Disclaimers

I woke up this morning wanting to add in some disclaimers to this blog:

1.) While I believe starting solids at six months is important to avoid texture rejection later in life, it is true that before age 1, solids are just for fun. Nutritionally, breast milk or formula should make up the majority of their diet.

2.) While making your own baby food is best, in today's busy world, that's not always an option.

What I generally do is to cook in bulk on the weekends and then freeze in BPA free ice cube trays. This is a good way to measure how much food your baby is eating because each cube is exactly one ounce and if you're running late, your little one doesn't have to wait long for a meal.

If you don't get the time to cook on a rare week, I would strongly urge you to only buy organic jarred or organic, BPA free pouches of food. What seems minimal to us in terms of pesticides or BPA is exponentially worse for babies. Some brands I have had luck with in a crunch are Ella's Kitchen, Plum Organics and Sprout, in order of my little guy's preference.

3.) As I stated in a prior post, breast milk is the best form of nutrition for babies. With that said, not all moms can breastfeed or pump for their child. Formula does suffice in the case of illnesses that can pass through breast milk. It's the difference between eating homemade squash and Ella's Kitchen squash. Your child is still fed, but if you have the option for the former, do it as long as you can. In a separate post, I'll showcase the differences.

I know there are battles brewing between moms on so many topics and I want this blog to be as non-controversial as possible. All moms are supermoms. We all want the best for our children - this is just my journey with my little guy showcased. I hope it can help some folks out there but I truly hope it doesn't hurt anyone.

Rainbows and unicorns to all!

You don't eat out of a jar

As parents, we are heavily marketed to for toys, diapers, formula and even food. Gerber, Beech Nut, Earth's Best... how do you choose? Which one is best?

I'm here to say, your food is the best! (Oh yes, breast milk is the best too, but this post is about solid foods.)

We need to think past the cute little jars with the colorful labels. As adults, we don't eat everything out of a jar or a box - why should our little ones?

According to a study done by Daryth D. Stallone, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D. titled "Cheating Babies: Nutritional Quality and Cost of Commercial Baby Food", they stated:

Gerber and Heinz replace real food with water and thickening agents in many of their products for children over six months of age. Such adulterated products are nutritionally inferior to products made with more fruits and vegetables.

Any multi-ingredient jar of food will have fillers in it to get it to the correct weight and additives as preservatives. Compare the nutritional value a jar of bananas with a jar of bananas, peaches & rice mix. The jar of plain bananas has far more nutrition and the mixed variety has far less vitamins but more sugars and starches. The study went a step further to compare whole fruits to jarred fruits:

One 4-ounce serving of fresh apricots provides about 335 mg of potassium and 2860 IU of vitamin A. By contrast, a 4-ounce serving of Gerber's apricots with tapioca contains only 139 mg of potassium and 1333 IU of vitamin A--or less than one-half as much.

Heinz' apricots with tapioca compare even less favorably with the fresh fruit than Gerber's. A 4-ounce serving contains only 78 mg of potassium (23% of the amount in fresh apricots) and 813 IU of vitamin A (28% of the amount in fresh apricots), suggesting that Heinz' product is less than 30% fruit by weight.

But it's not just the fillers or preservatives that scare me. It's the pesticides that worry me as well. The United Kingdom's version of the FDA (Food Standards Agency) did a study in 2002 with the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment and took that worry to a new level. Their report questioned how the different artificial chemicals in our food might combine to produce even deadlier unknown toxins. Their conclusion was that the long-term health consequences of this situation are unknown. I find that to be very scary, especially when it concerns my baby.

Finally, if none of that scares you, then imagine having that kid that eats nothing but chicken nuggets. Jarred foods have less than 20 flavors. Think about all the foods you eat and think about all that your child will miss out on by the time he's done with Gerber toddler foods at age 2 or 3. Tantalize their taste buds today and you won't suffer 3 years from now when little Johnny scarfs down his brussel sprouts and couscous!

In closing, I know several states are trying to get taxes on soda, juice and other sugary products. While that's a start, a better way to get folks to eat healthy is to follow in Canada's footsteps - have less tax on fruits and vegetables than on prepared, jarred foods. Instead of penalizing the unhealthy, just make it easier for Middle America to be healthy. But that's a whole different post of mine on changing America's mentality on food.

Happy eating to you and yours!