or in the blender/food processor. The easiest fruits include: bananas, kiwis, strawberries, mangos, avocados, and blueberries. If you have a baby that is beyond purees, go for those five plus pears, peaches, pineapples, and oranges.

2. Buy fresh or frozen (not canned) carrots, peas, and green beans. Cook them on the stove until tender, then blend them in the blender (you can add some of the water from the stovetop if needed). Pour the puree into ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop the cubes into freezer bags labeled with the name of the veggie and the date you put them in the freezer. Just thaw out one or two in the refrigerator in a small bowl each day. This is SUPER cheap, SUPER easy, and SO good for your baby. You can even start to mix the veggies once you know your baby isn’t allergic.

Don’t think that you have to go all or nothing with homemade baby food. Even a few changes, like those above, can make a big difference in how much you are spending on food each week and the quality of nutrition your baby is getting. Give it a try!

Feeding Babies

Well, I've thought about the direction I wanted to take in writing this post. I mean, health and nutrition are one of my passions and I love to read books, research, plan menus, and cook. So I thought that while I could write about the two times I went to the kitchen and made baby food in bulk and froze it, I figured it might be more helpful to write about why it was only two times I did this and what I'll do if the Lord blesses us with more children.

Like many breastfeeding moms, I had heard that waiting until six months to begin to introduce any foods (including cereal) is best. In addition to this generic "six month rule" I also knew that is important for your baby to show all of these developmental signs of readiness for food:

1. Baby can sit up without support.
2. Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
3. Baby is ready and willing to chew.
4. Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
5. Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.
6. Baby has at least one tooth.

What I didn't realize is that the first year really is just getting a baby used to eating. The primary source of baby's nutrients in the first year should be breast milk. (Please check out the Kellymom site for great information on this including whether or not your baby is ready for solids, advantages to delaying solids, myths about solid readiness, etc.)

Lydia was around 7 months old when I thought she showed each of these signs and I figured it was time to introduce her to food. I started with an avocado. She liked it enough, I guess. I mean, it made it in her mouth and I captured a smile on camera. A few days later I introduced plain, whole milk yogurt. Again, she humored me and ate a little. I think I had the notion that she would immediately take to food but this really didn't happen. Looking back, I see I really was just getting her used to food but her primary nutrition (well, practically all of it) continued to come from my milk. We tried avocado, bananas, yogurt, and sweet potatoes (all of which I would just mash with a fork when it was time to eat so I never worried about making big batches of baby food in advance).

At the time, though, I thought that if I could just make her more of a variety she would take off with eating. So, I went to the kitchen and spent an afternoon making baby food and freezing it in trays - sweet potatoes, applesauce, pears, green beans, carrots, zuchini and potatoes, and lentils with cheese and tomatoes. Of course, I followed the "four day rule" and waited to introduce foods based on her age, but, while she would humor me and eat a little, she never really took off eating. I even had another nursing mom (whose baby was 3 months younger than Lydia and eating away) tell me that if you don't start solids early - she started her baby at 5 months - your baby will be a picky eater. (Actually, the opposite is true.)

It was certainly easier to just nurse Lydia than pull out food and go through the routine (only to nurse her later anyway). But I had many people tell me (the wisdom of the third world we're living in I guess!) that if I didn't give Lydia more food she would never learn to eat! While I had made a lot of baby food and froze it, by the time she really took to eating she was big enough to not need it pulverized in a blender :). Around 11 months old, Lydia began to really enjoy eating. She loved my homemade bread, egg yolks, all kinds of fruit and vegies, yogurt, etc. With most everything, I had to give it to her several times before she really liked it. Don't give up if your baby doesn't like something the first few times. They need to try it at least seven to really figure that out (they're taking in the new taste, texture, and more). Around a year, food became really fun because she could have so much more - meat, fish, eggs, peanut butter (despite what some say, peanut allergies are rare in breastfed children who do not have a family history of peanut allergies), etc. I'm proud to say that Lydia never had cereal, jarred baby food, and, to this day, has never had apple juice. She drinks water in her sippy cup (and, occassionaly milk), I nurse her one or two times a day, and she eats lots of fruits, vegetables, bread, eggs, meat, fish, beans - really whatever we eat. For example, tonight for supper we ate chili, cheese, and cucumbers and that's one of her favorite meals. She's almost 16 months old now and she is a GREAT eater (although I'm sure the picky stage will come!).

