Since birth, Q has loved watching “Chef’s Table“. When she was a newborn, she sat in her Boppy peacefully gnawing at her Sophie the Giraffe while watching the beautiful culinary series for what seemed like hours (15 minutes can seem like hours for a new mom). The cinematography really plays up the vivid colors and texture of the food. It’s mesmerizing to a baby, and a nice change from the Peppa Pig and Baby Einstein cartoons.

Feeding Q has always been a challenge. When she was first born, I breastfed for the most part, supplementing on occasion with formula only in the first few days. But at 2 months, when were in the Dominican Republic for our maternity-moon, she grew so quickly that she was outpacing my milk production. This meant she cried extensively as she got hungrier, particularly around dinnertime. I had to find a healthy formula for her while in DR. The choice was agonizing. I thought I would start her on the organic, hormone-free, imported formula from Germany my friends were raving about when she was ready. I couldn’t find that in DR. I had to settle for Similac. Or Gerber. Or whatever the local grocery store had. What if I made the wrong choice? What if Q got sick from Dominican formula? What If I hurt her? OH.GOD!

“Child, there are hundreds of thousands of other healthy kids running around that island and all of them were raised on formula!!!” my mom told me via many a FaceTime chats.  “You better get that child some formula before she starves to death!” I chose Enfamil after a day of research. Then it took me another two days to get confident enough to boil water and make a bottle. I was scared I’d “get it wrong.” Yes, I was scared of getting wrong adding hot water to a bottle. Everything about parenting is about the fear of doing it wrong. More calls to mom. “Child, if you don’t make that baby a bottle I”m going to fly down there and bring that child back to Michigan myself!”

You know who gave the baby her first bottles? E, because I was too nervous  (#newmommy). It went fine. Q loved the formula (Enfamil, by the way. Bought at the local grocery store in Cabarate). Her tummy was finally full. We supplemented two feedings with bottles per day, and those evening cryfests ended immediately. The baby was just hungry.

We mastered formula feeds for a few months. Around 5 months, it was time to introduce soft purees.

I started Q first on sweet potatoes. We were at friend’s house whose baby is a month older than Q, which is a godsend for me because my friend could experiment with baby-rearing techniques and gear with her little one and report back to me on what works and what doesn’t. For food, she told me her little one was into sweet potatoes and corn, and offered Q a bit of each. We sat little Q down on E’s knee and put a bit of sweet potato on her tongue. The funniest thing in the world is watching little baby taste food of the first time their minds turning as they search for familiarity but have nothing to compare to except for breast milk and formula. She gobbled it down.

Next was avocado–which is as you may know is on E’s Forbidden Foods list. Q ate it, but wasn’t in love with it. It was the first thing I noticed caused her tummy to slow down. Binding foods like avocado and bananas back things up in little babies. For Q, they backed WAY up—she would get very constipated after eating them, which then made her not want to go at all, which meant a lot of screaming and tears when she would finally push a hard stool out.

What seemed to agree with her best were  pears, apple, mangoes, prunes and carrots. Easy on the tummy, easy to blend and serve. I had this dream that each night I would steam fruit and vegetable each night and puree them in my Cuisinart, filling tiny tupperware containers with colorful foods and labeling them for display on the top shelf of the refrigerator. NOPE. Didn’t happen. Ain’t nobody–well, this working mom who barely had time to feed herself—got time for that!!!

So, back to the store I went. Until another option found me. Little Spoon.

Little Spoon is this amazing food service that delivers organic, pure, freshly-made baby food to your home. To. your. home. The food is packed in little containers that include a small spoon in the actual container! It was genius. The food is organic,  completely fresh and free of additives (look at the ingredients list. For mangoes it’s “organic mango”. For pears, it’s “organic pears.”) And I could still feed my baby fresh food without feeling guilty, and also knowing what exactly I was putting into my baby’s mouth.

I was lucky enough to meet the founders Michelle and Lisa right when they were launching, and right when Q was starting on the purees. I signed up with a few of their basic flavors , and have been hooked ever since.  In fact, I love them so much, I became a “mom advisor” to the company. I’m not usually one to endorse a bunch of products, I usually only write about what I love, without anyone giving me anything in return. So you know if I’m telling you I’m personally connected  to someone or something, I really have love for them.

Listen, feeding a child is an adventure, one that is unique to each parent and each child. I’m sharing what worked for me: patience, my mother’s advice,  tons of trial and Little Spoon. Mommies, I think your kid will love Little Spoon, so please try some out by clicking  here. Use the promo code 300SANDWICHES for a trial on me. And, if you have any great advice on recipes that your baby are addicted to, I’d love to hear.

Oh, and this was just what I learned from the first few months of feeding Q. In the next posts, I’ll share what happened when we moved to solid foods, and how Little Spoon’s Blueprint plan has helped guide me in crafting Q’s diet as she grows. And, I’ll share some of the recipes that Q has eaten most.

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