Do you consider microwave ok for baby's food?

[gracemamma]

I'd always read that microwaves kept more nutrients in food etc., but then saw before having our babe that microwaves change the composition of breastmilk.  I've been using the microwave for baby's food but feeling a bit uncomfortable about it. Does anyone know of good recent data on this subject?

Do you feels comfortable with it? Why? Why not?

Thank you!

[elisheva]

We have never had a microwave. DH did the research...he's asleep or I'd ask him. Maybe others will be able to help. Honestly, I had one all my single life and I don't miss it one bit. We heat everything on the stove or in the oven. For baby food that needed heating (I didn't heat everything), I would put some in a small stainless steel bowl, set it in another bowl of hot tap water and stir it until it was warm-ish - this was very quick (30 seconds?) and I never had to worry about hot spots and other issues with microwaved food.

[cristeen]

If i can avoid it, I dont eat microwaved food. I certainly ammnot comfortable feeding it to DS. That being said, i dont heat his food at all. If i cooked it its warm, otherwise he eats it at room temp or stone cold. I dont even warm his bottles anymore. I figure we eat our foods at a variety of temperatures, he can get used to it to.

[greenemami]

When our microwave broke, we chose not to replace it.  I feel better (even though I honestly haven't done a lot of great scientific research) not using a microwave in general and I don't miss it at all.  If you are using a microwave, especially for baby's food, be sure not to heat it in plastic dishes-I wish I had more research for this, but I am sure you can find some if you google it :)

[calynde]

We have also never had one, and nobody here in our extended family has one either come to think of it. I don't feel comfortable eating microwaved food, and i certainly wouldn't feel good about it for my baby. It's one of those things for me that i don't even need scientific validation for, it just doesn't feel right to me...like teflon pans and a number of other everyday things that are generally considered fine to use.

My fairly crunchy best friend doesn't seem to think she can function without one, though, so i guess everyone has their own comfort levels regarding such matters.

Good luck!

[New_Natural_Mom]

We never microwaved DS' food and wouldn't allow it to be microwaved at daycare.  (I asked them to float it in hot water.)  It changes the composition of the food and I don't think it is healthy.  I really don't miss it.  We heat everything on the stove or oven, it's not bad.  I think my DH occassionally misses the pop it in and forget it convenience, but I usually heat stuff up for him so he won't complain out loud.  :)

[sapphire_chan]

It changes the composition of food because it is cooking. You also really shouldn't pasteurize breastmilk by any other means.

All cooking affects the state of the nutrients in food. Some will diminish, others will become more available for absorption, this is why eating a variety of food prepared in a variety of ways is so important.

I once used a scientific papers database to do a search for studies about microwave safety and then read through all of the abstracts and enough of each study to see whether the abstracts matched the actual data (it's sad that the second part was necessary, but researchers sometimes present conclusions that have nothing to do with their data) this included the infamous blood study.

The conclusion I reached was:

To microwave food safely, the best thing to do is stir it well after microwaving.

[SeattleRain]

I microwave Daniel's food. I don't use plastic, only glass or ceramic or stainless steel and I only microwave it for 10 seconds so that its room temperature. I'm comfortable with this because, honestly, I have other "crunchy" battles to fight day to day. I don't have time to deal with one more thing, you know?

[gracemamma]

thanks for all the feedback. Ive used the microwave for my  own food for awhile and love the convenience but have thought about how I never had any microwaved food  in childhood.

saphire chan: would you mind explaining the stirring bit- I'm very curious. I know you are supposed to wait a minute because the molecules are still bouncing around.

I'm thinking about minimizing it but I do try to cook quantities of things so we can get out and do stuff and come come home to dinner already ready.  Maybe I need to get some small SS pans so I dont need to dirty up several big ones to reheat food.

Still thinking about it all.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by gracemamma 

saphire chan: would you mind explaining the stirring bit-

It's a physical safety thing. You're just making sure there aren't pockets of hotter food/liquid.

