Commercial or home-based baby foods?

"I trust that commercial baby foods contain key healthy ingredient for my baby. They wouldn't make a claim if it was not true"

Complementary food is defined as food other than breast milk or infant formula to complement the nutrients provided by breast milk or infant formula. When your baby reaches 6 months, breast milk or formula milk is not sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of the growing infant. Complementary feeding or weaning, as most parents would called it, is an important transitional journey for babies from milk to other tastes and textures in a staged developmental manner.

The use of home-based baby foods vs ready-made commercial baby foods has been creating a lot of confusion among parents and even, to the health care practitioners who are handling children. It is indeed a maze for most of us!! In the past, baby foods were made at home, typically pureed or mashed. However, in this 21st century, with our modern lifestyles, less cooking is taking place at home and both parents are working. It is not surprising that there is an increased reliance on ready-made infant food. Ready-made infant food are typically mass produced and purchased in a pre-prepared format with minimal effort by the user; if any, cooking or heating before consumption. Whereas, home-made baby foods are prepared, using fresh ingredients. In developing countries such as Malaysia, the availability of commercial baby foods are abundant (available in almost all supermarkets or grocery stores!). Thus, it is important for the purchaser (yes, you as parents!) to understand the broader aspects of commercial baby foods vs home-based baby foods so that you can make the right decision for your baby.

1.Content of commercial vs home-based baby foods

The content of commercial foods vary around the world, depending on regulations in each country. In Europe, the quality of commercial foods is generally good although there are certain concerns about the levels of sugar in some products. This does not mean that extra sugar is added to the foods- it is more related to the fact that fruit puree is added to provide a sweeter flavour and this constitutes free sugar. In Malaysia, we have the Code of ethics for the marketing of infant foods and related products but this regulation is mainly focusing on encouraging breastfeeding rather than focusing on the content of commercial baby foods. Most commercial baby foods will have sugar information provided on the food label. However, don't forget that there could be hidden sugar or free sugar in the form of fruit puree. Repeated exposure to sweet-tasting food during weaning may result your child not liking less sweet vegetables and fruits. So, always read the food label before purchasing.

Besides that, commercial baby food tend to have predominantly sweet vegetables in their content (i.e. carrot, sweet potato) with less green vegetables. Infants innately are predisposed to prefer sweet and salty tasting food. That is why most commercial baby food do not contain bitter tasting green vegetables (broccoli, spinach). It takes about 10-15 attempts for an infant to become familiar with a new food, what more with a bitter tasting food such as green vegetables!

2. Texture of commercial vs home-based baby foods

Commercial foods tend to be softer and very often completely smooth. Whereas, a wider variety of textures could be achieved by cutting and mashing home-prepared foods.

3. Cost of commercial vs home-based baby foods

Home-prepared baby food incurs lower cost compared to commercial baby food. Home-made meals can be made in bulk, and freezed! Moreover, raw ingredients to make home-based baby foods can also be used for your family.

4. Variety of nutritional composition and flavours

Most commercial baby food tend to stick to the same specific combination of ingredients due to the commercial pressure by manufacturers to create instantly palatable food. On the other hand, infants who are fed homemade food may also be fed with the same food on a few consecutive days, if food are prepared in bulk. Thus, there is a need to have an appropriate level of nutritional knowledge when preparing infant meals from scratch. The advantage of home-made baby food is that you have FULL CONTROL over the nutrient compositions and variety of textures and flavours.

5. Convenience of commercial vs home-based baby food

Lack of time and perception of 'difficult to cook' are the common reasons for purchasing commercial baby food. Yup, why not? It does have practical advantages especially when one is travelling or in situations where one is unable to prepare home- based foods. But, one can actually adapt family food into baby food. It is not that difficult (can check out my section on "recipe and meal plans") for ideas.

At the end of the day, it is not about which one is better- commercial or home-based. It boils down to what is being offered to your child. There are reasonable amount of choices of commercial baby food. If you decide to purchase commercial baby food, look at the nutrient labels for no salt, no sugar or added sugar and identify the varieties and proportions of ingredients present (eg. meat dishes containing low amounts of meat or vegetable dishes that actually are based more on fruits). Don't be misled by words that suggest presence of free sugars- honey, dextrose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, crystalline sucrose, nectars and molasses.

"Think of what nutrients your infant needs and how they are provided for by the foods that are available, whether commercial based or home-based"

You as a parent must decide. The choice is yours.

References:

1. Fewtrell M, Bronsky J, Campoy C, Domellof M, Embleton N, Fidler Mis N, et al. Complementary feeding: a position paper by the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) Committee on Nutrition. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2017;64(1): 119-32

2. Maslin K, Venter C. Nutritional aspects of commercially prepared infant foods in developed countries: a narrative review. Nutr Res Rev. 2017;30(1):138-48.

3. Lockyer S. Commercial vs. home-made baby foods - how do they match up nutritionally? Nutrition Bulletin. 2016;41(4):339-43.

4. Mohamad H, Mirosa M, Bremer P, Oey I. Parental attitudes toward weaning practices and weaning foods for health in Malaysia. British Food Journal. 2018;120(10):2466-82.

5. Code of ethics for the marketing of infant foods and related products. http://nutrition.moh.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/penerbitan/buku/TATA%20ETIKA%20PEMASARAN%20MAKANAN%20BAYI%20DA%20PRODUK%20BERKAITAN.pdf

6. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/15/who-urges-ban-on-high-levels-of-sugar-from-fruit-puree-in-baby-food