I am grateful that I was given the chance to be a mother to an infant the fourth time. With my first three boys, I depended on my yaya to look after them. Though I’ve given my best to be a mother, I know there were many things I wasn’t able to give them still – time included.
With our fourth son, I resigned from work to be a full-time mom. And I discovered that motherhood is beyond food preparation, disciplining, and helping with the assignment.
Motherhood is about nurturing your children, listening to your instinct, and acting with love.
Nurturing the children
As a parent, it is my responsibility to help develop my boys’ potentials, meet their needs, and bring them up to the best of their abilities. For my 23-month old son, I give him as many frequent hugs and kisses as much as possible. Physical touch is one way to comfort and nurture a child. He would surely grow up confident of his parent’s love and care.
We also create a nurturing space for him and his brothers, a place where they would feel loved and protected. Aside from the small house, they have the outdoors as we encourage them to engage in physical activities. Other than the development of social skills, the outdoors set as a good foundation for life long healthy habits and even enhance their mental development.
Listening to mother’s instinct
There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.
– Rumi
Perhaps all moms are equipped with instinctive responses that aid them how to parent. When our Little Man turned six months old, I instinctively pureed, mashed, and blended fruits, vegetables, and proteins for him. As he grows, he has the same viand as ours only that again, I pureed his.
MOMI APPROVES homemade baby food| Our son’s pureed ginataang kalabasa for lunch
Acting with love
When my son begins feeding solid food, I instantly think of homemade food. I would want to know exactly the ingredients that go into his system as I find him too delicate to suffer from any illnesses. My mom, being a spoiler, would bring lots of pre-made options, though. I still give my son a few jars only after he had his regular homemade treat. I still prefer the latter for many reasons.
Advantages of homemade baby food
- I know exactly what I am feeding my son.
- He gets to have a variety of options considering the many fruits, vegetables, and proteins available in the market.
- He gets to be used to eating the same food as the rest of his family only that his is in puree form.
- Honestly, it is more economical.
MOMI APPROVES homemade baby food| Pureed sayote and cranberry juice for breakfast.
I learned from my readings that jarred food is cooked at extremely high temperature to kill bacteria for longer storage. The process, at the same time, took out the food’s many vitamins and nutrients. This reassured me that opting for home cooked meals for my little one is a good decision.
At the same time, making my baby’s food helps me think more about what I’m feeding my son. This paves the way for being conscious in preparing healthier dishes for the whole family.
It is such a joy to recall what my son had during his first year. Most came from me (as I breastfeed him as well) and from our kitchen. There were times I gave him commercial cereals but he wasn’t a fan.
Momi approves home cooked baby meal
MOMI APPROVES homemade baby food| Mashed banana with breast milk
The debate continues on whether homemade baby food is better than commercially prepared ones. The choice, though, is up to the parents. And I belong to the group that supports home cooking. As most commercial baby products are fine, homemade ones – for me – are just as fine with more nutritional and economical edge. Time isn’t an issue as well as I enjoy using the blender and I doubly enjoy the effect it brings to my son. He would jump with joy as he hears the sound of the blender, perhaps anticipating his meal time.
Hi momshie Berlin, congratulations on your new bundle of joy. I am a working mom but my Eliana was still on it’s baby days, I usually prepare homemade food for her. Mas maganda talaga ang gulay and fruits and of course, way cheaper than buying ready-made baby foods.
Hi fellow Mom, I’m also a mom of 4, soon to be 5 and I’ve been an advocate of making all their food from scratch from baby years until they’re fully grown haha.
I truly believe that cooking from scratch is the single most important thing we can do as a family to improve our health and overall well-being. Start them young with home-made baby food!
Hooray mommy. Doing the same thing, Tamang Kain. I survived 10 months now of exclusively breastfeedng my baby and also giving homecooked meals. I am proud I have survived this long. I didn’t know I would last this far.