Carrots - am I being too cautious (Who me? Never!)

[deborah_r]

I remeber reading it was better to give baby jarred baby food carrots than to make them yourself because of something that was in them. Something that the baby food companies can test the levels and make sure not too high. So even books that recommended making baby your own food did not recommend making your own carrots. How long is this true? Because DS is really resisting spoon feeding and it would be easier to give him soft cooked carrot pieces.

[nwaddellr]

It's nitrates that you have to worry about, but I don't know how long (and I'm curious myself).

[JenCA]

I believe you have to worry about the nitrates in carrots (and certain other foods, like beets) for the first year of baby's life.

[signsing]

Here is a link to an article on nitrates. I make my own carrots, but I don't use the water from cooking to puree them, in fact I just slice them now and let him eat them as table food. They are a favorite.
Carrots should be introduced after 8 mos because of nitrates.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/nitratearticle.htm

Betsey
Buddy's Mamma 6-10-2003

[malie]

Obviously it's going to be more expensive then cutting up carrots yourself but Gerber does make diced carrots (in the graduates line) (what can I say I'm lazy :-) )

[houseof3boys]

Tonight was the first night that I gave Ryan pieces of cooked carrots that I cooked instead of jarred. He liked picking them up off of the tray because they were orange!

I figured at almost 10 months, that should be okay for the nitrates from the different reports I have read. I might even try to cook up a little spinach tomorrow for him and puree with a little cream cheese so it gives it some texture for him to pick it up. I hate giving him the Earth's Best jars since they are so pureed!