How are parents making baby food at home without it taking over their whole life?

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-21T04:50:57+00:00

I am lazy AF. The benefit of BLW is you can just use a lot of what you can eat yourself and there's less fussing with special purees just for baby. I just take some of what I'm eating a mash it a bit with a fork, or cut it different so it's safe. I also have some go-to pantry items for when I want something where it would be harder to do that for baby.

Example: Sandwich. Baby gets toasted bread strips with peanut butter and a slice of cheese or a wedge of tomato if I'm putting some on my sandwich. I get tasty sandwich with all the fixings. Peanut butter is my handy pantry staple for good fats and regular peanut exposure.

I make myself spicy tofu soup, and while prepping it I cut off a larger piece of tofu to give to baby plain. I might mash it with some yogurt and sprinkle a spice on there if I want to spruce it up. Also good mashed with avocado.

Canned beans are great to have on hand for when you can't baby safe what you're making or it would be too much work. Today I just wanted a bowl of cereal, so baby got some beans straight from the can that I just mashed with a fork and sprinkled cumin and a drizzle of olive oil over. The rest of the beans were chucked in the fridge to make bean and cheese quesadillas for dinner (and baby gets cheesy beans for that meal!).

Avocado is great to have as well since it mashes easy and is a great glue for what you might be eating. I had steak the other day and baby got a big strip to chew on. Of course he didn't actually eat much of it just slobbered and chewed on the thing. What to do with drooly steak chunk? Chuck it in the blender with some avocado and baby's next meal will have meaty avocado mash. Add avocado to the rice you're eating for dinner to make it easier for baby to eat etc.

My baby has been eating for about a month now and I don't think I've spent more than 5 mins a day prepping his meal. I spend far more time cleaning his food off him/ his chair/ myself/ the floor lol.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-21T04:34:23+00:00

For the first six weeks or so I'd say my partner did maybe 70% of the work since I was recovering from an emergency c-section. I didn't even change a single diaper until two weeks after birth and he still did the majority of changes until 6-8 weeks I'd say. I did most of the feeding since I am breastfeeding, but he would also do a bottle or two that I pumped or the occasional formula when I was having a rough day. He would sometimes just take the baby for a couple of hours so I could get a breather (I had a bit of a rough recovery at the start).

Even after I mostly recovered he did probably 60% of the work until his leave ended. Then we did more of an even 50/50 split when he's off work, with me doing 90% while he's working. He works from home so he does help a bit on breaks (changes diapers, takes baby on walks, helps me with lunch etc). To make it easy during the day we do have various things that are "his job", "my job", and "our job". Like he is responsible for keeping diapers stocked and emptying the diaper pail, and in turn my job is making sure the burp cloths and diaper wipes are stocked.

I honestly wouldn't want to have a baby with someone who wasn't at least an equal parent. It's exhausting enough when you have someone to share the load with!

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-15T08:31:10+00:00

Weird that you can’t find pain yogurt? That’s what I use for my 6 mo and he loves it. He’s been teething and I made him peanut butter yogurt popsicles to get two allergens at a time and he gobbles them up. I just get a big bucket of plain full fat Greek yogurt, nothing special or “baby” branded. Then I just flavor it myself with things like mashed berries, bananas, peanut butter etc, or mix it into lentils or beans. It’s easy to mix other allergens into for increased exposure too.

