to think that commercial baby food is mostly complete rubbish?

[AKMD]

DS loves breadsticks so I've been spending what I consider to be silly money buying branded organic ones (10 tiny sticks in a box?!) for him to have out and about. The last time I went to get them, they were out of stock at my usual supermarket so I looked at the alternatives available. The other pack of breadsticks, whose manufacturer says that their snacks contain 'nothing but wholegrains and natural flavour', had added salt. The other packs of biscuits had sugar as the second ingredient. The shelf above the snacks was dedicated to bottles of fruit juice aimed at babies aged 7 months+.

DS was BLW (or finger food weaned, whichever you prefer to call it :o) so I haven't delved into the mysteries of 'jars' too deeply but I was quite shocked that baby food manufacturers make all sorts of claims about how great their foods are for babies when actually they contain all sorts of rubbish and are even, as a concept, actually a bad idea to give to babies (i.e. fruit juice to a 7mo?!). It concerns me that mothers think that they are making good choices for their children but are being misled. AIBU?

Salt is a natural flavour, not a good idea to let baby have much of it but avoiding it completely is next to impossible.

What makes you think your organic breadsticks are good for a baby? Or that buyers of 'jars' might actually think about it and don't necessarily feed their baby's rubbish?

Of course I'm one of those 'jar' buying mothers who need saving from their own stupidity by clever buyers of expensive organic breadsticks. Ever thought about getting over yourself?

Not misled here: just thought them handy when I was hillwalking or out sailing or travelling across Europe on the train with young dcs

Did you check the ingredients of the ones you buy against the others? Organic doesn't mean it doesn't contain salt.

My 7 month old just had a packet of skips and a petit filous for lunch?! How's that for healthy?

Woa, katie that wasn't a criticism of people weaning their babies! Possibly badly phrased, sorry.

I know it isn't particularly good for DS to snack on breadsticks, organic or not, but I admit to having no clue what he is supposed to have - no fresh fruit, no dried fruit, no biscuits, no starchy things as they stick between the teeth and contribute to decay, no salty things, no nuts... ummmm?... so breadsticks are my no-clue-sort-of solution.

The point I was trying to make is parents are told not to add salt or sugar to food they give their babies but the majority of manufacturers of baby food do. To me, this is wrong.

x-posted. The ones I buy do not contain added salt or sugar. I don't routinely buy organic goods, these ones just happen to be. The quality of organic products is a whole other issue that makes me

I bought thoses Ella organics - they are £1.21 per pouch in Asda.

Same thing, same packaging made by Dole, pack of 4 for £2.

Made all of my own baby food for ds1 but now with ds2 I just find myself with zero time :(

no shit sherlock! but sometimes they need to suffice, DS 1 ate hand cooked food, DS2 does have 2/3 jars a week

obv something that can live in a jar for 1 year aint the freshest, but needs must

PFB???? I suspect so!

Leaving aside the organic breadsticks and salt debate, fascinating as it is, I think there is a salient point in the post: there is no doubt that freshly cooked, homemade food is the best for baby. Whilst there are occasions when ready food such as jars (or pouches in my case) are helpful eg when travelling, I dont think parents should be fooled into thinking that food which can sit on a shelf in a supermarket For many months is as good as homemade. It also tastes like crap and personally I didn't like feeding my kids what I wasn't prepared to eat myself.

Jars vs. Homecooked? Surely no contest.

So, OP is not being unreasonable

I didn't use any jars with DS1 but used quite a few with DS2 and they were bloody convenient and the ones I bought were certainly less salty than the rest of the family's meal would have been. I don't think I was misled at any point, I am perfectly able to read the back of the packet!

YABU to buy those overpriced organic breadsticks. I think I know the brand you mean and maybe bought them once or twice for dd (pfb) but ds makes do fine with a big box off the adult shelf at a fraction of the price. I cook most meals from scratch so his salt intake it well within his daily allowance.
YAalsoBU not to give your kids fresh or dried fruit (I assume because of the sugar???). Fruit is full of vitamins and as long as you brush your childs teeth about 1/2 hr after there's no need to avoid it altogether.

IABU to buy overpriced breadsticks but they soothe my conscience. I do give DS fruit etc., but with meals, not as snacks. PFB much but he is my PFB.

Even if you were home-cooking things (and breadsticks are very easy to make), you would still need to add a certain amount of salt or sugar to the recipe. A little amount does not do any harm.

Anything you buy off a shelf has preservatives in it, and sugar is the main preservative used in most recipes.

Home made should always be nutritionally fresher and better than processed gunk.

I stopped homecooked all the time for several reasons - one - time - and two - I was never sure if I was offering the right balance, this one was more important. So now baby gets fresh fruit, yoghurt and bread made by me, sometimes vegetables and fish made by me, sometimes eggs, and jar menus regularly. The jars I buy taste pretty good, I tested a load of different types. They have texture and pieces (well now they do of course at six months they were smoother), I see no issue.

