Nourished Beginnings Baby Food: Nutrient-Dense Recipes for Infants, Toddlers and Beyond Inspired by Ancient Wisdom and Traditional Foods

First I want to provide some background, I am a 3rd time mom who has been on the natural journey with our family for a decade now. Even though I am familiar with many of the blogs that this author has been featured on, I was previously unfamiliar with her blog entirely. I can't even remember how I came across this book, because I really wasn't looking to get a new resource on infant feeding...but I am so glad I did! This book has a lot to offer even though much of it isn't exactly "new" to me and/or it fits really well with ways we already cook and nourish ourselves, with just enough added knowledge and tips to make it an awesome resource that hasn't really left my countertop since it arrived (it lays open nicely too, which is a big bonus when you're cooking). Thankfully other reviewers covered how this book is NOT just about infant feeding, but really whole family nutrition, because that was what pushed me over to buying it. It has great info for starting an infant with foods and then transitional recipes and ideas as they age into joining the whole family more and more. So far, we have done a lot of the purees (plus we are doing some baby led weaning) and our daughter is loving everything thankfully. As others have noted, I love the suggestions of healthy fats to combine with the fruits, veggies, and meats. I am not as keen on the dairy for younger infants (milk and yogurt anyway, but we are big butter fans admittedly), but her book makes it easy to choose a different path if anything doesn't resonate with you (in our case, coconut alternatives work great). I am super excited to move into the whole family recipes. The book is an easy read, yet packed with great info...she makes it easily digestible (pun intended I guess, hahaha). I am very guilty of excitedly buying books and then not really utilizing them as I intended. This buy hasn't turned out that way, I am thrilled with just how much use we are getting from it and look forward to exploring more and more of the recipes. Wish I could go back to our first guy and have such a book companion for our feeding adventures!

I bought this book after previewing the first few pages. A lot of the recipes used ingredients we have at home and several things we would encourage eating. After receiving the book, however, I was very disappointed to see undercooked eggs and raw milk recommended to give children. I agree with introducing nutrient dense, wholesome foods to children, but it's just plain irresponsible to even recommend unpasteurized foods to a small child given how listeria, e coli, and other infections can be fatal to an underdeveloped immune system. I can't really return the book without paying a hefty shipping fee, so I feel like I've inadvertently enabled the author to peddle irresponsible advise to new parents.

I was looking for very basic, healthy recipes (like I would want to use) in the form of a baby "cookbook" to feed babies and toddlers. I loved the recipes using bone broth, butter and salt . There are negative comments because of the use of those items, raw milk too. But I believe healthy fats, yes butter, and salt (not regular table salt that has been stripped of its nutrients and minerals) are needed by our bodies. I was very impressed with the book's recipes and photos. I gave it to new parents and they seemed very excited to try it out. I am hoping they will give me feedback once they do start to implement the recipes. As for me, I think I have found my "go to" baby gift for the future.

I've been a big fan of Renee's website for several years and was thrilled to recently add her book to my collection. Her recipes are healthy, simple, and do-able for a busy mom. Many of them are enjoyed by toddlers and older kids so I don't have to make special meals for just the baby. I love her suggestions on making larger amounts to freeze for future use and reduce daily cooking. The photographs are beautiful and the font is a good size for glancing at across the counter while working.

I very very rarely leave reviews, but I feel that in this case the author truly deserves some accolades. I appreciate that first foods are introduced in a way that enhances the bioavailability of nutrients (with fats, bone broth, etc.) and have made most of the single ingredient purees, but I feel this book truly shines in the family meal recipes. I am already an avid cook, but it's difficult to come up with many ideas for meals that my teenagers and my 7 month old will eat. The Italian stuffed spaghetti squash (I used the ground beef option and spinach rather than kale because that's what we had) is so amazing and will be one of our usual from now on. I just pureed it to slightly chunky for my little guy and he absolutely loved it. We also loved the simple broccoli soup (with grilled cheese for the rest of us), and the tropical fruit smoothie is so good that it's almost impossible to belive that it's healthy. My baby loves the nettle and hibiscus infusion (and mixed in some lotion it did wonders for his irritated skin). I am excited to keep working through this book and very much recommend it!

I really enjoyed using this book as my baby started eating solid earlier this year. Great nutritious recipes for babies starting out and then building on them as they grow. I made the recipes for the family and pureed or chopped up the food for baby as needed and my husband and I ate the rest. so nice to make one meal for the whole family. Now we are adding Renee's newest book the little lunchbox cookbook to our meals as my son is older and really enjoying feeding himself and exploring new foods and combinations.

Love this book wish I had discovered it sooner!

Really enjoyed this book and it allowed me to feed my baby nutrient dense foods. As a nutritionist, I highly recommend this book.

My HBHC clients love this resource! The recipes are simple and the Instructrions are very easy to follow! A must have for all parents! The recipes use foods most ppl usual purchase.

Very beautiful book filled with great pictures, recipe and some knowledge to go with it.

I bought this book hoping for a soaked-oatmeal finger food solution to my son's digust of his morning oatmeal. Given that it has "toddler" in the title, I figured that it must include finger foods for toddlers and likely something with oats. That was a huge disappointment--there are none! It's not very helpful at all for someone already familiar with WAPF. I regret my purchase and wish I could get a full refund--including somebody else to package it and take it to the post office!