Baby food buying guide

Single-grain cereals; puréed or mashed fruit and vegetables.

Soft foods like well-cooked pasta and finely chopped meat or poultry.

After consulting with your pediatrician, you can introduce cow's milk.

There is increasing concern in the pediatric and public-health communities about childhood obesity and its role in the early onset of diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and other conditions. But it's important to provide babies and toddlers with age-appropriate food that supplies the nutrition they need as they grow. Babies also need a certain amount of fat for their growing bodies. The AAP says parents shouldn't put babies under 2 on any kind of diet or give them low-fat or skim milk. The early months and years are critical for development, and calories from dietary fat are necessary for a baby's brain to grow and mature normally.

One reason that pediatricians want you to introduce new foods gradually, generally one at a time, is to make it easier to identify anything that might trigger an allergy in your child. Common allergens are eggs, peanuts, cow's milk, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. But 80 to 90 percent of the children allergic to eggs, milk, wheat, and soy outgrow the condition by the time they're 5.

Follow your pediatrician's guidelines about which foods to introduce to your baby. The idea is to go slowly. Have your baby sit as upright as possible, strapped into a bouncer seat, perhaps, or a high chair. Your pediatrician might suggest you start with easy-to-digest rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. It should be smooth and runny, with no lumps. Use a baby spoon with a small, oval bowl and no hard edges, to bring the food to his mouth. (Your baby probably won't have teeth yet, and her gums might be sensitive.) Offer new food for three to five days, and if she accepts it, you can add the new item to the list of foods your baby enjoys.

Don't be dismayed or discouraged if your baby initially rejects a particular new food. Be patient, and keep trying over the course of the next few days, weeks, or months. If your baby shows no interest in eating something after a few attempts, don't push. You don't want to make feeding time a battle.

Stage 1 foods--for example, Gerber Organic SmartNourish (pictured)--are made for babies just starting on solids. They're usually a single ingredient, puréed for easy swallowing. Vegetables include peas, carrots, green beans, squash, and sweet potatoes. Fruits include applesauce, bananas, peaches, pears, and prunes. This stage has the plainest formulations, without sauces or additional flavorings: sweet potatoes are sweet potatoes, and peas are peas.

These have a smooth texture but are not as finely puréed as beginner foods. Intermediate (stage 2) foods are for more experienced eaters, about 6 to 8 months old. At this point, the choices are more interesting because two or more ingredients are combined to improve taste and offer new textures, such as apples and chicken, or as in the pictured Beechnut example, chicken and rice--and you don't have to open two jars. Remember to continue to provide fluids in the form of breast milk or formula as well. But don't give your child citrus juice, which can upset her stomach, until your pediatrician gives you the go-ahead, usually when your baby is around 6 months old.

They're for children about 7 to 9 months and older--babies who are learning to chew and mash their food with their gums or early teeth. At this stage, chunkier textures and larger portions, such as Heinz Lemon Chicken and Vegetable Blend, pictured, can help keep up with growing appetites. By the time your child is old enough for this stage, you might decide to simply give her table food that's mashed or cut up for easy chewing and swallowing. Infant juices are available. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that servings be limited to no more than 4 ounces (one-half cup) daily.

Companies like Gerber and Beechnut offers ready-to-heat meals for toddlers 12 months and older, such as lasagna or the turkey- vegetable combination from Beechnut, pictured. They're intended to be easy-to-chew, one-stop meals that provide the necessary nutrients. They feature more texture for older babies and toddlers, and most are also made for children who are comfortable with a fork or spoon. These meals are convenient, and may be handy for families on the go. But soft table food is also an option for babies this age.

The baby food in the supermarket might share shelf space with juices marketed for babies 6 months and older. (An example is Gerber apple juice, pictured.) Remember, there's no reason to offer juice to babies younger than one year.

In addition to basic juices, such as apple and white grape, you'll also see combinations that contain yogurt or are fruit-vegetable blends. All juices for babies have added vitamin C; some also have added calcium. Too much juice can cause diarrhea and gas, and contribute to tooth decay. And when babies drink juice, they might take in less breast milk or formula, which contain the nutrients they really need.

