It’s exciting when your baby first tries solid foods for the first time. Many parents look forward to seeing how their baby reacts to the new flavors and textures of solid food. If you’re just starting this journey with your baby, you’re probably keen to discover the best way of doing things. If you’ve decided to feed your baby purees some or all of the time, you may be wondering which type is best. Should you be making your own purees at home or is it ok to buy ready made ones from the store?
Store bought purees
Store bought purees are convenient. You don’t need to spend time in the kitchen pureeing up a storm. You can also rely on the fact that the food will be available at supermarkets across the country, so there’s no need to panic about finding something your baby will eat. Store bought purees have long shelf lives and can be stored for a long time, meaning you don’t need to worry about running out.
There are some downsides with using store bought purees, however. They tend to include preservatives and may even include salt or sugar, things that you probably wouldn’t include when making your own purees at home. One research study found that store bought purees contained half as many nutrients as ones made at home. It’s also a lot pricier than creating your own purees at home.
Homemade purees
If you’re making the purees yourself at home, you know exactly what’s going into them. You can leave out any sugar and salt, and include only healthy, wholesome ingredients in your baby’s food. It also allows you to choose the produce going into the puree, so you’ll know that all of the ingredients were fresh at the time of cooking. Homemade purees are a lot cheaper because you simply buy the raw ingredients and can cook in batches and freeze. It also leaves you with more choice, there are only so many different flavors of store bought purees, but you can continue to experiment at home.
It’s not all good, you’ll need to consider the extra time it will take you to make purees at home. You might also need to purchase some new kitchen gadgets to begin with, pushing up your costs. Homemade purees don’t keep for as long, even if frozen.
There is no right answer
As with any parenting decision, there is no right decision here. How you decide to feed your baby is dependent on lots of things. You’ll need to consider time, convenience and cost. There isn’t a one size fits all approach to weaning because every baby, and every family, is different. You need to work out what works best for your family.
What are your baby’s favorite puree flavors?
Written by Fiona (@Fiona_Peacock), mother, writer and lover of all things baby related.
This information is not intended to replace the advice of a trained medical doctor. Health & Parenting Ltd disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information, which is provided to you on a general information basis only and not as a substitute for personalized medical advice. All contents copyright © Health & Parenting Ltd 2016. All rights reserved.