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Making Baby Food: Why You Do Not Need Special Gadgets To Feed Your Baby

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When I was pregnant with my first child, I felt something I hadn’t felt since middle school. I felt like if I didn’t buy the right things, I would be a bad mom, a bad person, a bad citizen of the 21st century, and my baby would ask the big man upstairs for a transfer. This bizarre feeling that was surely fueled by hormones in both middle school and during pregnancy is fed by the aggressive, relentless and ubiquitous marketing targeting new moms. Everywhere you look, there are lists (compiled by retailers) of “must have” FULL of things you DO NOT NEED. The happy babies and rested moms in the photos tell us that we need to have these various gadgets and even if we are intelligent, educated, confident, and informed consumers the inundation of marketing combined with the vulnerable state of pregnancy can be totally overwhelming.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a lover of tools and the amazing inventions we enjoy today make our lives better, safer, fuller, and more wonderful. I am not interested in forgoing modernity in favor of a Spartan, sterile, or otherwise difficult existence. However, where does a new family begin to sort out the true needs from the money, time, and storage sucking items marketed to us? I am aiming to address one tiny category in this blog post: baby food gadgets.

By all means, you should follow the direction of your pediatrician in regards to what to feed your baby in the manner they direct. One of the many reasons I love my pediatrician is because I’d bet he’s a Wildflower at heart too. Every time I have asked, “Should I buy…?” his answer has been “No.” He’s old fashioned in that way and I love it.

If you are reading this, regardless of if you are currently agonizing about how to feed a small child or not, you are likely aware of the vast number of gadgets out there designed to transform food that once was solid to a puree-type thickness. This food is for the time between when a baby is eating only liquids to when they have enough teeth to chew grownup types of food. This time frame can be for a few a couple months up to a year at most, depending on when the baby in question gets their teeth. In a very general and conservative guesstimate, many doctors say you can start feeding baby food to a baby at six months of age and then you could expect many teeth to be present by one year. Some babies can’t or won’t eat food till they are one and surely lots don’t get teeth till after one but I would bet that most moms would agree that they are truly in baby food land for only 6 months.

It is important to remember that not only is a parent making a sort of solid food into less solid food for not very many months but also that baby is still getting lots of calories daily from milk or formula. So not every meal needs to include baby food. In terms of time spent in a particular stage consider this: Baby is in diapers (and you are dealing with and thinking about diapers) every day for about 2 years. You are in the bathtub daily for a long time. You are either nursing or making formula many times a day for a year or more. Baby food by comparison takes up a LOT LESS time and importance in the grand scale.

But if you search on the internet, “baby must haves” or stroll the baby aisle of any big box store, there are countless gadgets for making baby food that are aggressively marketed to new moms. There are hand and motorized blenders, mashers, feeders, tiny containers, and the like. You may have a friend who has one or more of the gadgets and they may love them and I think that’s great. I am here to say you DO NOT NEED those gadgets and you would likely be very glad you didn’t spend the money on them or the time purchasing, cleaning and storing them and then figuring out what to do with them when you are no longer in baby food land.

The baby blenders are my favorite to criticize and here’s why. They are just a small blender. That’s it. They don’t make the ingredients more wholesome, more age appropriate, or more palatable to baby than a regular blender. They cost more than a regular sized blender of a similar quality, and are a total racket. It’s not like when you are done blending pears into puree you can give your kid brother the baby blender with the teddy bear on it to make margaritas in his first college apartment. There’s no where near enough room for blended drinks! The market for used baby gear is of course an option but the fact remains that families could easily have blended in a regular blender or food processor or used a fork or potato masher to soften food for baby. By skipping buying the tiny blender you save the time of figuring out where to store it or get rid of it when your days of pureed peas are over.

One item marketed to new moms is baby food cookbooks. I will admit that it was very handy to have a reference for when it is a good idea to introduce certain foods to reduce allergic reactions, and nice to have a reminder that these baby foods shouldn’t hang out in the fridge for weeks before being served, but the cooking instructions in these books are all the same. Steam or boil harder foods and blend/mash using an expensive device and for soft foods, soften further with an expensive device. Sorry for the spoiler but that’s about all the cooking instructions are going to give an eager new mom. The only verb you will find is some variant of ‘mash’.