So, here's what I learned from this experience:

1. Next time, I'm not going to worry about trying to get my baby to eat. I'm not going to introduce food until she not only shows all the signs, but she's literally pulling it off my plate (I thought she was interested in food when she'd look at it while we ate).

2. I'm going to go into it with the mindset that for the first year, most of her nutrition will be from breastmilk. (This is really freeing too! It is so much easier to nurse than cook all these foods, blend them, label them, freeze them, etc.)

3. I WILL introduce plain, whole milk yogurt (or another cultured dairy such as buttermilk) early on again, so she will develop a taste for this. Today, Lydia absolutely loves plain yogurt and I'm so thankful. (Just think, it would be like our grandparents drinking buttermilk and it's SO healthy!)

4. When she is ready for food, I WILL give her food that I've made for us - such as brown rice, sweet potatoes, etc. We eat very healthy anyway and there's nothing that I eat that I wouldn't want to also give to Lydia (this is not always true for what my husband eats though haha!).

5. When you need to give your baby food, here are some easy things that don't require any advance preparation: bananas, yogurt, avocado, mango, cheese; just mash with a fork and serve.
6. I will probably make some basic baby foods such as applesauce on occasion, but I'll choose things that we'll all eat so that I'm not just setting out to make food only for my baby.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention these things. First, while everytime I went to a pediatrician they would tell me to give Lydia vitamins, I politely took the "prescription" but never filled it. If you are healthy and eating healthy foods, your baby is getting the nutrition God designed for her to have in your breastmilk. The only exception to this is Vitamin D and that's why it's important for you and your baby to get 10 minutes of fresh sunshine everyday (without sunscreen). (Here's Kellymom's take on vitamins if you want further reading.) Secondly, I can't recommend highly enough these three sources: The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, and the Weston A. Price foundation website.

Here's an example of some of the things we do in our home for health and nutrition:

• Mill wheat (for muffins, pancakes, and waffles I soak all wheat for added nutrition)


• Add fresh ground flax seed to food daily


• Take whole foods vitamins and Icelandic cod liver oil daily (Lydia loves Cod Liver Oil)


• Drink raw milk; make homemade yogurt


• Make fermented and cultured vegetables


• Sprout nuts, seeds, and grains


• Make bone broths (stock) which I freeze and use as a base in my food


• Cook from scratch (we never use spice packets, bouillion, etc. which if full of additives, preservatives, and MSG just to name a few things)


• Organic fruits and veggies


• Free range meat and eggs


• We don’t eat sugar, processed or refined foods, hydrogenated oils, or regular flour


• Eat fresh fish regularly (not farm-raised)

PLEASE do not feel overwhelmed if you look at this list and don't know where to begin. Start small and add changes in gradually. It is all a learning process. We are a work in process in our home. What keeps me going is the responsibility I feel to feed my family the healthiest foods possible so we can be free to serve the Lord in health. And, when you eat healthy it is much easier to make healthy food choices for your children.

"Homemade" in our house

Hollie did a GREAT job giving info about making baby food. But, I have to confess that we probably made maybe half of Will's baby food in the time that he ate pureed foods. Here are some things that we did do and the reason's why:

1. Purchased only Beechnut brand cereals. These do NOT contain soy products, unlike Gerber or other brands. Soy is definitely something I try to avoid. There are other organic brands like Earth's Best that are probably ok too. But they don't carry this brand at the store I frequent. We also didn't really use much rice cereal, instead using more oatmeal, mixed grains or brown rice. He liked them better than plain rice cereal anyways!

2. Used some frozen organic veggies (or non organic) when making pureed food. Very easy to do and sometimes cheaper than buying fresh organic, especially when the food is not in season! Big time saver, yet still better than most jarred foods.