[sapphire_chan]

Regarding one of the more...aggressive websites against microwaves, I personally was finally convinced of microwave safety when I realized that the person who wanted me to have confidence in their scientific opinion 1. didn't cite their sources and 2. thought that one sign of a microwave being dangerous was that you can't bake in microwaves.

The first because it meant that their evidence was "because I say so". (And I did manage to track down the microwaved blood study and the problem was a physical one not a biological/chemical one. Also tracked down the "microwaved water kills plants" thing and it is, quite simply, a lie.)

And the second was comforting because it showed that the person either knew nothing about microwave ovens or was also scared of frying pans.

[elus0814]

We live in military housing and have a built in microwave. We go several days without using it but we do use it a few times each week. I especially like it for warming up water when I'm baking bread and need to bloom the yeast. I don't microwave baby food. I thaw the frozen homemade baby food cubes in the fridge or on the counter in a stoneware or glass bowl then set them in hot water to warm up.

[JamieB]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 

Regarding one of the more...aggressive websites against microwaves, I personally was finally convinced of microwave safety when I realized that the person who wanted me to have confidence in their scientific opinion 1. didn't cite their sources and 2. thought that one sign of a microwave being dangerous was that you can't bake in microwaves.

The first because it meant that their evidence was "because I say so". (And I did manage to track down the microwaved blood study and the problem was a physical one not a biological/chemical one. Also tracked down the "microwaved water kills plants" thing and it is, quite simply, a lie.)

And the second was comforting because it showed that the person either knew nothing about microwave ovens or was also scared of frying pans.

LOL  You just made me snort!

[Ammaarah]

I don't think I'll ever lose sleep over microwaved food, for big people or little people, unless some very clear peer-reviewed studies come out showing that it really is bad.

[JudiAU]

Microwaves preserve viatmins better than other cooking methods. When we did purees, we microwaved everything in a pyrex mixxing cup. We use ours frequently. Microwaves can create hot spots though and that can causing burning (not supposed to microwave formula either) and overheating can mess with the micronutrients in bm. Also, no plastic bottles are microwave safe although I guess in theory glass might be.

[Thyme Mama]

personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.

[Marissamom]

Originally Posted by Thyme Mama 

personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.

there are many, many types of radiation, and the type used in microwaves is completely different than the type that is know to cause cancer. for perspective, light and sound are both types of radiation as well, but you don't spend all your time in a dark, quiet space for fear of cancer. I'm not saying that there might not be other potential issues with microwaves (though ours gets a ton of use, so obviously I don't feel that they pose any big threat), but radiation that could cause cancer is not one of them. 

[Ammaarah]

Yeah, Chernobyl and a microwave oven don't have a ton in common.

[Hannah32]

I think the only real danger of microwaving food is that it can create hot spots that can burn the baby's mouth. This is why we warm up bm at room temp. However, sometimes, we will micro a jar of food for ten seconds, which doesn't allow it to get too hot. 

I've quite using the micro with plastic, for the most part. I bought a nice glass Pyrex dish for leftovers to eat at work. I want to find a nice big one for my hubby too. 

[savithny]

Originally Posted by Thyme Mama 

personally, i find it very weird that people feel comfortable using microwave RADIATION to heat/cook food. isn't it a generally accepted fact that radiation causes cancer?????? chernobyl etc.,???? again, i reiterate that the concept of using radiation to "cook" food is simply asinine. though that is my opinion. our family does not own a microwave, and we do our utmost to reject microwaved food.

Well, since plants use radiation to MAKE food, and I eat plants, I guess my comfort level starts right there!    I'm a big fan of UVA and UVB radiation, myself, since it warms the earth, makes plants grow, and helps me make necessary Vitamin D.   Sure, too much of it DOES cause skin cancer, I guess ... but without it, we'd all die.  

Long story short: There are lots of kinds of "radiation."