Best baby food brands

To help you pick the best baby food for your little one, we've asked parents to rank popular baby food brands for appearance, smell, value for money and convenience. We also asked about the range of options, as well as baby's happiness.

Our guide to the best baby food brands includes some familiar names – Ella's Kitchen, Heinz For Baby and HiPP Organic – as well as some own brands including Aldi Mamia Organic. We asked parents to tell us which they preferred, and which their babies liked the best. 

Our guide will help you to decide whether to opt for the big names or give own brands a go.

Best baby food brands

In our latest baby food survey, we asked 268 parents with children up to five years old to rate each baby food brand they've tried.

We asked what they thought of the baby food according to the following criteria: whether it looks appealing, smells good, is value for money, is convenient to transport and use, and if the brand offers a good range of options.

The survey included 21 baby food brands, with a 10% difference between the top-scoring and lowest-scoring brands.

Baby food brand ratings from parents with children up to five years

Which baby food brands are popular with parents?

Ella's Kitchen was the brand that most parents had tried in our survey. Everything in its extensive range is organic, and includes purées in pouches, meals and snacks. Its ideal for little ones with dietary requirements, as many products are free from dairy, gluten, nuts, egg and soya.

Supermarket own brands Aldi Mamia and Asda's Little Angels were the second and third most popular. Both offer a wide array of affordable, organic meals and snacks that you can pick up along with your weekly shop.

Other popular brands include Heinz for Baby, Cow & Gate and Organix, which all have huge ranges, including purées and meals in glass jars if you're looking to cut down on your plastic use.

Smaller, newer brands such as Babease, Mia & Ben and Piccolo Organic were less popular in our survey, but these small brands often have special promotions on home delivery and starter bundles.

Which baby foods make babies happiest?

To discover which food babies like the best, we also asked parents how happy, if at all, their baby was when eating the baby food.

One brand had a surprising 100% of parents saying their baby was happy to eat it. There were two other popular brands not far behind, with 99% of parents saying the food made their babies happy.

This compares with the least popular brand, which 90% of parents said their baby was happy to eat. 

Do you need more help with weaning? 

The NHS advises waiting until your baby is at least six months old before you start introducing them to solid foods. 

It's important to remember you're getting your baby used to the idea of eating, so how much they eat isn't too important. They'll still be getting most of their calories and nutrients from formula or breast milk.

You can start by feeding your baby smooth and easy-to-digest foods such as purées and baby porridge, and then graduate to different tastes and textures. 

You'll want to invest in a good highchair when you start weaning. We've lab tested 70 models and found Best Buy highchairs from £60. Read our highchair reviews to find the right one for your baby.  

If you're also looking for other weaning products for your baby, see our baby bib buying guide and our advice about the different baby bowls, spoons and cups on offer.