Mumsnet Talk

From the point of view of teeth, sugar is sugar really. Your dentist would rather you gave your child a chocolate button than a raisin.

I give PF. I don't worry about amount of sugar in food, I worry about frequency of consumption, which is more important in terms of tooth decay. A petit filous once a day as part of a meal isn't as harmful as fruit juice drunk throughout the day, for example.

By that logic, a litre of cola and a bag of sweets with lunch everyday would be fine then, so long as it's water for drinks and non-cariogenic snacks the rest of the day...

I give the plum ones as they are just sweetened by fruit not heaps of sugar like petit filous & most other kids yogurts

there is only a difference of 3g of sugar per 100g between the plum and petit filous so not hugely different really.

Petit Filous are enriched with vitamin D and most kids are getting less than the recommended amount, particularly in winter. If you're FF then that also has vit D but if you're BF it's a good idea to either give your DD a supplement or enriched yoghurt.

Am not a health freak or totally obsessive about avoiding sugar BUT I would never give that much added refined sugar to a 6 month old baby. They don't need it, it's got no nutritional benefit, and the only reason they will reject plain yogurt is if you've given them highly sweetened / processed ones too often that they can't stand the taste of plain yog. Most plain full fat natural yogurt has other benefits (other than no added sugar) - like probiotics etc.

My kids are 3 and 6 and still have the "no added sugar" Rachel's yogurts or mainly plain full fat natural yogurt. I have bought petit filou before, and they love them, but because they'll happily eat other "healthier" stuff I buy that more regularly.

Not for a six month old though - no way!

No

They're bloody expensive.

I get a big pot of Greek yoghurt from Lidl.

A vote for Muller's Little Stars from me. I don't remember the percentage of sugar but there's only 7 ingredients or so, nothing added that I have difficulty pronouncing

DD has had them since six months... One on Sat and one on Sun after her lunch! She's at nursery during the week. I've not lost any sleep over it.

Can someone please explain to me why "sweetened with fruit juice" is better than sugar? If they both have 5g of sugar then what is the difference?

its so the manufacturer can say 'no added sugar' and make people think its better for them.

Partial a level teaspoon of sugar is indeed 5g (assuming you are using a standard teaspoon measure and not just any old teaspoon).

But a level teaspoon of jam or honey is 10g - as both weigh more than an equal measure of sugar as they are denser.

Never bought them, expensive and have sugar in.

Just bought greek.or natursl.yog and as it came in a big pot that i wouldnt use up.before it went off i froze it in an ice cube tray then.popped the ice cubes of yogurt into a freezer bag. I could then defrost them to have on their iwn to mix with fruit or in a curry or even to mash potato with etc. Easy peasy and cheap

Not at 6 months a no need for weaning but fine from one year old inwards, when they start eating more varied foods.

Eating is about moderation and enjoyment.

Refined sugar is toxic in excess and the sugar witch hunt started because sugar is added to any prepared food to make it taste better: soups, sauces, some meats, etc.

I do not use ready meals and do most things from scratch so I am very relaxed about a 50g petit filou here and there.

Onwards not inwards. Grrr...

I am also fairly relaxed about petit filou. I have to be as they are the only yoghurt dd1 will eat.

It never occurred to me that babies would just eat full fat yoghurt until I had nothing else and offered some to dd2.

Probably on balance its better with no added sugar (either via fruit juice or otherwise) I think. I dont think fruit juice is particularly good for you tbh.

And dd2 has also had a few petit filou from 6 months. They can have a varied diet from then.

my dd loved them from 6 months...not as much as she loved a chocolate button though

All my four have had them at some point.
I don't ban any foods except nuts because DS2 is allergic and can react from just contact with someone who's eaten them (and I am discouraging of mystery meats). I prefer to teach my DC they can have anything in moderation.

No

Full of sugar

I give DS some sugar free, organic yoghurts from the "Rachel's" range

They're not sugar free, they are sweetened with fruit sugar. They have a similar amount of sugar to petit filous, it just comes from fruit juice concentrate.

Sainsbury's own brand kids' fromage frais used to have no added sugar, and just use fruit puree, but I recently noticed that it does have added sugar now. So I emailed customer services, and got a very helpful reply, which I think demonstrates that it's not just a case of fruit = good and sugar = bad:

"Thanks for your email. I’m sorry the fromage frais yogurt we’re now selling in store appears to have more sugar in them. I can understand your disappointment, especially as you want to feed your children healthy food.

All our products come from reputable suppliers. We visit them on a regular basis to ensure they meet our high standards. I’m therefore disappointed we’ve let you down on this occasion.

We’ve contacted our technologists who explained that our previous recipe used de-ionised fruit juice to sweeten the product.

This is a very concentrated fruit juice in a syrup form which is effectively sugar and is considered to be no more beneficial than sucrose from a health point of view.

Due to de-ionised fruit juice not being as sweet as sucrose, this means that more of this sugar is required for the same level of sweetness.

We’ve decided that this could be misleading to customers and therefore decided to adapt the recipe using a mix of the juice and sugar to give the best flavour, rather than make it appear as if products contain no sugar when they do in a less obvious form.

An added benefit is that as less has to be added, the total sugar content (declared on the packaging) has in fact been reduced from the previous recipe.

We can confirm that even if no sugar was added to our fromage frais, it would be illegal to make the claim “no added sugar” on the pack. This is because de-ionised fruit juice is deemed a sugar.

Although some major brands make declarations on products such as “naturally sweetened with fruit juice” or “fruit juice concentrates”, this is effectively highly concentrated juice.

I hope this information is helpful to you and your children continue to enjoy our buying and eating fromage frais."

I have to say I was really quite impressed about the detail in their reply (and they sent it pretty quickly after I contacted them). And although I am generally quite cynical (ie they are obviously trying to keep me buying Sainsbury's kids fromage frais), I think this sounds like a plausible explanation.

I give one a day to DD. It's fortified with Vit D and calcium (17% of daily amount for both). A dietician actually recommended to me because I had to cut down on breastfeeds when I was going back to work and she wouldn't take a bottle.

I don't lose any sleep over the sugar content.

It's the other crap in them that bothers me more than the sugar

Fromage Frais – Sugar: 8.6% - Strawberry Purée from Concentrate: 5% - Aronia Juice - Fructose: 1% - Modified Maize Starch - Stabilisers: Guar gum, Pectin, Xanthan Gum - Flavourings – Acidity Regulator: Lactic Acid - Vitamin D.