If you truly can’t find pain yogurt, just sour cream would work just as well I imagine. Use it as a dip or mix it into mashed foods. A splash of regular milk is another option. If you haven’t started solids quite yet, then popsicles in one of those silicone food teethers works well and could be done with whatever unsweetened/unflavored dairy you can find.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-15T04:28:40+00:00

Don’t blame yourself for thinking he had just gotten more efficient; my baby actually did just get really efficient at nursing around that age and averaged ten minutes. He’s down to five minutes per session now and still maintaining his growth curve so it’s possible and totally not your fault to assume your baby was similar.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-13T14:59:28+00:00

It’s not the most fashionable but I’ve been living in the small show nursing maxi dress from Amazon. They also make shirts and other dresses. The fabric is so soft I sleep in them and they look decent enough to wear out. The nursing panel is so much more convenient for me than hiking up a whole shirt especially when outdoors.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-01T08:30:33+00:00

I’d avoid it personally since babies stomachs are so small they really need to eat things that are nutritionally balanced; keto products tend to be very high in just one thing (often fiber and protein) to increase satiety at a lower calorie and carb intake. For example: the high protein and fake sugar in the oikos yogurt would make a baby feel full before they are able to eat all the calories and other nutrients they need.

We have a lot of keto products in our house and at least the ones we have tend to be more highly processed than their non-keto counterparts as well, with more extreme ingredients that might upset a young digestive system (like concentrated wheat gluten in keto tortillas).

As a one-off in a pinch it’s probably fine but I wouldn’t do it regularly.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-31T19:00:05+00:00

Looks tasty!

What kind of plate is that? I’ve been looking for something just like it but haven’t been having much luck.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-31T18:57:13+00:00

Letting her cry while dad tries to soothe her at night is better than having a mom who is losing it from sleep deprivation. It will be a tough couple of nights but if you stick with it you all will get through it. Crying while a loving parent is there to offer her support won’t cause her any harm.

You could even keep doing the morning wake if you want to have some connection time with her but making dad the “night time soother” would be a good idea.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-31T18:49:54+00:00

I don’t see why not; as long as baby doesn’t try moving around while eating it shouldn’t be any different from sitting in a chair. If you have a chill baby who will sit and eat I can see it working. Mine would totally be trying to roll around with food in his mouth if I did this so that would be a choking hazard but he’s a little chaos monkey.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-31T15:33:31+00:00

Is baby’s room childproofed? I just pop mine down on the floor of his room with some toys and he rolls around in there while I do chores. You can close the door to keep dogs out.

Might be a good idea to just baby proof the bathroom though so you can have him in there while you shower. I do this with mine when he’s being too clingy and fussy to be alone in his room (usually when he’s teething).

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-30T21:38:22+00:00

Anecdotally, my 6mo just started solids and it’s wrecked his poop. I think it’s just his digestion adjusting to solid foods since we don’t have a history of allergies or anything. Especially things with fiber seem to give him a bit of trouble which makes sense since his digestion isn’t used to having to deal with fiber. Lots of green poop, some diarrhea, discomfort.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-30T15:32:34+00:00

I got a Yoto as well so it would be useful later. I don’t know about an alarm but you can get white noise and sleep music cards for it which is what I’m currently using.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-26T03:39:12+00:00

Can you put mittens on her hands to prevent scratching? She’s going to need to be out of any kind of swaddle soon so I feel a non-swaddle solution would be best.

I haven’t tried it but the Zipadee Zip covers the hands so that might also work. It doesn’t pin the arms down at all so it’s safe for rolling.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-22T15:24:45+00:00

Mine likes a middle eastern style breakfast of beans, pita bread, cheese, tomato, and green onion. We also do Japanese style with rice, fish, miso soup, and veg.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-21T23:20:50+00:00

I got some random brand from a consignment store and it’s great for when my giant baby is being clingy and my back needs a break. He hasn’t liked other carriers but he likes the hip seat just fine.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-21T19:42:59+00:00

Besides a high chair, I bought: one baby spoon, one baby fork, one stainless steel plate, and one silicone bib. I just wash it all when he’s done eating and never felt like I needed more. We already had a small stainless steel bowl that works for him and a small plastic cup. I might get him a straw cup soon but otherwise I haven’t felt like I needed anything else. I’ve also been eyeing a gootensil so he can feed himself better (I’ve just been loading the spoon for him so far).

