I appreciate your comments, though I would contend this was always intended as an anecdote and working example rather than proof of concept. Since babies confuse me, my favorite part of the post is Jen’s personal transformation (I’m so proud!).

I think there are a lot of ways to a healthy, happy baby and each family has to figure out what works best for their situation.

xoxox
darya

Yes, homemade food might be more nutritious, but whether a preparation of carrots has 10% or 20% of the USRDA recommended amount for a nutrient is irrelevant. A kid eating a balanced diet fills nutritional needs. Looking at the percentages of nutrients in each substance is the exact type of thing people like Michael Pollen argue against. There are reasons to eat local and fresh, but nutrient percentages aren’t the reason.

As for requesting references, I know and respect Darya. On this blog she tries to blend her love of food with scientific information. When scientific conclusions are presented without supporting data, I’ll push back. (i.e. kids who eat home-made mush eat better as toddlers) Sometimes there are no good data, and the real solution is to write something as a hypothesis rather than conclusion. Still, this is how I’d talk to a scientist in person and how I’ll address scientists here. (And Darya, for some reason I’ve gotten a bit pointed on this post. Do tell me if I should tone it down.)

I can’t cite any evidence (nor do i feel compelled to — this is a blog not a peer-reviewed academic journal) but I think most people would agree that fresh food of any kind tastes better than shelf-stable food. I think everyone can agree that fresh foods (even those that are later frozen) cooked at peak ripeness are more flavorful than those that are processed. Some evidence suggests that foods lightly cooked (and even frozen) are actually more nutritious than the stuff that comes in jars or cans (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/dining/02baby.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2).

But DIY isn’t for everyone. I can and do completely appreciate that. But for those who want to do it, there are benefits and to negate those benefits with sweeping, assumptive statements isn’t fair. There are as many anecdotal reasons why one should as well as one should not make fresh baby food. In the end, it is a choice that a parent makes. There is no “bad” option.

You experience great economies of scale if you can use existing kitchen equipment (eg. blender, Bamix, Thermomix), or if you have more than one child – and experimenting with mashed food combinations can yield tasty alternatives for soups, sauces and mashes that are suitable for parental palates.

H

You raise some excellent points. I don’t know of any studies off-hand, but you might try checking the Organic Consumer’s Assocation or Mother Earth News. Both are usually very reputable.

I do have some more anecdotal evidence to present. We fed my oldest son (who is now nearly 5 years old) regular jar baby food. He is by far one of the pickiest children I know. He will eat very little. Mostly we fed him jar food because we didn’t know any better (it wasn’t the high quality jar food, by the way). With our second son, I had just started getting into caring for our planet and planted a large organic garden. My wife bought a very small blender/puree thing and we steamed the food on the stove. It cost us $15 for the blender and we bought some containers so we could freeze some. He will eat just about anything, and is way more open-minded about trying new foods than his older brother.

Of course, this really doesn’t prove anything, because there are dozens of variables that are still involved, but I wanted to share that, at least for my children, it worked very well. And we saved a TON of money over buying jar food.

The “highest nutritional value” point is also weak. A person either receives a good variety of nutrients or does not. Even if the home-made mush has slightly more nutrients per ounce, a child can easily get more than sufficient nutrition with premade or homemade mush.
As for vital nutrients that might be entirely lost in mass production, I’d like to know about any that wouldn’t also be lost in home steaming and blending. Do you know of any published scientific studies showing babies raised on a well-balanced mix of mass produce mush have nutrient deficiencies or even significantly lower levels of nutrients than babies on homemade foods?

There is a point regarding BPA, but the dangers of the trace amounts of BPA that might be in the lids of glass jars are still unclear. Also, quite a few baby food containers are now BPA free. See: http://thesoftlandingbaby.com/2009/02/02/which-prepared-baby-food-containers-are-bpa-free/ Note, I just found that website on a quick search and don’t know anything about it’s reliability or accuracy.

I’m not trying to criticize anyone who spends the time making their own mush. Some children really might like it more and eating local and not throwing out containers is better for the environment. What I’m pushing back against is the idea that there’s scientific evidence that it’s nutritionally better or leads to children eating better as toddlers. If you know of peer reviewed papers, I’d be glad to educate myself.

I know parents who fed their babies the usual store bought mush and had their toddlers devour mushrooms and olives. My daughter had a huge variety of fruit and vegetable mush jars (never sweetened & never with more than a few clearly recognizable ingredients) and now she’ll barely touch a vegetable whether it’s from a farmer’s market or supermarket. She does devour fresh fruit and has extremely little mass produced products as part of her daily diet. (She also eats raw cinnamon so I won’t vouch for her sense of taste)

My point is that you’re presenting an anecdote. It’s really half an anecdote because you don’t yet know what your toddler will eat. It’s great for the environment that you use fresh, local ingredients. Whether fresh or store bought, your baby will get every nutrient she needs to grow up healthy. I think there’s evidence that a baby’s diet that is too heavily weighted towards sugary mush (i.e. fruit mush only) isn’t great. There’s clearly evidence that parents should push a balanced diet on toddlers and limit the intake of sweets. I don’t know of any evidence that steaming your own vegetables will affect your child’s long-term food interests any more than buying a high quality jar. If you have evidence beyond anecdote, I’d love to read it.