Homemade Baby Food or Prepackaged?

This isn't a debate about which is better for your little one. While I prefer preparing my own food for baby at home using fresh bought ingredients, I totally understand not everyone has the time or desire to do that every day. Nutritionally, they are about on par. That's not what this is about though.

I know many people think their baby is a picky eater, refusing to eat certain foods outright. And that may well be the case, however consider the following before throwing in the towel:

While the majority of Jude's food is homemade, we do have prepackaged foods on hand in case of emergency. We may have run out of fruit, veggies, or something to mix them with. The food processor may be on the fritz. Whatever the case, once in a while I pull out a jar of baby food from the cupboard for him. Usually he makes a face, but eats it anyway.

But not green beans.

Up until recently this has been his only encounter with green beans and his reaction was strongly against. He would fuss after a bite, outright cry after three bites, and absolutely refuse to open his mouth anymore after five bites -- for anything, whether it was something he loved (yams!) or more green beans. You couldn't pry that little mouth open with a crowbar. He would rather go to bed hungry than eat green beans or any food that had the misfortune of sharing a plate with green beans. "He just doesn't like green beans," I thought.

Until last night.

Last night Aaron made fresh green beans for him and while he wasn't crazy about them like he is about yams or bananas, he not only ate them without incident. He enjoyed them! So, to all you Mama's out there who think you've got a picky eater on hand, try making your little one's problem foods homemade and see if that helps. Expanding the taste buds young is important. Good diet starts in the first years, so the more good-for-them foods they'll tolerate early on, the better! It's worth a shot.

Just steam 'em up and mash 'em. Most foods are soft enough that you don't need a fancy blender or food processor to make them baby-ready, those things just make it quicker.