As many of you avid Wee Welcome readers have seen over the last two weeks, famed nutritionist Lianne Phillipson-Webb of Sprout Right, has launched a two-disc DVD series entitled ‘First Foods' and ‘The Next Stage'."My goal for making these easy, how-to videos was to help give parents the confidence to cook homemade healthy meals for their children and ease their common fears about when and how to introduce new foods," says Phillipson-Webb.

The two DVDs, based on Lianne's highly successful Toronto-based Mommy Chef classes are available on http://www.sproutright.com/ and cost $25.95 each. Both DVDs have six classes focusing on two recipes per class. All the recipes are made with organic produce, herbs and condiments.

During each class, Lianne personally takes the viewer through every step of the recipe offering preparation and cooking tips, ways of altering the recipe for different taste sensations and valuable nutritional information while sharing her wisdom gained from teaching hundreds of moms from across the GTA.

And today, she's sharing some of this wisdom with YOU by answering to some of the most common questions she hears.

What are the most common questions and concerns you get from parents who make their own baby food?

When it comes to feeding their babies solids for the first time, parents often have a number of questions.  How to make a first puree can be intimidating when you don't know how or what the end product should be.  What foods to start with is becoming an increasingly hot topic.  Recommendations seem to be changing from cereals to meats and parents are more confused than ever.

We suggest that you keep it simple for your baby's digestive system and that means offering fruits and vegetables from six to nine months of age.  Your baby has limited ability to digest grains including rice, oats, wheat and barley.  Our philosophy allows your baby's digestive system to continue to mature and get stronger with age.  Fruits and vegetables are the easiest foods to digest and have minimal allergic potential.  You will this explained in full in the section about the digestive system on both DVDs.

If you could give one tip to parents who make their own food, what would it be?

My number one tip is to make sure you add enough water to your puree.  It sounds silly but it's often a huge issue, especially when you're first introducing food to your baby. It should drip off the spoon as you hold it above your bowl.  If it's thicker than that, your baby may not be too sure about their first experience with food.  As they progress, you can make it thicker to see how they handle more texture.

Most moms have enough to juggle without making their own baby food. Can you cook with your baby? What's the safest strategy you suggest?

You can put your baby in a carrier to get some of the initial peeling and chopping done.

If they are still small, have them face in to your chest.  If they are more curious and like facing out, use your apron to wrap around their chest (and yours) to hold their little hands in to keep them safe.  Once you start to puree hot food, or are using the stove, put them down for safety.

Also, cook in bulk and freeze batches made while your baby naps, or someone can watch your baby.  This way you won't find yourself using all your spare time to cook. You can also make a suggestion to your moms group or friends that everyone makes a large batch of one food and you share those foods.  

What do you hope people will learn/take-away from watching the Mommy Chef DVDs?

I see first hand the feeling of empowerment and confidence moms and dads gain after taking the Mommy Chef classes. I wanted to give that same incredible feeling to parents across Canada who do not have access to the classes.  It is so rewarding for many reasons to make your own food. 

I hope parents will learn the value in cooking healthy, organic foods for their babies and also take away important information about nutrition as well as tips and tricks to feeding your baby. Introducing food can be stressful. The DVD's help to take that stress away as you will gain the knowledge to prepare food the right way, knowing the right way, to know what to expect and how to trouble shoot what might be going on.  The DVDs also provide key insight on how to introduce solids and how to introduce finger foods (nine to 12 months).  It is really all you need to start on a life time of healthy eating!