When my sweet baby daughter turned 7 months old I decided that I really needed to step it up on the whole "trying new foods" program. We had already attempted a couple foods, but she stoutly rejected each and every one besides for her cereals. When it became obvious that she had actual interest in foods but she still wouldn't eat what I was offering her I decided to look around for some other organic lines to try. That's when I found HappyBaby and their great line of organic baby and toddler foods.
We started with the HappyBaby Frozen foods, specifically the Yes Peas+Thank You Carrots (the name makes me smile every time) and the Sweeter Potatoes + Purer Pear. I could honestly tell a difference between what I normally saw from a jar or plastic tub of baby food and what we had gotten from HappyBaby. Besides for the obvious differences in packaging, when thawed the HappyBaby Frozen foods seemed to be less changed from their original fruit or vegetable form. For example, every cube we thawed looked, smelled and tasted more like the fresh version of that fruit or vegetable than I had ever seen in a baby food not made at home. The Yes Peas actually smelled and tasted like sweet peas. The Purer Pears were a more runny consistency than the Sweeter Potatoes, exactly like I would expect if I had made those foods myself. (Which made me wonder what exactly those other companies are doing to the baby food I had used before to make every fruit and vegetable the same consistency?) While she didn't do a complete 180 on her consumption of baby foods, I will honestly say that before putting her little mouth on lock-down she would eat about twice as much HappyBaby Frozen foods as she would the other baby foods we had tried.
Then we moved onto their HappyPuffs, Green Puffs. The Green Puffs stood out to me because they weren't made with a fruit or sweet flavor, instead they contain spinach, collard greens and kale. Believe it or not, the Green Puffs were even better received than the sweet potato puffs we had tried from a competitor. HappyPuffs are made with whole grains and contain 1/2 the sugar as the leading brands. It's also kinds nice to know that the HappyPuffs containers are 40% larger so I don't need to go buy more puffs as often. Plus they come in 5 different flavors including Apple, Sweet Potato and Banana.
After that it was on to the HappyMelts freeze dried yogurt snacks. I was unsure as to how these would be received. Freeze dried yogurt somehow seems... wrong. But they have become my go to snack to stop the crying when I'm preparing meals or just need to distract the baby. We tried the Mixed Berry HappyMelts and they were pretty tasty but they never got the reaction that the Banana Mango HappyMelts get. All I have to do is show her the Banana Mango package from across the room and the crying stops. Some of the disks of freeze dried yogurt are fairly big though, so you will want to make sure you break them up into smaller pieces if need be.
Finally, we tried the HappyBellies Brown Rice Cereal with DHA and probiotics. HappyBellies cereal is the first baby cereal that I've personally seen (there may be others out there that I haven't seen yet) that contains probiotics. This was really exciting to me because I suspected that the probiotics may counteract the natural constipating tendencies of the rice cereal and for my baby this seemed to be true. (I'm making no claims here, just stating an observation based on my child and what I observed with the use of this cereal.) It also seemed to have a better flavor than regular rice cereal, in fact the HappyBellies Brown Rice Cereal seems to be even more enjoyed than the baby oatmeal cereal that has been our standby food for months (and that's saying a lot for baby cereals).
All in all, you can say that HappyBaby has a new convert. While we are still working our way through all the different foods (separately to eliminate any allergies), I'm excited to try out some of the HappyBaby Mix & Match cube ideas and recipes to help make sure we start our littlest eater on the path to healthy eating for life.
GET YOUR OWN: You can find these HappyBaby products at a store near you or visit the HappyBaby website to view their complete product line and purchase online.
WIN YOUR OWN!!! We get to give one lucky SIMPLE reader an awesome prize pack from HappyBaby including a HappyFamily Nutrition Guide, Recipes and two coupons for each of the following product lines (as in, you get to pick two items from each of these product lines for free!!!):
- HappyBellies Baby Cereals
- HappyBaby Frozen foods
- HappyPuffs
- HappyMelts
- HappyTot or HappyBaby Pouches
Extra Entries: (Leave a separate comment for each entry)
- Tweet this giveaway: Enter to win a prize pack from @HAPPYBABYFOOD over at @simplereviews: http://tinyurl.com/mkulsd #giveaway
- "Like" HAPPYFAMILY on Facebook
- Sign up for the HappyBaby newsletter
WINNER will be randomly selected and announced on November 27, 2010.
*In order to conduct this review I was provided with the above mentioned HappyBaby products for free. The opinions provided are my own.
