With working full time and having two young-aged kids, practicality is the bomb for me. Most of us were led to believe that the commercial baby food in jars/pouches contain as much nutrition as the homemade baby food. Most people think making homemade baby food is a waste of time, why make your own food if you have someone (i.e. Gerber and Heinz) make it for me.
Why Homemade Baby Food is Best for Baby
In the Western culture, when we think about eating fish, we do not think about eating fish as a whole. Instead, we often associate eating fish with fish fillet or fish sticks or a fish sandwich. When we think about baby food, we often think that they come from jars with a smiling baby picture. Even though the ingredient list in for jarred baby food isn’t as long as fish stick’s ingredient list, both fish sticks and jar baby food are processed food.
What is the comparison of fresh green bean puree and green bean puree in jars? They look different. They don’t smell or taste the same. Obviously they are not the same in their freshness. While developing taste buds, I believe it is important to serve as much food with fresh ingredients as possible to babies. Serving fresh food to babies as early as possible create a more receptive acceptance to tasting new food as they get older.
The article called “Cheating Babies” from Center for Science in the Public Interest supports my believe in homemade baby food. Their major finding was the baby food jar manufacturers, such as Gerber and Heinz replace real food with water and thickening agents in many of their products for children over six months of age. I felt so cheated that I was once led myself to believe that jar food was the way to go and my babies were getting enough nutrition with food coming from jars. I am a firm believer that despite the time it takes to make homemade baby food, my babies deserve the nutrition they need to grow. What a shame that such products for infants who are in need of good food to grow have been altered nutritionally. Often times we also see baby food recalls for different reasons.
Homemade baby food is the real deal. Not only it is a cost saving effort, it is also giving our babies the best food with the best nutrition they need and deserve.
