Make Your Own Baby Food

In pre-industrial societies, infant feeding choices were few. Breastfeeding was the norm, and babies and children ate versions of what adults ate. Lack of food for the whole group was the most serious area of concern. With the twentieth century’s development of technology capable of mass-producing formula and commercial baby food, infant feeding has become more complex. Parents must now choose whether to breastfeed or not, buy baby food or make it at home. Something else changes too. In a highly mobile society, in which people live and have children miles away from the extended family, new parents lack the mentoring role of relatives to help make decisions, and provide the historic continuity of how children were raised.

Though making baby food at home has tremendous benefits, commercial baby food has great appeal. The baby food industry spends millions of dollars advertising their product. Many see it as a symbol of progress. In a recent University of Toronto sociology course, students commented that making baby food would look to their parents and grandparents to be a sign of poverty and inability to afford the benefits of North American life. Though the majority had eaten home-made baby food when they were little, they now wanted to buy the commercial variety.

Convinced of its benefits, government and public health literature promote home-made baby food, outlining the sequence in which to introduce solids. Yet there is often a gap between health promotion and changed behavior. Responding to this dilemma, FoodShare Toronto developed its Baby Food Basics program, which encourages learning through participatory support groups and provides new parents with an opportunity to learn how easy baby food making can be.

by Debbie Field, FoodShare Executive Director

We believe that the hands-on approach taken in these workshops is the best demonstration of the benefits of homemade baby food. If you live in Toronto, you may be able to take advantage of one of our peer-led sessions, but for those who are outside the city or prefer written materials, we have developed this on-line guide. For health professionals and enthusiastic volunteers, we have also developed a train-the-trainer manual to help you learn to instruct others on the ABC’s of Baby Food.

You, Your Baby and Food! or Why it’s Important to Develop a Positive Feeding Relationship with Your Baby

As a parent, you can learn the cues your baby is giving you—if she is hungry or not, if she accepts or rejects a particular food you are offering, or how she responds to a new food. The parent is responsible for what and the child is responsible for how much. Ellyn Satter, the "baby nutrition guru" (who is also a registered dietician, therapist and mother) calls this the "division of responsibility" between parent and child. The parent’s job is done when the food has been prepared and presented or fed to the child in an appropriate way. Whether or how much the child eats is up to the child. But children are also very sensitive to the feelings of their parents and can sense stress and anxiety that can affect their own attitudes about food and eating.

A positive feeding relationship between parent and child stems from the principles of ‘trust’ and ‘control.’ Parents should trust their child’s internal cues, which guide whether or how much she will eat. The parent can also balance this trust with an element of control in what, when and where the child will be fed. Parents are responsible for choosing the appropriate food based on knowledge of nutrition and on a child’s ability to eat and digest food at different stages of their development. Tricking and forcing babies to eat foods they do not like, or do not want to eat at the time and place that you want to feed them, is not the best strategy.

In making your own baby food, you will be able to provide an appropriately textured food for your child at every stage of their development. While both homemade and commercial baby foods are considered to be nutritionally acceptable options, the homemade varieties often fit better with a family’s food culture. Although some recipes are included in the toolkit vegetables, fruits and protein foods prepared for family meals can easily become "baby food". By giving you some simple steps to follow, you will be able to provide your child with fresh and nutritious food in a safe and affordable way.

Politics of Baby Food

By the time infants in the United States reach 12 months of age, each of them has consumed, smeared around or spit out an average of 600 jars of commercial baby food. A Western European baby has consumed around 240 jars, whereas an Eastern European baby has eaten a total of 12 jars. In North America the cost to feed a baby from store-bought baby food averages $6000.00 a year. These numbers bring to light problems in our food system - of increasing commercial pressures from the large food companies, because they can profit, on how we feed our families. When parents come to believe that bottled baby foods are better, they become dependent on providing only these types of food for their baby.

Making baby food at home can not only challenge the pressures imposed upon us by commercial baby food producers, it can also empower parents to feed their families in ways that are culturally and economically appropriate to fit their needs.

Take The Taste Test

A key part of our Baby Food Basics workshop is a tasting of homemade baby foods and comparing them to commercial baby foods. The pictures below, showing both types, give some idea of the differences. But you really need to taste them to make up your mind.

The easiest taste test requires an investment of about 5 minutes: buy a jar of baby food made from bananas. Put a dollop of the store-bought banana baby food on a plate. Next take a ripe banana, mash it in a bowl with a fork and put a dollop of that beside the commercial food.

Compare home-made and jarred baby foods:

What is the difference in colour? Smell? Which looks more appealing? Why?

Now time for the taste test—taste and compare them:

Is one sweeter than the other? Which one has a nicer banana flavour? Which one do you prefer?

NEXT STEP : Ready, Steady, Go! Starting Baby on Solids