Is Babyfood in Jars Bad (compared to food you make yourself)?

[ILoveLT]

It really bugs me when people tell me I am not doing things right for my baby, especially since I work non-stop day and night. Someone just told me that I am "not feeding the baby" because I feed her jars of babyfood like Gerber Tender Harvest and Earth's Best. She wants me to cook the food myself and grind it up and feed it to the baby. I also work outside the home plus I have to do everything around the house with no nanny and no housekeeper. I really like the convenience of just opening up a jar of babyfood and feeding it to the baby. DD is growing rapidly, is in the 90%ile for both height and weight, is cruising at 8 months and makes a lot of noise like she is trying to talk. She is regularly eliminating and seems comfortable because she laughs and smiles all the time. Therefore, I believe she is developing nicely. She eats at least 2 jars of babyfood and 1/4 cup of oatmeal plus one big can of Enfamil a day. I believe she is getting good nutrition from these foods. Is food you cook yourself better? I hesitate because in the book Super Baby Food, the author warns about nitrates in vegetables and says that only commercial baby food manufacturers can test for nitrates. So isn't commercial baby food sometimes better for babies than the stuff you cook at home?

[ellies mom]

The food isn't bad. It may not be as tasty, but hey it sounds like your child is fine with it because she is eating way more than mine. I have a motto.. If you aren't coming over to my house and helping out (housework, mortgage, picking up a shift at work here or there), then I just don't want to hear it. When that someone wants to drop off homemade baby food for you then great, in the meantime do what works for you.

[icunurse]

We've been using the Earth's Best and have no complaints. I even started to venture into regular Gerber/DelMonte just to have more variety and exposure to new foods (I am not about to make coconut pudding or spinach lasagna! :) DS is happy and growing up great. It's all a matter of opinion and preference, but neither is "bad".
Traci
~Connor's Mom~
http://lilypie.com/baby1/050204/1/0/1/-6/.png (http://lilypie.com)

[sdbc]

I would just say to make sure that the food you give her has only the main ingredient and water added. Don't buy foods that have sugar or fillers added. I think the brands you are giving her are "pure".

That said, I baked 1 sweet potato and blended it and froze it in an ice cube tray, and the amount from one potato equalled MANY jars of baby food. So, if you have time, it is far more cost-effective to make it fresh and freeze some. If you don't have the time, then don't worry about it! And tell people to mind their business!

We are using a mixture of jarred and fresh. Whenever I'm cooking veggies for us, I usually make a bigger batch and puree some in the blender, then freeze. If I'm cooking it anyway, the only extra time is blending and rinsing the blender. We have a nice freezer stash now so it's really convenient to just thaw a serving, and we really only use the jarred food if we are going out. Once she eats solids more than once per day, she will probably have jarred food at daycare.

[lizajane]

earth's best doesn't have sugar or preservatives (on any jar that i have seen) and i think tender harvest doesn't either. so really, it isn't SO different from homemade. at least not different enough for that person to give you a hard time about it. especially when you already made the choice to go organic and choose the "better" brands.

i personally made my own food for schuyler because i thought it tasted better and the idea that it was fresh appealed to me more than the jars. but i recommend earth's best to people all the time! i think it would be too much to work outside the home full time and make ALL your own food. at some point, you can mash a banana or an avacado with a fork and not really spend any time preparing it. but i spent a lot of time washing, peeling, steaming, pureeing, and freezing in the beginning. it was fun to me, but i had the time!

[ILoveLT]

When you freeze food in plastic, does that release toxins out of the plastic? Someone emailed me about freezing water in plastic bottles and microwaving plastic release toxins out of the plastic and into food and water.

Did you read that part in Super Baby Food that says that bananas have lots of pesticides due to their skin being so permeable, so always go organic?

DD loves avocados. It is really not that much work blending up an avocado.

When I cook, I try to boil some of whatever I'm cooking for the baby (without spices or oil). It's just that I really don't cook that much, and whatever I cook is not really good for the baby (for example, I will heat up a can of Campbell's chicken noodle and make a ham sandwich for myself. It's ok food, but not ok for an infant!)

[ellies mom]

This may make me a terrible mom, but I simply do not worry about toxics in the plastic leeching into my food and water. I know what you mean about not cooking much and what you do cook not being baby type food. I end up using way more jar food then I intended. Whenever I do make something for the baby she just turns up her nose at it. Hello, I steamed those carrots with love! What do you mean you don't want them? It is such a struggle.

[ILoveLT]

I have an idea: why not put the babyfood you make in the glass jars that come with baby food? Will the glass break when frozen? I'm not sure...

[Smiles81]

Nope, the glass won't break. That is what I do. I serve a mixture of homeade and jarred food, so I freeze the food I make in the baby food jars. If you fill it up 3/4 of the way, they freeze perfectly.

HTH

[lizajane]

i used ice cube trays. once frozen (overnight) you pop the cubes out into a freezer bag. then i would thaw in the microwave in a ceramic ramakin.

or i used glass baby food jars that friends saved for me.

or i used take and toss containers (used them over and over) because the food would pop out into the ramakin if i just pushed on the bottom of the container. (sometimes i ran it under warm water first.)

[egoldber]

You need to make sure that any plastic you use to store any food is food safe plastic. Rubbermaid, TakeNToss type containers, etc. are all fine.

Actually bananas are one of the safest produce items you can buy non-organic. Here is a list of foods to watch for and foods that are considered safe:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/ewg102203.cfm

ETA: Oops should have said non-organic bananas were OK :)

[hellosmiletoday]

I just started solid feeding and am using Earth's best. DH and I were commenting that the bananas smell and taste pretty good. There are no preservatives except some added Vitamin C. I was going to try to make babyfood (for cost-savings and fun...not for "health" reasons), but I've decided it would just be too difficult for us to obtain organic fruits and veggies all the time, and the selection of organic produce in our regular grocery store is limited. The Whole Foods is far, so we have stocked up on Earth's Best. I would rather give her organic jarred food (which is not that much more expensive) than make her food with non-organic fruits and veggies.

[kijip]

I think that you have NO reason to worry- your daughter is doing fine with the canned foods. Whatever works well for you is great. It is nice that organic options are available for your baby that don't require a lot of time. Don't feel guilty- that woman was rude and not worth listening too.

[C99]

Omigod Beth, is that Sarah in your avatar?? She looks so big and grown-up!!

[egoldber]

LOL! She IS big and grown up!! :)

Here's the full-size pic:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/15611.jpg

[amp]

We used lots of jarred food before DS decided he was ready to move on to real people food! You are not doing anything wrong by using jarred baby food.