Super Baby Food
by Ruth Yaron
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Book Reviews of Super Baby Food
Book Review: One source for all the information you need to get started
Summary: 5 Stars
Plus, make food for your baby at about 1/4 of the cost of buying the food in jars!! **We spend at most $15 per month on food for our 1 year old!**For those of you out there who are disappointed with the wealth of information in this book, there are some of us who have been searching for all the nutritional information for infants at each age, and for each individual food, so that we can make our own intelligent decisions about what to feed our children. If this is what you are searching for, this is the book for you. For those who like more information about various things you read, the cross references in this book are an amazing help. If you choose to feel guilty for not following all her recommendations, that is up to you. But the best thing about this book is that you can pick and choose what works best for you. Just because there are lots of healthy foods out there, doesn't mean you have to use them all, and it doesn't mean you can't supplement with commercial foods in a pinch. For those of you that think some of the ideas are weird or gross, I'll admit, I agree, BUT you forget that kids aren't born with the same categories of weirdness that we as adults are accustomed to.
My son, a typical testy eater, will eat organic whole milk yogurt (bitter stuff that I can't stand), mixed with fruit puree, brewers' yeast and commercial cereal (to thicken it) for breakfast. For lunch, he'll eat beans(for protein)mixed with carrots, green veggies and potatoes, along with other add-ins, such as spirulina. I personally wouldn't care to eat it, but during the youngest years, if my son will eat healthily, why prevent it? He even likes whole grain breads and crackers, so why spoil him on animal cookies and other less healthy foods?
I found other baby food books (with bright and colorful pictures taking the place of valuable information) to be far more limited in scope, and too "trendy" and complicated for me. For a child who happily eats dust bunnies, dirt, sticks, paper, etc, I would challenge the importance of "visual appeal" as a primarily adult sensibility.
All of my friends to whom I lent this book absolutely loved it as well, because it frees you from thinking in terms of what commercial marketers and the media would have you think. For my next child, I'll get to try even more of the suggestions in the book. Happy reading!
Book Review: Here's how to tell if you'd like the book:
Summary: 5 Stars
I am shocked at all of the poor reviews this book was given, and I hope they don't turn people away from a book that I really appreciated. When I first opened the book, I read instructions on how to prepare and store almost every fruit or vegetable you can imagine (what a great resource!), but also saw things like grinding your own millet for cereal, making your own yogurt, adding kelp for nutrients and I thought, boy am I in for a long read! But what I thought would be terribly complex wasn't complex at all. Her directions are very simple and easy, and I felt she always kept the idea of less time and less money is best. I was consistently surprised how easy it was to put my baby on a wonderfully healthy diet, and it gave me such a sense of pride to do this for my daughter. Still wondering if its for you? This is for mothers who want to make their own food, but is also aware of the extreme importance of nutrition. Friends of mine who had and had not made their own baby food would gasp at the time and energy they thought I put into my baby's food, without realizing that it wasn't very time-consuming at all and was very rewarding. If these are your thoughts, stay away from this book. If you aren't willing to really read and learn about nutrition, stay away from this book. If you roll your eyes at "tree-huggers" and think organic farming is nonsense, you may not want to buy this book either because there is touch of this attitude. . She never sounded "preachy" to me, she just sounded well-educated, however I personally have strong views on human nutrition and how we treat our bodies AND communities by the food we consume.
Also: Im pretty sure that the comments about the nuts and nitrates in carrots and spinach ARE mentioned in the book. I think some people read only some parts and were ready to ring the alarm bells. If you read further, there are warnings for issues such as those.
On a final note: After I bought mine, it came with me EVERYWHERE so I could read a few chapters whenever I got a chance. I bought it for a friend and I laughed because she was carrying it with her in the diaper bag. For those of us who loved the book, we know it's worthwhile. I recommend checking the book out from the library first, and then buying a copy if it seems like something you would really like.
Book Review: Worth separating the wheat from the chaff
Summary: 3 Stars
First the problems with the book:1. This book is *very* scattered and disorganized. Charts are not very clear. The use of many different fonts and sidebars adds to the confusion. A good editor should be *required* for the next edition.
2. Some of the advice is contradictory. For example, the author states that whole grain cereals are not appropriate for infants under 6 months of age because they do not yet have the enzymes required for digestion. She recommends boxed, processed cereals. In the same paragraph, the author states that she only believes in feeding her own children whole grains and so has never used processed cereals. Well, which one is it? We fed our son whole grain rice and oats before 6 months without problem.
3. The author's "helpful" hints are obvious and not very helpful...they border on being downright stupid. They should be deleted from the next verion of this book, if there is one.
