Your 11 month old: Week 3

Dear Baby Center -

 

Thank you for this week's article "The 5 worst foods for babies".  I was ignorantly expecting a list to inclue items such as peanuts, sugary sweets and corn (a choking hazard).  I was not expecting the following.

 

Soda:  Really?  Soda?  When your own website literature says that your baby should get only breastmilk (or formula) until 6 months and only breast milk (or formula) and small quantities of water from 6-12 months? While we are on this topic, in the '5 worst foods' article you link to 'when can my baby have water?' I'm sure anyone who reads this blog will understand why I personally take offense to your response of 'when they are at least 1 year old and drinking cow's milk.' What if my baby is not drinking cow's milk at 1 year of age?  What if his main source of nutrition is still breastmilk at 1 year of age?

 

Juice: Ok, I get this one. Far too many parents (this is my opinion, but also happens to be my dentist's opinion as well) give their babies, toddlers and children juice.  At W's first checkup (ok, not really a chekup as he only had 2 teeth at the time) the dentist's only advice was "Keep those teeth clean and keep away from the juice as long as possible." Perhaps because he sees his Mommy and sometimes his Daddy drinking water and we only give it to him in limited quantities (ie we don't let him carry around a sippy cup full) W thinks water is a treat.  Daddy tried to get him to drink juice the other day and he aquired a look of indignation "I don't drink things that aren't clear or breastmilk, Daddy, come on, get serious!"

 

Crackers: This surprised me somewhat also. Although we haven't given W crackers yet, he is continually being offered them by some of his similarly aged friends. The worst part of W's diet is O-cereal (and not even Cheerios, Organic O's). Ok, I did let him taste a french fry today.... but that's not a regular occurance. But I like the overall message. Don't let your kids fill up on junk and push away their dinner plates untouched.

 

Gelatin Desserts: Who thinks that Jell-O is a food group?  It's clearly a dessert and not only that, full of dyes and artificial flavors.  Jell-O is great when you are sick or when you've had your tonsils taken out. Or as a dessert, occassionally. 

 

Processed Meals: I'm deferring to the other supermom's post today.  Everything that has an ingredient list (or other food label with more than one or two ingredients) is processed. Unless you buy it fresh and mix it together your self, it's processed. I myself struggle with balancing the time it takes to make a home-cooked meal vs. nutrition of a semi-homemade meal. It's not easy feeding your family wholesome meals and working full time.  I spent 10 minutes in the grocery store this week debating the on sale chicken vs the organic chicken.  The organic chicken won - and I'm a vegetarian!  If that doesn't tell you something....

 

Bottom line:  Let's make an effort to support home grown, home cooked meals.  Do you know how much better our home-made pizza dough tastes?  Sure, mixing the dough one night an kneading and rolling it out the next night takes more time than it does to pop a frozen pre-made pizza in the oven. But my husband thanks me at the end of the night and it's worth it.