3. Did not purchase jarred applesauce once he would tolerate the regular stuff. What a waste of money! We just used regular, unsweetened applesauce in the jar and he loved it!

4. Used the following website (thanks to my sister-in-law) as a guide to get creative in making foods for Will.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

This was especially great when we found ourselves still having to puree his food at 12+ months. As mentioned in previous posts (or was it a comment?), Will went to a speech therapist for about 3 months for feeding therapy. He had some issues chewing and swallowing food once we tried to move to table foods. (Most likely due to his prematurity and reflux.) While he "learned" how to do this, we were instructed to do purees to prevent choking and ensure he was getting all the nutrients necessary.

During this time, I pureed a lot of things including combination dinners to give him a variety of tastes. He really liked green peas and macaroni (Annie's of course) combined. Even though I forgot to cook the peas!!! Oops!

5. We started rice cereal around 5 months and veggies around 6 months. I probably could have waited longer and probably will next time around! There is truly no need to rush solid foods.



We are now entering a new phase of eating with a toddler. The one thing that I've held in the back of my mind is something I heard on Klove (the Christian radio station) and it was a blurb by James Dobson. All I remember is that he said mealtimes should not be a battle. We're currently working through ways to prevent this as Will becomes a typical picky eater. Overall, he is still a great eater but we have our days! We have tried to do things like limit snacking so he eats better meals. This has helped a lot, even though he previously only got one snack after his afternoon nap.


The wholesome baby food website also has a toddler version too. We have started to use this and it is a GREAT guide. Not only does it give lots of nutritional info - but it reassures me that all of the things we are going through with Will are normal!

www.wholesometoddlerfood.com

Making Your Own Baby Food

Anyone can make their baby homemade, fresh baby food. Anyone. You don't have to be a professional health-nut to be qualified to make your baby healthy food. Actually, since my daughter started to eat solids 6 months ago, it was then that I started to become proactive about what we, as a family, were putting in our mouths. And I'm not even close to being "there." You know where "there" is. It's your goal that you have in your mind that you hope one day you can attain, and I hope one day I can feel like I've made some HUGE steps in weeding out the unhealthy habits we have concerning eating by replacing them with wholesome, delicious healthy-eating habits. We are DEFINITELY a work in progress and will continue to be that for years to come. Starting with baby is a great place to start, because you research "slowly" how to eat more healthily as your baby begins to try new foods slowly.

The reason I wanted to make baby food was because I wanted to give Laney the best health I possibly could and that would mean giving her fresh, whole minimally-processed food. I knew that would help build her immune system and fight off illness like a champ! Her first sickness was at eleven months, and I know that the nutrition she received definitely benefited her. I feel that the Lord has given me such a great responsibility to raise my daughter to the best of my ability. I'm trying my hardest to do just that, not just in the area of food, but food definitely falls into that area of accountability. Please note that I'm speaking from personal interest here. I know that everyone does not have the same conviction and/or interest and I respect that choice. Did I ever give Laney jarred baby food? Oh yeah. You better believe I did. I wasn't trying to be Super Mom or anything, but I did want to give her fresh foods when I could. I never had to buy jarred baby food weekly, because I fed her mostly what I froze, but when we were out in town shopping, out of town at the Grandma and Papa's house or we were simply out of frozen homemade cubes, then I'd pop open a jar of baby food. I used Earth's Best brand because they were organic and the cereal is whole grain.

You don't have to use organic foods, but I try to use organic when I am able to do so. I was not an organic person six months ago. In fact, I would playfully joke around upon biting into an organic apple, "Oh my word! This is the best apple I've ever put in my mouth! Why, it's ORGANIC, that's why!! It just tastes SO much better! LOL!" Harmless humor, but that's what my mindset was toward organic foods. I'm a big joke-ster anyways, but after reading a few books and researching, my mind was changed, and I honestly felt that this was a beneficial change our family needed to make, if we could afford to do so. I believe we can make it work, if we value healthy eating enough. (and trust me, our budget is TI-IGHT since I quit working, since my husband is in Seminary and working crazy hours). Maybe we'll do a "Why organic" post soon. (What do you think ladies?) In the meantime, I'm here to tell you HOW to make baby food.

