Showing posts with label infant health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label infant health. Show all posts

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Five Reasons For Preparing Your Own Baby Food

Here are 5 good reasons to start preparing your own baby food, as opposed to buying it in the store.




IT'S HEALTHIER AND MORE NUTRITIOUS Commercial baby foods contain additional fat, salt, sugar, fillers or other ingredients that are completely unnecessary (and often inappropriate) to your baby's diet. These additives are an attempt to add flavor, texture and bulk to poor-quality products. They contribute nothing at all to your baby's health or well-being. By preparing the food yourself, you can be sure that your baby is getting exactly what his/her little body needs - and nothing that it doesn't.


YOU'RE IN CONTROL By preparing your baby's food yourself, you know exactly what your baby is eating. When you prepare an apple sauce, you know he/she is getting fresh, pure apple and all the goodness it contains. However, when you buy apple-sauce at the store, you'd almost need a degree in nutrition just to decipher the list of ingredients.


IT'S EASY Once you get started cooking for your baby, you'll quickly realize just how easy it is. All you need is a food blender and some fresh ingredients to quickly prepare healthy, tasty, home-made meals for your little one. Furthermore, by making large amounts of his/her favorite meals in advance, and then freezing them for later, you'll be able to serve up delicious, healthy meals in minutes -- every day of the week.


IT'S MUCH CHEAPER The prices that baby food manufacturers charge for their products is nothing short of scandalous and are in no way justifiable. The reason they can charge so much is because they've conditioned most parents to believe that they have no choice but to buy from them. By preparing your baby's food yourself, you can avoid being a victim of this daylight robbery, and find yourself with extra cash to spend on all those other things that a growing baby needs.


IT'S VERY GRATIFYING Watching your baby enjoy the meal you've just prepared for him/her is already a very gratifying experience. On top of that, however, you have the satisfaction and pride of knowing that you're giving your child the gift of a healthy and nutritious diet - and saving yourself money as well.

And finally...


If all that weren't enough, here's another great reason to do it yourself: home-made baby food is much tastier than any commercial product. Delicious food is one of life's great pleasures and your baby deserves to enjoy the rich flavor and texture of real home cooking just as much as you or I. After all, none of us would enjoy eating 'TV Dinners' morning, noon and night - and that goes for your baby too!



So, don't put it off. Get started today. Your baby will thank you for it in more ways than one.


Nancy.

About The Author

Nancy Miller is author of 'How to Make Your Own Healthy Baby Food' and a full-time working mom. Visit Nancy's website at http://www.healthy-baby-food.com


nancy@healthy-baby-food.com

Are Parents Killing Their Infants Unaware?

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) has been a worry on every new parent’s mind for a long time and its cause has been a mystery for just as long. Scientists all over the world claim that SIDS can happen to any infant, anywhere, any time, and there is absolutely nothing the parents can do to stop it. Most parents simply resign themselves to this and say that there is nothing that they can do to stop SIDS from occurring, but the fact is that a new study out of New Zealand claims to know the cause of it.

The answer lies within the crib the child sleeps in! The chemicals of arsenic, phosphorus, and antimony were first manufactured into crib mattresses back in the mid 1900’s and these chemicals are required by law to be in mattresses as a fire retardant. But, it is not just the mattress alone that causes the crib death, the study says. It is only when mold finds its way into the mattress that you begin to have a problem. When Scopulariopsis brevicaulis gets into one of these mattresses that has these chemicals in it, it begins to feed on them and releases them back into the air as toxic fumes or nerve gases. It is activated by heat and so when the baby sleeps on it (or especially when it has a fever), the mold begins to grow more quickly and lets the gases out into the air.

While the gas disperses almost immediately, it is still dangerous for infants to sleep on the mattresses because they are breathing too close to the surface of it. They are breathing these gases while they are still potent and this is what causes crib death.

So, what can you do? Do not use anything in the crib that contains these chemicals and wrap the mattress in plastic to keep these dangerous gases from escaping. It’s best to do this when the mattress is brand new so you know there isn’t any mold in it and if you have an old mattress that was given to you by friends or relatives to use, throw it away. There are special baby mattress wraps that you can use to wrap up your baby’s mattress, but are only available from New Zealand.

Also, use only materials such as 100% Egyptian cotton blankets for your baby to sleep on. Do not use sheepskin, polyester, anything that is quilted, padded, or filled, pillows or cushions. 100% cotton is the best thing to use.

Learn More about mold From the Experts at Mold Remediation U.S.A.