Question:
My wife thinks that the organic baby food is worth the extra expense for our nine-month-old daughter. Do you think organic baby food is really better for baby?

Answer:
In the long run, for the health of your daughter, it's worth the extra money to buy organic food, at least while she is still so little and vulnerable.

Organic foods are grown without the use of pesticides. Standards for safe pesticide use in foods have been based on adult tolerance levels. When selecting foods to feed your baby it makes sense to avoid foods with pesticides, since babies are far more vulnerable to the toxic effects of pesticides because of their small size and immature digestive and detoxification system.

As for data confirming the nutritional superiority of organically grown foods, few studies have been done.

Organic foods are more expensive. Organic farms are still few and far between, and compared to their counterparts, are generally small and they can't take advantage of the economies of scale. They tend to suffer a greater loss of food during production since they don't rely on synthetic chemicals to deter all potential maladies from bugs, disease, and weeds. Also, shipping and handling is more expensive because they must be careful to clean out or avoid haulers that have stored commercially grown foods that may have had pesticides that would be left behind.

Look at purchasing organic foods for your baby as a savings plan... an investment in your daughter's health.