To say 'Fuck you, Ella's Kitchen, I'll boil my own carrots!'

[missmillimentscardigan]

Obviously I get that those pouches can be convenient; I just don't understand the blind adherence to the Ella's Kitchen 'feeding a baby everything from a pouch' idea. Why would you pay probably ten times the cost of a carrot to buy a pouch of pureed carrot? I hate the twee packaging and the stupid baby talk on the packets and cynical marketing guff.

I think parents are led to believe that they couldn't possibly prepare something for their baby to eat themselves, and that it's better and somehow safer, to buy them a pouch of fruit or veg and feed them that instead. So many of my friends, when starting off on weaning their babies, have just bought a load of EK pouches and given them that, and only that. And I find that a bit sad, that parents think that they couldn't /shouldn't cook a parsnip / bit of broccoli for their child, and that the first flavours their baby tries are from a weird vacuum pouch that doesn't even need refrigerating.

I'm no Annabel Karmel, and my children certainly don't eat lovingly prepared homecooked food all the time (hello, beans on toast). But I do enjoy cooking for them and my DH, and so does he. Those pouches have a place, but not at the exclusion of everything else. It's satisfying to see your child eating something you made and that you know is nutritious.

I'm not criticising mothers and fathers for using them; I just feel a bit sad that we are losing and abandoning simple skills, like very basic and inexpensive cooking for children, because baby food companies want us to think that they know better than we do. And they don't!

Of course it is important to discuss what parents feed their kids!

lovingly purée" as if the love is what makes it so much better

Oh I didn't lovingly pureeing anything. I found it tedious.

^^ Good point FarAway.

I never puréed anything at all lovingly or otherwise. DS never seemed to mind chunks of stuff.

Of course there are worse things happening to children to feel sad about. However, that doesn't mean that people can't feel sad about the whole issue around what we feed our kids, the loss of family home cooking and the power and influence of food companies over the choices we make.

I agree there is no need to be "sad" about kids who get fed. I'm only wishing to speak to the prevalence and reliance on convenience foods.....baby food I think can be a springboard to that wider discussion.

Ok for context:
I wasn't breastfed as my mother was convinced that her tiny breasts would not provide enough for her hungry baby.

At primary school I had school dinners which were cooked on the premises and very good. Ar secondary I had packed lunches.

Breakfast was Sugar Puffs with extra sugar, milk, a milky drink with sugar.(And "added vitamins!")
Packed lunch was sandwiches - white processed bread, Heinz sandwich spread, a Ski strawberry yoghurt - "Ski - the full of fitness food"- full of sugar more like)
3pm - sweets
After school - cakes - Mr Kipling French Fancies/Almond Slices/Bakewell tarts/Jam tarts
Tea - baked beans, cheese on toast, sausages, chips,fish fingers
Pudding - Angel Delight or biscuits

At weekends Dinner was better - meat and veg - but packet soup to start and packet Lemon meringue pie/cherry tart/ tinned fruit and tinned cream.

I was well into my twenties before I learnt how to eat so the "Feeling sad for kids who don't have fresh food" is from experience not a superior boast.

I wish I didn't have a filling in every single tooth from all the sugar. I wish I hadn't spent my life from the age of twelve overweight and lethargic. I wish I had eaten avocados and mangoes and home made soups, and different kinds of fish and foreign food.....

It's not ideal to feed a baby just pouches, but they're practical and can be life savers in certain situations. It's not hard to mash a banana, strawberries or something and add a bit of yogurt, but it can be too much at a certain period in your life (I had PND, just living felt like too much bother).

There also handy to have as a backup if the main meal is rejected. Though DS decided that they're evil and refused them. Let me tell you it's not fun going out and about with a baby used to finger food that is bored of carrot sticks and bananas.

Balance really is best.

I feel sad about the fact that my baby repeatedly threw all his (home made) dinner on the floor tonight, meaning that I spent all dinner time acting as a food referee so my dinner got cold and by the time I could eat it I was too tired and didn't want it. And if I'd decided to spoonfeed him something from a jar (because like most people I do both) he probably would have eaten it and dinner would have been far less stressful.