If you do decide to give your child juice, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting it to no more than 4 to 6 ounces a day for those 1 to 6 years of age. And make it part of a meal, not a snack. Be aware that fruit drinks aren't nutritionally equal to fruit juice. Check labels to be sure you're giving your child 100 percent juice. Note, however, that in tests of children's juice boxes and pouches, we found that while products with 100 percent juice had no added sugar, pure fruit juice could contain more sugar than fruit drinks.

Any juice your child drinks should be pasteurized (heated to kill pathogens). Fresh-squeezed juice isn't pasteurized.

Once your baby graduates to cow's milk at about the 1-year mark, keep in mind that juice fortified with calcium and vitamin D isn't an equivalent substitute.

Milk has a whole package of nutrients, including riboflavin, phosphorus, zinc, and essential amino acids that help form strong bones; fortified juice doesn't. And don't put your baby to bed with a bottle of juice or milk because it can lead to tooth decay.

Except for rice and other infant cereals, you can make baby food yourself from scratch. All you need is a fork to mash bananas, for example. You can process fibrous foods such as sweet potatoes or meat in a baby-food grinder (found in baby stores), food processor, or blender. Before preparing food, always wash it and your hands thoroughly, and if you're preparing any kind of meat, wash your knives, cutting board, or food processor afterward with soap and hot water and air-dry them to prevent cross-contamination of other foods with meat juices. Play it extra safe by using a separate cutting board for meat and other for food. For maximum nutrition, buy the freshest fruit and vegetables and use them within a day or two. Remove peels, seeds, and cores. Boil, bake, or steam them until they're soft, then purée them well.

Here's a time-saving tip: Pick one day a week to make a big batch of baby food, then freeze individual portions in ice-cube trays. (Transfer puréed food from the blender to ice-cube trays with a small spoon or turkey baster.) Or try the cookie sheet method: Place dollops of cooked, puréed food on a clean cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Once the food is frozen solid, remove it from the cookie sheet or ice-cube tray and store it in plastic freezer bags in the freezer. Frozen fruit and vegetable purées will last three months; puréed meat, fish, and chicken will last up to eight weeks. If you mix meat together with veggies or fruit before you freeze it, use the mixture within eight weeks.

Good vegetables to start with are zucchini, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash. Excellent fruit choices are apples, apricots, bananas, peaches, pears, plums, and prunes. Homemade food can go right from freezer to microwave, but make sure to cool it to just barely warm before serving it to your baby to avoid mouth burns. (That goes for any baby food--homemade or not.) Add water, breast milk, or formula to smooth the texture, but don't use butter, oil, lard, cream, gravy, sauces, sugar, syrup, salt, or seasonings, because they can prevent your child from experiencing the natural taste of those foods. And don't use honey as a sweetener for babies under 1 year old because it can harbor botulism spores, which could lead to a serious form of food poisoning. Give any food a good stir to dissipate any hot spots before serving.

Another word of caution: According to the AAP, fresh beets, turnips, carrots, collard greens, and spinach can be high in nitrates, naturally occurring chemicals in soil that can cause an unusual type of anemia (low red blood cell count) in infants up to 6 months old. The problem isn't solved by buying organic produce. Because organic produce is raised without synthetic fertilizer it can sometimes be lower in nitrates, but there are too many variables to know for sure. It's better to follow the AAP's advice, which recommends buying commercially prepared forms of these foods, especially when your child is an infant. Baby-food companies screen the produce for nitrates and other residues, and avoid using vegetables with high levels of these chemicals.

Organic food might cost more, though they often go on sale like everything else. Try these thrifty tips to save:

Check several local grocery stores to find the lowest prices on frequently purchased organic food. Also, stock up on sale items. Shop seasonally, since fresh organic produce, like conventional, is often less expensive in season.

Many communities now have regular farmers markets, even indoor ones. Check www.localharvest.org for organic growers and market listings.

You can also buy a share in a community supported agricultural (CSA) operation that specializes in organic food. The produce is almost always less expensive than at a farmers market and often costs less than the same nonorganic items at a supermarket. For a list of CSA farms, go to www.localharvest.org/csa and then contact the farms in your area to ask if they are certified organic. If so, they should be able to produce evidence of certification. If they sell less than $5,000 worth of produce a year, they might not be certified but should have documentation showing that they follow organic growing practices.

