Super Baby Food

Very handy resource!
I purchased this book on the recommendation of a friend and because it had good reviews. I knew some people had said there were things to watch out for, but I've gotten enough information from my daughter's physician to make educated decisions. This book is a very handy resource to have around if you're going to make your own baby food (which is so easy to do). I love the pages on each fruit & vegetable and how to prep/cook/store each one. Yes, there is some information that we shouldn't go by, but don't you take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to your baby? This book also has lots of other tips on safer household cleaners and things.

First Foods - Be Careful!!
I've never written a book review but after our experience I felt it necessary. If you're a new mom or dad you know sometimes it all about the poop! Yaron suggests avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes and rice cereal as first foods. Three out of the four can cause constipation in your little one. After five poopless days (three of which we decided to put the food introduction on hold and only nursed), I learned from three different health care providers that bananas, sweet potatoes and rice cereal can be binding. My little guy had 5 days without a bowl movement, the first two he was only fed a couple teaspoons in the morning prepared as Yaron suggests. By the way, my son's first food was avocado and he loved it! My practitioner suggested sticking with the "p" foods for first foods such as pears, peaches, plums, etc...

To give you a little bit of context:
* We started introducing solid foods at 5.5 months and followed Yaron's first food suggestions for baby's less than 6 months old;
* Before introducing solids he was exclusively breatfeed;
* I had hoped to hold out until at least 6 months before starting solids but he showed all the signs of being ready for food such as nursing more often (every 1-2 hours day and night), reaching for our food, fixated on everything we ate that I feel guilty eating in front of him (!), etc;
* He is 20lbs. at 6 months old.

I too agree with the other reviews that there is WAY too much extra information that is completely unnecessary and makes the book challenging to digest. I don't need someone to tell me that I can conserve energy by keeping a lid on a pot so it will boil quicker. It could be MUCH shorter, information could be streamlined and therefor easier to highlight the key points. I found myself re-reading the same sections over and finally got out the highlighter for the key points.

All in all I wish I had done more research before starting...I guess that's what sleep deprivation will do to you...

Dreary
The book spends more time setting out menus than actually on the recipes and food preparation. The nutritional information is inaccurate in many places. The tone is condescending, and, quite frankly, it's a dull read.

This is the most comprehensive baby food book available
This is the most comprehensive baby food book available. Yaron delivers excellent advice and this book is a wealth of information. I read this book cover to cover, however you can use it as a reference and read sections when needed. I enjoyed the following about this book:

#1: She describes new foods that can be introduced to baby on a monthly basis beginning at 6 months.
#2: Detailed instructions on how to make your own healthy cereals options
#3: How to make your own yogurt
#4: Things I never knew before like how to tell if an egg is fresh or still good
#5: Reference and appendices sections where you can look up a vegetable/fruit individually and get facts like how to prepare, age to introduce and nutritional information
#6: You will want to make healthy food not just for your baby but for yourself. You'll find yourself wanting to try some healthy options for the whole family.

The only thing that I seriously disagreed with is her low opinion of meat. The emphasis is on legumes/beans etc. for protein and the role of meat in the diet is down played. This is the kind of book where you can find pieces of good advice and use what you want and not use what you don't want. If you are not a stay at home mother you will never be able to make food the way she describes. But if you do work you can still make some of your baby's food and that's better than not making any of it. Fantastic book. It would make an excellent baby shower gift as well.

******In regards to (Good reference, but some key inaccuracies, January 3, 2001 By A Customer)******

The No. 1 review has some glaring errors. Please see below:

The first time I read this review I thought it had very good commentary to offer. Even though this reviewer points out a number of concerns with Yaron's Super Baby Food book, I bought the book anyway. I was glad that I did because "A Customer" actually was highly misleading in terms of what Yaron actually recommends. It's really a shame that so many people found this review to be helpful because of the misleading information that "A Customer provides. I guess just because a person says they are a physician does not mean that they correctly present facts or correctly quote books. These are the following inaccuracies that I found this the above review:

#1: (she doesn't give a specific time frame to start) - Actually Yaron DOES give a time table to introduce baby to nuts. She specifically describes introducing nuts at 8 months and not introducing them any sooner than 8 months (page 101). She explicitly says on page 32 that experts recommend waiting until age three to introduce peanuts. She refers back to page 32 when talking about peanuts multiple times. Furthermore, in the table on page 33 she plainly lists nuts as a high risk allergy food. As a parent you have to decide when to introduce what nuts when to your child, plain and simple. Yaron gives guidelines and simply describes the nutritional benefits of nuts/seeds.

#2: (Yaron makes comments such as, "the good old days" when you can buy tofu in a refrigerated bin where you can bag your own tofu...well this was ended for a specific reason, IT ISN"T SANITARY) This statement is just blatantly taken out of context. I will type the sentence from Yaron's book following what "A Customer" quoted. "I remember the good old days when blocks of tofu were sold in an open refrigerated barrel at my local natural foods store and customers would bag their own. BUT TOFU IS NO LONGER SOLD THAT WAY, DUE TO THE LIABILITY OF UNFRIENDLY BACTERIA. FOR YOUR BABY, BE SURE TO BUY TOFU IN SEALED PACKAGES ONLY. It made me very mad that a "family physician" would take that out of context. Furthermore, Yaron is overly cautious about bacteria and keeping things clean. She recommends that you boil all water first before you give it to you baby and who does that? Yaron always recommends being over cautious and overly safe in terms of keeping bad bacteria away from your baby.

So, what this reviewers calls "glaring statements" I would call either not reading closely enough OR taking statements out of context. I have no idea about the validly on nitrates in spinach and carrots, but since all other concerns that "A Customer" discussed were inaccurate I would be inclined to research that myself before believing this person. When I saw that this person was a family physician I was more likely to believe what they said, but after completely reading Yaron's book and I have different opinion. I have a Master's degree in Environmental Chemistry, does that make what I say more credible? Well one thing I learned from my degree is always back up facts with proven research and credible sources for information. I put all the page numbers from Yaron's book and used direct quotes, I am not defending the actual recommendations. I am just trying to make sure that everyone knows that this person's review was biased and misleading.

Baby Food Book Review
This book is great. It give TONS of info on anything you could possibly want to know about feeding your baby and keeping him/her healthy. My favorite part is a section at the end which lists all fruits and veggies, what age they can be given, and how they can be prepared. Definite must for anyone who is interested in preparing home made baby food.