A Baby Well-Preserved

My friend Christine (who has an impossibly adorable 8-month-old daughter) asked me a couple weeks ago if I would look into jarred baby food.  You betcha!  Then I started thinking about that task, and it scared me.  Not the research.  Psshh.  Me and research = BFF.  What scared the piss out of me was that I KNEW I wasn't going to find anything good.  It's like watching a horror movie and you know the bad guy is coming, but the stupid whiny girl who is about to get axed just stands around in the kitchen in her underwear...I digress.

So between work and home and being scared stupid, I haven't posted a new blog in a couple weeks.  I tend to be an ostrich that way.  If I don't want to deal with something, I stick my head in the sand and hope that when I pop up, whatever it is that I'm avoiding has gone on about its merry way.  No such luck.  Jarred baby food, consider thyself tackled.

From the beginning of gestation, there was no doubt that we would make Babydoll's food.  We cook our food most nights, so why wouldn't we do the same for her?  Having been schooled on the art of baby food-making by two awesome ladies (Hi J!  Hi A!), I'm even more convinced that she will grow up eating organically as often as possible.  After all, if I don't make her food myself, how am I going to know exactly what she's getting in her little belly?

*Here's a little tidbit not really related to this post, but I found it interesting all the same.  The first baby formula was manufactured in 1867 and was marketed as superior to breast milk.  Oh yeah, they started that nonsense a loooong time ago.

Daniel Gerber kicked things off in 1928 with strained peas, prunes, carrots and spinach in a can (not all in the same can - gross) and mass-marketed the product across America.  Suddenly, mothers were able to pop into the market, buy six cans of baby food for $1, and save themselves hours in the kitchen.  Prior to Gerber on the shelves, baby food was available from pharmacies and was (as you can imagine) expensive.  Dorothy Hope Smith drew the iconic Gerber Baby, Ann Turner Cook, and a label was born.  (Sidenote: Ms. Cook was cute and all, but she's no Babydoll.  Just sayin'.)

Since then, the process has evolved greatly.  Huge manufacturing plants turn out millions of jars of baby food a day.  And, according to various sources, most baby food on the shelves of American grocery stores contain no artificial preservatives.  Whew.  Maybe the panty girl won't get axed.

Most jarred baby foods, even the organic brands, do contain natural preservatives, like ascorbic acid, which is essentially a form of vitamin C.  That's not so bad.  But some brands contain sodium and that's a no-no for babies and toddlers.  Just check the sodium content before you buy or feed your baby from a jar.  Babies under a year old need less than a gram of salt per day.

I feel relieved.  I know a lot of mamas who feed their babies pre-made food and I worry almost as much about their babies, as I do my own.  When Babydoll is ready for solids, I will make her food.  I want to know exactly what she's getting.  I'm extremely picky about produce.  If I make her food, I know the quality she's getting.  And by making her food at home, we can give her a greater variety of flavors.

Want some baby food recipes?  I'm starting to experiment.  Holler.