The Musings of a Working Mom

As a mom and a Dietitian, I frequently get asked what are great first finger foods when introducing solids to their little ones.  I have come up with a list of delicious and easy finger foods for those little experimental eaters!  I know that there is a lot of concern regarding food allergies and the timing of food introduction, so when in doubt, trust your inner gut and always consult with your Pediatrician.  Also check out this site endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics site as well this great site . Here is my list of great first finger foods: 1.  Multi-grain Cheerios or other O shaped cereal 2.  Soft, ripe, cubed banana pieces 3.  Diced, ripe avocado 4.  Diced, cooked sweet potatoes/white potatoes/butternut squash/acorn squash (steam or bake but don't boil) 5.  Soft, shredded chicken, white fish (low mercury fish like tilapia), beef or turkey 6.  Very ripe, peeled Peaches or Pears 7.  Small cubes Tofu 8....

OK - now that your baby is no longer eating baby food and will only eat the same food that you are eating, what do you do with all of that leftover baby food???  I for one am not letting that food go to waste - after all, that's still good food. And baby food is just fruits and veggies pureed with some water.  So what do I do - I simply add them to the dishes that I make - i.e. pancakes, brownies, marinara sauce, pasta, etc.  That's right, I just add them to whatever we're eating as a family.  I adjust the liquid content of my recipes but I add the baby food and it makes my brownies, pancakes and cakes moist and adds a lot of extra nutrition to my dishes.  I adjust the type of baby food based on what I'm making, savory with savory foods and sweet with sweet dishes.  I have used applesauce and mixed fruits in my pancakes, prunes and other fruits in my brownies, mixed veggies in my marinara sauce as well as mac & cheese, etc....

There are so many "discount" websites out there that features big brand companies selling high ticket items (or services) for discounted prices.  I love these sites but there is a discount site specifically for mommies called Zulily.com .  I love this site - not only do they feature great deals for mommies, but also clothing, shoes, toys and more for babies and kids.  My kids love Crocs but I hate paying full price for these - but why should I when I can buy them off of Zulily for half the price!  I have bought good quality snow/rain boots for my twins, organization tools for the family, baby shower gifts for friends, as well as clothing and shoes for myself.  The shipping prices are pretty reasonable (usually under $10.00) considering how much you are saving on the items that you are buying.  If you are like me and are always looking for a great deal or sale, then this is the perfect site for you....

I always do a lot of research before I buy anything, especially baby/child related.  When I was pregnant with the twins, I had heard a lot of great things about the Dr. Brown's bottles- how they reduce the amount of air swallowed by baby (a.k.a. gas), reduce spit up's, reduce colicky events, etc.  And I'm sure that it did do that for our twins but what it didn't do was save us time because we were washing 5 parts to each bottle!  Besides being in a complete daze from having to wake the twins every 2-3 hours to feed/change/put to sleep for 24 hours a day initially, we were spending our quiet time while the twins were sleeping washing all of the parts to our Dr. Brown's bottles.  My husband and I would literally have an assembly line to wash and rinse each part!  What a waste of our time and yeah we could've just put the parts in the dishwasher but since we were feeding the kids so frequently, we didn't want to buy 12+ bottles to make this work.  ...

Making fresh, wholesome baby food at home is much easier than you think!  I made my own baby food with all of my kids but I have to be honest and say that I did buy premade baby food for convenience reasons.  And why not?  Store bought baby food has come such a long way - they can be organic, they come in such easy-to-use and portable packaging and most importantly, they taste good (like I-wouldn't-mind-eating-it good).  But making baby food is quite easy, can save you money and requires very few ingredients and appliances.  All you need is fresh/frozen produce (fruits, vegs, yogurt, etc.), a magic bullet type of small blender (or blender) and a microwave or stove top. Making baby food couldn't be any easier - I would typically steam some vegetables and/or fruit (fresh or frozen) in my Pampered Chef steamer with a little bit of water. FYI - don't discard the "steaming liquid", you can use this liquid to adjust the c...

Transitions for anyone are not easy - we all like our "comfort blankets" and we don't like to change.  Doing the same thing is soothing and can really pacify an individual, especially a baby.  And transitioning a baby from the breast to the bottle or bottle to the sippy cup can be a daunting task.  Afterall, it seems like everything for both mommy/parents and baby has to be perfect in order to make the smoothest of transitions (i.e. no sicknesses, having the right bottle/sippy cup, no major events that are occurring during the transition period, etc.).  But the one thing that I have learned with my 3 kids are that in order to have successful feeding transition - you need to make them gradual.  For example, I recently transitioned my youngest from the bottle to the sippy cup.  We started the transition when he was about 11 months old (with the goal to have him fully transitioned by his 1st birthday but that didn't happen and it was...