to want to feed my son jars while abroad?

[monkeyfacegrace]

Im off to tenerife, so hardly the other side of the world, however I want to take a weeks supply of jars to feed my 6.5m corrected son. My OH thinks we should just mash up the hotel food when we get there, as we are a bit snobby cautious about using jars at home. But Im a little worried about sickness bugs etc, and am kind of thinking that why take the risk when there is an easy safer option? We are staying 5 star all inclusive (Bahia Principe if anyone has been there and can give me insight!).
Am I being totally over protective?

monkey - we live in Gran Canaria and I have to say that yes, YAB a bit U. We do have jarred baby food in the Canary Islands and, although there isn't the range you get in the UK, it is perfectly OK. Also, as you are staying 5 star all inculsive (and Bahia is a good name) the food in the hotel would be OK for you to mash up.

However, saying that, I think you should do whatever makes you feel comfortable as you want to enjoy your holiday, not spend the whole time stressing about whether your LO is going to be OK.

Have a lovely time

or you could get your husband to taste it for you...

For the plane, take an empty sterilised bottle and a portion of powder, then buy some Evian airside to take on the plane with you - it is low enough in sodium to be OK. I then used the label on the bottle to check Spanish bottled water for equivalent sodium etc levels when you are there (Evian wasn't widely available and was v expensive).

My 8mth old ate boiled eggs, bananas, mashed soft fruit (peaches, strawberries) with baby rice and cream cheese on crackers/rice cakes, which I bought out there. Baby rice is a good filler and it saves on the weight. So you don need 14 days x 3 jars worth of food, and you can also take baby porridge as an easy breakfast/supper.

I take the point re why you want to use jars...but remember that it will be possible to buy jars in spain too!

When DS was 7 months we went to Singapore and Japan. We did a mixture - 5 star hotel had brilliant breakfasts and we gave him yogurt, fruit, bread etc. Buying food in Japan was interesting!! My Japanese not being up to much - but he survived. Bananas and avocados look the same teh world over!

Sorry guys I wasn't being funny about not getting jars abroad, it was just Tesco had Hipp Organic stage 2 mostly mashed jars in the clearance bit for 22p each! So I went wild and bought 25 jars , cant resist a bargain and am a bit hard up atm!
Defo have to get my other half to test the milk if needed. Thanks for the tip on Evian too, Ive bought a travel kettle to take and some cold water sterilising bags so I can do the bottles in our room, but hadn't thought about the water. I guess I just assumed that boiled it would be ok.
Ahh this holiday is gunna be the death of me!

I would take the jars, too.
Although you may want to check that your son will take them first.
I didn't give my son jars either, but one day I had a lazy attack and bought him one instead of cooking him something. NO WAY was he having that! I tried it myself and it was disgusting. I tried a coupe of others after that with the same result. I was quite disappointed!
You many find a child who hasn't been weaned on baby rice and jars will refuse them if they are not used to them.

Heinz banana porridge tastes OK according to my DH

Don't know. In France the baby food has masses of added salt and sugar.

Boiled water should be OK, I just didn't want a hot kettle sitting around a hotel room with toddlers in, and for two children in a hot climate (as we have been), that is quite a lot of kettle boiling and cooling! So we found a low sodium/mineral bottled water for the children and a cheaper one for us.

I know people are saying that children survive in Spain, but I do react to different water and so on, so I drink bottled, and do the same for my children. And for very young babies, I worry about salt levels in hotel food, as well as how long it may have been sat around. So I tend to go for fresh food in a wrapping (!) - boiled eggs, bananas, avocados - and top up with a few bits from home, and a but of ham, cheese, tomatoes, yoghurt and cream cheese bought while on holiday.

A couple of weeks on snacky meals won't hurt.

Take jars or even heinz dried packet dinners
nothing wrong with them else the companies wouldn't spend thousands and thousands developing them and making them nutritionally balanced.
first DS was raised wholly on freshly prepared organic mush, the second? Come here and have a jar of unidentified orange yuck. Nothing wrong with her. Thriving.
Jars. I love em

He has had jars before, he has them when he stays at mums, and this child really eats anything so that wont be a problem! Im glad Im being agreed with though! I was mainly thinking he could live on snacks, but the jars would provide one main meal a day, and ensure he gets at least a few vegetables. Hell, I might even let him have a chip from beside the pool

Oh, just rang the travel agent, and apparently Im ok taking a bottle with either a sealed carton of formula, or with powder in, then get the water from the plane. Problem solved! Now guys, please clear up for me, do I take the kettle and boil water, or is bottled water fine? Im a bit of a novice when it comes to checking lables hence everything here is home cooked! I dont really understand mineral contents etc, tho am good at sodium/fats.

They grow their own fab bananas in Tenerife! LO might enjoy mashed or in chunks.

I agree about salt in restaurant food, take whatever makes your holiday easiest. It's your holiday too!

LOL at Frimbly.

definitely take jars or cereal. We went to Tenerife in Feb and the bigger jars of baby food for 12 months plus were about 2.50 euro. considering the 1 to 1 exchange rate at the moment, better to buy here!

On the side of the Evian bottle it will tell you what parts per million (or whatever measurement they use) is sodium and other minerals. Evian, is, I recall, about 5, but it is a good yardstick to avoid high sodium water.

You'll see all the other mineral content listed, but it is actually quite easy - some have high mineral content across the board, others don't. We found several Spanish brads that were OK.

Great, thanks wondering. So, 5 parts and under is ok then? And do you still have to boil it? He will be 7.5m corrected when we travel. Sorry to sound thick

Im taking Ellas Kitchen pouches for DD when we go on holiday in a couple of weeks - she might at the food from the buffet but they are there incase. Im taking the pouches because they are lighter and less likely to get damaged (I hope)

Double check the sodium on the Evian bottle, I think it was 5 but I cd be wrong! No need to boil.

I suspect tap would be fine, but I'm always extra-cautious when on hols as the heat makes any upset stomach more of a problem as they dehydrate quicker. And runny tummy in a hotel room with no washing machine isn't fun.

You'll be fine, I drove across Europe (over 1000 miles) on our first holiday with DS (8.5 months) as I didn't want to fly as we couldn't take all the kit (including jars!) that I wanted. Barely any of the food was eaten or equipment used, so I do speak from experience!!

Excellent, thanks. So now all I need to do is have a mild panic attack about getting on a plane, without my kids realising that Im terrified. Easy

I thought you did need to boil the water that you're adding directly to the powder. You can of course later top it up with water from a bottle or cooled boiled water. It's because you have to kill potential bugs in the powder not because there are tons in the water, I think. Do check before you go!

I dont think that can be right Horton, as surely when making up bottles in the morning, the water is cold when you then add the powder later in the day? I always make up cool milk, my formula never touches boiling water! I may be wrong though...anyone else?

I always buy the ready made formula after going through security although the man at security told me they'll generally let it through anyway (was gatwick I think).

This WHO leaflet says the water should never be cooler than 70C when it touches the powder. 70C is pretty hot! But if you've always used cooled water, you may well be fine. Apologies for potential scaremongering!

Yes, I was pre-WHO advice so added milk powder to cold water, so using Evian worked for me.