What Is Baby Food?
Baby food is any soft easily consumed food other than breastmilk or infant formula that is made specifically for human babies between four and six months and two years old.
Who invented baby food?
About Justus von Liebig. “In 1867, the Swiss merchjant Henri Nestle invented the first artificial infant food, and in 1873, 500,000 boxes of Nestle’s Milk Food were sold in the United States as well as in Europe, Argentina, and the Dutch East Indies.
What is the purpose of baby food?
Health Benefits. Some proponents of the baby food diet claim that baby foods are healthier because they don’t usually contain any food additives. Baby foods tend to be low in fat, and with the exception of pureed fruits and some vegetables, may also be low in sugar.
The 3 baby food stages: What foods and when
Stage 1: Purees (4 to 6 months).
Stage 2: Thicker consistency (6 to 9 months).
Stage 3: Soft, chewable chunks (10 to 12 months).
What is the main ingredient in baby food?
The most commonly used infant formulas contain purified cow’s milk whey and casein as a protein source, a blend of vegetable oils as a fat source, lactose as a carbohydrate source, a vitamin-mineral mix, and other ingredients depending on the manufacturer.
How is baby food produced?
Baby food brands use three main food processing techniques to create your little one’s food—retort processing, high pressure processing (HPP), and aseptic processing—each with their own diverse methods, results, and benefits.
How often should babies eat baby food?
Start with one meal a day, then move up to two (try one in the morning and one in the evening) for the next month or so. As your baby gets older and approaches toddlerhood, you can work up to three solid meals a day with a snack or two in between.
What was the first baby food?
Baby food as it is traditionally known—jars of sweet potatoes and cans of rice cereal—didn’t really exist until the 1920s. According to Amy Bentley, author of Inventing Baby Food, the first solid baby food to appear on the market was invented by a man named Harold Clapp.
When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods;
How do you know if your child is ready for foods other than breast milk or infant formula? You can look for these signs that your child is developmentally ready.
Your child:
Sits up alone or with support.
Is able to control head and neck.
Opens the mouth when food is offered.
Swallows food rather than pushes it back out onto the chin.
Brings objects to the mouth.
Tries to grasp small objects, such as toys or food.
Transfers food from the front to the back of the tongue to swallow.
What Foods Should I Introduce to My Child First?
Pediatrics says that for most children, you do not need to give foods in a certain order. Your child can begin eating solid foods at about 6 months old. By the time he or she is 7 or 8 months old, your child can eat a variety of foods from different food groups. These foods include infant cereals, meat or other proteins, fruits, vegetables, grains, yogurts and cheeses, and more.
If your child is eating infant cereals, it is important to offer a variety of fortified alert icon infant cereals such as oat, barley, and multi-grain instead of only rice cereal. Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration because there is a risk for children to be exposed to arsenic.
How Should I Introduce My Child to Foods?
Did You Know?
Your child needs certain vitamins and minerals to grow healthy and strong.
Now that your child is starting to eat food, be sure to choose foods that give your child all the vitamins and minerals they need.
Click here to learn more about some of these vitamins & minerals.
Let your child try one single-ingredient food at a time at first. This helps you see if your child has any problems with that food, such as food allergies. Wait 3 to 5 days between each new food. Before you know it, your child will be on his or her way to eating and enjoying lots of new foods.
Introduce potentially allergenic foods when other foods are introduced.
Potentially allergenic foods include cow’s milk products, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, and sesame. Drinking cow’s milk or fortified soy beverages is not recommended until your child is older than 12 months, but other cow’s milk products, such as yogurt, can be introduced before 12 months. If your child has severe eczema and/or egg allergy, talk with your child’s doctor or nurse about when and how to safely introduce foods with peanuts.
How Should I Prepare Food for My Child to Eat?
At first, it’s easier for your child to eat foods that are mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. Your child might cough, gag, or spit up. As your baby’s oral skills develop, thicker and lumpier foods can be introduced.
Some foods are potential choking hazards, so it is important to feed your child foods that are the right texture for his or her development. To help prevent choking, prepare foods that can be easily dissolved with saliva and do not require chewing. Feed small portions and encourage your baby to eat slowly. Always watch your child while he or she is eating.
Here are some tips for preparing foods:
- Mix cereals and mashed cooked grains with breast milk, formula, or water to make it smooth and easy for your baby to swallow.
- Mash or puree vegetables, fruits and other foods until they are smooth.
- Hard fruits and vegetables, like apples and carrots, usually need to be cooked so they can be easily mashed or pureed.
- Cook food until it is soft enough to easily mash with a fork.
- Remove all fat, skin, and bones from poultry, meat, and fish, before cooking.
- Remove seeds and hard pits from fruit, and then cut the fruit into small pieces.
- Cut soft food into small pieces or thin slices.
- Cut cylindrical foods like hot dogs, sausage and string cheese into short thin strips instead of round pieces that could get stuck in the airway.
- Cut small spherical foods like grapes, cherries, berries and tomatoes into small pieces.
- Cook and finely grind or mash whole-grain kernels of wheat, barley, rice, and other grains.
How long is baby food good for?
Solid baby foods that have been opened may be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of three days. Strained fruits and vegetables can be refrigerated for two to three days and stored in the freezer for six to eight months.
Is baby food really necessary?
Feeding babies on pureed food is unnatural and unnecessary, according to one of Unicef’s leading child care experts, who says they should be fed exclusively with breast milk and formula milk for the first six months, then weaned immediately on to solids.
Pros
- High in fruits and vegetables. Most baby foods are made from pureed fruits and vegetables.
- Low in sodium. Most baby foods are low in sodium. …
- Low in fat. Most baby foods are low in saturated fat.
- No preparation. Besides your evening meal, there’s no meal prep necessary.
Is baby food healthier than regular food?
Organic produce carries significantly fewer pesticide residues than does conventional produce. Some people might buy organic baby food to limit their babies’ exposure to these residues — since infants might be more susceptible to harm potentially caused by pesticides than are adults.
Is baby food good for babies?
Rest assured, both jarred and homemade baby food can be perfectly healthy options to give your little one. That’s because when it comes to baby food, what you’re serving is often more important than what type of packaging it comes in.
Baby Food in Ghana;
GH₵ 38.50
