Making homemade purees

[Bach230]

I made a load of homemade purees a month or so ago - I did cubes of swede, carrot, pear & apple. To start with my little boy (who turned 7 months on the 18th sept) seemed to accept them, started with carrot and then apple. While we were on holiday about 2 weeks ago he took a bit or pear but not much. My husband decided to pick up an Ella's kitchen pouch which my LO thoroughly enjoyed. Since then we've bought him a couple of these pouches & I bought him a heinz baby food jar too, just to try him on different things.
He eats these purees more than mine, I think because mine are not pureed enough. They're not semi-liquid like they probably should be. I tried a pear puree this morning and added some cooled boiled water to it to try and make it a bit better but this made it too watery. I added some baby rice to it which then made it too think.
I'm not having any luck at all with anything I seem to make homemade, I was planning on making an AK salmon recipe at the weekend but am getting so worried about wasting food again.

Can anyone give me some precise instructions on how to get homemade foods really smooth like the kind of consistency as jar/pouch food?

Natalie & Lawrence xx

[DrP]

It's more likely to be the flavour rather than the texture that your LO prefers. It is quite common for babies who were started on homemade food then switched to shop bought to start refusing the homemade when they are offered it again. Try mixing your homemade with the shop bought and offering it that way. If your LO will take that then reduce the quantity of shop bought in the mix till it is only home made you are giving them.

It could also be that he is getting fed up of purees and wants more textured food. Have you tried him on finger foods at all ?

[Bach230]

Thanks for that, I'll try that and see how it goes.
My husband has tried giving lawrence small bits of banana but he hasn't taken to it, he spits it out all the time.
He does seem to enjoy taking food off a spoon though.

[DrP]

If you are giving him finger food just put things in front of him and let him get on with it at his own rate rather than feeding it to him.

[akaminskaa@yahoo.co.uk]

Hi

I had exactly the same problem when started making own purees for my baby. Consistency wasn't as It's shown on AK recipes. What I started doing is that I was adding water or stock or sauce or milk as I was pureeing to get the right consistency.Also blend your food for a bit longer that you normally would to make sure there is no big bits there ( if your baby isn't ready for them )

Good luck

[Bach230]

My little boy is still on EK pouches at the moment with the occasional Heinz jar. We've tried some lumpier pouches (beef stew) and a Sunday chicken dinner Heinz jar, both of which he wouldn't have.
I want to try and feed him more filling foods i.e.chicken, beef, pork, fish etc but I'm going to have to puree foods down to a smooth consistency.
What foods are likely to be pureed down to a really smooth consistency like the EK pouches?

[DrP]

I very much doubt you will ever be able to achieve a similar consistency to the commercial pouches at home. This is due to many things, the manner in which commercial food is cooked and processed among other things. Fruit and veg that are really well cooked are the only things that will puree down really finely, and often you need to add lots of liquid and pass them through a fine sieve to get a really smooth puree. The problems with this are that the longer cooking time needed will destroy a lot of the nutrients in the food and the addition of extra liquids will just water down what nutrients are left there. Meat, chicken and fish are not easy to puree down to a fine consistency. They tend to take on an unpleasant texture if too finely pureed.

Tbh all you can do is play around with different things at home to see what will work. Rather than cook up baby meals which could only end up wasted if they don't get eaten start using some of your own food. If you are cooking stews or casseroles for yourself then leave out all the salt when cooking (use low salt or no salt stock) and just try pureeing some of that to see how you get one. If you cook a roast dinner cook without salt, puree up some with unsalted stock and see how that works.

[DrP]

One other thing, don't forget that milk remains your LOs most important source of nutrition till he is one. Weaning and introducing solids before then is more about getting used to textures and tastes and to eating than about nutrition. If you son isn't ready then don't feel you need to rush him on to the next thing. Just try to follow his lead and introduce things at his pace.

[cathyg]

as i remember, trying to get meat to puree down to something resembling jars/pouches was near impossible. If you're happy to stick to jars/pouches & your baby is eating well, i'd stick with that for the time being, he is only 7 months. If you do make a casserole for yourselves, then as Dr P suggested, take some out & put aside, then add your seasoning etc for you. then have a bash at puree the put aside mixture. it'll probably need more liquid (maybe milk) or more water to make it runnier. & give that a try. I think chicken is the best meat for attemtping to puree. pork & beef stays a bit stringy. there was a good receipe on here for chicken & apricot casserole, which was a winner in our house. good luck. x