I (and my wife of course!) are expecting my firstborn (son) in about two weeks. I've been at the supermarket looking at the enormous aisle of baby food.

It is ALL high glycemic index CARBS. Ok, I don't want to be a diet nut or anything, but is this RIGHT? I saw dozens and dozens of selections; corn, beets, peaches, pears, apples, beans, and so on. -NO- protein or fat in the little baby food jars. Almost every single one was something sweet.

What's up with this? Can this possibly be good for babies? Shouldn't they be getting something more Zone-like? What's the composition of breast milk? It can't be all carbs can it?

Why is baby food so prevalently high GI carbo?

"Beginner" foods like the cereals and the first foods are "carby" because they're supposed to be easier to digest. Foreign proteins (different than breast milk) can be sources of stomach upset and even allergies. My son (a preemie) had to go so far as drinking a pre-digested formula when I supplemented breast feeding, since even the soy formulas didn't agree with him! Brest milk is actually a pretty high proportion of fat and protein, but DOES also contain a suprising amount of sugar. We can blame our sweet craving on biology I guess! lol

I didn't stay with many prepared baby foods once he was able to tolerate them. I used the meats, but not the dinners (too many starches, too little nutrition) or many of the fruits. I know what you mean when you read the labels...kind of scary.

I mostly used "real" food. It only takes a minute to run it through the food mill. They sell small, portable ones for just this purpose. Of course, I'd take his out before seasoning for the rest of the family.

Most of the fat your baby gets will come from breastmilk or formula...that is why the beginnning foods don't have much of it.

Thanks, this info helps me understand a little better...

I would hate to think that the commercial baby food is made to be so sugary because it's easier to feed to the little guys....

After thinking about it a little, I guess my real question is: how much high glycemic food do infants require for healthy development (versus fat, protein, and low G.I. food)? And if none is *required*, should they get much at all? Don't they get insulin spikes like adults?

I think a healthy balanced diet without or minimizing refined starches and sugars is good for everyone. Babies have special requirements which need to be met, but your pediatrician is a valuable source of guidance there. If you ask 100 people, you get 200 opinions. I guess the most important thing about being a parent is to trust your own instincts! You'll do just fine. You sound like a very involved Dad already, and your baby will only thrive with parents like you and your wife sound like to me!!!!

My pediatrician recommended only breast milk for the first year. Said there was absolutely no need for any type of table foods and they get all of their nutrients for the first year from breast milk. Also, he said not to even give her apple juice as its basically pure sugar and there is no need for it. My youngest went right to table food after she stopped nursing, although it ended up being straight to table junk food You can skip the baby food altogether if your wife nurses. I think if you go the formula route, you are supposed to start solid foods around 8-9 months or so though.


L

Babies need a high fat diet as do children. However it should be good fat, not junk. They also need protein which should be breast milk or formula primarily for the first 6-12 months. When introducing food, do vegetables first. Cook your own and process them without seasoning. Use the lower carb milder flavored veggies like green beans, squash, carrots, and broccoli. Stay away from potatoes, especially mashed, chips and french fries--full of fat. Use whole grain carbs like brown rice and oatmeal--process well and add some formula but no sweetener. Chicken is a good first meat but make your own without seasoning and additives. Cottage cheese is good and so is yoghurt but use the full fat kind if possible and avoid adding sweeteners. If yoghurt is too tart, add a small amount of fruit. Fruit juices are too sugary and actually bad for their teeth. Distilled water is good and should be given early and often. Babies get thirsty and may not be hungery.

Be observant. If your child is thin, feed more fats and offer milk or formula; if your child is chubby, don't add any additional fats to foods and offer water to see if they will satisfy them.

If you go entirely formula or breast milk until they are a year old it isn't going to hurt them but when you start feeding hem solid food, don't make it junk. Kids today live on cereal, spaghetti, hot dogs, sugar and such junk and it cannot be healthy. Any whole, unprocessed food is going to be a good choice as long as it isn't sugar (syrup, honey, etc are sugar) and as long as you offer and they eat a variety of foods.

After weaning do not fall for the line that "as long as they drink milk they are OK." Milk is for infants and should not be the staple of an older child's diet.

Look at the gerber first foods. The lable will say "Green beans, water" Almost all the fruits will have absorbic acid added for a preservative and vitamin C. For protien they do have meats, what we found works great though is combanations like carrots and beef, pears and chicken, apples and chicken, ect. They have only the meat, fruit or veggie and water.

Beware anything that is labled "dinner" or "dessert" instead stick to whole simple foods. You can also make your own at home easily enough. Get empty baby food jars to store it in.

When your baby is little it will get all the fat and nutricion it needs from breast milk or formula. You can add egg yolks or avacados when the kiddo reaches solids, but most of the fat will still come from milk/formula. Don't put a small child on a low-fat diet, even if they are a bit chubby. They need the fat for brain growth.

Keeping junk foods and sweets away froma baby is good, but there is no reson to put them anywhere near as strict as most Atkins levels. They would be able to tolerate maintanance levels or higher since metabo is so high and uncorrupted Just try to install healthy eating habits. Formula and breast milk contain protien. Start the baby on veggies so they learn to like them, then move on to fruit. Fruit is sweet enough your child will be happy to have it and not need cookies or other treats. My daughters favorite meal is still green beans, she just puts up with the fruit.