How about the op feels sad for this poor child and STFU about other parents feeding/weaning choices?

You could take this further and say why the hell do babies need any kind of specially prepared food at all? Just give them what you're having from 6 months old, be mindful of choking hazards and salt content, but just let them have at it already.

Purees are a faff. Pouches are a huge waste of money. Jars are gross tasting and heated to a thousand degrees to really make sure there's nothing of nutritional value in them at all by the time babies get them. Just bloody give them normal food and let them feed themselves.

Just wanted to put out there I agree with you! No need for them. And no need for them exclusively for sure.

I have never once used a jar or pouch or prepared baby food of any sort.
We BLW he's had home cooked food from the start- so yes there are people IRL who don't feed shit from a jar!

BLW doesn't work for every baby. What's so hard to understand about that?

How does it not work for every baby? Offer them food- they're Hungry they eat it. They're not they don't!

Even if you choose not to blw 'or it doesn't work' then still no need to buy purees and jars

This thread is really interesting. When I said I thought it was 'sad' that some parents are not confident enough to cook for their children, I do understand that there are many, many much sadder things happening, of course. But I am interested in how people feed their children and what others think about baby food.
My own experience is that I didn't cook at all before I had dc. I didn't have a clue how to make a shepherd's pie or even a cheese sauce to make fish pie or lasagne. Growing up it just wasn't ever something that seemed important, so I got to my late 20s without ever having really cooked anything. When I had my first dc I decided to try and improve my diet, especially once he started weaning. It sounds
ridiculous but I was amazed the first time I made a pasta sauce from chopped tomatoes, rather than buying a jar of sauce. It was easy, cheaper and much healthier. I really want to make sure my dc know how to make the basics before they leave home.
So that's kind of the perspective I'm coming from. Not being 'judgy' of other people's choices, just interested in others' views about convenience food, especially for babies.
PPs who talked about having pnd or losing a parent while starting weaning - I'm very sorry and I was definitely not talking about that particular situation in my op. Neither was I talking about people who do a bit of both (pouches and home cooking), or use pouches when out / travelling etc. I was talking about people who would have the time to cook something for themselves and give a bit to their baby, either mashed up or as blw, but choose to give EK or similar, and whether there may be an issue with kitchen confidence in this country.

Ohhhhhshit my ds had 6 teeth before 6 months. He would bite huge chunks off whatever he was offered rather than be able to gum and mush like the more regular toothless 6mo would. He then gagged and vomited EVERY TIME. So BLW did not work for us as vomiting should not be the outcome of every meal. Do you understand now?

orangebird - it's pretty disrespectful, not to mention inappropriate, to use the image of a young Syrian victim of war when trying to 'win' an discussion about child feeding choices.

This is a parenting forum; no one's forcing you to read, or even agree.

I'm not trying to win anything - I'm pointing out that the op could be feeling sad about something that is genuinely sad rather than judging someone for not wanting or knowing how to boil a bloody carrot.

Chill out dear
They work well for us as I have a baby with allergies and knowing the ones which are 'safe' means that if I'm not at home I don't need to worry

Yeah that picture is a ridiculous thing to post, sorry.

Are you going to post it on literally every thread where someone is moaning about something?

I suppose I am interested in your experience in people feeling that pouches were best and feeling de skilled or unskilled in the kitchen.

My experience was the opposite and when my refluxy, CMPI dd refused anything but Ella's kitchen pouches I felt judged and a bit ashamed when it and about. I even took her to the doc to check she wasn't being malnourished

Do people really feel they can't smoosh a veg? Do you think they would have felt that way if we didn't have access to reasonable quality ready made stuff.

I was probably pretty snotty in my reply earlier - touchy subject really.

splendide only if they post something as ridiculous as feeling sad about parents who don't boil carrots for their babies.

Having teeth as a reason to use pouches? Wow. That's a new one. I guess you don't own a fork and can't mash up a normal dinner then.

Oh ffs, unless you have physic nipples or something NO ONE knows what sadness other posters are going through. People post what they post.