Super Baby Food
by Ruth Yaron
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.89 You Save: $9.06 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.55 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Super Baby Food
Book Review: Excellent Resource for Health-Conscious Parents
Summary: 4 Stars
While it may not seem that way, commercially prepared baby food is a relatively new concept. Before the Gerber craze which began in the late 1920's, all mothers fed their babies homemade baby food! Recipes for babies were often included in regular cookbooks. Yes, yesterday's mothers mashed soft fruits, boiled and pureed veggies, and even made their own rice cereal.
You may be wondering why today's parent would want to prepare their baby's food when a variety of pureed fruits and veggies can be found at the supermarket. The answer to that question depends on who you ask.
I choose homemade baby food because I want to give my baby the most nutritious and freshest food available. When I gaze at the shelves of jarred food in the baby aisle, it is like looking at the frozen food section. Sure, convenience items like frozen lasagna are fine for some of the time, but would I feed my family convenience foods all of the time? I don't think so. Doesn't my baby deserve the best I have to offer? Furthermore, I want to avoid additives such as sugar, salt, and fillers that are often found in commercially prepared baby foods. Take one look at the labels on those "nutritious" finger foods designed for babies and you may be surprised. I have made about 70% of my daughter's food, buying organic jarred food for meals at restaurants and trips to Grandma's. Moms who are more organized may use ice cube trays to keep homemade food readily available, popping out one or two cubes at a time. They may even carry a portable food mill with them to puree fresh foods for baby while they`re out.
Another reason why some parents choose homemade baby food is cost. Making your baby's food at home is simply less expensive than buying food for baby at the supermarket. This is an important factor for one income families and single parents.
Since I had used commercially prepared food with my first child, I knew I needed to read a good book on the topic when I learned I was expecting a second child. I had seen Super Baby Food suggested over and over again on the natural parenting boards, so I knew exactly which book to buy when the time came.
I recommend this book to family and friends because it is well-researched and covers everything related to feeding your baby during the first two years. I have used it consistently since my daughter started solids and wish I known about it when I had my son. The author, Ruth Yaron, has written a comprehensive guide to feeding your little one. The book is about more than what, when, and how to feed your baby. It also deals with nutrition, explaining in detail how particular foods will benefit your child. Super Baby Food even includes recipes for bubbles, playdoh, baby wipe solution, and nontoxic cleansers.
I should note that I only gave the book 4 stars because there are a few inaccuracies, but the book still merits a positive review. I loved it and have used it often.
Book Review: Good recipes for toddlers and vegetarians, but otherwise, questionable advice
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about starting solids for my infant, both an eating plan for what to start when and recipes. I am going to return it, because there is so much in here that I disagree with and that goes against what I want to do for my child.
Although there are plenty of recipes for food for toddlers, she gives only general ideas for what to do for 6-12 month old babies in terms of how to make the recipes. As other reviewers said, she is against the idea of eating meat, so only addresses it in the briefest of chapters, most of which is dedicated to food safety. Instead of meat, she suggests adding food to your child's diet that are highly allergenic- nuts, wheat, soy, and dairy. Wheat and dairy are not that big of a deal, but if allergies run in your family (like they do in my husband's), and you're not going to give those foods until your baby is 12 months, you are out of luck with this book. The soy in particular is very worrisome to me, as more and more research is coming out showing that unfermented soy is really not that great for people. I don't think a little soy is going to kill anyone, but there is a LOT of soy in her recipes, such as the "super flour," "super porridge," and many many of the tofu-based recipes in the book. I personally am not comfortable with giving my child this much soy. I also don't think that meat is the awful, disgusting thing that she claims it is. If your family is vegetarian, you might find the recipes in this book to be very helpful.
Other reviewers have also mentioned that the book is unfriendly to breastfeeding. It is and it isn't. The author does not come out and say it directly that I could find, but she seems to assume that you are going to wean within 12 months. She pays lip service to the idea that most of your child's nutrition should still come from breastmilk or formula during the first year (even in months 6-12), but the diet she lays out is very solids-heavy starting at about month 8, and it is hard to imagine how a child on this diet would still be getting most of his or her nutrition from either breastmilk or formula. If you are going to wean your child at or before 12 months, I think her diet plan would be fine. But if you are unsure whether you want to wean then, or if you know you don't want to, you need to find another plan for feeding solids.
About a quarter of the book is dedicated to tips etc. that are totally unrelated to food. I thought that some of these were fun and nice, but not worth the rest of the book.
The bottom line is that since my child is not yet a toddler, and I'm not vegetarian, I was really disappointed in this book. I was hoping for a helpful guideline for introducing solids along with a variety of good recipes appropriate for babies from 6-12 months old, and this book comes up short.
Book Review: A Health Consciences Mom's Best Help
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a mom of an 11 month old and this book saved me from going insane when it came to starting to feed my boy solids at 6 months. I believe that there is nothing more perfect than breast milk for your baby - but you can't feed them that forever. This book helped me get over the fear of feeding my baby solids by giving me the power of deciding on exactly what I am putting in his mouth. It gave me the confidence and knowledge to make my own (super) baby food by explaining when and what kind of nutrition my growing baby needs and how can I provide that to him. It is also a great guide on how to pick, prepare and store every kind of veggie and fruit you can think of. I am still using the book almost everyday, reading and rereading certain sections of it. Someone complained about the scattered references all over the book. I think that is one of the most useful features, which by the way the writer explains in the very beginning. You don't need to read the whole book right away, which you don't have time for anyway, but read into the sections that are age appropriate and anything related to that. That is where the scattered references come to your help.
