http://www.care2.com/greenliving/feeding-baby-transitioning-to-solids.html
Feeding Baby: Transitioning to Solids
By Terri Hall-Jackson, Care2 Green Living contributing writer
With a full gourmet spectrum of options of baby foods on the market, how do you choose foods that are nutritious and safe?
First foods usually include a cereal, such as rice cereal, mixed with some water, breast milk or formula. This is usually followed by the introduction of single mashed or pureed fruits, such as bananas, apples or pears. When purchasing any baby food product, read labels in order to be sure that you are avoiding preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, unnecessary salt and sugar, and fillers. The organic baby food market is booming and it is easy to find a number of organic brands of baby cereal and jarred food available at most supermarkets.
An alternative or addition to purchasing prepared baby food is to make your own by mashing, steaming and pureeing fruits, vegetables and even meats. This is an easy way to know your baby is eating food that is fresh and free of non-essentials. A batch of pureed baby food can be prepared then frozen into individual servings that can be used throughout the week. Your baby will have his or her favorites; experiment before making a huge batch of food that will go uneaten.
The big thing you want to avoid whether purchasing baby food or produce so that you can make your own is pesticide residue. Certain foods are known to carry a high pesticide load; these include apples, peaches, spinach, green beans and pears—all of which are popular baby food choices. To protect your baby from ingesting synthetic pesticides, choose certified organic produce. For more info, check out this list of the top 10 foods to eat organically.
Delaying the introduction of solid foods until baby is 6 months old is recommended in order to allow better development of the digestive system.
And always use caution when using canned baby formula, as it has been found to contain dangerous chemicals.
Get more information here.
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add your comment »Feeding cereal and puree is such a waste. Children miss the opportunity to explore real food when they are really ready for it, leading to pickiness and unwillingness to self-feed, and parents have to sit there spooning mush instead of supervising finger foods while enjoying their own meal. Waiting until about 6 months and then giving soft finger food like steamed veggies and tender fruit, all served as stick or tree shapes so that the baby can pick it up easily, is SO much better developmentally. Read up on Baby-Led Weaning. Also, when solids were started early, like at 3 months, the child was usually eating finger food around 6 months anyway. So skip the mush. Save the time and energy. And have fun with your messy baby!
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a friend of mine told me that she froze her own homemade baby food in ice cube trays, so that's what I did when I made enough to freeze, and it worked pretty well. mostly I just made small batches, and used a hand food mill (only cost ~$10) until we graduated to just being able to mash with a fork. it was much easier than I thought it would be, and then you can introduce a wider variety of foods that you can with the store bought food, like avocado and kale. we used plenty of store bought organic baby food, too - there's only so much you can do with twins!
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Very helpful! We grow a lot of our own veggys that we can puree and know they are pesticide free.
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