A good mate had awful PND that came and throttled her at the weaning stage. She used to pretend to mummies she was doing finger foods and blending everything from the local grocers. In truth she was feeding her daughter orange jar mush and a yogurt. She did so for over 9 months.

And there was patronising me mushing up, putting foods into little pots to freeze with my very low in salt stock cubes.

Her daughter and my DS1 are the same age. She's not orange, she has a wonderful healthy appetite, is the easiest kid in the world to feed. Whereas her peer group sneer at a chicken nugget if the chicken breast didn't come from the local farm shop and isn't covered in organic bread crumbs using an organic egg.

Moderation... I believe in moderation. Use common sense. Children should experience a wide variety of tastes and textures.

pre-packed/commercial food available for babies now is 100x better than it was when DS (5) was being weaned. Once I licked my finger on a bit of food from a jar bought for emergency purposes (we emigrated) and realised that jars were not right for me in any event. Now my sister has a baby, having gone to shops to pick up stuff for her when the snow was really bad, I couldn't believe the transformation in the section for baby foods. It is so much better than it was.

Of course there is still room for improvement, but you have to be realistic with food. Now it IS easier to avoid fillers, flavourings than it was. Organic doesn't mean pure, much to the contrary, it means no pesticides, no artificial flavouring, it doesn't mean no salt.

Other people will make decisions about how they raise their children, it may not sit well with you, but your decisions won't sit well with others.

If the child is healthy, that is all that matters.

Perhaps if you really are that concerned about what goes into the breadsticks you buy OP, you could make them yourself? [helpful]

Overpriced breadsticks aren't exactly full of nutrients.
Jars of baby food are full of nutrients, which are not destroyed by the preserving method they use (vacuum).
I use jars occasionally, better than breadsticks in my opinion.

Seriously you aren't giving your baby fruit? And erm breadsticks are starchy things. They probably aren't much better or worse than a plain biscuit. And YADBU buying fancy organic ones. The regular ones are just fine for babies unless they eat more than about 15 a day which is not fine but that should be obvious.

Anyway I had a long chat with my very sensible dentist last week and his advice was not to give DD (11m) sugary drinks, never to let her fall asleep with a bottle in her mouth, and only to give sugary foods with a drink of water and preferably not too often. But otherwise to carry on as we were offering her the same diet we eat and brushing her teeth (both of them) after her bath.

So you probably have a point about the baby fruit juice. But for the rest of it I would imagine most parents think about baby food in jars the same way they feel about ready meals. They aren't ideal but sometimes they are the best option.

I make homemade and freeze into small portions for my DD2, its harder than when I just had DD1 to look after though, but I don't want to use the jar baby food - plus making big batches at home and freezing them is much cheaper.

When I'm travelling with them I always take some Ella's Kitchen pouches with me. The vegetable ones are great for DD2 (10mo) as a meal and the fruit ones are great as a quick snack or pudding for DD1 (25mo). I quite like the pouches, they are very expensive though and I only like the simple, plain veggie and fruit ones.

At a push I will give DD2 a jar of Heinz or similar but only the veggie ones, tried one ages ago called vegetable medley or something and it was ok, it did taste like what the jar said it had in it. I once tasted a jar of spaghetti bolognese and it didn't even taste like food so wouldn't give a meaty jar unless I really needed to.

Can I re-post my topic?

AIBU to think that it is wrong for manufacturers of baby food to add salt and sugar to their products?

There. Not a mention of breadsticks. Whoops.

And yes, I do feed my baby fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, startches etc etc etc.

But sugar/ salt needs to be added to perceive it. Like jams and chutneys.... That's why it can sit on the shelf for a year.

Travelling abroad to North America really gave me some perspective on the UK's commercial baby food.

At home I'm not averse to a Plum pouch or two, but preferred to give dd home-made food. But when travelling I was forced to give her lots of baby food jars that were mostly water and rice, with no organic ingredients, and many of the stage 2 foods had sugar and salt in them. We're v lucky over here with the better baby food manufacturers, and lucky that we have the choice of what to feed our dcs.

Gosh AKMD

You're just so clever to have worked it all out.

Or perhaps you were terribly naive to start with and have only just caught up with the wicked world of commercialism. Did you have a sheltered upbringing or just a poor science/economics education ?

Out of interest, did you b/f or ff your ds ?

I made my own bread sticks.

[wins hands down]

YANBU - imo jar food tastes like shit. how is anyone going to expect their kids to like a wide range of taste, flavours and most importantly textures when they give them that goo? I am not against giving salt (small amounts) to older children 1 plus but i really strongly believe that jar foods are a waste of money and taste awful. my rule is that I dont feed my kids anything that I wouldnt eat, so jars are out.
This is not pfb'ness either ... I work 4 days a week, run my own business and have 2 children 15months apart. If it is important to you then you make an effort to make your own food simple as that. I was quite surprised when i gave my DS when he was a baby a Farleys Rusk and he went crazy, I only then realised how much sugar is in them. I give my kids treats, chips, pizza, now etc so I am not evangelical about nutrition but I think baby food shouldnt contain salt, sugar or preservatives