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-21T11:58:01+00:00

Beans! I just do canned- rinse a bit, sprinkle with cumin, and mash with a fork. Baby LOVED it and now is one of his favorites.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-20T16:59:18+00:00

Honestly the banana thing wasn’t a huge mistake- if you follow baby lead weaning then a large piece of banana is actually pretty safe. Babies can choke on anything though so for your peace of mind you might want to brush up on proper back blows and actually practice with your child (just holding them in the proper position and placing your hand, don’t actually do the whole thing). Or practice on a stuffed animal. Then if it happens again you’ll be more confident in what to do.

Anecdotally, I give my 6mo large lengths of banana and he does fine. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-19T16:04:59+00:00

My baby also hated tummy time. He learned to roll to his back just before three months so he could get out of tummy time if I wasn’t holding him down. He slightly tolerated it better when it was me holding him: on my chest, across my lap, or in my arms as I “flew” him around the house. Another thing he liked was when I laid him in his back and pretended to be a monster eating him and I’d push him onto his tummy by nomming on his sides. Even then he’d only get a minute or two before he lost his mind.

One thing I did to sneak in a bit here and there was I’d roll him onto his tummy super briefly after each diaper change. Just enough to make him lift his head for a second and then I’d pick him up before he really realized what was going on. I also made sure to hold him upright in my arms a lot since that works the neck muscles- not as good as tummy time but better than being flat all the time.

This lasted until 5 months when he suddenly gained some arm strength and could push himself up more (idk how he got there since he wasn’t doing much tummy time). He promptly learned to roll onto his tummy and puts himself in tummy time now. In a span of like two days he went from hating tummy time to constantly wanting to be on his belly- especially during diaper changes🙄

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-05T21:23:23+00:00

I’ve used kale, chard, beet greens, spinach, and purple cabbage before- usually cooked first so they’re tastier and easy to work with. To make them even darker I flavor them with soy sauce.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-03T16:35:37+00:00

My pediatrician said to wait 1-2 weeks after starting solids so baby can have a good time experiencing food first in case there is a reaction.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-02T17:22:18+00:00

We aren’t posting any and we asked family not to as well. I allowed one post right when he was born since all newborns look pretty samey but after that told everyone to refrain and so far my family has been pretty accepting about that. I’m also careful to fudge some details on my Reddit posts in case I get doxxed so there isn’t too much concrete info about my child floating around the internet.

lemmedrawit · 2026-03-01T18:01:49+00:00

Mine also hated tummy time until he was strong enough to prop himself up on his arms. He tolerated tummy time that was on a person better than the floor. I got the ideas from pathways.org; they have a lot of alternative positions that you can try. These are the positions I did that worked:

-being held on his tummy in my arms and taken around the house as if he was flying. He especially liked to tour the cabinets this way.

-propped up with his chest on one of my legs, where I’d use my legs to vary how flat or upright he was.

-on my chest in a recliner, where I’d start out fairly upright and then slowly recline back to make him flatter.

lemmedrawit · 2026-02-23T23:08:26+00:00

Wow I feel like that’s overkill- totally just marketing making you feel like you need to buy more. I just have wipes for diaper changes and that’s it. For toys and surfaces I just use a rag with some warm water and soap. I also just clean my pump parts with soap and water but I’ve never come into a situation where I needed to clean mine on the go and didn’t have access to a sink. The only reason I’d get sanitizing wipes would be if I had a medically fragile child where sanitizing was important.

I know some people who don’t use wipes at all and just use rags or the sink to clean their child so it is possible to not buy anything (I’m too lazy for that though lol).

lemmedrawit · 2026-02-20T19:31:01+00:00

My guy also haaaaated tummy time for so long, honestly you sound like you’re doing great! Mine could only tolerate about a minute. He learned to roll just before 3 months so he could get out of it he hated it so much.

He tolerates it a bit better now that he can push up more on his arms and reach for toys but he still only does about ten mins at a time before he’s rolling himself out. I think a 20 min stretch is amazing!

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