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Homemade Baby Food Rich in TLC

Posted on: Wednesday, 9 January 2008, 18:00 CST

Jill Manhart started making homemade baby food for her first daughter because she wanted to know what was in the foods she was spooning into her child.

Her young Omaha family tries to eat healthfully, so Manhart typically chooses organic produce.

But then steaming, pureeing and freezing brightly colored blueberries, sweet potatoes and green beans became kind of fun, said Manhart, who is now preparing baby food for her second daughter, Ava, 11 months.

"It's almost like making paints," said Manhart, a part-time art therapist who works with deaf and hearing-impaired preschoolers. "Now I just kind of enjoy the visuals of it."

The assurance of knowing exactly what they're feeding their children and the potential for cost savings are among the reasons some parents make their baby food.

Other factors go beyond the practical, including the satisfaction of making something baby will slurp down with a smile, having no need to add the word "yuck" to her growing vocabulary.

Parents also may feel the need to make every bite count. Babies grow quickly and need calcium, vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, carbohydrates and iron for physical and mental development.

Not everyone is doing it, of course. In fact, few do. Nor is it a requirement for raising a healthy child.

Commercial baby foods are convenient, nutritious and safe, and they come in a variety of choices, both conventional and organic. The only commercial baby foods doctors and dietitians typically advise against are dinners because they may contain added starches and sugars that baby doesn't need.

"You don't need to bypass those (commercial baby foods) to build a better baby," said Melinda Johnson, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

And breast milk or formula remain baby's main source of nutrition for the first year, said Kathryn Heldt, a clinical dietitian with Children's Hospital in Omaha.

Solid foods are more for practice during that time. The key is providing variety and balance.

"That's the best way to ensure an adequate nutrient intake and set the stage for balanced eating for a lifetime," Heldt said.

But interest in making baby food appears to be stirring. A number of cookbooks and Web sites can guide those who want to give it a try.

"It's got more of a buzz around it in the new-parent world," said Johnson, a private practice registered dietitian in the Phoenix area.

Dr. Laura Jana, an Omaha pediatrician, said it's part of a move some families are making away from packaged and convenience foods and toward home cooking, family meals and even gardening. The shift fits with concerns about obesity and with the green movement.

"I do see it as a trend, and a good one on several levels," said Jana, co-author of the new book "Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup," published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Jana, in fact, recently talked with the makers of the Beaba Babycook, a device that combines steamer and food processor in one unit, about the possibility of working with them on a baby food cookbook.

Manhart started making baby food when her daughter Isabella, now 3, was about 7 months old. She had tried mashing bananas and avocado and had borrowed a friend's food mill, a tool some parents use to grind up some of the family dinner at mealtime.

But Manhart decided she wanted to make larger amounts. She started by cooking and pureeing green beans, sweet potatoes, squash and prunes. She froze scoopfuls on cookie trays in layers separated by wax paper and later cut them up.

With Ava, her youngest, she refined her process. She steams whatever she is making in a big pot with a steamer basket, then purees it in the food processor, adding back some water from the steamer to get the right consistency. She has adjusted the texture as Ava has gotten older, first making a chunkier blend and more recently offering bite-sized pieces.

She now freezes the food in clean baby food jars, recycling the jars from the commercial food she does use.

On a Saturday, she made 33 jars of baby food in a couple of hours while making soup for the rest of the family.

"I'm not a diehard," Manhart said. "We still use other baby food. But I try to make as much as I can."

By making her own food, she also believes she has been able to introduce her girls to a greater variety of foods, with the hope that they will eat better later on. Isabella, her 3-year-old, has proven to be a good eater.

And with smart shopping, it can save money.

Manhart said she compared costs of homemade versus commercial and determined it was a bit cheaper to make her own. If she gets a good price on produce and makes a big batch, that increases the savings.

Sweet potatoes recently went for $1.19 a pound at a local grocery store, or about 7 cents an ounce. Gerber First Foods sweet potatoes were 87 cents for a two-pack, which worked out to nearly 35 cents an ounce.

Said Johnson: "The money thing is the advantage. The disadvantage is that it takes more time, and it's not as convenient or as portable."

Still, Manhart has found the practice manageable, even with a 3-year-old underfoot. "There's just something nice about being able to cook for your baby."

Source: Omaha World-Herald

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