Some organic baby food lines sell packs of 12 4-ounce jars at a savings of a few cents a jar over single-jar purchases. Stock up when they go on sale and you can save even more. At Target, for example, a 12-pack of Earth's Best was $8.99 compared with $1.09 for a single jar at a local market.

Get a preferred-shopper card, which allows you to receive sale prices published in a weekly circular, newspaper, or online, on products like baby food without clipping coupons. There are also smart-phone apps you can use to comparison shop and find bargains when you're actually in the market. Google Shopper 2 and RedLaser allow you to do that.

Food marketers promote probiotics, those beneficial bacteria that work in the intestines to ease digestive woes and possibly strengthen immune systems.

Antibiotics and certain gastrointestinal illnesses can cause diarrhea by killing off or overwhelming our normal microbes. Probiotics can help to counteract those effects. But to produce this benefit, a serving of any probiotic yogurt must contain at least 90 billion live cultures.] There are baby cereals that contain probiotics, like Happybellies (pictured), and Stonyfield's yogurts for babies and children.

The evidence on the benefits of probiotics isn't definitive. Some studies have found that they might be modestly effective in treating antibiotic-related diarrhea in children. But there are also safety concerns about giving them to children who have serious health issues, such as a compromised immune system.

The bottom line for now is that giving your child healthful foods with probiotics could offer some benefits. But before you do, talk with your pediatrician.

Protein is essential for growth. Fiber is usually added to help regulate bowel movements. Some manufacturers are adding soluble fiber and extra protein to their baby products. Some lines of baby food and infant cereal, such as Beech-Nut's Good Morning (pictured) and Good Evening, contain oat bran and whey protein.

If your baby is eating a variety of foods regularly, she probably won't need these extras. Check with your pediatrician.

With childhood obesity a significant health issue, you'll want to avoid snacks that offer empty calories or are filled with excessive sugar, salt, or preservatives.

Some healthy snacks for your toddler include fresh fruit, dry cereal, rice cakes, small amounts of smooth peanut butter spread on crackers, diced or grated cheese, fresh or frozen yogurt, crackers, and pretzels.

Steer clear of sweet, sugary snacks like cookies or candy, or salty processed snacks like potato chips that are packaged and marketed as kid-friendly. A cereal such as Cheerios can make a quick on-the-go alternative.

Then there are the foods and snacks that are actually dangerous. Any food, or piece of food, that can easily get caught in your child's windpipe is a potential choking hazard. Babies and toddlers don't have the chewing skills (or even the teeth) needed to break down certain foods, so avoid hot dogs, bagels, whole grapes or raisins, popcorn, and raw baby carrots or other hard vegetables. Be sure to cook vegetables thoroughly to break down any fibrous matter, like the kind found in squash or sweet potatoes, that's difficult for your baby or toddler to manage.

When heating baby food in a microwave, heat it right in the glass jar if the package directions allow you to (and if your baby will eat the entire portion), or use a microwave-safe dish. Avoid heating baby food in plastic bowls or containers, even if plastic bowls are labeled microwave safe--meaning they can withstand heat. Some bowls might be a source of chemicals that can affect a baby's development and reproductive system. There are concerns about plastic materials, especially bisphenol A, and their potential to leach chemicals into food, causing health risks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, chemicals in some types of plastic containers might leach into foods when the container is heated. In addition, some studies suggest that washing plastic in a dishwasher can also degrade it over time, increasing the possibility of leaching.

If you're worried about plastics, avoid using them (especially containers that have bisphenol A, or BPA), a chemical used to harden plastics to reduce breakage. In animal studies, BPA has been found to have effects on endocrine function. Use microwaveable glass or ceramic dishes instead. The AAP specifically urges that parents avoid using clear plastic baby bottles or containers with the recycling number 7 and the letters "PC," because many of them contain BPA. Bottles made of opaque plastic, with the recycle numbers 2 and 5, are better choices because they don't contain BPA.

In general, be careful when heating baby food in a microwave. Heating can be uneven, and hot spots can burn your baby's mouth. Be sure to stir the food and cool it thoroughly before feeding it to your child.