Homemade baby food NOT allowed in daycare?! - Page 2

[mamadelbosque]

Yes, people can food, but not purees - thats why you can't really home-can pumpkin. Its too thick and you just can't get it hot enough to fully kill bacteria cause' its so thick.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Yes, people can food, but not purees - thats why you can't really home-can pumpkin. Its too thick and you just can't get it hot enough to fully kill bacteria cause' its so thick.

Perhaps that's my confusion. I didn't necessarily think this mom's "baby food" was purees.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Yes, people can food, but not purees - thats why you can't really home-can pumpkin. Its too thick and you just can't get it hot enough to fully kill bacteria cause' its so thick.

are you talking about water-bath canning? Because you can pressure can purees.

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Yes, people can food, but not purees - thats why you can't really home-can pumpkin. Its too thick and you just can't get it hot enough to fully kill bacteria cause' its so thick.

I don't know that that's totally true. I have a USDA recipe right in front of me, for instance, for "fruit puree." And one for tomato puree.

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by lilmissmommy

Stage 2 babyfood and up have fillers added.

No, they don't. The foods that have added starch are the mixed-food "dinners" that have vegetables and meat together. Those often have added rice starch. The ones that are labeled as containing "cereal" also contain rice, wheat, barley, or other grain starch. The single-ingredient and mixed-veg and mixed-fruit foods have no added ingredients other than water and occasionally citric acid, which is added to protect fruits that would brown when exposed to air, like bananas. There is no major brand of baby food on the market in the US that contains added salt, other than a few of the "dinners," and the only ones that contain added sugar are the ones labeled "dessert." Those are easy enough to avoid.

This true for all of the brands we have occasionally used for our babies: Beech-Nut, Gerber, Gerber's organic line, Earth's Best, and the other organic brand that Whole Foods carries-- I can't recall the brand name of it.

There are no preservatives, colorings, or non-food additives in any of those brands. In the organic brands, the starch used is generally brown rice starch. And even that is easy to avoid if you stick to the single-ingredient brands, and buy the meat separately from the veg and fruit.

[Amatullah0]

Originally Posted by Llyra

No, they don't. The foods that have added starch are the mixed-food "dinners" that have vegetables and meat together. Those often have added rice starch. The ones that are labeled as containing "cereal" also contain rice, wheat, barley, or other grain starch. The single-ingredient and mixed-veg and mixed-fruit foods have no added ingredients other than water and occasionally citric acid, which is added to protect fruits that would brown when exposed to air, like bananas. There is no major brand of baby food on the market in the US that contains added salt, other than a few of the "dinners," and the only ones that contain added sugar are the ones labeled "dessert." Those are easy enough to avoid.

This true for all of the brands we have occasionally used for our babies: Beech-Nut, Gerber, Gerber's organic line, Earth's Best, and the other organic brand that Whole Foods carries-- I can't recall the brand name of it.

There are no preservatives, colorings, or non-food additives in any of those brands. In the organic brands, the starch used is generally brown rice starch. And even that is easy to avoid if you stick to the single-ingredient brands, and buy the meat separately from the veg and fruit.

IMO, rice starch and cereal are fillers.

and I wouldn't be happy with my DC eating commercial purees in daycare either. Maybe one jar of a plain food a week, maybe mixed with real rice or pasta, and some spices or some other food, but in general, i consider the purees to be junk foods. DS got only BM and formula until he showed interest in food, then he shared with us at the dinner table, and only got the purees to add flavor to something, like plain rice and some spices if, say, we were eating something that he did not enjoy(usually only if it was too spicy).

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by Amatullah0

IMO, rice starch and cereal are fillers.

.

Of course they are. But what I'm saying is it is easy to avoid the fillers, by reading labels and choosing foods that don't contain those, because they are widely available.

We used purees on an occasional basis, and were comfortable with their use. The processing these foods undergo does destroy some of the more delicate vitamins and antioxidants. And certainly BPA is a concern; information about that was less widely available when my kids were babies. But I don't think I'd go so far as to call jarred peaches or peas "junk food." I'm not saying they're ideal-- I'm just saying they aren't the nutritional end of the world, either.

[lilyka]

Wow, my kids would never eat jarred food. I made their food starting out and it was thinker than even the stage three foods. and I started my kids on solids around 5 months. lily started on fruit loops when she was 5 months old. (found her sitting in the cupboard chowing down. doh!) My kids just didn't want to drink their meals. even before teeth they were interested in eating real food. I wonder what the daycare would have done with a kid who just didn't know what to do with the soupy mess that comes in a jar. Will your child eat finger foods? Would they be willing to feed him that?

[Amatullah0]

Originally Posted by Llyra

Of course they are. But what I'm saying is it is easy to avoid the fillers, by reading labels and choosing foods that don't contain those, because they are widely available.

We used purees on an occasional basis, and were comfortable with their use. The processing these foods undergo does destroy some of the more delicate vitamins and antioxidants. And certainly BPA is a concern; information about that was less widely available when my kids were babies. But I don't think I'd go so far as to call jarred peaches or peas "junk food." I'm not saying they're ideal-- I'm just saying they aren't the nutritional end of the world, either.

I misunderstood you, I thought you were saying that they don't contain fillers, just starch or cereal(as if it isn't a filler, which I am sure a lot of parents go, oooh! it says rice, must be healthy!)

on the label "junk food" know that i'm coming from a place where I consider fruits to be "occasional foods"(i.e. dessert foods, not "health foods") so to me, to stick it in a jar and destroy some of the nutrients is a big as for the jarred veggies, ok, maybe they are not JUNK foods, but to feed a plain jar of liquid peas as a meal is just not acceptable to me. You need to at least mix it with another jar(or two), and preferably add some protein, fat, and spices. (I add spices to jarred baby food (sans salt) that we use every day in our meals, as I believe that our babies need to learn to enjoy our foods(indo-pak food) before they would ever need to learn to eat plain mashed up peas. I mean, when was the last time you ate plain mashed up peas?

I should add that I've never shopped for jarred "meals" as we used wic for all of our jarred baby food "needs"(they only pay for plain fruits and veggies).

[lilyka]

I also added spices and seasonings to my baby's food. Everyone thought I was nuts. but for petes sake...If I wouldn't eat it why would she? Besides I wanted my baby to experience real food. Real food has flavor. I was also the bad mama who introduced more than one food at a time and did not follow any of the rules.

[Carley]

It's most likely a licensing and liability issue. It sure would be more convenient for them if nobody had contact allergies and everyone provided their own food, but times just aren't that way anymore. You can't just "promise" that your baked yams weren't contaminated with peanuts, and many state regulators have caught on to that and tightened nutritional programs.

I think the suggestion for a doctor's note is a great idea. You might also check with your state's childcare resource department to see what the nutritional requirements are for licensing before you go speak with the director. Here many large CDC's are on the state subsidy nutritional program and all centers have strict nutritional regulations they're bound to if they want to keep their license. All must make exceptions for children with special needs (though that does NOT allow for homemade food).