You will want to ensure that everything you feed your baby is free of germs, appropriate in size and texture and nutritionally sound.

Here are some tips to ensure that food is safe and sanitary.

• Double check to ensure the safety seal has not been broken before opening a fresh jar of store-bought baby food.
• Carefully cover and refrigerate all unused food immediately to prevent bacteria growth.
• Leftover store bought baby foods should be properly stored in the refrigerator and used within three days (two days for meat), or otherwise discarded.
• Do not feed straight from the jar as saliva can contaminate the remaining food. Saliva transferred from the baby to the food can partially digest the food, making it watery on the surface.
• Seal and store home-prepared food properly. Containers should be thoroughly cleaned and have tops that screw on or otherwise fit snugly.
• Discard all unused frozen foods that have been thawed. Throw away all unused refrigerated homemade foods after 24 hours.
• When traveling long distances with your baby, vacuum-packed, store-bought baby food may offer greater food safety in preventing spoilage and bacteria growth compared to homemade foods.
• To prevent infant botulism, do not use honey in feeding infants less than one year of age.
• To prevent salmonella poisoning, cook all eggs and chicken well. Do not feed your baby a raw egg and do not use products containing raw eggs, such as beaten egg yolk mixed with sugar, or homemade eggnog.
• If your baby is younger than 12 months, remember not to offer egg white because of potential allergy.
• Do not feed your baby or toddler peanuts or peanut butter because they can produce serious allergic reactions.