Congratulations on your new born. You are here today because you want to probably want to make that decision of whether to give ready made foods or wholesome homemade baby food to your child. These are questions that run in the mind of every new mother and its natural.
First, there is no rule, which says commercial baby jars of food are not good for the baby. You can still be a good parent if you give a baby food jar to your child. Don’t die of guilt. Having said that lets try to understand what is important for our children.
The deal here is, with the right set of appliances and just a little time, planning and making baby food is very therapeutic. It’s similar to breastfeeding. By preparing the super food for your baby at home, you know the food made is wholesome without preservatives, additives and artificial flavors. And what more, making baby food at home saves time, money and your energy.
The good part is you would be stepping into the kitchen to cook for yourself and the family and preparing the baby food will take only that extra 15 minutes while you are at it in the kitchen.
How Are Commercial Baby Foods Prepared
The commercial baby food that are packed in jars are cooked at extremely high temperatures to kill bacteria for longer storage. What this does in my opinion is that it takes out some of the nutrients and more importantly the taste of fresh food. A lot of times, certain commercial baby food in jars contain thickening agents like flour to bulk up the quantity of vegetables and purees giving a weird taste to the baby food.
Advertisements and great branding can make you shift towards the commercials jars, but the truth remains that the fresh taste and nutrition get drastically reduced.
What Should You Keep In Mind When Buying Commercial Baby Food
So if you plan to buy the commercial jars, then ensure you read the label. Try to avoid baby products that contain sugar, food starches, other additives and flavors.
Buy products that do not have thickeners, and fillers. The food should to wholesome with the least number of additives. Also avoid picking up baby desserts, instead give your baby fresh fruits. Babies don’t crave for sugar and if you introduce it to them at a very young age, then they tend to latch onto sugar foods for a long time.
If possible, spend that extra buck to buy organic and chemical free food.
Advantages of Homemade Baby Food
When you think of the pros of making food at home, your mind will not incline to thick that it takes time and that it is not convenient. The advantages will outweigh the small disadvantages of making baby food.
Making your own baby food, will help you think about what you are feeding your child and also paving a path for your child’s future early on to eat fresh homemade food as opposed to packaged food. They will learn to enjoy more flavors and taste.
You can choose to give a fresh, fruits and vegetables that are steamed and pureed. Add real flavors like cinnamon, turmeric and spices to enable the child to start loving the food you cook at home. And very soon your child will start enjoying the food as the rest of the family which could be in a pureed form.
Roasting and steaming food at home, gives out its own special flavors. Making three or four different fruits and vegetables at a time and storing it in small jars for the day helps ease your baby meal planning and gives you more time to spend with the baby too.
With the above pointers in mind, think before you buy a packaged food to your baby and make that extra effort to develop the taste buds for your child early on. Get help and tips from mothers, grand mothers and anyone who has been through the mother hood and cooked food for their babies at home.
In the end, take that extra time to relax and not stress on every bite the baby takes. Feeding babies whether it's homemade or commercial food takes time and patience.
