Super Baby Food
by Ruth Yaron
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Book Reviews of Super Baby Food
Book Review: Very helpful but not stand alone handbook
Summary: 4 Stars
My husband bought this book before our son was born, with the idea that it would be nice to make our own baby food. I resisted, but as our son reached his 5-month birthday, the questions of what and how to feed him became more pressing and I picked the book up. At first, I found it totally overwhelming. The book is poorly organized and, although Yaron says it's possible to flip to certain sections first, it's really not, since a lot of the information needed to understand and apply the advice in one chapter is contained in different chapters. So I ended up reading the book cover to cover and now often use the index to look up specific information. Using the book in this way, I've found it very helpful and sometimes even inspiring. I have now made and frozen a lot of veggies and have started our baby on some solid food. It is tremendously satisfying to know exactly what he is eating, how it was prepared, and why I am feeding this food instead of (or with) that one. I have also since read _Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health_ and found that with the exception of _Feeding Your Child's_ recommendations on fiber, the two books complement each other well. _Super Baby_ offers recipes and guidelines on feeding, while _Feeding Your Child_ gives nutritional background and approaches to dealing with picky eaters, etc. That said, as other reviewers mention, parents with allergies (or any concern about developing allergies in their children) should evaluate Yaron's guidelines on dairy, nuts, seeds, and soy carefully. In addition, she doesn't address the issue of home cooking high nitrate foods (carrots, beets, spinach, etc.) before eight months, another health concern, so parents using this book will need to research this themselves (_Feeding Your Child_ offers some helpful guidance). Overall, this is an extremely useful resource, but not a stand alone book on feeding your super baby or super toddler.Book Review: Might be luck, but my son is a fantastic eater now!
Summary: 5 Stars
I heard of "Super Baby Food" through a friend when my son was about 11 months old. He was at the time a good eater, though picky-- wouldn't eat the green food unless I hid a little in some orange food, but he was adventurous about trying new things at least once. I started making some of my own baby food, just the porridges, and when he responded well to these, I began steaming and freezing yams, kale, mashed beans, and other real food. It didn't take much time, just a little organization. We delayed giving him added sugar or salt until about 18 months, when we began to introduce them in the context of meat and vegetables (since carbs don't need any incentive to eat!)
Later on I graduated to some of the more appealing looking (if less health conscious) meals in "First Foods" by Annabel Karmel, and now, at 3, my son is a full participant in all the family meals. Everybody is impressed at the range of foods he eats-- he loves and even demands broccolis and fresh greens, enjoys almost every sort of fruit, digs into steaks, Indian and Chinese food, even calamari! It makes mealtimes so easy, compared to what I see other parents going through (and what I go through when babysitting his friends.) I never have to cook something different for my son, he loves going to restaurants, and we can enjoy each other's company at meals, rather than be tense about how much and what he's eaten.
This could all be good luck, but it makes me wonder whether the picky eating phenomenon is partially caused by tastebuds developed on canned baby food! I don't know since I only know three children raised on homemade baby food, but they are all three very hearty and omnivorous eaters (from three different families of different ethnicities, so the connection is not genetic.) Give this book a shot, especially if your baby is young enough not to have become addicted to commercial baby food.
Book Review: A very valued resource for people with brains in their heads
Summary: 4 Stars
Since I have a brain in my head, I love this book. I have had to tape and repair my copy as it has been used so often.
There is a wealth of knowledge in this book and certainly- parts I do not agree with and tend to ignore...as well as a few things that are lacking.
I know not to feed my newborn peanuts and to watch for reactions when I introduce ANY new foods. Babies and children can have reactions to lots of things at any time (even if they've had them before) and a clever parent will ALWAYS be cautious and pay attention to what their children are eating...as opposed to counting on a book to ensure total and complete safety for their child. I DARE someone to write a book with every single bit of information that exists about ALL food in the world as it applies to babies and children. Tall order folks.
Yes, Yaron could certainly give readers more guidance and warnings about nuts and nitrates in spinach and carrots- that would be helpful and could be imperative to people with major allergies. I would love to see a newer edition with some changes!
However, not all children have major life-threatening food allergies and therefore- all families don't need to completely omit very nutritious foods from their diets in case they are allergic.
For crying out loud- we can't all just live in a bubble and expect all literature to give fifty pages of warnings and scare us all to death about potential problems. She mentions the allergies, and could stand to mention it more.
Take charge. Be the parent. Use what is helpful. Ignore what is not.
Super Baby Foods is a great resource for our family. The information inside has been invaluable for us.
Hopefully, my children will have smarter brains as a result and become clever parents themselves someday!
Book Review: I was really excited about this book...then I started reading it...
Summary: 2 Stars
I had heard good things about this book then i started reading it. I felt like the author made all intelligent people feel stupid. Some of her tips are "roll the sleeves up on the baby so he/she doesn't get them dirty when preparing to feed" or In one part of her book she tells you how you can "multitask" making the food so it is less time consuming. I was a little appalled that you would need to know you could multitask, for example, cut veggies while you are waiting for the water to boil. It is a huge book that could be pared down to a concise and helpful book. I found myself having to skip some of her "tips" to actually get to the part of foods for the baby, which once I did find it they weren't any better than other places I had found recipes. Overall I was very unsatisfied with this book.
[...] was where I found much better information on stages of baby food, recipes etc. It left out all the nonsense she puts in her book. I should have paid more attention to the negatives reviews in this case before buying this book.
I am making most of my son's food. I am definitely going to be looking for another book on amazon that is more about baby food than tips and tricks. I need a no-nonsense book... I would like just a schedule of when to introduce foods, and maybe some same menus. The only part of her book I did kind of like was the part where she talks about the individual foods, when to introduce (but sometimes they differed from others I'd read). I would like a book about how to create a menu that provides a nutritious balance to your baby's diet.
Bottom line: There are better books out there...or just use the internet. There are some nice things about this book, but you have to sift through a lot of extra words to get down to the heart of the matter.
Book Review: review from a doctor-mom
Summary: 4 Stars
i have never written a book review before, but after spending the past several months with this book i have some strong opinions about it. for the record, i personally am a vegetarian but i do not have strong feelings about my child eating meat as he grows older. ultimately, i feel like this will be his decision, however, as an infant and toddler i do not believe that animal protein will add much more than cholesterol to his diet. as a vegetarian, the key to a healthy diet is protein from multiple complimentary sources including soy, dairy, legumes, etc so that "essential" amino acids and fatty acids (those not made by the human body.) this author purports just this: a diet made up of a healthy variety of building blocks minus preservatives, colorings, pesticides. so, in general, i really liked the book because it does provide very useful tips for the novice on how to buy, prepare, and store baby food. she really does make it surmountable-- even actually seem easy. and, most of all, it is adaptable to different households.but, i would like to edit this book b/c i found it to be extremely disorganized and difficult to find specific information when in a hurry to prepare meals or introduce new foods. there is also a bit of inconsistency b/n chapters about when to introduce foods (i.e. dairy at one year, but milk yogurt is acceptable at 8 mos??)
also, i agree with previous writers that peanut protein should not be introduced before the age of 2 to avoid allergy-- 10 mos seems ridiculous. ultimately, it is very important to have your pediatrician review your basic plan for food introduction to make sure everything is ok and consistent with current recommendations by the american academy of pediatrics. but, in general, i found that our pediatrician was a-ok with the basic plan (except the peanuts!)