The History of Baby’s First Foods
A look at the history of commercial baby food in America
I had never thought about the history of baby food before I started this blog. The more I wrote and thought about baby diets, the more questions I came up with and the more rabbit holes I went down:
How did babies eat before mass food production and distribution in the US? What kinds of foods were families making before it was common place to have a blender at home? Why are there 3,000 choices of jarred food when you walk down the baby food aisle?
Below is a summary of what I learned from my deep dive into the history of commercial baby food.
One hundred years ago there was no baby food industry because commercial baby food had not yet been invented. In the 1920’s, Harold Clapp created the first canned commercial baby food in Rochester, New York and launched a 70 billion dollar industry.
When Harold Clapp’s young son fell ill, he decided to feed him a homemade pureed vegetable soup. The child seemingly did so well on the stuff that Clapp started canning the baby food for other families he knew.
His early offerings included peas, spinach and liver soup (yes!). The canned baby food was a hit so he quickly scaled up production. By the late 1920’s he was already distributing canned baby foods in the US, Canada and Cuba.
A 1933 Clapp’s liver soup baby food can
The success of commercial baby food quickly caught on in the US.
Gerber entered the market shortly after in 1927 and Beech-Nut joined in in 1931. Both companies are mainstays in the industry to this day. By 1931, Gerber was already producing 2 millions cans a year and has remained the industry leader in sales ever since.
Prior to the invention of baby food, babies started solid food at a much later age.
Now a days, the recommendation is for babies to start solids to complement breastmilk/formula around 4-6 months old. One hundred years ago, babies weren’t starting solids until around 11 month old. With this later start of solid food there was less of a need for silky smooth puree to help the stuff go down easily. Babies at 11 months had a stronger swallow and could handle more food texture when they started eating.
Babies’ first food in the early 1900’s was usually a homemade “gruel” consisting of bread or flour mixed into water or broth to make a slurry. Some versions even contained beer or wine. Babies didn’t start eating fruits and vegetables until closer to their second birthday.
Following the invention of baby food, aggressive advertising helped the industry grow quickly.
Advertisements targeted moms as well as pediatricians with messages that canned baby food was a safer and more convenient alternative to making baby food at home. They also painted a picture that jarred baby food was modern while homemade baby food was old-fashioned.
The industry pushed for babies to start solids earlier and earlier which would in turn increase the demand for baby food. By the 1950’s, babies were starting baby food as early as six weeks old!
Over time, the ingredient list for baby food grew as producers looked to keep demand high and costs low.
Companies started to add cheap fillers such as starch as a cheap bulking agent. In time, sugar, salt and MSG all found their way into jarred purees.
These additives made baby foods more appealing to babies arguably decreasing their desire for other foods and influencing their taste preferences for life. (See my Flavor Window Post for more on this!)
In the late 1960’s, backlash against jarred baby food swelled.
Consumers questioned the need for added sugar, salt, MSG and fillers in their baby’s food.
Studies started showing that very early introduction of solids did not seem to be beneficial to baby and there was rising concern that highly nutritious breastmilk was being displaced in baby’s diet by empty calories.
In the 1970’s the recommendation for when to start solid food moved back to 2-3 months old. Around that time more families started making their own baby foods at home.
Today, the baby food industry is thriving despite ongoing interest in homemade baby foods and the baby led weaning movement.
Baby food companies have responded to consumer interest by producing more “natural” products such as organic, non-GMO and preservative free baby food.
A 2011 study showed that the average American baby consumes a whopping 600 jars of commercial baby food by their first birthday.
In the last decade, baby pouches have become a large part of the industry. Sale of baby food pouches has increased steadily since they were introduced.
Top tips for using commercial baby foods:
☑️ Read the ingredients. Make sure that there aren’t items added to the food that you wouldn’t add to your baby’s food if you were making it at home. An exception is “ascorbic acid” which is simply vitamin C. It helps maintain food freshness and also increases iron absorption at a time when getting in enough iron becomes critical.
☑️ Make sure that what is listed on the front of the jar is the first ingredient. The top ingredient listed is the one that the product contains the most of by weight. If the item is green beans but the first ingredient is apple, move on.
☑️ Pick a variety of foods. Be sure to have a variety of foods from different food groups and offer as many different flavors and colors as possible. Don’t get stuck in a rut and offer your baby the same food over and over again.
☑️ Avoid foods with added sugar and watch out for companies that make everything taste sweet by adding a lot of fruit to every product.
☑️ Limit use of pouches for on the go or “now and then”. Pouches are almost always sweet flavored so overuse could make your baby (and later your toddler) shy away from any not sweet items. Also pouches don’t encourage baby to work and their chewing and swallowing. They can simply suck it down and sucking is a skill they’ve already mastered before starting solids. We reserves pouches for on the go when eating conditions were hard to control. They really can be a lifesaver tucked in the bottom of a purse when you have limited options and baby is hangry.
☑️ It’s not all or nothing. Even if you are relying heavily on jarred baby foods, you can still mix in other foods from home when able. This can help introduce a wider variety of flavors and get baby used to different textures.