The choice to make your baby's food is a personal one, but one that I made for the following reasons:
1. In most cases, the first ingredient in baby food is water. I can barely stomach paying $1 for a 20oz bottle of water, more or less $1 for 2.5oz of water with some carrots mashed in it that may only become a crusty decoration on a bib.
2. Jarred baby food does not contain the same nutritional value as the same food prepared fresh. Baby food manufacturers have to make the food capable of sitting of shelves for years, and once opened, the food has to be a certain consistency, thus a 4oz. jar of green beans is filled with water, thickeners and processed green beans, where green beans prepared at home can be made from fresh green beans thinned in the juice in which they were prepared, so that very few nutrients are lost.
3. Baby food is expensive. The current advice is to go organic for the first year of your child’s life. Commercial organic baby food can cost up to $.25 more per ounce than homemade, especially considering that much of what you are paying for is water.
4. Homemade baby food allows a wider range of foods, thus exposing children to more foods before they enter into more stubborn phases. Eating a wide variety of foods is always healthy as each food contributes its own unique benefits, but more importantly for parents, it gives options for healthy meals when dislikes rear their ugly heads.
My decision was made when I discovered that commercially prepared baby food does not taste as good as fresh food. Smell and taste jarred baby food and compare that to the same food prepared fresh. Which food you would prefer to eat? This notion may feel elementary but the implications are far-reaching.
In the United States, obesity is an epidemic because we do not have a healthy relationship with food; we over-eat, eat the wrong things, and all for the wrong reasons, but eating habits are nothing more than what we are taught.
A mom once told me that she was taking her fourteen-month-old to the doctor because he would only eat French fries, tater tots, and chicken fingers. I am not judging, but at fourteen months, your child will only eat what you are feeding him. If you introduce kids to junk food and reward him for eating two bites of carrot with more junk, you have taught your child that the salty, sweet, fried taste of processed food is better than something healthy. And why would your child not agree if those carrots were jarred a year ago and watered down? It takes no more effort to nuke a carrot than a tater tot, so why not serve healthy food?
Tastes are created very young by exposure and experience, so if your child throws his broccoli on the floor, do not assume that he does not like it. Research has shown that it may take up to fifteen exposures to a food before a child develops a preference. Those repeated exposures to healthy foods served with smiles and encouragement are the beginnings of healthy eating habits and preferences. Those habits will stick if nurtured by parents who encourage healthy eating and eat well themselves, as your child will aspire to eat what you do.
