There are several brands of baby food, including supermarket own-label brands. You can
also buy commercial organic foods - these use top quality, pure ingredients which can make
them more costly.
If you’re going to use commercial baby food, you need to read the labels. Food
manufacturers are required to list all the ingredients in descending order by in-going
weight; in other words, what’s at the top of the list is the single largest
ingredient in the product. In some cases the first ingredient might be water; this is
often necessary for the manufacturing process, but may mean the baby food is cheaper to
make.
One leading organic company puts a percentage by each of the ingredients listed, so
that consumers know exactly how much of each ingredient has gone into it.
Commercial baby food doesn’t contain artificial colours or flavours, or added
preservatives. What it does often include is extra vitamins and minerals, and many
manufacturers list how much of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins and
minerals that particular food supplies.
As food allergy is a genuine concern for many new parents, babyfood labels regularly
give helpful information about their products being milk, gluten, egg, soya or peanut
free, for example.
Baby food is sold according to age suitability - the first sizes will be small jars of
100g to 150g, tins or packets, using simple limited ingredients, for babies from four
months. The next stage, in larger jars of lumpier food, is suitable from seven months.
- Baby rice is often the very first food chosen for weaning; the main brands are quite
pure, containing rice flakes or rice flour which you mix with breast or formula milk.
It’s also useful later on, for adding to pureed fresh fruit or vegetables, making
more of a meal
- Packets of baby breakfast cereal are useful, right up until your baby can eat the
family’s food. There are lots of cereal and porridge varieties, some with added
fruit; also some that contain added sugars
- Both savoury and sweet meals are available in packet form in many different flavours,
they are mixed with water or baby’s milk depending on the make. Packet food usually
works out cheaper than jars because you make up what suits you, altering the consistency
to your baby’s preference. Most should be used up within four weeks of opening
- Jars usually come with tamper-proof seals and have a long shelf life before opening, but
once opened should kept in the fridge and consumed within 48 hours
- You can also buy babyfood in small quantity tins although the choice of flavours isn't
as varied
You can buy sweet biscuit rusks or a sugar and salt free variety.
- Sweet rusks can be mixed with milk or boiled water to make a cereal, or used as a
biscuit for an occasional treat. They should not be used as a regular 'finger food' as
even the low sugar varieties may encourage decay in developing teeth
- Hard, completely sugar and salt free rusks may given to a teething baby to relieve
irritating gums. You can also buy baby rice cakes which are made from organic rice and are
sugar and salt free, and useful as a finger food
Baby fruit juices are suitable from four months. They may not contain 'added sugar',
but because they are made from fruit they will already have a high natural sugar content
and need to be used with care*.
- Most manufacturers give the natural sugar level in grams per millilitre serving so you
can compare labels and go for a low one
- Unless they have already been diluted, add water* to fruit juices before giving them to
your baby
- In their favour, baby fruit juices are naturally high in vitamin C and manufacturers
usually add extra. Many of the recommended single servings (about 125ml) provide at least
100 per cent of a baby’s recommended daily vitamin C intake
Click here to
visit babyworld's taste test of organic baby foods