All of their packaging is BPA-free and phthalate-free.
ReplyDeleteTweeted ~ http://twitter.com/susanlanai/status/3372595068010496
ReplyDeleteI "Like" HAPPYFAMILY on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI signed up for the HappyBaby newsletter.
ReplyDeleteThey are leading organic brand in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI love that there are vegetables inside the Happy Bites! My daughter loves the salmon stix!
ReplyDeleteashleykirnan@gmail.com
I "like" HappyFamily on facebook!
ReplyDeleteashleykirnan@gmail.com
I receive the HappyBaby newsletter.
ReplyDeleteashleykirnan@gmail.com
They partnered with a non-profit to help feed children- love a company that gives back!!
ReplyDeletejnieset@yahoo.com
I like that they give back to project peanut butter that gives food to starving kids in malawi.
ReplyDeletebrittanyvannorod@hotmail.com
fb fan of happyfamily
ReplyDeletebrittanyvannoord@hotmail.com
The Happy Baby Strawberry puffs are gluten free and offer a good source of Iron, Vitamin D, Calcium, and B Vitamins.
ReplyDeleteI liked them on FB
ReplyDeleteI tweeted :)
ReplyDeleteThey offer 15 flavors with a variety of meats, fruits, veggies and grains in thier frozen products.
ReplyDeleteThose Happy Bites look delicious. I may be ordering some up for both my girls :)
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/ManhattanMandie/status/4203335708057600
ReplyDeleteAlso *edit* my previous post (hit tab too soon) wanted to add that they have partnered with several companies to help Mom and Baby get fit!
I like HAPPYFAMILY on Facebook
ReplyDeleteLOVE that they give back by helping to send food to kids in need.
ReplyDeleteI learned this - no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no genetic modification, no preservatives.
ReplyDeleteI like the way they are being socially (project peanut butter) and environmentally responsible (less carbon footprint). That's really important to me as well as eating organic food. Wish these products were easier to find in our small town...
ReplyDeleteteacherkrista at gmail dot com
just liked them on FB
ReplyDeleteteacherkrista at gmail dot com
signed up for the newsletter!
ReplyDeleteteacherkrista at gmail dot com
their products are always BPA FREE
ReplyDeletetimmiedeluca@comcast.net
timmiedeluca@comcast.net
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/GabbyLowe/status/5816722422505472
tweeted
timmiedeluca@comcast.net
ReplyDeletefan of happy baby on FB-Laura DeLuca
timmiedeluca@comcast.net
ReplyDeletesubscribe to happy baby
I learned that the organic freeze dried yogurt snack is the only one on the market for babies and toddlers.
ReplyDeletewinit6 at hotmail dot com
tweeted
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/winsome6/status/6259791609470976
winit6 at hotmail dot com
I "Like" HAPPYFAMILY on Facebook
ReplyDeletewinit6 at hotmail dot com
I Signed up for the HappyBaby newsletter.
ReplyDeletewinit6 at hotmail dot com
I like that Happy Baby works with Project Peanut Butter! :)
ReplyDeletewendykate99 at yahoo dot com
I like HappyFamily on Facebook!
ReplyDeletewendy c k
I get the newsletter!
ReplyDeletePackaging is BPA-free...very cool
ReplyDeletesewarren2@comcast.net
The packaging is all BPA free! I love that it has added probiotics!
ReplyDeleteBPA free packaging.
ReplyDeleteI love how they give back through Project Peanut Butter!
ReplyDeletelindseygalvez at gmail dot com
I like Happy Baby on FB.
ReplyDeletelindseygalvez gmail dot com
I get the Happy Baby Newsletter.
ReplyDeletelindseygalvez at gmail dot com
Tweet
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/lindseygalvez/statuses/7166912404398080
lindseygalvez at gmail dot com
Fact: my son loves the Amaranth Ratatouille! (Obviously not on their website, but a fact not mentioned in the review, nonetheless :)
ReplyDeleteI like HappyBaby on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI get the HappyBaby Newsletter.
ReplyDeleteI love that they have project peanut butter to help children in malawai
ReplyDeletepurcellkatie22 at gmail dot com
fb fan of happybaby
ReplyDeletepurcellkatie22 at gmail dot ocm
Like them on FB!
ReplyDeletefabergre@hotmail.com
BPA free baby! This makes mommy happy!
ReplyDelete"Like" on FB
ReplyDeletesubscribed to newsletter
ReplyDeleteLove project peanut butter!
ReplyDelete