Best Baby Food Brands

Earthbound is also .5 oz larger than Gerber Organics.
Advocado is a good first food. I also make some of my foods. Veggies are the easiest and I usually fit it in on weekends or after work. Only about 15 extra minutes.

I also vote for waiting a little longer.

I have 3 children, 18 yr old, 16 yr old, and a 4 yr old and I have always used Gerber. The other brands didnt appeal me much. But I think they all have about the same nutrition value. I also think that Gerber have a better variety.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Great advice to wait a little longer, (Although I ended up caving in at 5 months with my 2nd baby, because my he was desperately trying to snatch food from your hand, and grabbing my plate and shaking it while shrieking like a banshee. But I started SLOWLY.) I don't buy into the "veggies first, because if they have fruit first, they'll never want veggies" argument. (Google "baby food myths")

Gerber and Beechnut aren't all they're cracked up to be
- they claim in ads that "Nutritionally You Can't Buy A Better Baby Food Than Gerber," then they load up their jarred food with fillers like modified food starch and sugar. (Modified starches - like "tapioca" basically just suck up a bunch of water, and if you've ever made and homemade baby food, you know you already need to add a lot of water to things like bananas and sweet potatoes). And thier little processed meat thingys? Those vienna sausage-like things? Ugh.

Now, I'm not some crackpot anti-corporate hippy - I learned this from the "Center for Science in the Public Interest", the same group that lobbied so hard to get companies to label food that was loaded with "Trans fats" when corporations said "That will just confuse consumers!"

"Cheating Babies" Summary:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_n3_v23/ai_...

"Cheating Babies" Full report:
http://www.cspinet.org/reports/cheat1.html

Do yourself a favor, save A TON of money, and do a few easy things yourself. Mash an inch-long section of banana with a fork. Bang! You've just made homemade baby food! The same with avocado - the healthy fat in avocado is GREAT for baby's brain! Put a little canteloupe in a blender. Canteloupe is super-healthy baby food - it's loaded with vitamins A and C. And of course fruit natually pairs with yogurt (either the little organic "baby yogurts" or a big tub of plain whole milk yogurt - although I can never use those up in time.)

Once you realize how easy it can be, and how much more nutritious, you may want to do a few simple cooked things.
(And, no, I'm not a SAHM with lots of time on my hands - I'm super-busy, too.) I throw 3 large sweet potatoes on a baking sheet in the oven for an hour (or until it's soft in the middle - pierce with a fork.) Take 'em out and chill them in the 'fridge overnight. (So far, it's taken maybe 60 seconds). After they cool, the skin practically falls off, and I throw them in a blender and puree, adding filtered water until it's smooth enough to pour. The I fill up some ice cube trays and freeze them overnight, and then store in freezer bags. (No special equipment required - just a blender and ice cube trays)

Total time of my effort: maybe 5 minutes
Total number of servings of sweet potatoes: usually 40-50!
Total cost: less than $2, and that's using ORGANIC sweet potatoes!
Total cost if I had bought the jarred stuff at the store: Easily $25 or more. Plus a LOT of little glass jars.

The Wholesome Baby Food website compares the cost per ounce of jarred baby food vs. homemade, and the jarred stuff is about 5 to 25 times more expensive.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/cost.htm

I only get the jarred stuff so that I'll have something stashed in the diaper bag for emergencies or trips to the zoo.

There are lots of ideas for recipes here:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

These days I see some high-end baby foods in the freezer section - they're even more expensive than the jarred stuff. Look at the ingredient list, get ideas, and make the same thing at home for next to nothing.

I have abook called "Super Baby Food" - I've looked at a number of these books and this one really does have the healthiest stuff, but it's kind of hard to read. The website above will really give you plenty of information.

Oh, and the "DHA" thing someone mentioned? It's not "some new thing" - just new to be added to baby food. If it's in the mom's diet, it's passed in her breastmilk, and we know that ain't new! I don't like fish, so I made sure to take DHA supplents during pregnancy (most prenatal vitamins have them now) and when the babe was born, I started adding a DHA supplement to his bottles of breastmilk when I went back to work. It's mostly purified cod-liver oil, but flavored to taste and smell like strawberry. (One of his baby sitters said "This breastmilk smells like strawberries? What have you been eating?" HA HA). If you don't like the idea of fish oil, flaxseed oil also has omega-3s, and your body can convert that to DHA.

Hi Joy!

