Infant Nutrition - Making Your Own Baby Food

I am a first time mom and my daughter is about to be 7 months old. We waited until 6 months to start solids, breastmilk only until then. I was so nervous about the transition to solids but she was ready. She had good head control, was sitting with support, was very interested in what I was eating, and the "extrusion reflex" had stopped. More info about that here.

I felt confident in my ability to continue to breastfeed and make my own baby food, so I went for it! I had purchased the Baby Bullet when we were pregnant so that is what I use. Don't feel like this is necessary though, a plain 'ole blender will do just fine!

We started with iron fortified cereal mixed with breastmilk as her very first food. I used oatmeal (because of the whole arsenic in rice scare) and I did not make my own. I felt it would be easier and just as good if I bought this from the store. The brand we use is Earth's Best Organic. I first mixed 1 Tablespoon of cereal with 3 Tablespoons of breastmilk and I have gradually reduced the amount of breastmilk. We are at 1 T cereal with 1 1/2 to 2 T breastmilk. She does really well this!
We follow the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for waiting 4 days to introduce a new food to make sure she does not have an allergic reaction to anything. The first food after cereal that we introduced was squash, because it's what I had on hand. It's so easy to make your own. All you do is boil the heck out of it and then blend it up with some water. Fruits like bananas and avocados don't even need a blender...just mash 'em up! She has done so well with the transition and has loved almost everything we have tried. So far, we have tried squash, green beans, avocado, green peas, bananas, and carrots. Apples are coming up!

When I first started I also had a lot of questions about timing and scheduling. When does she breastfeed? When does she eat solids? Will I lose my supply? How do you gradually wean? While I still don't know all the answers I can give you a basic schedule and what works for us.
6:30-7 AM Wake up                             Breastfeed
Between 8:30-9:30 AM Snack              Cereal mixed with breastmilk
10:30-11 AM Lunch                              Breastfeed
3:30-4 PM Dinner                                 Breastfeed
Between 5-6 PM Snack                        Pureed vegetable or fruit
7:30-8 PM Bedtime                              Breastfeed

I still "dream feed" her at night before I go to bed so my supply won't decrease, but it's not necessary. Now, I realize that everyone does this differently, but this has been working for us. The between times are a very rough estimate...I never stick to hard and fast schedules. Plus, a lot of the time she is at daycare and it can really vary there. I know she will get her cereal mid-morning and that breastmilk will be offered first, which are my main concerns. The reason I want breastmilk offered first is because I am not actively weaning her off of breastmilk. My goal is to breastfeed for 1 year, so I don't want her to get used to getting full on solids. I want the solids to be secondary.

What about storage? Here is a great resource.
What about recipes? Here is a great resource. The Baby Bullet also comes with a great booklet that has tons of easy recipes.
More recipe websites: Cooking Light and Parents.com but make sure you are choosing age appropriate recipes!

This is my favorite resource for making and storing homemade baby food!
Here is a great resource for raising healthy kids!