The tiny containers are seemingly useful but again I argue their use is very limited and the time for which they are useful is very brief indeed. I used a couple of gifted tiny containers to freeze the nice sweet potato I prepared for baby and dutifully filled the awkwardly tiny receptacle and froze them only to find that baby hated the sweet potato and despite periodically defrosting and trying again, it was wasted effort. Sure, you can freeze baby’s favorite mashed treat but my feeling is that you are likely cooking or at least in the kitchen anyway- why not mash up what you are eating or mash up something fresh?

So how did I mash up food for my babies? I mashed with a fork, I sliced into tiny pieces with a steak knife, and I used a small food processor that I already owned that I use for lots of non-baby related tasks. I never felt compelled to use the grownup blender I already owned. I would say that if a family owned one motorized, grownup appropriate device such as a food processor or regular blender or even a hand or stand mixer, that would suffice. Truly, a person could mash almost everything with a fork and knife, hence the graphics at the top of this post that I chose very purposefully.

The feelings of inadequacy and worry caused by the baby food gadget market make me furious and this is a topic I couldn’t wait to blog about. You do NOT NEED to buy things to be a good parent. Think about all the brave women in centuries past who didn’t have a dang baby blender! Laura Ingalls in her cabin in Wisconsin wasn’t fed baby food that was blended to a perfectly even consistency! Ma and Pa mashed up what was on their plate with a fork, I’d bet my bottom dollar. If you have a gadget that you love and it makes your life easier then I mean it with all my heart; I am happy you have found something that makes the uphill task of caring for baby easier and more pleasurable. But if you are a new parent, wondering how the heck to choose, afford, use, store, and finally get rid of these gimmicks, hear me say: Don’t worry about it. Use a fork or another item you already own. Baby will never know the difference.
Making Baby Food: Why You Do Not Need Special Gadgets To Feed Your Baby

What do you think, Wildflowers? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Teaching Toddlers Using a Deck of Cards

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I have a three year old daughter who, like nearly all kids this age, loves to learn. There are countless products out there that promise, and many surely deliver, important learning outcomes for an eager kid. As a new mom, I felt utterly overwhelmed by the choices before me in regards to items to buy. I felt pressured to buy and have the right gear. I fretted over buying the right food. I worried if I was preparing my child for school even though that was years away, and I am a seasoned classroom teacher for Heaven’s sake! Now that I have a few years of motherhood under my belt I have really tried to relax, both inwardly and outwardly, in regards to “preparing” my kids for the future.

Using a deck of cards was one way that I found that there are opportunities to teach kids all around us and they needn’t be expensive or purchased at a specialty store nor executed by an education professional.

I also have found that using a deck of cards is handy for those who don’t have kids. My friends and child care providers who don’t have kids (and thus untold numbers of toys at home) could use a deck of cards or simply apply the same mindset to any other learning opportunity. For example, I have only a faint idea of what the game “Dominoes” is about, but the next time I see a set at a yard sale I am snapping it up because I can imagine the fun matching, stacking, and sorting games we could play with the tiles.

Here are the “games” I play with my toddler that are educational and simple using a deck of cards. No, Texas Hold ‘Em won’t be on the list but as I mentioned, dear readers, we have lots of time ahead to prepare for the future.

Shapes

I started out showing my daughter the different shapes on the cards. Diamonds and hearts were easy of course and the spade shape brought about the opportunity to talk about gardening tools like spades and shovels. The club is a lot like a clover, and now my girl uses both words to describe the club.

Colors

You might be unimpressed as a deck typically has only two colors. Most decks have a variety of colors present on the face cards and knowing the colors paired with the numbers and suits presents appropriate and additional challenge to the “game” of playing with cards. Being able to say, “A red, heart, 2!” is actually a lot of information for a toddler.

Number Order

You can practice order number with just a handful of cards or the whole deck, depending on the age and ability of the toddler at hand. I started out by just pulling the 2,3,4 and 5 of one suit, “shuffling” them, and helping my toddler put them in number order. Build up to more number, add more suits, and practice in reverse order.