4. Unusual foods such as brewer's yeast, desiccated liver and powdered kelp are recommended to supplement foods to improve vitamin balance. We use Dr. recommended liquid infant vitamins so we do not have to resort to these unusual foods. I will not feed my son anything that I would not eat myself.
The good parts of this book:
1. This book provides a good basic framework for the introduction of solid foods to infants. Tables stating which foods are appropriate for which months of age are very helpful. Chapters organized by month are extremely helpful as one can just turn to the specific month and know what to expect.
2. The ice cube system is a very good idea. It saves a lot of time and effort. Basically, it makes homemade baby food possible as one does not have to make food from scratch for each meal. One can make food in batches, store it in individual servings in the freezer and use as needed. We would not be able to make our own baby food without such a system.
In conclusion:
This book is not without faults, but an intelligent reader can separate the wheat from the chaff and manage to raise a happy and healthy baby on homemade food. My wife and I have used this as our sole (in conjunction with the advice of our son's Dr.) resource for feeding our son.
The strengths of this book make it worthwhile despite its many weaknesses.
Book Review: I LOVE THIS BOOK
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a mom of a 4 year old and still look for my "well-used" Super Baby Food book. After recommending this book to a friend of mine today, I thought to look for a newer edition. Since there isn't one yet, I decided to look at the reviews... expecting nothing but positive reviews out there. To my surprise there wasn't. Well, here it goes for all of the new moms who are wondering if this book is worth the money. Having been a new mom myself, I know that the network of information out there is more than overwelming. I decided to buy this book, than 3 more (for extra information that I thought that I did not have). I used the other 3 books less than 5 times since the information was not as correct as Ruths book. I do have a good background in nutrition and am amazed at the recommendations that I find in magazines these days. Giving a baby wheatgerm at an early age is a good thing... you are not giving him a teaspoon full, you add a tiny bit of it into a mixture of food. (He can't even taste it, but gets the major benefits from it.) I learned to make my own organic grown veggies via the ice cube method, used many recipes in the book (and still do). I had a better estimate for the timing of when to give my son certain foods and/or why I shouldn't. I have ideas for healthy snacks (not cookies, and junk food), how to avoid future allergies. She even includes a quick section of nutrition information, your babys development, and baby sized portions of vitamins and calories. Actually, I could go on about all the benefits of book for any new mom. For the mom who wants the many extras that she offers in the book... birthday cakes, parties, arts and crafts, baby safe cleaning products, and more... she has great ideas for you too. The book is well enough organized to allow you to move to the areas the you need to learn about. The index is also helpful for extra references in the book. So, please don't pass over this book for others that you probably won't use. If you don't mind giving your child the jarred foods daily, than this book will not be for you since it does incorporate extra work and time on your part. If you plan to buy this book..enjoy!!! I am looking forward to the new edition... and the new information concerning soy and babies...Book Review: One book so many benefits!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I, like so many moms, was on the path to boxed baby cereals and Gerber jars when my 4 month old got extremely constipated and irritable with her 1st rice cereal experience. My pediatrician advised me to wait a couple of weeks and resume rice cereal. It was so hard to wait because my child was hungry and she had proven she could eat quite well! The same thing happened with the 2nd try of rice cereal - constipation, screaming and writhing in pain. Here I had this hungry, eager little eater and the traditional American baby foods just weren't working.
I ordered Super Baby Food from Amazon, and all my troubles went away in an instant. My life and and my daughter's diet suddenly involved mashed fresh bananas and water, mashed fresh avocados and water, pureed sweet pototoes, mangos and more. All fresh, all with good anti-viral properties, all helping me contribute to the extent that I can to helping my daughter develop and maintain a healthy immune system.
Today, my daughter is a 2-1/2 year old who is an amazing eater. She eats a wide variety of fresh fruits and veggies everyday including eating fresh steamed green beans the way other kids eat french fries. She devours fresh steamed broccoli, eats pesto packed pork chops, and just yesterday she downed a cold salad of black-eyed peas, green olives and tomatoes. My friends, neighbors, and even I am amazed as she eagerly tries any food I put in front of her.
I attribute her eating habits largely to her Super Baby Food diet where never once did I put something in front of her that I would not eat myself. I believe by feeding her stuff that tasted really good, she came to develop a trust that whatever food I give her, chances are she's going to like it.
I'm a huge proponent of this book, the diet espoused and the fact that by cooking & preparing healthy foods for your child when he/she is an infant you'll develop a great habit of cooking healthy as a mom that will last a life time.
I highly recommend this book to any new mom. One last unexpected benefit from the book - my husband and I eat a much wider variety of fresh fruits and veggies now too. We all have benefited from this book!!