Store bought baby food vs. mommy's home cooked baby food

adhbabymama · August 2013

Which baby food brands are the best? Is it best to just make your own baby food? I have already started here on ceral and tomorrow I will try oatmeal. Soon I will try baby food but unsure of the direction I want to go in as far as store bought or home prepared baby food. Advice needed?

oandmplus1 · August 2013

Edited because I apparently didn't read the question. DD liked all brands really. We sometimes bought organic, but really to me, there was no preferred brand.

jbatch · August 2013

I make my own and it really is easy.. I have a baby breza to steam and puree it.

Unknown · August 2013

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caladpi02 · August 2013

Bliss+Berry said:
That's a pretty loaded question. Really, you just have to do what works best for you and your family. I have a baby bullet and plan on using that and supplementing with the organic pouches for when we are traveling and/or on the go. Also, I plan on skipping cereals altogether and starting with avocado as a first food.

This. We have a vitamix and I plan on making it myself, but will have organic store options on hand.

LtlAngL · August 2013

I work 50+ hours a week and don't want to waste any time making baby food when I could be cuddling with my little one. I'll try the organic stuff, but Gerber is fine.

runningyogimama · August 2013

Bliss+Berry said:
That's a pretty loaded question. Really, you just have to do what works best for you and your family. I have a baby bullet and plan on using that and supplementing with the organic pouches for when we are traveling and/or on the go. Also, I plan on skipping cereals altogether and starting with avocado as a first food.

Really, this. I plan on making ours, have no problem using the pouches for on the go, and then moving to finger food shortly after 6 months. We plan to start with banana and avocado, so no real prep needed for those, even. Do whatever works best for you and your family. Don't stress over it!

Ceefome · August 2013

I've done a combo with my kids. I bought cereal, carrots, and beans, and some for traveling. I've made others, especially peas, sweet potatoes, squash, and fruits. My oldest two were ready for finger foods around 6 to months.

CrazyMary77 · August 2013

We're about to start trying solids with LO. My plan is to try making it myself and see how it goes. Ideally I'd like to make the food myself because it's much more economical. But while I was in Whole Foods today, I picked up some jars of organic baby food that was on sale just in case.

lbonga1 · August 2013

I work full time, so I like the convenience of the pre-made baby food. I'm getting various organic pouches from Target, as well as organic brown rice and oatmeal. We just started with sweet potatoes yesterday, and DD loves them. We're going to be doing a mix of purees and pieces of whatever we're eating.

alyssa&cody · August 2013

I just started making my daughter's baby food a week ago. It took me about an hour to steam, puree, and store about a week's worth of food, all with only 1 sweet potato! I use a Baby Bullet, and it took a lot less time than I thought. I work full time, so I didn't want to take much time away from my baby. I was pleasantly surprised! It's all about what works for you and your family though!

runningyogimama · August 2013

I just made some last night, and from prep to clean up, it took just over an hour to make sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans. If it's what you want to do, it's not really that much work.

MrsWindyCity · August 2013

I made my own with DS1 and will do the same with DS2. We also skipped cereal and started with avocado. Making it just worked for me, because it was cheaper to buy organic and make it, and it was easy. Plus, he wasn't on purees for terribly long and I plan on doing BLW a little more/earlier with DS2, anyway.

BreeNicoleE · August 2013

Im mom of three (5year old, 21mo and 4 month old) and I have honestly done it differently every time around.. I really think its all about what best works for you and baby.

With my son - we started on organic and the regular baby food (pouches didnt exist yet) and eventually stuck with organic as that was what worked best for him.

My 21 month old started with avocado and from there i did a lot of home pureed food with our baby brezza as she didnt eat much of the organic or regular baby food, but loved the home pureed stuff and we sometimes gave her pouches when on the go and seh loved those (mostly the smoothie and fruit type)

this time around I have a preemie (2months early) who is coming up on 4 months old but I know shes going to start solids a bit later than the other and I haven't quite decided what route to take with her yet. I still have my baby brezza since her and her sister are so close in age so I may try that with her, but I am thinking of starting her off with the store brand organics when the time is right just to ensure she gets the calorie intake she needs.

KLL22 · August 2013

Bliss+Berry said:

That's a pretty loaded question. Really, you just have to do what works best for you and your family. I have a baby bullet and plan on using that and supplementing with the organic pouches for when we are traveling and/or on the go. Also, I plan on skipping cereals altogether and starting with avocado as a first food.

This is our exact plan too. I plan to start with avocados around 6 or so months, whenever she starts showing me she's ready. I will in no way give her rice cereal or any type for that matter. If I do it will be oatmeal. How old is your LO?

amykins1283 · August 2013

We use whatever we can get on sale. The fruits and veggies of any brand are generally made without fillers. It is when you get into the mixed dinners that you might run into issues with additives. We don't use them, though, because we like to make an early transition to table food. My preferred brand is Earths Best but they are more expensive. Diapers.com has good deals on Earths Best and when you add in the 20% off for new members you can get the starter packs of 12 fruits and veggies for 69 cents a jar which is a steal.

We do cereal (even rice, oh no!) because my first had lots of rice in his bottles from early on from reflux and has no issues so I really don't see what the fuss is about. Both my kids were started on solids early, right at 4 months, per my pediatricians instruction for different reasons for each child. No issues so far!

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