Selene is quite the happy little eater, I must say. That girl loves her solid foods. And her breastmilk, although she gets a little creative about the positions she nurse in some days. Gets interesting.

But there’s one area in which she has suddenly turned picky. She now really, really needs her food to have texture. I’m really glad to have my Kidco Food Mill now. That’s it to the right. I was using it to grind up some homemade chicken soup, or at least the solid parts of the soup, when I took the photo.

I’ve had this one for quite a while. I used it to make food for my oldest, who is now 7 years old. I used it for my son, who is now 4. And it’s still going strong in making food for this baby. I rather like that it has lasted so well.

The food comes out too chunky for babies who are just starting solids, but once they like to chew it’s about perfect in my experience. My kids joke about how pasta comes out looking like little worms, as it still kind of sticks to itself even after grinding.

This is the part of feeding a baby where the food mill and my crockpot are really my friends. The food mill because it makes allowing my baby to eat what the rest of the family is eating pretty easy. The crockpot because it means that the meats are tender enough that I don’t struggle so much to grind them in the mill.

It’s fun to see my baby eating what we eat. I made homemade chicken soup from scratch the other night because we all had colds. Took some of the soup, drained the broth from it, cooled it and put it in the food mill. Selene loved it! Her appetite had been poor, but that mouth was popping open for this meal. I ended up wishing I had cooled more for her. Had to give her some cereal to finish off the appetite.

You do of course have to be careful about food temperatures when grinding food for immediate use. You don’t want a baby with a burned mouth.

It is some work to grind the food. You have to push down on the outer section of the mill while turning the crank on top. If the food isn’t tender that can be a bit of work. But to me it’s worth it.