Cookbook #77: Feed Me! I’m Yours, Vicki Lansky, Bantam Books, 1979.

This is one of my cookbooks – I bought it new, for me, for advice on feeding my son, who was born in 1980. I was so scared at first to let him eat anything but breast milk! it seemed odd to feed him solids for that first time. Of course I got over that pretty fast, but that’s why I got this cookbook, I wanted help!

Now it’s 2014 my 7 month old grandson is visiting. My daughter is determined to get this kid eating solids! I pulled Feed Me! I’m Yours from the shelf, and we both pored over this decades-old book.

This is a friendly and helpful book. In the first chapter: “Are you a bit nervous about making your own baby food?” Yeah! Lots of suggestions to get a young mother going along a path of homemade foods for her baby. The content was reviewed by a pediatric nurse – this is a sensible as well as friendly book.

Most of the nutrition information agrees with what my daughter has learned from the Internet and current baby care books. One big change is that honey used to be okay for babies, but now is a big taboo. Some of the recipes and food suggestions in Feed Me! I’m Yours have more sugar in them than my daughter wants her son to have.

So what foods do we try on our little . . . test child? Sweet potatoes, potatoes, bananas, oatmeal, pureed fruits, and almond butter.

Ahem. These foods do not simply go into my grandson’s mouth . . . they are gooed all over his face, his arms, his tummy, they go in his mouth and out, they get under his feet and smooshed on the chair. Since he is still in the cereals-and-mashed-fruits-and-vegetables stage, and since most Feed Me! I’m Yours cracker recipes have sugar in them, I decide to go online and see what young moms are cooking for their babies these days. Wow, what an amazing wealth of information is at the fingertips of today’s moms! I found this cute cracker and daughter-approved recipe:

This recipe is from the Super Healthy Kids website. They have whole wheat flour, oatmeal, wheat germ, olive oil, and cheese in them. Grandma got to make Jo his first homemade “cookies”!