I have only a suggestion and of course please do what you feel best for your beautiful baby. I decided to make all of my baby food over buying it. I am not sure if it is cheaper, but I have twins and thought it very well could be. I would buy sweet potatoes and other frozen vegetables-boil them and then puree them until they were just like the brand name baby foods. It was very easy and many times, what was fed for dinner was lunch the next day. When it came time for fruits, I did the same thing. I bought a lot of frozen fruits, boiled and pureed. I also bought sugar free applesauce. I did buy Gerber cereal, but everything else was homemade. My kids did great and are very healthy. We would use the store bought items if we were traveling or out during a feeding. And they did fine on that too. For that I used Gerber foods. Good luck!!!!

I love Earth's Best, an organic brand. It can be found at Kroger, Publix, Whole Foods and Babies R Us. Also, Gerber has a line of organic baby food.

Dear Joy,

I've skimmed over your other posts and see a lot of mommies recommending home-made baby food. If you do decide to go this route good for you! It is one of the healthiest ways to feed your baby. I would recommend though not to prepare carrots or other foods that we typically eat the outer skin or peel of unless they have been grown organically. Most of the pesticides used to grow our regular vegetables rest in the skin or outer peel. Pesticides build up to a higher concentration much more quickly in our small babies bodies than they do in ours. Also, organic vegetables and fruits cost about the same as the ones grown with pesticides.

Aside from making your own baby food which is what I did, go to the health food store and get baby foods there.Many are organic with minimum alt/sweet ( non-refined) sweetener) The standard grocery store brands are still loaded with fillers, refined sugars, starches and salt. Start your baby healthy. Feed him/her from the health foood store. J. Gordon

Unless there is a specific reason to start him out on solids, it's best to wait until he is at least 6 months old. If you do start him out on foods, making them yourself is the best way. You can cook let's say, a bunch of carrots, then puree it, then spoon it out into ice cube trays and put in the freezer and once frozen, put them into a freezer bag. Then when they are ready to be eaten, just get a cube out and warm it up. Do that to several different veggies.

Avacado is one that is good to start out with for a baby. (Don't freeze acavado though.) You don't need to start a baby out with refined carbs such as the gerber baby cereal. They don't need it, just feed veggies and fruits..start out with veggies. Cereals can also sometimes constipate a baby. Just my two cents worth.

Gerber is okay for oatmeal, rice cereal, etc. However, their vegetables and fruits are sold in plastic that contains bisphenal A, which is found to potentially cause accelerated puberty and hormonal/fertility problems, attention problems and cancer. When you use plastic products, you will know if the plastic is the type you should avoid by looking at the triangular raised stamp that appears on most plastics. If it contains the numbers 3, 6 or 7, you should NOT use the plastic, as the bisphenal A can leach out into your baby's food or milk. Watch out for this with your bottles, as well, as many of the popular brands are made with the bad plastic. With regard to food, I have been using Earth's Best. It is organic and is more expensive. I am wanting to try to start making my own food on the weekends, but have not had the time, so, unfortunately, I have been paying the cost. Recently, Publix had a 2 for 1 sale, and I stocked up on it! If your are looking for bisphenal A- free bottles, look at the Born Free Bottles. But, I believe, if you go to amazon.com you can search for other bisphenal A - free bottles. Good luck!

Quiet honestly, it's all the same except for price and variaty once you start getting into Stage 2 foods. All this DHA or what ever it is is an all new thing now and they didn't have that 2 yrs ago (that's how old my youngest is) and he is perfectly normal!! lol As far as organic, I'd check with the company that makes it to see how organic it is. What I mean is, is the soil organic? If manure was used, was it organic (in order for that to be organic, the cow has to be fed organic food for example.)? Get the idea?? Really, it's a whole process that the FDA doesn't have total control over so anyone can label something organic or hormone free and it doesn't have to include the whole process.

Feed you baby which ever brand you choose. He'll love you none the less!!

S.