Matching

This isn’t quite a game, but I call it one and my daughter loves it. I give her the first two cards off the top and I get the next two. We look to see if any of the four cards showing match any of the others. Often they don’t. One of us draws a card from the deck. We see if that card matches the ones in our hands. Often they don’t. We take turns drawing cards (sometimes with me setting some aside if our hands get too full) until we draw a card that matches in number a card in our hand. Then there is lots of cheering because we found a match and that gets set on the table, face up. We repeat in this way, finding matches until we have four of everything or until she has tired of the game. As we find the third and fourth of each number, I can point out one that’s a heart, one that’s a spade, and so on. As I arrange the sets on the table, I try to arrange them in order so the aces and twos are on the left, and the face cards to the right.

Mix Up

My daughter named this Mix Up and the name stuck. She LOVES to mix the cards, face up, in a big mess on the table. Then, she draws whatever card she wants, and then looks for another like it either in suit, color, or number. It is kind of like a treasure hunt for her. I like to save “Mix Up” for the end of the card playing time because the mixing is more kinesthetic, and is more child-driven rather than Mommy-driven.

There are many variations you can feel confident in creating off of these activities. You don’t have to be a teacher, subscribe to a parenting magazine, or have your mother-in-law’s or neighbor’s or friend’s approval to create fun and free ways of teaching kids. What ways have you created learning opportunities for kids, Dear Reader? Tell me in the comment section below!

Cloth Diapers Part 2: The Gritty Details

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Cloth Diapering Part 2: The Gritty Details

The very same concerns come up every time I talk to people about cloth diapering and I will try to address them here. Cloth diapers are not dirty, they are easy to use when out and about, and they are not more time consuming than disposables.

Cloth diapers are a very clean choice for many reasons. The brand of diapers I use is gdiapers and I LOVE them and highly recommend them but there are other great companies out there that are certainly excellent also. Gdiapers sell a product that helped take the yuck factor out of poopy diapers. The cloth liner is a product not unlike a stiff piece of toilet paper that fits right on top of the cloth. After baby poops, Mom can lift the stiff paper-y cloth liner out and plop the poop into the toilet (where poop belongs!). In the event that you don’t have a liner when baby poops, it is not a big deal. Read: It is NOT a big deal! Lots of times, the poop can be plopped into the toilet, or I just swish them in the toilet and then put them in the diaper pail.

Cloth diapers are washed in a washing machine using the hottest water setting (which kills germs, last time I checked), using the longest cycle and soap that is appropriate for cloth diapers (agitation and soap removes the “stuff” from the cloth). I separate the white cloth and white gpouch (an elasticized liner that keeps the absorbent cloth close to baby’s skin) and put it into the diaper pail. The colored and oh-so-cute outside part (called gpants in this brand’s system) gets velcroed shut and tossed in my regular laundry. That has kept the colors brighter and velcro and elastic lasting strong through two children.

I use Rockin’ Green soap because it is plant-based and comes in a formula for hard water, which I have. It isn’t any more expensive than Tide or other petroleum-based soap and I have found it to work very well.

I use a Bambino Mio brand diaper pail and that particular diaper pail has a lock which has been handy for keeping toddlers at bay. Because I wash diapers every day or every other day, my house doesn’t smell like diapers. I assure you, I have some bloodhound women in my family and they’d let me know if my home was smelly.

As for time, consider first the time one would spend going to the store, the aisle, and the checkout line to buy disposable diapers. Then consider the time one would spend to take the now very full trash bag out, to the curb, and the money spent to pay to get rid of the garbage. All that is time that has to be considered first. Now consider that as a new parent, your laundry needs have increased significantly. Babies dirty onesies at a terrific pace, and as a new mom I know I rarely went a whole day with the same outfit on because I’d spill or leak something terrible on my shirt. All this means is that new parents do more loads of wash. I found it to be of no inconvenience to throw one more load a day in the machine. I’d bet dumping the diaper pail into the washing machine takes under a minute. I chose to hang my cloth diapers on the line to dry because I really like saving money, I like my washline, and with my first baby, my dryer didn’t work well. That doesn’t take much time either and then I guess the only other time consuming part is making a stack of the diapers and putting them pack in the changing station.

