I start by cooking a whole chicken in the Crockpot. Just simmer it with enough water until it is completely done and the meat is falling off the bone. You can then use some of the chicken for your baby and turn the rest into chicken salad or any other chicken dish for the rest of your family.

Alternatively you could also boil a boneless, skinless chicken breast in water until it is completely done and use it for this recipe.

Next bake a potato. You can do this in the oven or in the microwave. Cook the potato until it is soft. Allow it to cool, then cut it in half and scoop out the soft potato, leaving the skin behind.

While the meat and potato are cooking, steam a handful of baby carrots until they are very soft. Drain and reserve some of the liquid.

Add all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, adding liquid as needed.

Feed a portion to your baby now and freeze the rest. I like to freeze them in smallcontainers in portions that are just large enough for one feeding.

Step One… Make ground oats

Get some all natural ground oats. You don’t want to use instant or quick cookingoats for this. They have been altered making it harder for baby to digest them.

Step Two … Prepare the Oatmeal Cereal

3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of ground oatmeal

Bring the water to a boil. Add the oatmeal powder while stirring the liquid. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes while continuing to stir.

At this point, you can mix in fruit purees if desired. If the mixture is too thick, add a little boiled water, formula or breast milk as needed.

Step One… Make Rice Powder

Add brown rice to a blender and blend until you have rice powder. I like to do this in batches of 1/2 cup and store it in an airtight container. Depending on the size of your blender, you may be able to blend more or less of the rice at a time.

Step Two … Prepare the Rice Cereal

1 cup of water
1/4 cup of rice powder

Bring the water to a boil. Add the rice powder while stirring the liquid. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes while continuing to stir.

At this point, you can mix in fruit purees if desired. If the mixture is too thick, add a little boiled water, formula or breast milk as needed.

Step One… Make ground barley

Grind barley in a blender or coffee grinder until you have barley powder.

Step Two … Prepare the Barley Cereal

3/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of barley powder

Bring the water to a boil. Add the barley powder while stirring the liquid. Allow it to simmer for 10 minutes while continuing to stir.

At this point, you can mix in fruit purees if desired. If the mixture is too thick, add a little boiled water, formula or breast milk as needed.

Purchase a pack of organic frozen peas.

Bring a medium sized pot filled with water to a boil and add the frozen peas. Cook until they are tender. Drain the peas and set some of the cooking liquid aside.

Get out a blender and add the peas along with a splash of the cooking water and blend well. Add more liquid as needed to get a nice, smooth consistency.

If you still notice some pieces of pea skin in the mixture, push it through a sieve before feeding it to your baby.

Tip – for some variety, cook frozen green beans the same way. You can also add some cooked potato to the cooked peas and blend them together. Other variations like peas and carrots or peas and squash are yummy for your baby as well.

Homemade Baby Finger Food Recipes:

Banana Surprise

Ingredients:

1 Banana (very thinly sliced)
Pancake batter

Directions:

Coat banana slices in pancake butter and place on a hot frying pan or grill.  Cook for about 1 minute on each side until golden brown. Let cool and serve.

Banana Cheerio Bites

Ingredients:

1 banana (thinly sliced)
1/4 cup cheerios (multi-grain, not honey nut)

Directions:

Place cheerios in a plastic bag and crush using the back of your hand or a rolling pin. Place sliced bananas in bag and toss gently to coat bananas in cheerios and serve. No more slippery bananas for babies!

Extra Tip:

This also works great with thinly sliced pear and apple slices. Instead of cheerios you can also use crushed graham crackers

Toast Soldiers

Ingredients:

Whole grain bread

Directions:

Simply toast a slice of whole wheat bread and cut into “finger” pieces and serve. This is a great finger food for teething babies to chew on.

Homemade Rusks

Ingredients:

6 slices of whole wheat bread

Directions:

Trim crusts from bread. Cut into 1 inch slices and place on a baking tray. Bake at 175F for approximately 1 hour or until bread is dry and crispy. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Bite Size Pasta

Ingredients:

Pasta of choice (we use curly pasta)

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Preferably cook to “al dente”. Drain and let cool. Serve cooled and chopped into bite size pieces.

Sweet Potato Bites

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato (peeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Peel sweet potato and slice into 1 inch pieces or wedge shapes. Place in a pan with enough water to cover and boil for 10 minutes (no longer). Drain and place wedges on a baking tray. Toss with a little olive oil and bake at 350F for approximately 15 minutes or until tender. Potato wedges will be soft and mushy. Let cool and serve.

Mini Baby Muffins

Ingredients:

This recipe contains eggs and should not be used for babies under 12 months

2 cups of self-raising flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup milk
1 ounce butter
1 egg (lightly beaten)

Directions:

Grease a 12-hole mini muffin pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, sugar and raisins in a large bowl. Add milk, butter and egg and gently blend. Do not over mix batter. Spoon batter into muffin holes and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until browned and baked through. Makes 36 mini muffins, Suitable for freezing or may be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Easy Banana & Avocado Snack

1/2 overly ripe avocado, mashed or pureed
1/2 overly ripe banana, mashed or pureed
1/4 cup cottage cheese or yogurt

Mix everything together and serve!

Fruit & Cheese

1/2 cup of large-curd cottage cheese
4-6 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 cup fresh fruit, cooked or raw

Combine all ingredients and blend quickly.  Allow to cool and serve.

