# Homemade or commercial baby food

**Should we make baby food or buy it?**

Whether you make your baby's food yourself, buy jars and pouches, or use some of each.

In short: Parents choose between 3 main approaches: All homemade; Mix; Mostly pouches and jars. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: 0–6 months.

- Area: Feeding the baby
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: 0–6 months
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/feeding-the-baby--homemade-or-commercial-baby-food

## Homemade or commercial baby food: what are the options?

1. **All homemade**: You make all of the baby's food yourselves.
2. **Mix**: You use some homemade and some bought food.
3. **Mostly pouches and jars**: You rely mainly on bought pouches and jars.

## Homemade or commercial baby food: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

Heavy metals were detectable in 94% of both store-bought and homemade samples; the food type matters, not who made it

Sources:

- [Healthy Babies Bright Futures](https://hbbf.org/report/is-homemade-baby-food-better)

## What else is worth knowing?

Homemade food gives you control and costs less, and it takes time. Bought food is convenient and consistent. Either can provide what a baby needs, so this mostly comes down to time and preference.

## Questions to ask each other

- How much time and energy do we realistically want to put into baby food?
- Are there any worries about commercial food that matter to us?
- What would a good compromise be?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=feeding-the-baby&topic=feeding-the-baby--homemade-or-commercial-baby-food