As for going out and about with baby, my wet cloth diapers go in a wet bag that is likely designed to put wet swimsuits in. When I get home from my outing I put the wet contents in the diaper pail along with the wet bag and that’s it.

As for wipes, I use cloth wipes because of all the reasons I chose to use cloth diapers. Also, they are so small (washcloth sized) that they don’t create more laundry- they don’t make an additional load of wash, they just increase the size of the load by a little bit. I do use the gdiaper brand plant based wipes for when I am out where there isn’t a faucet nearby. Because I have saved a lot of money by using cloth diapers, I don’t feel like it is frivolous to buy slightly more expensive biodegradable wipes that are made with what I refer to as, “plants and fairy dust.”

Speaking of plants and fairy dust, gdiapers makes a biodegradable insert to use instead of the cloth. The idea is that you can have the cute, colored outside part and inside you have an absorbent part made of plant matter (and said fairy dust) and you can compost, flush, or toss and it will decompose in a landfill in 50 days. This was one selling point of the gdiaper brand that I felt comforted by. If ever I was behind on laundry or on a trip (to an imaginary place where there are no washers and dryers) I could and would use the disposable inserts. I actually use them when on a long car ride or overnight sometimes because my babies have been very big (more potty) and deep, long sleepers (also more potty) and the disposable inserts are a little bit more absorbent in those situations.

My cloth diaper “test” was when my first born was 4 months old and I had to jump in the car and spend several days away from home, sans husband, to be with an aunt who was very ill. I had no time to plan and hardly time to pack but I grabbed my wet bag, a stack of cloth diapers and a package of the disposables. I was in and out of the hospital visiting for several days and I never even opened the pack of disposables because at the end of the day I just used my cousin’s washing machine. After that trip I was convinced that they’d work in any situation. I wish I could find the blog post I read when I was first reading about using cloth. A couple used them successfully on a yacht, sailing around the world. After reading that, I was completely on board.

As a mom who values time, money, and quality I have been so, so happy I chose to use cloth diapers. I know as an expectant mother the last thing you want to do is make the wrong choice. I truly would say that any new mom should try them. I’d love to hear from a mom who used cloth and did NOT have a washer and dryer in the home. I know there’s a frugal wildflower out there who’s done it- let me know how you made it work!

Cloth Diapers Part 3: Shopping

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Buying cloth diapers is an investment but it is a fun one because they are inarguably cute, money-saving, and there are lots of choices available.

I should start out by mentioning that many people have said to me, “why don’t you sew your own Jenny?” It is a good question. I sew well and often and I chose (and would choose, again and again) to buy my cloth diapers. Buying fabric, elastic or snaps, velcro, etc. would NOT have been worth it, especially when combined with the time it would have taken to sew the diapers. If you, dear reader, can and want to sew them I encourage you but I found that it would have taken a lot of time to source the correct elastic that would be next to baby’s sensitive skin and a lot of time to cut out and sew the diapers. I worked at Joann’s Fabrics while in college (for five years!) and while I am not currently in the fabric biz I feel pretty confident that a person wouldn’t end up saving that much money if any by sewing them.

First I would encourage a new mama to read up on the different types of cloth diapers. “Changing Diapers” by Kelly Wels was an excellent resource and well worth the Amazon purchase. I chose gdiapers, and I would encourage anyone else to also, but there are lots of great companies out there and it is likely that their products are great also. I think that if you’re in the cloth diaper business it isn’t for the glamour and fame- they probably care about their customer and product quite a bit. Choose a type of diaper with confidence, dear reader!

I chose to use gdiapers exclusively but I know a few moms who have used a mix of types and brands and it doesn’t seem to be a hassle at all for them. You likely have different types of socks to sort in the wash, right? Sorting diapers can easily be part of the new laundry system.

