Too Much Information

Searching for a recipe book on making healthy, natural baby food, I was recommended the book "Super Baby Food." I borrowed the book from the local library before purchasing and I am glad that I did. The book is exhaustive in detail and although I am sure it was well intended, I did find it unnecessary. With time on short supply, all I wanted was the recipe. I found everything I was looking for in the book Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson.

So Useful - Just Keep Your Sense of Humor!

This is a terrific book, and it saved me a lot of money. Jarred baby food is so expensive, and the manufacturers will try to convince you that you need to be buying their various "stages" for years! Even if you buy organic produce, the cost is still dramatically less than if you buy jarred baby food. Parents who work full time may think that making baby food from scratch sounds crazy, but this book makes it very easy. It is wonderful to know that your baby is not getting any unnecessary salt, sugar or other additives. As your child grows, it is much easier to keep them away from junk food if you do not nurture a sweet-, salt-, or fat-tooth with their first foods. This book has wonderful recipes for children of all ages.

I highly recommend this book to any parent who needs help to figure out what foods to introduce and when, how to prepare them, and how much to expect your kids to eat. This book lost one star from me because I found the author to be just a wee bit fanatical. I mean, who has the time to make your own yogurt or mix up "super flour?" Simply read it with the intention of taking what is useful and laughing off the rest and you can really get a lot out of this book.

A great resource

I agree- Ignore the negative reviews. As with anything (and as suggested by the author), you should always check with your pediatrician...

That said, I have found this book to be a wonderful resource. It has easy-to-follow tables that say when it is safe to introduce which foods and how much to feed at what age. There are comprehensive guides explaining how to prepare each food, how to best store them, etc.

I work full-time, and have found it very easy to make all of my son's foods, especially using some of the short cuts suggested in this book. Yes, it is wordy, and yes there are parts that could have been left out or scaled back, but I read it cover to cover and learned a lot!