Customer Reviews

Homemade Baby Food Pure and Simple: Your Complete Guide to Preparing Easy, Nutritious, and Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Do not buy this book! There are many recipes that introduce foods in too early compared to the information in other baby cook books. I was shocked to see recipes which included eggs and yogurt for four month olds! (both of which should not be introduced until after six months) Check out "The Healthy Baby Meal PLanner" or "First Foods" they are much easier to read and in my opinion safer choices.

I was disapointed with this book. While it did include some good information, such as the reccommended age to start baby with at many foods, I could've thought the recipes up myself. For example the carrot recipe took up a third of a page and was basically: Boil the carrots until soft, then blend until smooth. The recipe for rice cereal is to go buy a box at the store and add water. I make rice cereal for my baby by boiling brown rice in distilled water until it is very soft, then putting it in the blender with more distilled water. It tastes much better than the boxed crap at the store and if needed formula can be added to improve the iron content. THis book is also not for the nutritionist. Many of the recipes for toddlers have sugar and butter added to them. I don't even eat butter or sugar, why give it to a baby? I make my baby's dinner every night when I make my own. Only takes a minute to blend. These recipes are meant to make in advance and freeze

This books uses refined grains, flour, Jell-O, store-bought cereals and baking mixes containing addivites, colorings and preservatives plus lots of sugar - not what I want to start my baby off on.

I agree with everything the reviewer below says, and want to highlight my biggest disappointment. For baby's first birthday cake, the author provides a recipe for a peanut butter and honey cake. Honey can be deadly for babies, and peanut butter is such a common allergen - why would you put these two dangerous ingredients together in a cake for your baby and his/her little friends?

I just want to say that I found this book to contradict itself in many sections. I was also very dissapointed to find that it did not even start into a description of how to prepare your own baby food until chapter 5. Half the book has information on breastfeeding and formula feeding. I also was dissapointed with the recipes that were included, the recipes do not include detailed preparation information and asume that you know exactly how to prepare it already.

I wish I had this book when my baby was 6 months old and just starting out! Many of the recipes would seem to be common sense: boil or steam a vegetable/fruit and puree it. However I'm not very creative at meal planning and being told exactly how to steam a peach is actually quite helpful. She explains how to prepare foods I wouldn't have thought of for a baby like celery or cucumber or red bell pepper. She even explains how to make your own teething biscuits. For those who need simple instructions and basic ideas, this book is great. Plus it draws info from a panel of experts including two doctors, a nurse, a dietician, and a nutritionist.

Most of the ingredients are common and probably in your kitchen. There are several fun ethnic recipes too which may contain a few unusual ingredients but they aren't hard to find. It doesn't pretend to be a health-food book but is not filled with unhealthy recipes either (except the holiday foods chapter).

She does not recommend eggs or yogurt for a 4mo baby as someone said. She clearly states that yolks wait until 8mo and whites 1yr, and yogurt 7mo. In fact she is careful to list a number of allergenic and/or dangerous foods to avoid in the first year including honey and peanut butter (although I was surprised by honey-peanut butter icing for "First Birthday Cake" as friends at the party may not be a year yet). The recipes containing these foods are obviously intended for toddlers.

There is plenty of helpful information on specific nutrients and nutritional requirements at various ages. There is one chapter of 10 pages on breast/bottle; it's not half the book. This book is excellent for a new mom during the first year and after that you'll probably want to collect a few more references.

This is the only book I found written with pediatrician guidelines and was real simple to read. The author did an outstanding job dividing this into categories of 4 months, 7 months and Toddler age. I don't know what the other reviewer was speaking to on eggs (she actually introduced them at 12 months)..I work an 8 hour shift and its nice to know my little one can eat fresh homemade baby food.

I echo the thoughts of another reviewer who said she would not feed these meals to her child. Many of the recipes contain age-inappropriate ingredients, and the most important thing seems to be that the recipes appeal to the adult palate rather than meet the child's needs. According to the book, the author became interested in writing a baby food book before she had children and when she was working in a completely unrelated field - sounds a bit suspicious to me. Perhaps she just thought it would be fun and didn't take the time to do the proper research. Choose one of many other excellent baby food books rather than wasting your money on this one.

This book sounds great from the title, but when you read it you find that you don't learn anything you didn't already know. The information is superficial and poorly organized and the recipes are repetitive and not worth the print (see reviewer's example above). If you are planning to buy this book, think again.

This book is very well written. Its excellent. Its the only book I found on the market that is pediatrician approved and that had a nutritionist double check every guideline. I found it very easy to read and helpful.