I love my Beaba Babycook!

My husband and I have found ourselves trying a lot of different things with Baby C that we did not even consider with our older children.  I am not sure if it is because we are older and more confident in our parenting abilities or if it is because we know that Baby C is more than likely our last child. Our first foray into the unknown began with my decision to breastfeed Baby C.  I decided when I was pregnant with Baby C that I wanted to make every attempt to breastfeed her.  I read several books on breastfeeding, purchased a high quality breast pump, and asked for advice from several of my friends who I know had been able to breastfeed successfully.  I am happy to report that Baby C took to breastfeeding very easily, and it has been a wonderful experience for both Baby C and I.  I only wish that I had tried more fervently to breastfeed my other children.  It is a very special experience, and I am glad that I made the choice to breastfeed her this time around.
A couple of months ago as I was perusing the aisles of Babies R Us, I stumbled upon the myriad of baby food choices now available to parents.  I found myself overwhelmed by all of the new choices of prepared baby food.  Eight years ago when my son was born, there were very few choices available to parents as far a prepared baby food was concerned.  The only choice that existed at the time was Beech Nut or Gerber foods.  Mr. B loved prepared baby food and happily gulped many jars of Gerber baby food.  In fact, my son liked prepared baby food so much that when it was time for him to start eating table food, he refused.  Mr. B did not like anything with texture and he would self-sift the pureed food and spit out any larger bites.  My husband and I used to joke that he might be going to Kindergarten with jars of baby food in his lunch box.  When my second child was born three years later, the world of prepared baby food had remained relatively the same.  Gerber had added a line of organic options and some foods with added DHA, but for the most part the choices were the same.  Miss L has always been very adventurous and seemed eager to eat what we were eating very early on, so once she had tried each of the first foods for a week, we began pureeing what we were eating for her.

When I got home from my trip to the Babies R Us several months ago, I began researching all of the new, organic brands of baby food now available.  I was not happy with the information that I discovered when researching these new choices.  I discovered that many of these new organic brands have been subjected to recalls in the past three years for possible contamination.  Some of the brands have been recalled within the last six months.  I found many recent baby food recalls such as these all over the internet:http://www.kvue.com/community/blogs/smart-money/Organic-baby-food-recall-95854639.html, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33397420/, http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2007/ucm108847.htm, http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Plum_Organics_Recall, http://www.mindfulmum.co.uk/2010/04/baby-food-recall-ellas-kitchen-stage-3-cool-caribbean-chicken/ , http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm197570.htm.  In addition, I found that some of the brands that I had trusted in the past had also been recalled as well.http://www.modernmom.com/hottopic/2010/jun/17/lead-found-in-popular-baby-food-and-juice-products/

As a result of the information that I had acquired, I decided that I wanted to make homemade baby food for Baby C.  That is when I discovered the Beaba Babycook.  My experiences with my Beaba, thus far have been wonderful.  The Beaba makes making homemade baby food very simple.  It steams, purees and reheats baby food all in one machine.  All you have to do is wash, peel and dice the food you want to make and place it in the machine.  The machine turns off when the food is finished steaming, and then all you have to do is puree it to your desired consistency.  The smell of the food while it is cooking is amazing as well.  I have made carrots, bananas, and apples so far.  Baby C seems to enjoy the foods that I have made for her.  I cannot believe that it hadn't occurred to me to make my older children's babyfood.  Bananas are the easiest.  They can be consumed raw, so all you have to do is puree them.  Easy peasy.  The only draw back to the Beaba is the price, but I am glad that I chose to splurge on it.  I know I could have made homemade baby food without my Beaba, but the Beaba makes it so much easier.
Our most recent journey into the unknown has been our choice to start cloth diapering Baby C.  However, I will have to share our experiences with cloth diapers in another post because I hear Baby C crying:)