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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Gravy for a baby?!

110 replies

RealReginaPhalange · 14/09/2025 14:55

6.5months old baby, weaning started about 2 weeks ago, he is doing not bad so far. Been told to give him gravy (like a bisto one). Rejected the idea and i am the bad one (again).

my second child so i know what i am doing. My first one ended up eating everything i serve, loving veggies etc, so not everything i do is stupid obviously…it worked before.

aibu to said no? Wont be giving my ds bisto gravy?

OP posts:
ExtraOnions · 14/09/2025 19:46

I’m in the North West, we put Gravy in our baby’s bottles …

BertieBotts · 14/09/2025 19:48

Has this person time travelled from 1964? Apparently that's what they used to wean babies onto - mashed potatoes and gravy!

In any case I think you know YANBU - you are the parent, feed your baby what you think is appropriate and ignore people making bonkers suggestions.

Ready Brek never had added salt. IIRC Weetabix sued the papers for putting Ready Brek in all the headlines. Doubtless it wasn't fantastic for the poor baby to be fed such things but the salt content probably came from the gravy and Smash rather than the porridge.

Waitingfordoggo · 14/09/2025 19:49

youalright · 14/09/2025 16:16

Ignore everything i said i just googled and I don't think you can actually buy baby friendly gravy and iv just found out baby gravy is slang for something very different 🙈

Sorry but this really made me laugh 😂

I knew that ‘baby gravy’ had a smutty meaning but I’d forgotten it until I read your post. You ‘took one for the team’ by Googling the phrase so the rest of us don’t have to 😂

CremeEggsForBreakfast · 14/09/2025 20:03

The amount of salt needed to harm a baby is pretty high. And given how small a freshly weaning baby's portion is, a taste of gravy is nothing at all.The baby in the news story was THREE MONTHS OLD. They should never have been eating solid food at all. It's not really comparable.

And yes, my baby really did go from "just milk to anything" when he hit 6mths. Other babies in our NCT class were just having avocados or carrot purée whilst DS was tasting lobster, mackerel, blue cheese risotto, curries, and whatever else DH and I were eating. There really is no reason babies can't eat of the adult's plate.

2dogsandabudgie · 14/09/2025 20:31

Waitingfordoggo · 14/09/2025 19:49

Sorry but this really made me laugh 😂

I knew that ‘baby gravy’ had a smutty meaning but I’d forgotten it until I read your post. You ‘took one for the team’ by Googling the phrase so the rest of us don’t have to 😂

Come on you've got to tell us what it means!

RealReginaPhalange · 14/09/2025 21:09

I understand where some of the posters are coming from (1/4 of the total). It is not about a drizzle being harmful to babies, and i am not negating the fact back in the day parents used to do things which were normal then but are big no no now, yet babies were fine as well. Everyone has own way, i personally believe there is no need for salt (even small amount), or reduced salt items before they turn one. It probably wouldnt harm him but as simple as i said - there is no need so i stick to not adding salt. I also cook from scratch and dont buy baby jars (with few exeptions when going away for a day etc). I AM able to do it, I CHOOSE to do it, it works for me, its not a wrong way of weaning babies, its also not the only way of doing it. Its right for me, couldnt care less if anyone else choose a different way. I also didnt let my first child watch tv until he turned 3, or only gave him water as a drink, no juice etc. (Dont worry he wasn’t deprived from entertainment or from sweets/snacks)

i think i posted in a heat of the moment, there is so much background i would spend days explaining. Its more the rolling eyes, treating me as if i am silly and my parenting is going to backfire. I am always polite and never abruptly saying no and never criticise them and their advices (besides one or two maybe). But if i dont do what they advise me to do i am the crazy one - didnt want the baby walker, there are cons and prons, some say it is not healthy, some disagree, i think its not needed, we dont have enough space for it, we were not going to get it, people raise babies without it) its their reaction to me doing things differently.

you want to teach your 2 year old to swim? Throw him in the water and let him figure it out. They didnt like the swimming classes we used to attend. Waste of money etc etc. This is not how they teach to swim in UK, i wasnt going to throw him in. It was also important for ds to have contact with other kids, learn to follow what teacher say, have a routine etc. Its like i never make any sense and my way its always stupid.

it is them thinking they should be “first” grandparents, my mom shouldnt be allowed near kids more than them. She is coming to visit soon for couple of weeks, she can only do it once a year, same as them, although she is only couple of hours away by plane, but circumstances are harder. They said they were also thinking of coming same month (never told us), but now they wont come this year (as if there are no other dates they can look at), they are going on a cruise instead since we dont care about them having a relationship with grandkids.

i could go on and on and on.

it is just building up. Thats it. I am fine now. Thank god i have supportive husband, beautiful kids, and they live so far we dont see each other more than once a year.

OP posts:
Trishyb10 · 15/09/2025 18:03

What were you brought up on? caviar? Get a life

pollymere · 15/09/2025 18:14

We gave ours all sorts of things but just made sure they were low salt and low MSG options. They hate gravy anyway 😂. You can get low salt Bisto but I wouldn't unless they are grabbing it.

TessTickle0 · 15/09/2025 19:24

No, Personally I don't like it as a name

567OverwhelmedFTM · 15/09/2025 19:33

These are your in laws? Why are you talking to them so much?

I also live on the other side of the world from my parents and my in laws and I have a 1 year old.

