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Whether your child is at stage 1 or stage 3, there's something here for them.

By Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D.N., C.S.O., C.D.N., NASM-CPT

Updated: Mar 22, 2022

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As a busy parent, time isn’t always on your side. Making baby food from scratch can be stressful and time consuming, especially when it comes to appeasing picky eaters. Luckily, there are several pre-made organic baby food options that take the guesswork out of feeding your child.

Since the National Organic Program of the USDA has developed strict rules and regulations that govern USDA certified organic foods, those carrying the USDA organic seal cannot contain GMOs or any artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. And certain studies show that organic fruits and vegetables have significantly more antioxidant polyphenols than conventionally grown produce. Encouraging an abundance and variety of fruits and vegetables at all ages is key, but organically grown produce can provide some additional benefits without the GMOs or preservatives.

And speaking of ages, our nutrition experts point out that baby food stages aren’t standardized but there are general guidelines that many brands utilize. Keep in mind that every baby develops differently, and some babies are ready for stage 2 before they are 7 months old, while others may not be ready until they are closer to 10 months old. Talk to your pediatrician to help guide you throughout the process, and remember that it’s important for babies to advance through the stages on their own time.

As a general rule of thumb, Stage 1 foods generally consist of a single ingredient purees and are ideal for babies ages 4-6 months. Stage 2 foods are best for babies ages 6-9 months and start to incorporate more than one ingredient. Stage 3 foods are for babies 9-12 months, and they feature a lot of different textures and new flavors. Stage 4 foods are for babies at least one year of age and typically indicate that table food can be introduced.

A note on heavy metals in baby food: If you’ve heard about concerns regarding heavy metals in baby food, it’s important to know that they are naturally occurring and enter the food supply from natural sources like soil, water and air. It is nearly impossible to completely avoid these metals, but parents can minimize the risk by feeding their baby a variety of foods. Opt for grain-based cereals and snacks instead of rice-based options and be sure to limit fruit juices. Our experts say you can and should keep giving carrots and sweet potatoes because they contain important nutrients, but given that they grow in the ground, they may naturally contain higher levels of heavy metals so be sure to serve them along with other fruits and vegetables.

To make sure you're giving your child the very best, we put several brands to the test through a panel of kids, moms and editors to see which organic baby food products are the best for your baby. We’ve also included information on what measures each brand is taking regarding minimizing heavy metals in their products. Here are the best organic baby foods:

Once Upon a Farm

Organic Fruit & Veggie Blend Baby Sampler

Once Upon A Farm

SHOP AT AMAZON

Cerebelly

Organic Baby Puree Pouches

Cerebelly

SHOP AT AMAZON

Holle USA

Organic Fruit Puree

Holle USA

SHOP AT AMAZON

Serenity Kids

Organic Savory Veggies and Ethically Sourced Meats Variety Pack

Serenity Kids

$34 AT AMAZON

ALDI

Little Journey Pouches

SHOP AT ALDI

Happy Family Organics

Pouches & Jars

SHOP AT AMAZON

Plum

Organics Pouches

SHOP AT AMAZON

Yumi

Blends

Yumi

SHOP AT HELLOYUMI. COM

Amara

Organic Baby Food Pouches

Amara

SHOP AT AMAZON

Little Spoon

This subscription-based baby food service brings a unique twist to the traditional baby food we see on the market. Our nutrition pros appreciate that the organic baby blends feature nutritious ingredient combinations including chia seeds, buckwheat, pumpkin seed and hemp seeds. Plus, they offer a line of small packs called boosters that act as nutritional supplements to mix into your baby’s food that our mommy testers loved. You can select from four different types of boosters that are carefully sourced with vitamins, minerals, probiotics and organic produce.

Their line of Babyblends purees are now Clean Label Project verified, which tests for over 400 industrial environmental contaminants including heavy metals and more.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Gerber

Organic Pouches & Freshful Start

SHOP AT AMAZON

Tiny Organics

These organic baby and toddler meals are conveniently delivered to your door and are packed with super nutrients. Our nutrition pros and testers both love that Tiny products are free from the big 8 allergens. Curated by a team of chef and neonatal nutritionists, the meals are made fresh and shipped frozen. Their new Tiny Beginnings product line has six different plant-based baby meal options to choose from and is created for 4-8-month-olds.

When sourcing ingredients, Tiny's team shared with GH that they require the farmers to provide heavy metal tests on the lots from the year prior and when they harvest the new lot. The team also does internal lab tests on specific ingredients to make sure it is within the brand's specifications. All ingredients are all sustainably sourced within the US from local farms to reduce carbon footprint and are USDA-certified organic.

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How we tested

Registered dietitians in the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab evaluated dozens of baby food products, specifically analyzing ingredient lists and nutrition labels. Our nutrition experts prioritized USDA Certified Organic options made with wholesome ingredients and free of artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. We also investigated efforts that the brands are making to minimize heavy metal exposure in their products. In addition to expert analysis, we recruited a panel of parents and little ones to provide real-life feedback on quality, variety, portion sizes, convenience, packaging and more. We’re confident that our top picks are the best organic baby food options to provide exceptional nourishment and quality.

