The baby food myth

So I've been told by my mommy friends that if I feed N directly from the jar, and I don't use all the food in that feeding, I should throw it out. That I should spoon the food from the jar into a separate bowl bit by bit only using a separate spoon that hasn't touched her mouth. Because her saliva might contaminate the food....bacteria from her mouth would grow in the food and when I used it later that day or the next, after refrigeration, she could get sick from her own bacteria. Now, does anyone else see the logic fail in that?



I'm no expert at all, but I more or less aced my intro microbiology course several years ago and something about that whole scenario doesn't sit right with me. I mean, let's assume N's mouth is teeming with bacteria. She herself is a better incubator than refrigerated baby food. She's got a warm, hot mouth and whatever she's got living in there is going to do much better IN there then out of there in a cold jar.



My oldest brother is a pathologist with an undergrad degree in microbiology and he also called BS on it. I mean, I know that there are pediatricians who agree with this baby food thing...I looked it up. But Rudy agrees with me and expounded a bit. Most of the bacteria living in N'smouth is anaerobic, meaning it cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. So you can't just assume that much of the bacteria in her mouth would even survive in a jar of baby food. Refrigeration does retard the growth of most bacteria. We know that. It's why we refrigerate so many foods after opening. So I am totally on board with the idea that if N doesn't finish her peaches, it needs to be refrigerated, but not necessarily because of her mouth. Once opened, many foods can foster growth of bacteria already in it from manufacturing and bacteria that is introduced by to it by virtue of the fact that we don't live in a sterile environment. And I'm on board with the idea that her food should be used within a day or two. Once opened, all food starts to spoil faster than it does unopened.



And then there is the idea that somehow the bacteria in her mouth will mutate into something that will infect her. If it's already in her mouth, how is it going to infect her? It isn't like we are talking about stool bacteria from her intestines, which can cause issues. We all have E. Coli living in our intestines. It's okay. If it multiplies in large amounts and get reintroduced, it can cause issues, as there is a delicate balance if what lives in our intestines, but there are many strains of E. Coli and not all of them will kill us. She is far more likely to pick up harmful bacteria by putting her fingers or her teether in her mouth than by eating yesterday's peaches.



In fact, only something like 5% of all the microrganisms on earth will do us humans harm. Yes, be aware, practice good food safety. If you are at the zoo or on a plane and can't use all of an opened jar of baby food, whether or not you fed directly from it, throw it away, as a refrigerator will not be available to retard the growth of organisms that may start growing as soon as it is opened. But until I see some sort of real science, I'll remain convinced that this is a ploy to get us to buy more baby food. Our babies have access to the cleanest food supply in the history of babies. Heck, even my mom usually made her own baby food, using non-sterile implements, feeding us from a bowl, refrigerating the leftovers, and feeding us again. For thousands of years, mommies and daddies have mashed up food using their own forks and other not-so-sterile implements and fed their babies. And we are still here...thriving on the results of that. Heck, if N drops a peach puff on the floor and then eats it, she's getting exposed to way more than she is when I get her used jar of peaches out of the fridge. She crawls on the floor, she occasionally eats off it (the fruit puffs often find their way to the floor), and her fingers are in her mouth all the time, along with the edges of many of her toys, as she is teething.



That baby food thing? Sounds like a ploy to me...they've got us all so paranoid about infecting our children, but our chldren have access to the healthiest food supply in the history of food supplies. And the longest life expectancies.