Tip #48: Make your own fruit concentrates from dehydrated fruits

In the search for how to make prune puree for adding to yogurt to aid in my son's digestive system, I found the best way to do this is to rehydrate prunes and puree, adding extra water as needed.  This turns out to be an awesome way to make concentrated fruit purees for adding to cereal and yogurt, without having to buy baby food.  To make apricots for example, rehydrate by steaming them, I found about 30minutes to be sufficient.  Next, puree them with water as needed, now freeze in ice cube trays! Now you have yummy fruit with all the fun fiber.  Because of the skins, this is definitely for a baby at the age that can handle a bit of chunkiness in their food, about 9months I believe in most cases.  When you buy the dehydrated fruit, watch for what agents may have been added (sulfates for example are often used), but in most cases you can find fruit with no additives at places like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Tip #34: List of foods to buy organic for your baby (and you!)

We are at the stage of introducing solid food and I have heard a whirlwind of information regarding carrots and nitrates (part of the information says No carrots! Some say carrots after six months! Others say all the info on nitrate poisoning is really a concern regarding well water and very high exposure to children less than three months of age). Anyway, I decided it was time to look up the Environmental Working Group's list of the 'Dirty Dozen'..fruits and vegetables you are better off buying organic due to their high absorption of chemical fertilizers (one of those is carrots).

• Peach
• Apple
• Bell Pepper
• Celery
• Nectarine
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Grapes (imported)
• Carrot
  
• Pear
  

Tip #32: Diapering a supersoaker overnight

Our son has been soaking through every diaper we've tried on him overnight, from several kinds of cloth to several kinds of disposables. I hit up the Arlington Parent's e-mail list for some advice and had lots of great responses. Here's the summary:

Disposables

• Huggies overnight were the preferred brand by far
• Tip: Add a disposable diaper liner (they are similar to maxi pads). Buy plastic-free, biodegradable liners from gDiapers
  
• Tip: Tuck in the top of the diaper to stop overflow
• Tip: Buy a larger diaper (one mom pointed out with variation in lengths, they may grow out of a size before the upper end of the weight limit is met).
• Tip: Put a pull up diaper over a disposable.
  

Cloth

• The general thought was to add a doubler.
• Favorite disposable doubler: gDiapers
• Favorite place to look for cloth doublers: Diaper Lab
• Tip: Choose a fleece lined doubler for next to baby's skin, it will feel dryer longer.
• Tip: Use more than one doubler.
  

Tip #13: Share baby food making with friends

I've heard lots of parents who want to make their own baby food (especially because then they can make it organic), but then the time to make it outweighs the cost factor. A great tip I heard is to create a food making group. The structure is up to you, but here's one example: 10 sets of parents get together once a month to exchange cubes of frozen food. This month, set #1 made apples, #2 made peas, #3 made butternut squash, etc. etc. So you make a large lot of food once a month and you get 10 different foods! The mom I heard this from said they would have a little party on a Sunday when they got together to exchange food, they also changed whose house they got together at every time.

Source: Friend