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

As deputy director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab for the past two years, Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN, NASM-CPT handles all nutrition content, product testing and evaluation. She stays up to date on the latest research to provide evidence-based reporting on all things diet and nutrition, and she also runs large-scale tests and analysis for products ranging from protein bars to supplements. She has a master's degree in clinical nutrition from New York University and has been a registered dietitian for six years, working in the clinical setting prior to Good Housekeeping and obtaining advanced credentials and board certifications in the nutrition field. As a new mom to a 6-month-old baby girl, Stefani is personally invested in thoroughly vetting and testing baby food products for her family and yours.

Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D.N., C.S.O., C.D.N., NASM-CPT Nutrition Lab Deputy Director Stefani (she/her) is a registered dietitian, a NASM-certified personal trainer and the deputy director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, where she handles all nutrition-related content, testing and evaluation.

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The Best Organic Baby Foods of 2022

Feeding

written by JACLYN VORAN

April 14, 2022

The Everymom’s product selections are curated by the editorial team. If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you. We only recommend products we genuinely love.

It’s time to start your baby on solid foods—congrats! You and your baby have reached a big milestone.

If you’re anything like us, you may feel overwhelmed at where to start. It seems that everyone has an opinion on what’s best for babies when it comes to, well, just about everything—and starting solid foods is no exception.

Whether you’re taking the puree approach, diving straight into baby-led weaning, or some combination of the two, the most important thing is starting your baby off with a healthy and balanced diet. This means a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products (that don’t include milk since the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastmilk or formula until 12 months before offering them whole milk).

With so many baby food options out there today, it’s easy to get confused and to wonder what’s best or if there’s really any difference.

Is Organic Baby Food Actually Better?

Nutritionally, no. When it comes to chemicals and pesticides, yes.

Research does not suggest that organic food provides major nutritional benefits over non-organic food, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). However, organic baby foods may have lower levels of certain pesticides and other chemicals, the AAP says.

The one thing all experts agree on is that offering your baby a wide variety of healthy options, whether they’re organic or not, is what matters most.

When Should I Start Giving My Baby Solids?

Most experts recommend waiting until your baby is 6 months old to start solids.

The AAP advises that you make sure your baby is physically ready for solids—they should be able to hold their head up and sit in a high chair or infant seat with good head control.

Another sign of readiness? They open their mouth when food comes their way or when they watch you eating. They may even reach for your food.

What Kind of Food Should I Give My Baby First?

To prevent choking, it’s best to start babies on soft or pureed food. Initially, you may want to limit foods to a single ingredient at a time for a few days to watch for any reactions before introducing a new one. After a couple months, your baby’s diet should include lots of different types of food, including breastmilk and/or formula, fruits, vegetables, meat, cereal, eggs, and fish.

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Benefits of organic baby food - Articles about baby food from pediatricians and MAMAKO experts

Components of food products are building blocks for all organs and tissues of the human body, so the state of health is determined by the quality, digestibility, biological and energy value of food. It creates the prerequisites for the proper development of the body and its functioning in the future.

Specialists, scientists, physicians associate the increase in the incidence of children over the past century with changes in diet. From the first years of life, a child's body is extremely susceptible to various undesirable and harmful components, such as toxins, allergens, which are often food additives of chemical origin.

The popularity of natural and organic products has exploded in the last decade as more consumers recognize their health benefits. The supply is formed by demand, therefore, food products appear on the market every year, which are characterized by a high degree of safety, attractive consumer properties, the presence of well-digestible proteins and micronutrients, minerals and vitamins that are important for the formation of a healthy body.

It is a balanced and healthy diet based on optimally selected food products that will provide children with full development, good physical shape and mood, and the formation of rational eating habits.

Baby food is generally characterized by high nutritional value and good taste, safety, balanced composition. But the variety of terms on the label, such as "natural", "ecological", "farm", "organic", indicating the beneficial properties of the content, often confuse consumers, and in some cases are contradictory and misleading.

What is the difference between these definitions, what do they mean, what are the characteristics of food products? What are the benefits of additional quality criteria, such as being labeled "organic"?

natural products are products that consist of natural, natural ingredients and do not contain chemical additives or impurities. At the same time, the term “natural product” can be interpreted in a completely different way, since the presence of this phrase on the package does not guarantee the absence of chemical additives in its contents: the manufacturer is not obliged to track the sources of raw materials, materials, and the technological process for preparing such products.

Farm products are grown and produced on privately owned farms and in most cases non-industrial. The term "farm products" has gained a lot of popularity in recent years: it began to be often placed on labels. But sometimes the use of the "farm product" status is speculative, as the packaging doesn't say how the ingredients were produced. Due to the fact that there are no legislative acts on the quality of farm products, it is possible that they can be produced using herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, and so on.

The composition of organic products excludes the presence of additives of artificial origin, such as preservatives, dyes, flavors, flavor enhancers, as well as the use of genetically modified organisms. The raw materials used in the production of organic food are grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, growth regulators. It is believed that the consequence of compliance with such conditions is the absence of chemical additives in organic raw materials. This gives the products an improved taste, a more pronounced aroma, and ensures their complete chemical composition.