Quantity: I would say that you need about 12 gpants (cute, colored outside part of another brand) minimum of each size. Some cloth diapers are adjustable but I didn’t use them and thus can’t speak with confidence about how many you might use but I’d bet it is about the same. I used about 12 small, 18 medium, and about 18 large. My babies are off-the-charts-big so I spent a lot of calendar months in mediums and larges. I spent very few months in smalls and my smalls are in beautiful shape as a result. I ended up buying 6 XL because my babies have gigantic thighs and the larges just were too tight. I would suggest buying 18 minimum cloth (the absorbent part, doing the same job a maxi pad does) for each size. This might sound confusing but you need 18 cloth in small and 18 in the next size up, called M/L/XL. The smalls are really little, and the next size up fits in the medium, large, and extra large outside parts.

I bought 2 dozen cloth wipes and it is handy to have that many but I could have used 18 or fewer but I believe they came in a 24 pack. They are of course useful beyond diapering and will be useful as regular washcloths when I am done with the diapering part of parenting.

Cost: Between 2 children, I have spent about 550 dollars total on cloth diapers. My diapers are in good enough shape that they easily could be used through at least one more child, if not more. I didn’t thoroughly explore buying used cloth, nor do I live in a big enough area to have a used cloth shopping option but I encourage you to check it out.

Things to look for include :

elasticity remaining in elastic

broken snaps

velcro that isn’t very “sticky” anymore

Velcro is actually really easy to replace if you sew even at a beginning level. Gdiapers sent me FREE replacement velcro, cut to the exact size I needed for the few diapers that needed it.

I would NOT worry about faded cloth because washing it hot water makes cloth fade, period.

Consider buying gender neutral designs. This can be a money saver for you on subsequent babies and be a selling point if and when you sell them.

Of course, 500 bucks is a lot of money in any universe. If you considering using them, you could buy the sizes you need in small and try it out. I used up all the disposables given to me at my baby shower and then switched to exclusively cloth and haven’t looked back. Happy shopping!

Cloth Diapering: Making The Choice

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Cloth Diapering: Making the Choice

When I was pregnant with my first child, I started reading about cloth diapering. My friends thought I was nuts. I got all kinds of advice from those who did and did not have kids encouraging me to save myself some work and just use disposables. The best responses I got from those I surveyed in my age group was something like, “Well, it probably will work…” I wanted to write a post about cloth diapering in case some of my dear readers are considering using cloth and my goal is to educate and encourage anyone-everyone!- to use them.

My worst nightmare in regards to cloth diapering was that at 3am some morning my husband and I would have a huge fight about me making such a crazy/unpopular/unrealistic choice as cloth diapers. That fight never happened because cloth diapering is not crazy, is gaining popularity quickly and has been totally realistic. I decided to try cloth diapers with the idea being that I could always sell my cloth online, make my money back, and use disposables like everyone else I knew. I never sold my cloth and in fact have a feeling of careful preservation over my collection of cloth diapers because I have loved using them so much.

It bears mentioning that I am not an environmentalist in a traditional sense. The green I honestly care about the most is money. That’s the cold fact, folks. Money talks big time to me and cloth diapers save a ton of money. The book “Changing Diapers” by Kelly Wels was an excellent resource for cloth diapering and her figures matched everything else I read online which was that cloth diapering will save about 2 thousand dollars per child.

Back to being a not-environmentalist: I am however keenly aware of the idea that sometime, our society will have to deal with our terrible system of landfills. It is a very gross idea indeed to put urine and feces in a plastic diaper that will take untold hundreds of years to decompose. Cloth diapering is a very green choice indeed when you consider you skip putting all that plastic that you paid for into a landfill.

Even if we had an alternative to landfills at the moment that I was changing said diaper, another thing I considered when choosing to use cloth was that yucky feeling of using a maxi pad for more than a few hours. Plastic doesn’t breath and I know that I hate that feeling on my skin. I imagined my sweet baby’s bottom in plastic for two years and it seems obvious that the plastic contributes in great part to diaper rash, or at least to an uncomfortable feeling.

I could go on and on about all the other reasons a person would choose cloth (like the petroleum industry may be one I don’t want to support, for example) and I hope this post doesn’t turn into a debate. I mean only to inform and encourage.

So I chose cloth and I couldn’t be happier about it.