I have spoken maybe twice to my in laws directly in the last 12 months. DH video calls them 2 or 3 times a week. If they had any stupid ideas or a bad opinion of me, I wouldn't know. Why would I?

I speak to my own parents daily because we are close.

I upload videos and photos to a family app daily, for everyone to see, so they are all in the loop without me having to talk to everyone (app is called Back Then). I upload at least one video and 5 photos every day so no could ever accuse me of not keeping them updated. I also post his weight and height whenever we go to the paedetrician because they measure him there every 3 months. Job done.

Squishydishy · 15/09/2025 19:34

They sound fucking nuts

SouthLondonMum22 · 15/09/2025 19:35

TessTickle0 · 15/09/2025 19:24

No, Personally I don't like it as a name

Gravy-Mae is so adorable tho.

Lovely13 · 15/09/2025 19:56

Bisto is an abomination and an insult to gravy. Bit of homemade, pre seasoning, however, sounds fine.

Mrsgreen100 · 15/09/2025 20:18

At that age they shouldn’t be having anything like that. You’re not meant to give them salt purée. Vegetables is perfect. I know somebody who was a health visitor and dietician who recommended weaning foods as
cheesy whootis !
Same person, advised a young mother to give her child kiwi fruit as a weaning food totally bonus nothing wrong with mash pears purée carrots purée, parsnips on all those beautiful things there’s a lot of mad madness out there stick with your plan

phoenixrosehere · 15/09/2025 20:33

YANBU

Why on earth would you give a baby just weaning, gravy? What is wrong with just give a baby simple soft foods? That is the last thing that would come to mind to give to a baby. Don’t think our kids had gravy until they were maybe 5. More because we rarely eat roasts (not a fan of them myself) and never occurred to me to give them gravy when they ate what was on their plate just fine.

Willyoujust · 15/09/2025 21:35

Why would you give your 6 month old salty UPFs!? Ridiculous!!!!

pinkpony88 · 15/09/2025 22:20

youalright · 14/09/2025 16:16

Ignore everything i said i just googled and I don't think you can actually buy baby friendly gravy and iv just found out baby gravy is slang for something very different 🙈

🤭

Nothankyov · 15/09/2025 22:25

RealReginaPhalange · 14/09/2025 15:01

My in-laws! Same people who told me i should let them raise my first child for a couple of years, when he was a baby, so i can work full time and recover our savings and pay debts quicker. (They live on the other side of the world and my visa was rejected so i wouldnt be able to go there in case anything happens). Got very offended when i said no, apparently i am “precious”, others do it.

I would love to know who are these “others” who just hand over their babies 🙄. Not saying it doesn’t happen but I personally wouldn’t no. So completely understand. And I would also say no to gravy. There are plenty of healthier choices - and if this is not even your first baby surely you know what you’re doing… just trust your instincts and if that means you are “precious” well i wouldn’t really give it too much thought

Retiredfromearlyyears · 15/09/2025 22:27

Unless you make your own from your veg stock for baby. I wouldn't. Especially not the ultra processed granules ect

Whyjustwhy83 · 15/09/2025 22:29

Eating low salt gravy I can't really see why not babies need to have less then 1g of salt a day
Give both mine it just to water down a dinner
Veg nothing cooked in salt wouldn't give them anything else with salt the rest of the day.

soupyspoon · 15/09/2025 22:34

bumbaloo · 14/09/2025 16:13

Doesn’t your gravy contain stock? Like stock cubes or a stock pot pod?

I've never used a stock cube for gravy, this came up on another thread at the moment, can't any one cook anything anymore without using pastes and pots and sachets and cubes? Gravy is made from meat juice, fat, flour, herbs and usually wine if I've got anything to do with it

567OverwhelmedFTM · 15/09/2025 23:36

Nothankyov · 15/09/2025 22:25

I would love to know who are these “others” who just hand over their babies 🙄. Not saying it doesn’t happen but I personally wouldn’t no. So completely understand. And I would also say no to gravy. There are plenty of healthier choices - and if this is not even your first baby surely you know what you’re doing… just trust your instincts and if that means you are “precious” well i wouldn’t really give it too much thought

I'm originally from Eastern Europe and this is very common back home. I have friends in London who have shipped out their toddlers to their parents. I myself was largely raised by grandparents between 2 and 10 years old.

Nothankyov · 15/09/2025 23:40

567OverwhelmedFTM · 15/09/2025 23:36

I'm originally from Eastern Europe and this is very common back home. I have friends in London who have shipped out their toddlers to their parents. I myself was largely raised by grandparents between 2 and 10 years old.

Yes I do understand that different cultures have different way of doing things but presumably they are happy with this - but the OP is not therefore she shouldn’t be compared to the the “others” that are happy to do this. People should feel free to do what’s right for them without being called “precious” was my point.

567OverwhelmedFTM · 16/09/2025 00:42

Well, I quote I would love to know who are these “others” who just hand over their babies. So I clarified that for you.

Also, people should be free to do what's right for them, well, that kind of message doesn't go down that well with everyone. Some people back home will probably look down on OP's in laws for not raising the grandchildren.

Everyone I personally know does it mostly out of hardship so I don't judge them.

Personally, I cannot fathom sending my child away but genuinely, there really are lots of people handing over their babies. Actually my nanny is one of them. She has 3 kids being raised by her mum in the Philippines.