The dominant difference that distinguishes organic products is the strict requirements for the quality of their ingredients, production technology, as well as the conditions under which the raw materials for their production were obtained:

organic products are produced in environmentally friendly regions, natural conditions, away from megacities, highways, industrial areas. Ecological agriculture helps to preserve the environment and provide future generations with a healthy and comfortable life;
only genetically modified and untreated seeds are used in the cultivation of cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits and other organic products. Plants grow naturally. Chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, hormones, growth stimulants are not used in organic agriculture;
finished organic products do not contain flavors, dyes, emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives and other additives of artificial origin;
in order to confirm the status of "organic", the food product is subjected to mandatory regulatory and systematic quality control "from grain to counter". Quality control is carried out by authorized state services - accredited certification bodies, as well as laboratories of the manufacturer itself;

A food product that has successfully passed the entire quality control cycle, and this is confirmed by certification bodies, receives the appropriate certificate, and a special “organic” mark is applied to its packaging: this distinguishes it from other products.

Therefore, a specific mark and label for organic products is used in relation to the production process and products, confirming that they have been produced and processed in an environmentally friendly way, and that all principles of organic production have been respected “from farm to consumer table”. The sign and the label are elements that confirm the quality of the production process, and not just the product itself.

Therefore, certified organic products are products that are produced, processed, packaged in strict compliance with specifications or government standards and then certified as "organic". The definition means that the product is produced with the exception of toxic effects on the environment, does not contain agrochemicals, pesticides, in its production did not use genetically modified seeds or products, hormones, chemicals, it is free from transgenic organisms and so on.

Organic products can be obtained on your own farm, that is, by self-breeding animals, growing vegetables, fruits, grain crops, which is accompanied by soil quality control and excludes the use of chemical fertilizers, hormones to accelerate the growth of plants and animals and protect them from diseases. Compliance with all the necessary conditions is a rather complicated process.

The second way to produce organic food is to buy organic raw materials.

As a result of fulfilling all the listed requirements and production conditions, organic products do not contain traces of pesticides, chemical additives, mycotoxins and other things, which makes it possible to limit the impact of such substances on the body of children. Infants are more susceptible than adults to the possible negative effects of various undesirable components.

Organic products are distinguished by their taste and higher nutritional value: on average, they contain 20-50% more vitamins, minerals, and biologically active substances compared to products produced using traditional technologies.

For example, organic baby cereals have advantages over conventional ones: a more balanced amino acid composition, a higher content of vitamins and minerals than with traditional methods of growing grain crops, which means that the composition and taste of organic cereals are much better and richer . At the same time, the range of organic cereals harmoniously complements the always available conventional baby food cereals, which are characterized by excellent taste, high nutritional value and safety due to strict requirements for baby food in the world and Russia, careful selection of raw materials and materials, strict technical and chemical control of technological production process.

Thus, organic and traditional baby food is a unique case when “healthy” does not mean “tasteless”, and the properties “healthy” and “tasty” harmoniously combine, complement and balance each other.

* Breast milk is the best food for babies. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a child's life and continued breastfeeding after complementary foods are introduced until the age of 2 years. Before introducing new products into the baby's diet, you should consult with a specialist. The material is for informational purposes and cannot replace the advice of a healthcare professional. For feeding children from birth.

Organic or ordinary food products: is there a difference - Parents.ru

About food

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Expert HIPP

Monograms

Buildsuits usually begin with the age of 6 months: it is at this age that the baby's digestive system is ready to accept foods other than breast milk. Products for the introduction of the first complementary foods should be chosen very carefully. One of the safest options is monocomponent purees. Today, parents can find such products marked “organic” or “BIO” on store shelves: these labels mean that the food consists only of natural ingredients and does not contain any dyes, preservatives, flavors or GMOs. Such monocomponent purees contain only one vegetable, for example, broccoli or cauliflower, which are the safest for a child trying an unfamiliar product for the first time.

What's the difference?

The main difference and the main plus of bio-products is the method of production. The fruits, vegetables and cereals that go into their preparation are grown according to the principles of organic farming, that is, without the use of pesticides, growth regulators, artificial fertilizers and pest control chemicals. In conventional agriculture today, the use of such substances, unfortunately, is quite common. Their traces remain in the final product, so such food can harm the child, who is still very sensitive at an early age.

Organic purees, cereals, soups and drinks are safer for the baby, while retaining their natural rich taste and the maximum amount of nutrients. We do not know how the fruits and vegetables sold in the store or in the market were grown, so making your own purée for the first complementary foods becomes unsafe. Only those parents who grow zucchini, cabbage, carrots and other products themselves and are confident in their quality (like Jamie Oliver) can be confident in the safety of home food.

Organic food is grown only in environmentally friendly conditions, therefore it minimizes the risk of harmful substances entering the child's body and reduces the likelihood of food allergies in the crumbs.