Mashed Banana

1/2 mashed banana
1/2 small mashed baked potato or yam

Mix both ingredients together well.  If it is a little sticky you can add in some formula, breast milk or water.

Homemade Gelatin with Fruit

1/4 cup warm water
1 envelope of unflavoured gelatin
1 cup pureed fruit

Pour envelope of unflavoured gelatin into warm water and mix until fully dissolved.  Add fruit and stir, allow to chill and serve.

Fun and healthy toddler snack ideas:

Slices of apples with cubes of cheese

Pretzel sticks and seedless grapes

Small box of raisins and two oat crackers with peanut butter

Rice cakes topped with hummous and sliced grapes

Pinapple chunks (canned in juice will do if you don’t have fresh) with cubes of cheese

Oat crackers with a high fruit content jam spread and slices of pear

Multri grain toast with a little butter and high fruit content jam spread

Carrot sticks and crackers with hummous or cream cheese

Cucumber rounds and crackers with hummous or cream cheese

Banana chunks with a little dry cheerios on the side

Multi grain crackers with cheese cubes and cut ham pieces

Multi grain crackers with cut turkey pieces and cheese

Fruit smoothie and pretzels or toast sticks with a little butter

Mango slices and a few crackers with cream cheese

Foods and snacks to avoid:

Excessive Sugar - an occasional cookie won’t do any harm but at this age sugar can decay little teeth as well as cause sugar highs and lows in your toddler, so it’s best kept to a minimum.

Added Salt - Try to limit the amount of salty foods your toddler eats.  Prepackaged foods are often loaded with salt so it’s best to limit these.

Hydrogenated Fats and Oils - This stuff isn’t good for any of us, but even worst for little bodies and minds.  Stay away from processed cakes, cookies and foods and you’ll avoid a large amount of hydrogenated oils.  If you do choose prepackaged cookies go for organic as they often tend to be more natural and don’t contain hydrogenated oils…. but remember organic cookies still contain lots of sugar.

These tips will help you cope with your toddler’s fussy eating:

1.      Make mealtime a family affair. Today’s families are so busy; you can rarely find a day when everyone is home at the same time. It’s often difficult to sit down at the dining tableand eat a meal together. Challenge yourself to start eating dinner together at least three days each week. When your toddler sees his siblings, or parents, eating their veggies and meat, they will be more likely to try what’s on their plate, too.

2.      Don’t offer alternatives. It’s too easy to walk into the trap of cooking two or more meals. Some mothers with two or three children fix something special for each child. Stop the café-mentality in your family. Cook one healthy meal for everyone in the family to enjoy. Yourtoddler will fight with you at first, but eventually will realize that you are not a short-order cook anymore.

3.      Introduce one new food at a time. Don’t try to overload your toddler’s palate with too many new foods at once. Present your toddler with one new vegetable for one week. He may not even try it for several days, but continue to offer it to him each time you cook it anyway. If you offer him too many new foods at once, he may feel overwhelmed and not attempt to try anything new at all.

4.      Fewer or no more snacks. Don’t offer your toddler snacks or drinks throughout the day. Give her one snack at the same time each day. Instead of sweetened drinks, let your toddler drink water. By eliminating snacks throughout the day, your toddler will most likely be hungrier at mealtime.

5.      Make mealtime fun. If your toddler plays with the food on her plate, don’t make a big deal about it. Instead, focus your toddler’s attention on something else. Engage your family in conversation about everyone’s day. Share your toddler’s accomplishment that day, like learning a new color or talking about a special activity.  Draw your toddler’s attention away from the plate, and she is likely to eat her food before she even realizes it. 

Dealing with a toddler who is a fussy eater isn’t fun or easy. Try these five tips on your fussy eater, and then implement your own ideas. Many parents deal with picky eaters, so remember that you are not alone.

A few symptoms of dehydration can be:

Not being able to concentrate

Tiredness, feeling lethargic

Headaches and a general feeling of unwellness

Even mild dehydration can cause these symptoms, we all need lots of fluids to function properly and toddlers are no exception.  Toddlers should drink about 6 to 8 small cups of water (about 3 or 4 ounces) daily and even more so in hot weather or if they’ve been playing outside for a while.

What should your toddler drink?

If you start them drinking water at a young age the habit will stick for life.  Encourage your toddler to drink water or milk by simply offering them these drinks.  If your toddler already drinks juice try to dilute it by mixing half juice and half water, or even better 1 part juice and 2 parts water.  It’s also best to offer them a full fruit juice with no added sugar.  Be weary of drinks labeled “no added sugar” as many of these are actually sweetened with artificial sweetners which, in my opinion, are even more damaging than sugar.  Little bodies and minds shouldn’t be consuming artifical sweetners.

It’s worth to note that water and milk are the best drinks for your toddler.  Even high fruit content juices can damage kids teeth due to the high acid content as well as sugar.  You can help reduce the damage to their teeth by encouraging them to drink through a straw as this will avoid the juice coming in contact with the teeth.

It may not be easy at first to try to encourage your toddler to drink water and milk if they are used to drinking juice, but they will soon get used to it.  Slowly wean them off the juice by diluting it a little more each day until you get to the 1 part juice and 2 parts water mark.

And offer plenty of fluids to your toddler often, don’t wait until they ask for it as in many cases they will be too busy playing and will ignore their thirst.