family health

This book was super! I followed the author's advice and made my own baby food -- veggies, pureed fruits, super porridge, etc. It doesn't take long -- I work full-time and find the time to prepare the food. It's not as quick as opening a Gerber jar but it's healthier and less expensive. I make large batches and freeze it -- when I need it it's convenient, fast and easy!

I agree it improves a baby's health! My baby is 10 months old and has never had any infection or illness. My pediatrician even asked me if I was making my own babyfood. He said he's noticed that the healthier babies usually are fed homemade foods.

I love the book so much I would buy it for friend's (shower gifts) but I recommend it instead. I think most people are too lazy (and not very frugal) to make the effort and commitment.

The title of the book is "Super Baby Food" but really it should be called, "I Was Martha Stewart in my Former Life."

I asked for this book for Christmas because I had heard such good things about it. While Ruth Yaron's intentions are good, her writing technique is difficult to follow. She is constantly referencing other chapters and/or pages and I felt confused and disorganized when reading it.

Secondly, some of the issues she covers are just plain ridiculous. Maybe she's just trying to cover her [own], but I think anyone with half a brain cell knows not to let the baby play with freezer bags because they can suffocate. She might as well say, "Make sure not to stick baby's hand in food processor while blending."

Third, there are all these "extra" chapters that just don't seem to fit the title of the book and what I was expecting. Maybe Ms. Yaron was under pressure from the publisher to produce a larger book, or maybe she's got ambitions to become the next Martha Stewart. But I wanted to read about baby food, not how to make party hats and decorate cookies. I guess it's cute if you enjoy baked goods and trying to throw the best shin dig for your 1 year-old. But I thought the book could have done without it.

Fourth, she gives age guidelines for certain foods that I don't understand. For example, she says baby should be 7 months before eating pureed peas or carrots. Well then how come commercial baby food companies offer carrots and peas as a stage one food? Perhaps she sees commercial carrots as poisonous, but I know several babies who ate carrots before 7 months and lived to see their next birthday. Also, there were foods mentioned like tofu, kelp, and other bizarre items that I would never even think to give a baby. Maybe some people would find that information valuable but I think most babies would be content with "standard" foods.

Anyway, the information in the book is what I wanted--Ms. Yaron gives excellent suggestions, directions, and ideas for making and storing homemade baby food. But her efforts were overshadowed by laughable safety tips, misfitting chapters and disorganization. Other than that, it was about how to make your own baby food.

This is supplemental to a review already posted. The info presented doesn't reflect recent research on how microwaving destroys nutrients (see below), so when preparing or reheating food, try to avoid using the microwave; otherwise you might be better off using commercial organic baby food.

"PARIS, Oct 22 (AFP) - Cooking by microwave is the worst way to preserve a key nutrient in vegetables, while steaming is the best, according to a Spanish study reported in New Scientist.

Researchers from the national scientific research council CEBAS-CSIC measured antioxidants, a compound believed to protect cells from damaging reactive chemicals called free radicals, in broccoli that had been either steamed, pressure-cooked, boiled or microwaved.

Steaming the veggies left the antioxidants almost untouched, but microwaving virtually eliminated them, probably because this heated the broccoli from inside and generated too high a temperature."