So I figured the nutritional content of the homemade cereal, now I wanted to figure the nutritional content of the homemade yogurt (also courtesy of Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron). I’ve tried making the yogurt with soy milk, but it hasn’t been successful. So, I make his yogurt with whole milk and I add 1/3 cup dry milk to the 7 day supply and 1 Tbs ground flax seed to each serving. I’ll compare it to regular whole milk yogurt because Gerber and Beechnut only make yogurt mixed with fruit.
By the way, you should definitely feed your baby whole milk yogurt – not the skim stuff. The brain lives off fat so your babies fat content should be much higher than yours since their brain is taking in so much. That is better than a Baby Einstein tape any day 🙂
The store bought yogurt is in ().
Calories 80 (40)
- Total Fat 4 g (2 g)
- Potassium 55 mg
- Carbs 7 g (3 g)
- Sugars 5 g (3 g)
- Fiber 2 g
- Protein 5 g (2 g)
Vitamin A 6% (2%)
Vitamin C 2% (2%)
Calcium 16% (10%)
Vitamin D 10%
Phosphorus 4%
Riboflavin 9%
Iron 4%
I didn’t really think there would be much of a difference in this, but I guess there is. The dry milk and flax adds a lot. I did change the % DV to baby requirements so they are different than the adult % DV’s you will find on the package.
The homemade yogurt is twice as high in calories and 45% fat (a good number for your baby). It is higher in sugar by number, but the % is lower. Sugar makes up 71% of the carbs in the homemade yogurt vs. 100% in the store bought version. The homemade version is higher in fiber and protein. Only the homemade cereal is a source of Vitamin D, Phosphorus, Riboflavin, Potassium, and Iron and it is offers a higher percentage of Vitamin A and Calcium. It offers an equal amount of Vitamin C.
The store bought yogurt has half as many calories and is also 45% fat (a good number for your baby). It is lower in sugar by number, but higher by % since sugar is 100% of the carbs. It does not have any vitamins/nutrients that the homemade version doesn’t also offer and it does not have a higher amount of any nutrient compared to the homemade version although it is equivalent in Vitamin C.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Is this just adding the nutritional value of the ingredients in homemade yogurt together? The bacteria create a significant chemical reaction.
And the brain does not live off fat, it lives off sugar.
I'm sorry, you are incorrect. Fats develop the brain. 60% of the calories used by the (baby) brain are fat. It creates the protective coating (myelin) around the brain cells. 20% of the calories used by the brain are then protein and those help create the neurotransmitters so that the cells can communicate. The remaining 20% are complex carbs (what I am assuming you mean by "sugar" although it is a little more complex than what most people think of as sugar).
Here are a couple simple articles to help explain this:
http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/fats.html#fatsbuild
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T020200.asp
Here is an article about how fats are used in babies:
http://www.thevisualmd.com/health_centers/child_health/infant_nutrition/11
Here is one that explains the science behind it:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VNH-48WJWGF-B&_user=8069006&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000000717&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=8069006&md5=5bf0f5808af08d0e57dda8d7a5f0ae3d