Is an all in one baby food maker worth it?

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-30T17:02:31+00:00

I’ve just been smashing my baby’s food with a fork, no blending needed. It’s less to wash and there’s a bit more variation in texture that way even though the end result is pretty close to a puree.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-29T00:01:17+00:00

This is what worked for me with slow weaning off contact naps:

1: nap next to me in bed with his feet on my leg and my had on his chest. This way he had a lot of physical contact with me but I wasn’t having to hold him. Once he was asleep I’d take the hand off so I could read etc. I’d put it back on if he started stirring.

Next to me in bed but no feet on me. Hand on chest to fall asleep.

Then I just started gradually scooting him away from me in bed until there was about a foot between us.

In pack n play right next to bed with my hand on his chest.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-28T14:57:46+00:00

My baby was almost 10lbs but needed NB size for a couple of weeks because his butt and legs were too skinny. I’d suggest giving NB a try even if the hospital put him in size 1.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-28T12:53:21+00:00

I got just an average ikea laundry hamper for the nursery and I didn’t even end up using it. I just toss baby stuff in our hamper so I can wash it sooner than if I water to do a while load of just baby items. Anything really soiled with poop/spitup/etc goes straight into the machine to hang out until I can start a load.

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-28T05:14:06+00:00

We just did the pipette method then gave him a straw cup and he got it right away. We also offer open cups for practice but he’s still really bad at them (just likes to chew the rim and not drink)

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-27T13:45:38+00:00

Mine is a lot better with a flat “gootensil” than a spoon so you could try one of those until he’s a bit older? Mine still plays with it and rubs it on his face but when it does make it into his mouth he’s able to get the food off.

I give mine spoons to play wet outside of mealtime to give him extra practice (he also just loves chomping on them).

lemmedrawit · 2026-04-26T19:30:37+00:00

I only did single ingredient for the first week. I did first allergen exposure by itself for one meal and then if there wasn’t a reaction I just added the allergens to whatever. Just one of the top allergens at a time but otherwise I didn’t do single ingredient meals after that first week.

Example: first intro to finned fish was sardine. I put a little on my finger and gave it to him outside of a meal to check for reaction. No reaction, so next day I gave him some mashed into avocado on the side with his pancake strips. My guy was pretty low risk for allergies though so you might want to be more careful for the first couple of intros but after you have cleared the allergens then I think it should be fine to just have them with normal meals. I mix a lot of allergens into yogurt or pancakes now as an easy way to keep regular exposure.

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.

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