That is a bit early for solids, however we used mainly beechnut. I loved this product because unlike gerber which sometimes adds sugars into their fruits beechnut did not becareful off stuff labeled as desserts in any babyfood b/c they usually have added sugars! We started with butternut squash then carrots, then mild fruit like pear I think they say it's best to start with the yellow fruit /veggies I think they are milder so thats what we did and start with veggies b/c sometimes the fruit is nice and sweet and theyhen they don't care fo the taste of veggies but each baby is different. Make sure you wait a few days between each new food introduced to watch for any allergy. I didn't have the time to make homemade babyfood, but I think that is a great option as well. baby food has pretty strict requirements so I wasn't too worried about the organic label my three year old is very healthy now and I will use beechnut with my newborn but not at 4 months I didn't start rice cereal mixed with breast milk/ formula until my 1st was almost 6 months. Good luck don't stress :)

Earth's Best is great, but also pricey. We used Beechnut for our twins, which does not add anything to most of their babyfood through stage 2 (but watch out for those "dessert fruits" as some have added sugar). Also you can collect the labels and send in for coupons off your next purchse of Beechnut. Our friend made her own food for her son using a food processor and ice cube trays, and he loved it, but we never seemed to have (or make) the time. Good luck in whatever you choose!
J.

Hello Joy, if you have the time then I will say make your own baby food because it is going to be fresh, wholesome and more nutritious without any unwanted extras etc. Check out Yummy Spoonfuls,local company that makes fresh organic baby food. You can get them at the freezer section in Whole Foods markets and a host of other stores. www.yummyspoonfuls.com

We used Earth's Best a lot. I especially like them for the cereals, because they use whole grains, and I felt like that was more nutritious than just the Gerber refined, white rice cereal. Also, you can easily make lots of fruits and vegetables into baby food (Cook, puree in food processor, freeze in ice cube tray for individual portions, then store in labelled freezer bags). I never made cereal or meat homemade, but I did a lot of fruits and vegetables that way. If that doesn't interest you, there are plenty of great, healthy baby food flavors out there for your little boy. I tended to use homemade food at home and keep store-bought for travelling and eating out. If it does interest you, there's a book called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. Even if you don't make half of what she suggests, she has a great chart on when to introduce what foods. Sorry if this is way more info than you wanted!

V., mom of 4 yr old twins and 21-month old.

I'm curious as to why the peditrician suggest him starting eating so early? 6 months is ideal, their digestive system is not ready for solids before that. Have you thought of making your own food?, it's very simple. I found that the stuff in the grocery store doesn't taste like real fruits and veggies so when they get older they won't eat the real thing. My son is 2 and a half and loves his fruits and veggies because he has been eating the real stuff (without perservatives that alter the taste) since he was 6 months old. The Super Baby Food Book is awesome.

Earth's Best is the best food brand--totally organic ingredients. Gerber has an organic line too. All baby food is pretty healthy, but in the non-organic varieties, the veggies and fruits were treated with the same pesticides our food is treated with. As a bonus, most kids i know LIKE the taste of Earth's best better than Gerber or Beech Nut. I know my daughter did and I really feel like it prepped her taste buds to enjoy healthy food--she is 19 months and won't eat any sweets or much meat, but she loves her fruits, veggies, and whole grains!! I'm a junk food/ fast food lover, so i know I didn't have anything to do with it!!

You might want to ask your doctor what the rush is for baby food, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests waiting until at least 6 months of age to introduce solid food. When you do start solids, I've found Happy Baby and Earth's Best to be really good. Also, its fun to make it yourself if you have time. There's a good book So Easy Baby Food that gives little recipes with which food to introduce at which age. Hope this helps :)

I always bought Gerber or Beechnut. But I found that when I was buying the biter bisquits though to buy gerber b/c they were individually packaged unlike beechnut that always seem to have a bunch of broken ones in the box which waisted alot of money since I was unable to give him most of them b/c some very very small pieces or too small for him to hold and eat.But gerber has some great varieties of fruits and veggies and I always liked them.

There is no reason to start baby food this early; we didn't go with solids until 6 months with our first daughter, and 8 months with the second. Breastmilk or formula will suffice till then (and has more nutrition anyway). When you do start, I'd go with organic foods in glass rather than plastic containers. For allergy testing, try a single ingredient food (fruit or veggie) at least a few days before you try a new one to see if there are any reactions. Good luck and have fun with that first meal!!

Babies stomach walls, and some intestines aren't fully closed at 4 months. It is best to wait until 6 months. My little one even refused solids until 7 months, showing me she just wasn't ready yet.
I'm not sure if you're nursing, but all the cereals were constipating with her, so we didn't give her cereal at all. I nursed, and took a prenatal & her iron levels are great! If you prefer to give cereal, Healthy Times brown rice cereal, or the oat cereal is what we went with. You can find it at Earth Fare, or Whole Foods. We also went with Healthy Times jarred organic baby foods. They have a great selection at Earth Fare, and only a few choices of flavors at Whole Foods.
We don't microwave any foods, so I didn't cook & freeze food for her. She started self feeding at 10 months, so now I'm steaming carrots, and cooking peas, and she loves avacado chunks, and banana. Extra ripe red anjou pears are her absolute favorite. Pears in the jar, and a little diluted organic prune juice is great if your LO gets constipated after starting solids.
Have fun with it! Also, If he spits it back out at you, he's not ready for solids.

