Why Super Baby Food?

As wonderful a food as breastmilk is, there comes a time when every baby has to transition to “grown up” food.  Of course we want this transition to be as healthful as possible, so we want to not transition to junk!  And we want to avoid all the additives that are bad for us even as adults, especially for our babies’ tiny bodies.  The least expensive way to do that is to make our own baby food.

If this idea is appealing to you, but you don’t know where to begin, you might be interested in Super Baby Food.  Let me get my caveats out of the way right up front.

1. The author is a vegetarian.  There were no meat recipes in the first edition, which was a bit of a bummer, because that’s where I could use the most help (in making things not dry/grainy, which is a hard texture for baby to not gag on).  She is not vegan, though, so there are egg/dairy recipes here, and she has added a very small meat section to this second edition at the request of parents.

2. As per the usual, she recommends introducing grains early.  Research suggests that babies may not have the enzymes necessary to digest grains until as late as 18 months old (!), so introducing them at 4 or 6 months is clearly very early.  However, with all that said…

How to Feed Super Baby Food

This is a very thorough book.  Nearly everything you might ever want to know about introducing, making, and feeding solid foods to your baby is in here.  It starts with general information about introducing solids, including when to begin offering solids, food allergies and what to watch for, and even how to choose a high chair!  It offers very detailed information for the first feeding of a solid food.

The next portion of the book is dedicated to how much of what to feed babies at various ages.  This is very, very helpful!  It includes growth charts, tells you how much your baby should be eating, and offers suggestions for foods that are appropriate at each developmental stage.  Keep in mind, of course, that babies are all different, and grow at different rates.  Still, having a general guideline can be helpful when you don’t know if your child should be eating 2 tablespoons or 2 cups.  🙂

The next large section is the how-to.  It includes recipes and instructions for a wide variety of foods.  We don’t “do” soy in our household (as a regular part of our diets), so we would avoid the tofu- and TVP-based recipes, but there is plenty else here!  One thing I really appreciate is that there are some little-known and/or seldom-thought-of choices here for very convenient additions to a nutrient-packed diet, like kelp powder and desiccated liver.  (Desiccated liver is an excellent nutrient source, and far easier to get into a form a baby can manage than fresh meats.  You typically find it as a “supplement”; be sure it’s organic.)

But Wait; There’s More!

Believe it or not, after all of this, there’s even more in the book!  Making foods fun by decorating and/or coloring them; ideas for parties (including decoration and game ideas, and a number of ideas for themed cakes from basic pan shapes); recipes for arts and crafts supplies, bubbles, etc.; and ideas for homemade toys and gifts.

After that, there is a reference section and appendices.  The first reference section is an alphabetical list of foods.  Each food tells you how old baby should be before eating it, when it’s in season, how to choose it, ripen it (if applicable), store it, and prepare it, and how to freeze the prepared food.  Equivalents are provided, as well.  (For example, 3 medium tomatoes = 1 pound = 1-1/2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped.)

The second reference section is homemade baby product instructions.  There are ideas for making certain products “from scratch” (making your own baby wipes or diaper ointment, for instance), and hints and tips for working with commercial ones (for example, how to make your little ones’ socks non-skid).

The third reference section is baby-safe household cleaners and pesticides.  The fourth is a short section about growing edible plants in your kitchen.  The fifth is a “crash course in nutrition.” Although this is pretty good, overall, it does perpetuate some myths that really need to be laid to rest, such as the myth that saturated fat is unhealthy.  The sixth is “nutrient tables with baby-sized portions” – very helpful.  Finally, there’s a metric equivalent table.

The book is packed with information from front to back; there is no fluff here.  It’s organized in such a way as to be very user-friendly.  It has an index and a recipe index.  There’s even a one-page section at the beginning telling you how to get the most from the book in the least amount of time.

Obviously, I don’t fully agree with the author’s views on nutrition – she’s a vegetarian who is opposed to saturated fats, and I’m a firm believer in the healthfulness of animal fats and believe them to be essential to a healthy diet.  She believes vitamin B12 deficiencies are rare, and that we don’t need the sort of protein found in meats, and I disagree with both of these things.  However, I still find that there’s a lot of very helpful, very useful information in this book and probably every household with tiny ones would be well-served by having it on hand as a reference.

Disclosure: The author provided me with a copy of the book to facilitate my review, and is sponsoring the giveaway, as well.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.