Watching what you put in your mouth can be a full time job in itself, but new mothers know things get even harder when it comes time to be responsible for your little one’s nutrition as well. Theresa Kiene took this responsibility seriously and left a flourishing TV career to create her own line of organic baby food called Homemade Baby.

“When my oldest daughter was born more than eight years ago, I was concerned because the only choice of baby food out there was shelf-stabilized — meaning the expiration date on the jar was actually older than my baby!” Kiene decided she could concoct a better option for her little girl than anything store-bought, especially since she grew up in a household of wonderful cooks. “I took favorite family recipes and gave them a nutritional makeover to come up with fresh organic baby food for my daughter. She loved them.”

By the time Kiene’s third daughter arrived, she decided to take the leap and start her own baby food operation. Her first step? Research and more research. “I read a ton of books and became a self-taught expert while studying the food industry, organics, pesticides and chemicals. Most importantly, I researched what babies needed to eat. In the process, I also realized there was very little innovation with baby food since the 1980s.”

Kiene’s next step was to cook up her product line — one that covers each stage of eating for babies. “I just started making different combos of food so they’d be nutrient-dense, because babies take such little mouthfuls. I wanted every single bite to count. My approach was to make the food I grew up with — which made me feel good inside and was good for me — age-appropriate.

This career woman who had worked for 15 years developing TV shows, including popular programs such as “The X-Files” and “Six Feet Under,” knew the only surefire way to see whether you have a hit on your hands is having real people give you feedback. That meant finding taste-testers — ones with little mouths. Kiene had hundreds of babies sample her goods. “My kids were always the guinea pigs first. Then I’d branch out to my friends’ kids and their friends’ kids,” she says. The concoctions that got the best reviews made the final cut.

Today, Kiene no longer works out of her own home but in an industrial kitchen that produces large-scale quantities of her Homemade Baby items. These can be found in the refrigerated section of various supermarkets. Some of the most clamored-after flavors include Squapples (roasted squash and apple) and Yummy Yammys (sweet potatoes, lentils, veggies), to name just a couple.

But with all her success also comes challenges — especially the task of balancing being a mother of three with the commitment and time it takes to get a business up and running. Kiene admits she can’t always be “superwoman,” but what she gets in return for all her efforts is invaluable. There are two things in particular this entrepreneur finds most fulfilling: First, how she’s able to give back to others. Kiene donates 10 percent of all the food that comes out of her kettles to undernourished babies. Also, as part of her outreach efforts, she goes to different charities and speaks to moms about reading labels and the importance of kids getting a good nutritious start. “To connect with other parents is hugely rewarding.”

And equally gratifying to Kiene is to having her own children see her dreams become a reality. “My daughters are watching their mother make a difference. That makes me feel I’m spending my time doing something worthwhile.”