Mrs. Aligator, what do you feed your bay-bees...?

As a child, my mother used to tell me the most wonderful story about the wide. mouthed. frog. I would beg that she repeat it again and again.

The wide mouthed frog is a very nosy and loud frog who goes around telling the other jungle animals that she feeds her babies 'flies' and asking them about their own feeding practices.

"Hellooooooo Mrs. Hippo, what do you feed your baaay-beeees...?"

Each animal has its own voice, with the most distinctive being the wiiiide moooouuuthed frog. 

At the end of the story the wide mouthed frog greets the aligator who explains that she feeds her babies one thing. That's right, wide mouthed frogs. The story ends with the frog puckering it's lips as an attempt to disguise..."oh. well, you don't see many of those around, do you...?" and leaping away. It still makes me smile.

So, (that rather random story does have a point) here's a little more detail about what I feed my babies.

I've been giving the girls solid foods for about 3 months now and I've been making what they eat at home.

When it comes to nutrition, I've been taught that whole foods (like breast milk, veggies, fruits) are best given priority over processed foods (like formula, cereals, puffs) and should be largely avoided when possible. Obviously, my girls are both being fed formula almost exclusively now, and therefore the emphasis on whole foods is even more important to me.



I steam veggies and fruits in filtered water, save and add the cooking juices to the blender and puree it until smooth.

I'm still somewhat moderate when it comes to organic foods.

For example, I buy organic dairy because pesticides and chemicals and toxins are stored more densely in animal fat.

Additionally, grass fed cows and pastured chickens produce eggs and milk that contains essential DHA and other important bio-nutrients which are often deficient or lacking in caged chickens and grain fed cows because they do not eat bugs and grass etc.

I've come to believe that buying organic when possible also limits the overall chemical burden and exposure for all of us, because less chemicals are being sprayed into the earth! And that just makes sense to me.

I rely heavily on the "clean 15 and dirty dozen" when it comes to fruits and vegetables. I usually buy organic if it's on the dirty dozen, but will buy conventional foods from the clean 15 list, especially if there is something on sale.

I gently boil or roast organic meats (chicken, fish, beef etc.) in filtered water or broth, then save and add the cooking juices to the meat in the blender and puree it until smooth. Often I will mix the meat with a veggie, which creates a nice, more pleasing texture.

I add generous helpings of olive oil, butter or coconut oil to the blended food.

Each day I give them an (pastured) egg yolk, boiled about 8-10 minutes (until just barely firm but not completely runny) with a pinch of sea salt.

Of course, the girls are getting old enough that I'm not really needing to puree everything so finely and I've started giving them little chunks of fresh food as well.

If I'm making a large batch ahead of time, I freeze batches of food in BPA free plastic food trays that resemble ice trays and freeze the cubes for later. I try to use metal and glass for cooking and feeding as well.

After each meal, I will offer a glass of filtered water to the girls and let them sip a drink. They smile with pride after each swallow!

These tools have been the most helpful so far:

This worksheet by the Weston Price Foundation is a practical and straightforward approach to nutrition.

For example, it explains the value of using organic fruits and vegetables, as infants exposure to toxins and chemicals is more harmful, and organic dairy, as toxins are more densely stored in animal fats.

It taught me that not all eggs are created equal and eggs that are not selected from pastured chickens, which are able to peck for bugs and grains etc. do not contain the same levels of necessary brain and heart DHA. Providing an egg yolk (from a pastured hen) about every day to your infant will provide essential brain development nutrients.

I learned that grain is difficult for babies to digest and that current nutritionists are promoting starting children on whole foods and meats instead of rice cereal. Plus it has practical charts and recipes.

Again, here is a shoppers guide to Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen fruits and vegetables. I keep a list of this on my phone for when I'm grocery shopping.

This website is another tool I use frequently, as it is interactive and chalk full of vital information about making baby food, the nutritional quality of certain foods and answers a multitude of questions.

This website, Baby Led Weaning is something I'm very interested in doing and am reading into how it would work for our family.

So, that's what we feed our babies...  

What do you feed YOUR bay-bees? 

Seriously, I'd really like to know!

And, if you're in the mood for a cheesy laugh: