When Darah was getting ready for solid foods, I read the book Super Baby Food. While I would argue that it is a poorly edited book, it does still contain a great deal of helpful information, as well as encouragement to have your baby try various foods that I wouldn’t have even considered before. I’m actually headed to Whole Foods later this morning, and these are some of the items I will be purchasing today:
- Brewer’s nutritional yeast
- Ground sprouts
- Powdered kelp
- Wheat germ
- Tahini
- Brown rice
- Earth’s Best infant cereal
- organic plain yogurt
Some of this stuff probably sounds pretty crazy, right? But I know from experience that if you expose your child to food that is so healthy early on, when food preferences and tastes are developing, you stand a much better chance of having an adventurous eater who will go for more than chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and peanut butter sandwiches later on. I was amazed at the stuff Darah would willingly eat as a baby, and I know giving her such yummy things helped her immune system and of course gave her body excellent fuel on which to run. While Darah still has her picky moments, to be sure, she is much more adventurous with what she will try than most other 3 year olds. I’m going to do the same thing for Layah, and so far she is loving everything she has tried!
Maybe I’m not going to convince you to start putting powdered kelp in your baby’s food, but I do want to emphasize just how important it is to make sure your little one is getting whole grains. The USDA recommends that at least 3 of our grain servings each day be from whole grains and have great, unique flavors. When kids eat whole grains from a very young age, they tend to develop a preference from whole grains over enriched products and that sets them up for nutritional success! Darah loves whole grain bread, for example, whereas I had to make the transition over to whole grain bread in my twenties. It was kind of painful. Just sayin’.
As Layah continues to have Earth’s Best infant cereal added to each of her meals, I appreciate knowing that she is getting lots of fiber to help her digestive system function smoothly. A constipated baby is such a sad sight, and so far we have not had any problems in that area. I also know that I’m hard wiring her taste buds to enjoy the taste of whole grains.
While I’m at the store today, I’m also going to be on the lookout for a product I haven’t yet purchased from Earth’s Best, which is the Fruit and Grain Purees. These squeeze pouches come in some really great blends, such as apple peach oatmeal, apple plum kamut, banana raspberry brown rice and pear apricot barley. Don’t those sound awesome?! Each pouch has 45% of the daily value of Vitamin C in addition to lots of great fiber. I love to make my own baby food, but even after getting some unique items at Whole Foods, I still can’t put together concoctions with all the fun stuff that some of these pouches have on hand, so I’ll be glad to have them as well.
I also appreciate the convenience factor. Just yesterday we were out and about and had to cut our outing short to come back home and feed Layah because I didn’t have any baby food with me. These fruit and grain purees are the perfect thing to keep tucked away in the diaper bag and my purse for such situations.
The Earth’s Best fruit and grain pouches are intended for babies 6 months and older. I can also tell you that my 3 year old continues to love these types of food, too. She eats them as a special snack.
Have you tried the Earth’s Best fruit and grain purees? How about their infant cereals? I’d love to hear if you have a favorite!
I am a blog ambassador for Earth’s Best, and as such, I have received complimentary products as a thank you for my time. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
