Hurrah! Your baby reaches six months and can now be fed with solid food. With so many choices out there, how do you make sure you are feeding them with safe and healthy food? When should you opt for stored bought organic baby food? When should you stick with homemade baby food? If you are looking for choices of baby food, we are going to share some tips when you consider homemade vs stored bought organic baby food choice for your little one.
Of course homemade baby food is always the best way as we know exactly what food is given to our baby, without any additives. What happen if the time is not on our side? What happen if we need to bring some baby food while travelling and homemade one can be spoilt if we keep them outside the fridge for longer hours?
There are also significant benefits to eating stored bought organic baby food. Nevertheless, we recommend reading the label and survey before purchasing.
Homemade vs Stored bought Organic Baby Food
Pros and Cons of Homemade Baby Food
Commercial organic baby food can be expensive. And who knows the real quality of preserved ingredients in a jar?
By making baby food ourselves, we can monitor the cleanliness of it, as well as its quantity. We can customize the fruits, vegetables and meat that can put in it. No additives and no chemicals.
However, making baby food from scratch is not an easy task for some working parents. Preparing and cooking variety food everyday from fresh ingredients can take up longer time. Keeping the ingredient fresh and full of nutrients that a baby need to thrive is a must-learn lesson as a new mom.
Another consequence of homemade baby food is it might be more expensive to find organic food in the market and it easily spoils.
Tips in Making Homemade Baby Food
Making homemade baby food is easy. As long as you keep the bad stuff out and remove possible items that can make them choke, you’re all good. Here are some tips you can follow:
- Before you start, make sure your hands, environment, equipment, and products are all clean.
- Remove any kind of stems and seeds in fruits and vegetables.
- For the cooking method, you may choose between baking, steaming, and roasting.
- For the meat, remove the skin, fat, bone, and any connective tissues. Cook them well.
- In the ninth month, you may start introducing tiny pieces of food.
- Introduce finger food later. Remember that it must be soft and easy to swallow.
- Monitor them when they eat so you can watch out for choking.
Pros and Cons of stored bought organic baby food
There are significant benefits to eating organic baby food. They do not contain GMOs or artificial colors or preservatives, and some studies even show that organic food has more antioxidants. These organic baby food brands reduce the exposure to pesticides which is common in supermarket products.
However, we recommend reading the label before purchasing. Beware that most of these organic baby food brands are in bottles, cans and jars which may contain other additives and preservatives.
Things to Consider When Buying Organic Baby Food
Nutritional Value
Can they get protein and iron from it? These are nutrients that need to be added to your child’s diet, especially after six months. Also, be careful with salt because your baby’s kidney is not yet well developed. You may start introducing salt when they reach one year old, and by then, they can consume a maximum of 2 grams a day.
Read the Label
Are there any artificial flavoring and preservatives? If yes, then don’t buy it. These can be challenging to digest for babies. Also, make sure that there is no water in the primary ingredient because this is not considered filling for the baby.
Age Appropriateness
Take it easy and start with easy-to-digest fruits and vegetables once your baby reaches the sixth month. Let them try a smooth puree first until two months later. When they reach the eighth month, you may introduce food with texture, such as pasta or meat.
Shelf-Life of the Organic Baby Food
Check the expiry dates before purchasing organic baby food. It usually has a short shelf life, so don’t purchase something that wouldn’t be eaten within the next three months.
Preference of your Little One
It may take some time before your baby gets used to a particular brand, so don’t switch brands right away if the baby spits it up. If you expose them to more flavors while they are younger, you’ll be less likely to end up having a picky eater.
Beware of Toxic Metals
Unfortunately, there have been recent news about famous baby food brands containing heavy metals. These baby food brands are tainted with arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. You can read here for the headlines and 2021 report.
Heavy metals in baby’s food can harm the brain so we have to be more careful in choosing what’s best for them.
Best Organic Baby Food Brands
After doing careful research on everything organic, here’s my verdict – 5 best organic baby food brands that you can entrust your baby with:
Serenity Kids
If you are looking for pureed meats, Serenity is your best bet. They got meat rich in protein, omega 3, CLAs, and other essential fatty acids. Their flavors range from turkey, chicken, uncured bacon, beef, salmon, and bison. For babies who need high calories food with low sugar content, here is the choice for you.
Check out their web page from Amazon.
Pumpkin Tree Organic
They may not have many choices, but PumpkinTree is a USDA Certified Organic product free from GMO ingredients. Our favorite flavors are apple and grape and banana, mango, and orange. Yes, that includes us, adults. Adults can eat them too!
Check out their web page from Amazon
Once Upon a Farm
What sets them apart is having cold-pressed pressed organic meals to perfection. Oh, by the way, do you know that Jennifer Garner co-founds this organic baby food brand? Some of the organic fruits and vegetables grow from their century-old family farm!
Check out their web page: https://onceuponafarmorganics.com/
Yumi
Yumi prides itself on offering delicious purees with its best-selling chef series. They offer eight stages of organic baby food, starting from single-ingredient to multi-ingredient purees. Some of their flavors are sweet potato cheesecake or Polenta Mushroom Bolognese – who wouldn’t drool?
Visit their website : https://helloyumi.com/
Ella’s Kitchen
Overall, this has been our favorite because it ticks all items on our checklist. It is a UL brand with about 200 food items that can feed your child until they reach adolescence. This organic baby food brand offers 4 – 6 months old products that include both single and multi-ingredient purees.
How about you, mommies? Which would you opt for your little ones? Would you rather go for homemade baby food or stick with stored bought organic baby brands? Share with us your favorite stored bought organic baby food that you like and why.
Related post: “Baby best food for brain health“
This has been an interesting article to read. Not only is baby food better for any child when it’s organic ingredients but you also know exactly what’s going into it because you are making it yourself. So i’d say that it beats the stuff prepacked in a jar from the supermarket any day of the week.
Hi, homemade is good but for some reasons, prepacked food is also good when you are not free. Just find a reliable brands and your baby is still able to get nutritious healthy food anytime anywhere conveniently.
It’s soo nice that I came across your article. My baby just turned 6 months and I am feeding her bought organic and homemade food. I find some homemade food not easy to make, and my baby does not like all of them.
I buy organic mix fruits but cook vegetables and other things at home. Thanks for providing the tips I will need when buying organic food. What are the best food for 6 months old babies?
I usually give her rice porridge and haven’t try anything yet. I will try your list and see.
Hi, usually for 6 months old baby i would suggest you mix some milk powder or breastmilk with fruit/vegetable puree. It is to ensure their little tummy will slowly accept other foods other than milk. You can try all kind of fruit and vegetables as long as you puree them to avoid choking hazard. The more variety you introduce the less they will become picky eater.
Greetings! I’m pleased to meet you. The post you shared is very important and interesting. I agree with you a hundred percent that homemade baby food is always the best as you outlined. This is the information every mom should come across, it can help them a lot. I am going to share it with my girlfriend, thanks for providing this crucial information.
I feel that we should prepare our baby’s food as much as we can. One way to make eating solid foods for the first time easier for our baby is to give them a little breast milk or formula first. Then give them a very small half tablespoon of food and finish with more breast milk or formula. This will keep your baby from getting frustrated when being very hungry.
Hi, Ann. I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.