When I was pregnant with my first I had all these ideas about how I would raise her. Ideas about sleep, food, and behavior that went right out the window once she arrived. It’s pretty common that we end up having to adjust our preferences as parents to what works best for the baby. Every child is so different we have to be creative and resilient. Once we get one thing figured out the schedule or development stage moves on and leaves us in the dust once again. I remember wanting to make all my baby’s food. It’s so easy these days, at least that’s what all the Pinterest posts would have me believe. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Cora wouldn’t eat anything I made but she was all about anything from a pouch.
This post is sponsored by Serenity Kids. While Serenity Kids provided our tickets the the Good+ Foundation 2nd Annual Holiday Bash, all opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support BInkies & Baubles.
At every grocery store, the baby food aisle is lined with baby food pouches in all varieties. You have to look closely though. A pouch labeled Spinach, Pea & Pear can be very misleading. The order the foods are listed make it sound like the pouch is a heaping serving of spinach with pea and pear blended in, but when you check the back label pear is listed as the first ingredient. Not enough spinach to get Popeye strong to the finach. While there are many pouches that have started listing the serving size of each ingredient for us nosey mamas, there is still a lot of sugar in every pouch. Even if there is no sugar added, the sugar content from the fruit can still be pretty high. Pouches have a trend of being high in sugar and low in protein.
If your kids are anything like mine they aren’t too pleased with meat. If I put ground beef in our spaghetti, they will find the smallest ground and make a HUGE stink about they aren’t eating the rest now. Outside of chicken nuggets and hot dogs drenched in ketchup and ranch, my kid’s actual meat intake is pretty low. I keep trying to get more protein into their diet and haven’t been very successful. I was at MommyCon in OC this year and I came across this new brand of baby food pouch Serenity Kids. At first, my adult relationship with food and texture made me raise an eyebrow, pureed meat isn’t really something my texture preference would opt for, but it’s PERFECT for my girls! They hate the texture of meat but love puree pouches! In that moment it was like the Universe had answered my burning desire to balance out my kid’s diets. I included it as one of my top picks from MommyCon and cannot wait till it is in stores!
Serenity Kids baby food is high in protein and healthy fats from grass-fed and pastured animals raised on small American family farms and blended with organic vegetables. Serenity Kids recipes taste great and leave babies full, happy, and serene. They currently have 3 flavors available in 4 oz. single serving pouches. Grass Fed Beef with Organic Kale and Sweet Potato, Free Range Chicken with Organic Peas and Carrots, and my kids favorite, Uncured Bacon with Organic Kale and Butternut Squash. Serenity Kids baby foods boast the highest meat proportion of any pouched baby food. Serenity Kids uses only ingredients without any antibiotics, added hormones, pesticides, fillers, GMOs, or common allergens including gluten, grain, dairy, corn, eggs or nuts. Ah-maz-ing!!!!
Last week I was so excited to receive an invite from Serenity Kids to join them at the 2nd Annual Halloween Bash hosted by Jessica Seinfeld and her Good+ Foundation. I’m so passionate about giving back to our community and providing basic needs for underprivileged families. It was a perfect partnership! I got the gang all dressed in costume and we went to visit Serenity Kids and their petting zoo they sponsored for the event! It was a dream come true for Cora and Bexley, they have been obsessed with bunnies lately and they thought it was the coolest part of the whole event! It might seem ironic that a meat product would sponsor a petting zoo, but the founders Serenity Heegel and Joe Carr take the environment and treatment of their animals to heart and support sustainable, regenerative family farms.
Serenity Heegel and Joe Carr created Serenity Kids Baby Food because they wanted the best possible food for their future baby. The Paleo diet healed Serenity’s digestive issues, anxiety, and insomnia, and improved Joe’s focus, energy, and mood—issues associated with his high-functioning autism. Serenity Kids baby food is high in fat, low in sugar and an ideal first food for babies over 6 months. They have perfected the careful combinations of premium, humanely- raised meats and organic veggies that are free of hormones, antibiotics, GMOs, gluten, fillers, grain, dairy, corn, allergens, eggs, and nuts. The squeeze packets are a ready-to-eat, easy to tote around in a diaper bag, purse or car. They are completely shelf-stable and good for a year after purchase! They can be refrigerated after opening and even frozen if transferred from the pouch. If you are as excited as I am to get these baby food pouches into your kid’s hands head over to their website and sign up for their newsletter so you are the second to know (I’ll be the first) when they hit shelves near you!
Did you know?
A baby’s macronutrient needs are very different from an adult’s. As a guide, we can look at the macronutrient ratios in breast milk. Fat makes up 45-55% of the calories in breast milk, closely followed by carbohydrates. Breast milk contains a relatively small amount of protein.
According to the USDA, a 7 to 12-month-old baby needs about 30 grams of fat per day, which may not sound like a lot until you account for the weight differential. If you use our multiple of ten, that would equal 300 grams of fat for an adult or the equivalent of 1.5 packages of Kerrygold butter per day. Babies need a lot of fat! Commercial baby food simply doesn’t address these nutritional requirements.
Good+ 2nd Annual Halloween Bash
The Good+ Foundation was founded by the fabulous Jessica Seinfeld. The event was so spooktacular! It was a very hot LA day and only a 2 1/2 hour event, so we didn’t get the chance to see everything, but the kids had so much fun at the booths we explored. We got to meet Ariel and Belle outside our usual meeting place and try out Fairy Tale’s Haircare. Among their favorite were the Foodstirs cookie decorating booth. We were there for a while…. Foodstirs is Sara Michelle Gellar’s Organic Baking Mixes company. I look forward to baking some of the mixes in our goody bag! After cookie decorating we found Donuts! My favorite, Dunkin Donuts, was taking pictures and putting sugar images on donuts and had a spider donut making table. After donuts, we headed to face paints, always a favorite for my girls. Thank you to Delta for sponsoring their Dias de Los Muertos booth with face painting and flower crowns. There were so many amazing sponsors like Uppa Baby, In n Out, Beautycounter, Farfetched, Dr. Peagers and more!
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