Gerber is a great brand! All three of my children ate it and did fine. Gerber also makes some organic foods if you want to try them. Just make sure you start with green veggies first, a lot of kids get the taste of the sweet fruits and orange veggies and then don't like the green veggies. and keep trying, if you give him something and he doesn't like it, dont give up. eventually he may eat it. or you can mix it with something you find that he does like! have fun and keep lots of bibs and washcloths close by!!!

Hi Joy,
You have a lot of input here so I'll keep it short. I agree that 4 months is too early to start, I would wait until 6 months unless there is a really good reason to start now. I really cant imagine what it could be. Right now he should be getting most of his nutrition from his formula/bm, wait a while on the rice and oatmeal if you can. He really doesnt need that right now and its not good for his stomach/intestines. Always use organic if you can. You will find, especailly with rice, that it is only pennies more and much worth it. With that said, when you do decide to start do the veggies first and formost. Dont start the fruits until a couple months later. The homemade method is very easy, and can save a ton of money. I did this for most of my babies veggies and fruits. I also used Earths Best too. It is wonerful. Add about an oz. of apple juice with purified or spring water to his diet if you want. It will help with his eletyrlite balance. For the comment on the organics...Not true at all. If something is truly organic, it means the soil and every aspect is throughly inspected on a REGULAR basis. If a company is caught selling a product as organic that isn't, they are charged over $3000 for each item on the shelf. Products should always have a certified circle on the front and say who they are certified by. If you see that, you can certainly trust that it is as organic as we can get today. Best of luck to you and your little boy:)

I don't know why doctors keep recommending solid food so early! Our pediatrician also said we could start our son on solids at 4 months, but we waited until after 6 months -- as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. We have used Gerber, BeechNut, and Earth's Best baby foods, and they all seem comparable. We also bought some DelMonte baby food at Big Lots (never knew they made baby food). So far so good, and it's a lot cheaper. We don't buy any of the "dessert" dishes because they do have added sugar and we are trying to keep things natural for as long as possible.

Now that our son is older he is eating more and more table foods. He LOVES to feed himself. We started with avocado, then pears, green beans, baked potato, banana, zucchini, squash, and now even chicken. He loves the chicken! Most things we steam, but sometimes we microwave (potato). It's very easy. The only things we've put up are pears and zucchini. Usually we just make enough for a couple of meals. Good luck!

The updated recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that babies get no solids until six months. Some pediatricians aren't aware of that. Unless your baby can sit unassisted and has lost the tongue-thrust (where he pushes things out of his mouth), he should not be eating solids.

The AAP suggests not feeding solids until somewhere around the middle of the first year. Baby food is not necessary. Just have the baby sit at the table when you eat, he will grab and play with what you have and learn to eat from you. If he can't sit up, he is not ready to eat. Make sure you have good healthy whole foods at each meal. Kids will eat what you eat, but if you give them baby food, sometimes they become picky. They won't like certain textures, etc. It is better for them to experience food the way that nature intended it.

i used beech nut, which is just like gerber, but cheaper. they sell it at wal-mart. good luck

At 4mo all your baby needs is formula/breast milk. I know another poster said the biter bisquits (sp). I bought them once and my daughter had a huge chunk in her mouth, they went right in the trash. When my daughter did start jar food I bought the gerber foods. They have a very good varity and gerber has been around forever. Keep in mind his belly is only as big as his fist, so he may not eat as much as you think he should eat. good luck

Gerber is always trustworthy.But I agree it is "filled" with fillers. We bought one of those grinders for baby food and just fed them that way--even though they grab for your food. Don't go to veggies until 6 months. I have 5 children and nursed for a long time. But so I could leave the babies with my husband once in a while, we did cereal and some applesauce first. By 6 monthes they can eat more variety--try a new food once a week. You will know if they are allergic or not that week GOOD LUCK!!You can try sippy cups by 6 months too with the formula--just a half a cup at lunch and dinner. continue with nursing or bottles at regular times. It is so rewarding. Some of my children loved the sippy cup right away, the others just threw it or played with it until 9-12 mo.