I am really sorry for the moms who have a hard time appreciating this book. If you read it carefully you would understand why it is important to feed your baby tofu, nut butters or millet, kelp, tahini or kale. It doesn't just tell you to do that but gives you a logical and scientifically backed explanation. Scientifically to the point that any mom can understand it. All you need is open mindedness. And a little effort that will go a long way!!!
It takes some time to get into making your baby's food from scratch but the book has great suggestions on how to manage your time in the kitchen. Since I started using this book I bought a copy to all my pregnant friends. It is one of the greatest things you can do for your baby: feed him right. Doesn't it make you feel bad to put all that commercial garbage into your baby's mouth, full of chemicals and additives and missing all the original nutrition because it was processed?
My baby will eat everything and anything I offer him. He had no chance to develop a taste preference. His favorites are tofu and avocado because of their texture. Some of the foods taste a little different than what you might be used to but because of the detailed explanations behind everything the writer suggests to use, you can make an INFORMED DECISION yourself on giving it to your baby or not. My parents and in-laws were a little skeptical in the beginning but my son is the healthiest, happiest baby they have ever seen which reassured them that we are doing the right thing following this book. As an added bonus: this book is slowly changing the whole family's diet to a much more health consciences one. It is a wonderful book that every mom should have access to.
Book Review: Great, Informative Resource
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book to be a great resource when preparing food for my child beginning at 6 months. Yes, the author does talk about introducing some dairy and nuts, but she also says repeatedly to ASK YOUR PEDIATRICIAN before trying anything. So, at our check ups, I ask the pediatrician what is appropriate to introduce before our next visit and he tells me (vegetables and fruits, cereal, grains, etc.). I then use the book to prepare those types of foods. Additionally, she has a website that she updates all the time with current research and findings about the information in the book. As she says, once you publish a book, you can't quickly update it so refer to the website frequently for updates. Also, you can e-mail her any questions. She doesn't claim to be a medical expert. Only a mom who's done this for years. I e-mailed her and had a personal response in less than an hour. I was so impressed.
The absolute best part of the book is the section on fruits and vegetables. It's an alphabetical listing of every fruit and vegetable you can imagine. For each listing, it has how to select it, when to introduce it, how to prepare it, how to store it, other references in the book, etc.
This is a BIG book (about 600 pages), but if you take some time too familiarize yourself with the book and which parts are appropriate for your child's needs, then it is a fabulous resource. When I first got the book, I spent about an hour going through it tabbing the sections that were age appropriate for my son. Every month or so, I take ten minutes to see what I need to add or take away from my tabs.
I have looked at every other baby food book I can get my hands on and none of them are as complete a resource as this one. As others say, there's not much about meat, but with fruits and veggies being in season, I'm so busy introducing all those, I haven't been worried about meat yet. Besides, there's tons of information online about baby food. You can find out about meat there.
If for no other reason, the fruit and vegetable section makes this book a great buy. However, I like the whole thing.
The author is a little extreme in some recommendations/opinions for some of us, but you don't have to do everything she says. That's the beauty of being a parent. You get to decide what you want to do for your child. The book is open-ended enough to let you choose. There are more than enough food recommendations for each month so that you can pick and choose. So there's no way you could feel tied to doing it exactly the way Ruth does. I'm pretty sure she would tell you the same thing. You're the parent. You decide what best suites your lifestyle. Here's the information you need to prepare the food you feel is best for your child.
Highly recommended by a first time mom! A great resource!
Book Review: This is the way we should all be eating...
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is definitely not for the mom who wants to feed her kids the "average American diet", but we all know that that is not the healthiest way to feed our kids anyway. The reviewers who hated this book just can't handle the fact that it tells you to feed your child whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds, and organic fruits and veggies. It is vegetarian, but just add meat if you want(not a hard concept...). Some people seem to be really bothered by her suggestions to add things to the Super Porridge. The healthy extras she recommends like kelp, tahini, and brewers yeast are considered by many to be extremely healthy foods, even if most people don't know anything about them. Babies who haven't gotten used to highly salted or sugary processed foods probably won't find any of these foods to be yucky. I suspect that some reviewers who have introduced this diet to toddlers would face this problem though. Besides, I find it easy to try what's comfortable for me and leave the rest. The book is an excellent reference with a page on each food with exactly how to buy, store, prepare, freeze etc. There is the "Super Baby Food Diet Plan", (centered around frozen food cubes and homemade whole grain baby cereal) which is extensive in detail and tells exactly what food groups, how much of each, and gives all sorts of nutrition info. on why certain things are beneficial/important. Her analysis and charts on what vitamins/minerals/food groups your baby will be getting from the Super Baby Food Diet and how you can keep track of these things is dizzying. She tells you to include certain amounts of servings of green foods, yellow foods, etc. so that you can be sure that you are including all the nutrients your baby needs to be healthy. Even if you choose not to follow the diet in such detail, her nutrition advice is great and her method of pureeing and freezing the different food in cubes is super easy and convenient. We never found a reason to get a jar of baby food with our first baby, and now the second is almost ready for solids and I will be getting my ice cube trays out again.
My favorite part of this book is that it makes it easy to feed my baby a whole foods diet, which is what I consider to be the healthiest choice for the whole family.
As for her warnings, opinions, and thrifty suggestions- some are laughable, but many are good. They certainly don't negate all of the fantastic information that is packed in this book about feeding babies and toddlers. And I have tried some of her recipes. Her whole grain breakfast cereal that you cook in the crockpot overnight is great, as well as several other recipes I've tried. Again, they are probably not really geared to a mom who is comfortable with the typical American diet. Her toddler will be eating Captain Crunch for breakfast.