I'm so glad there's a good book out there for you to read concerning homemade baby food called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, because trying to tell you all you need to know on this POH blog is a daunting task. What I CAN do is give you the highlights of what I've learned to see if this is something that interests you.

What do you need?

1. Patience and willingness to learn - you will feel inadequate at times, but that's okay.
2. A few minutes to read up on your baby's month of foods
3. Time to go grocery shopping (something you are already doing)
4. A food processor/chopper ( a blender will work too) - $15.00
5. Steamer- not a must, but it's nice to have
6. Microwave-not a must again, but it's nice to have & makes things easier
7. ice cube trays
8. foil
9. freezer bags, large and small
10. An hour and a half to prepare your baby's meals for months!

If you're starting from your baby's first foods around six months, then you want to start out slow with foods you can mash with a fork, like banana, avocado sweet potatoes, yogurt, peaches, etc... The key to making your own baby food is make meals in BULK. I cannot emphasize that enough. For me, it was tough to get to the grocery store even weekly, so I would buy a bunch of ripe bananas and avocados, puree them in my food processor, spoon out portions to go in the ice-cube tray, cover with foil and freeze them. Once frozen, I'd pop them out, put them in a freezer bag, and label the bag with the contents/expiration date. Yeah, the bananas turned brown, but no nutritional value was lost, and they still tasted the same. (I couldn't had any citrus juices, like lemon juice, to keep them from turning, because babies can't have citrus fruits until they turn a year old. I learned these little important tid-bits from the Super Baby Foods book )

I referenced this book like crazy, for every month there was a list of what foods you could introduce to your baby using the 4-day wait rule(you have to give your baby at least 4 days to try a new food so that you can rule out any allergy with that particular new food.) Every month, their meals get more and more diverse and balanced. I loved that I didn't have to read chapter after chapter when mastering month seven, ten or whatever month. The author knows your time is limited. You do however, have to read the introduction, which is a few chapters, before you begin, so that you can learn how bacteria grows and how to keep your cooking area sterile. That's very important. I absolutely loved the index, because I could look up any food, know at what month I can introduce it, how to choose it, cook it and the time allotted to freezing it. It was awesome!

I even learned how to make my own yogurt! I'll never forget my Pediatrician's face when I told him that I made Laney's whole-milk yogurt. "You made it?" He asked. "How do you make yogurt?" There was so much involved that I couldn't just rattle off all of the steps, but I just loved how I stumped the doctor! Hee-hee! I wanted to and still want to print off a copy of how to make baby yogurt just so he knows how easy it is and that many, many mothers and fathers are now making their baby's foods. Below, I have a video of how to make baby yogurt. At the time, I didn't have a candy thermometer, but they are so so cheap and you can find them anywhere. I found mine at Walmart for a little over a dollar. You will save so much money by making your own yogurt instead of buying it at the store.

I know that there's so much that I didn't cover and that's great because the authors can fill in the gaps, but this post was mainly about why I chose and how I made homemade baby food. I can only recommend this book for ages 0-12 months, because it was the only one I used. I know there are other great books out there, and I'd love to hear about them in the comments section. I HIGHLY recommend this book. It answered every question I had. Another book that's awesome for once your baby turns a year old is Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld(yes Jerry's wife). I was just given this book for Laney's birthday by a friend who shares the same love of providing for our babies the best food we can give them (Thanks Teesa!). I am so thankful for this book, because I was struggling so much with what to feed Laney now that we're over the 12 month mark. This book, Deceptively Delicious, is in high demand, and Teesa had a hard time finding a copy of it. So, put two books on your Christmas list this year!! You won't regret it! Don't forget to check out the yogurt video below.

p.s. The two books on my Christmas list are: Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin and Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I have been highly recommended to get these books. I'm hoping that one of the authors will elaborate on these books when she posts this week.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com