There is no way I could of waited until a year old to start either of my kids on solids. My daughter is still hungry after an 8 oz bottle and can polish off a size 2 jar of baby food easily 3 times a day. My son has always been a big eater and at a year old he would eat his food and start in on ours. I think that's why I did great losing weight when he was 2, Ionly got to eat half of my meals. Neither of my children are overweight, they are both perfect weight for thier height. WIC tried to tell me my daughter was a tad underweight, but I belive the pediatrican more then them and she doesn't look under at all.

Thanks, more great info. I obviously have lots of studying to do...

Of course, I would never consider putting an infant on any kind of 'diet' designed for weight loss -- they have lots of weight to gain! It was just seeing all those simple sugary carbs, one after another, in the supermarket. You know, if you weren't paying attention, you could easily feed a baby nothing BUT sugar....

It also makes me wonder about all that "ADD" stuff ... is it possible these kids have disfunctional blood sugar?

Congrats on your upcoming arrival! It is a very exciting time! Infants need lots of fat. I am a big advocate of breast feeding (nursed my ds for 1 year), but at 6 months they do need iron outside of breast milk. Babies are born with iron stores that are depleted by 6 months. Even breast feeding experts will tell you to introduce food by 6 months of age. Formula provides iron, but can't begin to match the antibodies and host of other unbelievable nutrients. At 6 months, stick to the whole food baby foods (start with veggies, fruits, then meat). Don't buy any dinners or "desserts". The other foods should just be whole foods with some water or absorbic acid. Baby food has come a long way. Fruit may not be good for Atkins dieters but it is for babies. Their digestive systems are nowhere near being complete and they need to eat low fiber/high GI foods especially in the beginning. My ds didn't eat baby food for too long. By 9 months he loved finger foods. When giving him grains we only use whole grains (wheat, rye, whole wheat pasta)...watch if they have intestinal woes. Canned veggies (no salt added) are REALLY good for finger foods, b/c they are cooked soft enough for young babies. He also loves all meat, probably because we eat a lot of it. Don't limit your babies fruit. They can and should eat our no, nos...watermelon, bananas, etc. Just don't introduce white bread, rice, pasta, or any type of processed sugar. Our ds has never had juice. He LOVES water and drinks milk at meals.

CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!!

Take care,
Elle

Jeff,

I had my firstborn when I was nearly 36 years old. Today is her second birthday and she is a fairly good eater, though she did go through a picky spell a couple of months back and still has her picky moments. On the other hand, she eats a wide range of fruits and vegetables, including oddballs like avocado, radishes, and onions. She still isn't too fond of meat or eggs, though she does like roast chicken.

I think one reason she likes her fruits and veggies is that I very rarely fed her prepared baby foods, except for the iron fortified boxed cereal powder which we introduced as her first 'solid' food on the advice of her pediatrician. When it came time to introduce fruits, vegetables, and meats, we used our blender to make natural baby food based on what we were eating for dinner. It is well worth the time spent, and so much cheaper than those little jars. Plus you know the ingredients are healthy, no sugar, and low sodium. You can also make extra each night and freeze it in little ice cube containers to use later in the week (though I never tried that). As the baby grows and develops teeth, you just process it less so that it gets chunkier like the stage 2 and 3 foods.

Why don't you purchase and taste a jar of Gerber green beans and another of meat and see how yucky they taste. That should help convince you to 'go natural'.

Rant time:
I am personally appalled by the prepackaged toddler meals that you can find on the grocery shelves these days. They are loaded with preservatives and sodium and white flour carbs. Not to mention the baby snacks - the occasional zweiback cracker or low sugar whole wheat organic cookie is good for teething, but do toddlers need sugar packed granola type 'fruit' bars? And apple flavored 'chips' that have very little fruit but plenty of sugar in them? I think not. The grocery store was out of organic full fat yogurt so I bought Trix the other day. I tasted it and found it sickeningly sweet. Needless to say, she doesn't get that anymore: now I get unsweetened natural yogurt and flavor it with fruit and a little honey or else give it to her plain.

Warning: Kids learn young...the first day I switched, she kept saying 'bunny' when I fed her the healthy stuff. Trix...bunny, yikes!!! Worse yet, she could recognize and point to the Pillsbury dough boy when she was barely a year old...and I never even bought that crap!

How funny, I never thought of the Trix bunny or dough boy as frightening characters before, but after hearing your story: yikes is right! Dang, these big companies are starting in on the kids young!!

Thanks for the great story. I'm going to share it with my wife tonight

I made as much of my kid's baby food as possible. I would make it up ahead of time and freeze it in the ice cube tray. It worked great! The only thing I had difficulty pureeing was meat, too hard on my blender. So I ended up having to buy that in jars but would mix it with my own natural veggies. Another thing I did was express breast milk and then used that to mix with the whole grain cereals. I think that a lot of the baby food in the beginning is just getting them used to the idea of eating, not just drinking their food. Most of their nutrition comes from breast milk for at least the first 6-9 months. I agree with the others, definitely stay away from foods marked "dinners" or "desserts" (which have added sugar!)
Best of luck to you and your wife!