Between the planning, meal prep, work it requires to cook it to baby’s liking, baby’s picky appetite and baby’s tendency to put much of their food anywhere except in their mouths, it’s not surprising many parents don’t crank out baby’s meals in-house themselves. But a new study published in the International Journal of Obesity is saying homemade baby food is the way to go. In fact, it may even produce leaner babies with more diverse diets than store-bought baby food.
What the study looked at
Researchers examined the diets of 65 infants. They assessed their body fat percentage from exams taken when they were 6, 9, 12 and 36 months old to determine whether the source of the baby food — homemade or commercially produced — influenced, in any way, their growth and weight.
They found that by 9 months old, 22 percent of the infants had exclusively received homemade food and approximately the same percentage had received exclusively store-bought food. The majority of babies had received a combination of both homemade and store-bought. While there weren’t major differences in the infants’ lengths or weight at this age, researchers did find that the infants getting only homemade food were covering more of the seven different food groups than the babies only eating store-bought foods.
At 12 months old, however, researchers began to see significant differences in the percentage of body fat in the infants; the percentage was higher in those consuming only store-bought foods.
What the research found
While the study was relatively small and involved limitations, including relying on parents to accurately recall and report how the babies were fed, the study did find that babies who ate a diet of only homemade foods were exposed to more diverse foods earlier in life and had lower body fat mass by the time they were 1 to 3 years old.
What this means for parents
There’s no way around it — making homemade baby food is certainly more time-consuming and involves more planning than purchasing brand varieties at your local grocery store. But there are some benefits in addition to the potential health perks it provides to your child.
- You know exactly what you’re feeding your baby. There will be no need to put on your reading glasses to check the ingredients on the tiny labels. When you’re the chef, you know what you’re putting into your baby’s food.
- There are so many tools available to simplify the process. From blenders to freezer trays and small glass containers, there are so many products on the market that help ease the cooking, planning and prepping process for parents.
- You might even save money. Store-bought baby food can be pricey — especially when you’re going the all-organic and all-natural route. Plus, when you cut out the container cost and prices involved in keeping it on store shelves, you might even save money by cooking it at home and reusing your own containers.
Making your own baby food
Ideally, you want to stock up on loads of fresh fruits and veggies — frozen is fine as long as you read the ingredients closely to avoid brands with added sugar or salt. If you have a blender, it’s easy to toss in flavors your baby’s used to — for example, carrots or sweet potatoes (also naturally sweet so picky eaters are more likely to munch on them). But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends holding off on gas-causing cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower until your little one is 10 to 12 months old.
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