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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to refuse to give DS jars of baby food?

63 replies

woozlet · 11/10/2009 15:05

I think they look gross.

My mum and mil keep buying them for when he is there but I won't use them (bring something I've made for him). My mum says I am being a snob about it.

Thoughts?

OP posts:
needtomoveon · 11/10/2009 15:59

The savoury ones taste vile. Some of the sweet ones are OK but why the hell would you use them to please someone else. Pureeing is a bit of a con too. Infant feeding (milk and solids) is a minefield. Your mum and MIL were probably convinced by the advertising when they were new mums about bottled food being somehow more advanced. Funny innit? How things have changed. As for convenience - IME (with a mush-fed/occasional jar until I realised they tasted like cack) baby first time round the little blighter would only eat about 4 spoons and the rest went to waste. And how are they convenient? So are bananas, avocados, other peelable soft fruit. Babies don't need ersatz cottage pie at 6 months

starwhoreswonaprize · 11/10/2009 16:06

I think your baby could decide! If he eats them at Grandmas then, as long as they're good ones and not baby beans with sausages, great for Grandma. One of my worries with jars is that the texture is not consistent and can be slimy/lumpy which is not so good for learning how to eat more solid foods. I've also heard that jars can taste too much with blended flavours and therefore can put baby off other (real) food.

With my dcs they've always had a blended version of what we eat and pure foods (banana, advocado, apricots etc). Early days they ate simple purees that I froze in ice trays.

argento · 11/10/2009 16:09

There's nothing wrong with them, so I wouldn't be too hardline about it. Fine as back up for emergencies, but if you're able to provide better, tastier homecooked food then no need to use them.

fizzpops · 11/10/2009 16:28

Nothing wrong with jars/ pureed food/ BLW or combination thereof is the approach you want to take, but fwiw I do think jars are often much more mushy than is recommended for babies for age iyswim.

When we were introducing lumps to DD I was surprised at what passed for lumps in some of the age appropriate jars, even the nice organic ones .

On a similar note why special baby spaghetti and rice? Surely they are not that much more dainty than normal spaghetti and rice? Just weird in my book. It seems to me that a lot of the food from jars smells like tomato soup and as if all the ingredients would taste the same. Just my opinion though but that is why I choose to cook for my DD 99.9% of the time.

franklymydear · 11/10/2009 16:30

you're being a little up-your-own-arse

but its your perogative

sunburntats · 11/10/2009 16:39

I never bought them
too expensive (when buying nappies, paying for childcare etc)

Used to make batches of nice things then feeze them. Annabel Carmell fab recipes.
Even when out and about i used to take the meal still frozen and heat while out.

used to enjoy cooking as i am not a good cook and not a natural.
Much cheeper for people like me on a low income.

Undercovamutha · 11/10/2009 16:42

YANBU to have a preference and you are NOT being a snob. I think its a generational thing. My mum admits that the jarred food we had as kids tasted disgusting, but said that it never even occurred to her to do it herself! My DD only had home-cooked food (with the occasional jar on holiday), but DS has 50/50 homecooked/jar, just because I have been struggling to find the time (and energy) for too much pureeing!

wicked · 11/10/2009 16:42

I never used them. My DCs just had family food. We didn't do baby food in any form.

The freebie jars from Bounty just sat in my cupboard.

cory · 11/10/2009 16:45

What hoppity said. They are pretty disgusting things, but can be useful in emergencies. It is a shame if your whole family is missing out on some wonderful experience (like travelling or meeting up with friends) because of a set-in-stone attitude, but as long as you are not missing out your attitude is very understandable.

piscesmoon · 11/10/2009 16:46

If you do home cooked most of the time it really doesn't matter if they have the odd jar. You may never need to, but it is a bit silly to take the 'over my dead body' approach-in certain circumstances it may be useful.

EdgarAllenPoo · 11/10/2009 16:53

YANBU. betwen the two of them, they have had 1 jar of baby food. overpriced crap - can cook something much more appropriate and greatly cheaper myself.

although i am penny-pinching...to be fair, it doesn't kill them.

ManicMother7777 · 11/10/2009 17:37

YAB a bit U. They are perfectly safe, nutritious and useful in some circumstances. Agree that home-made is much nicer though. Maybe with the exception of Hipp blueberry and apple which I used to quite enjoy myself actually.

scottishmummy · 11/10/2009 17:48

not snobby.good financial and nutritional sense.if you go to effort of making your own, then i can see you don't want jars

but tbh the odd jar wont kill either.

i made my own baby food to introduce our cooking and save money

latestincarnation · 11/10/2009 18:03

Great for when we were just weaning and were out for the day - so much easier to give him a jar on a mountain top than worry about home cooked food safety after a day in a rucksack.

They are fine out on holidays/days out/emergencies/when they refuse everything else you have cooked, but they are really bland and gave my ds horrendously stinky nappies, so we avoid them if we can! Not poison though

Lotkinsgonecurly · 11/10/2009 18:10

DC's never had jars, they looked revolting and just couldn't face it. If we were in a hurry then mashed banana and / or mashed avocado was a godsend.

However both now really dislike avocado! Did BLW with DD and was much easier as had alot less pureed.

Think if you take what you want your ds to eat to Mum / mil they cannot argue and will make it easier for them

Good luck

MarthaFarquhar · 11/10/2009 18:14

YANBU. I didn't use jars. I had no moral/nutritional objections to them, I just had the misfortune to taste one before giving it to DD as I had planned. Even DH was appalled, and he eats peperami.

iwantitnow · 11/10/2009 21:08

If you give formula, you are giving the most processed food (with lots of mystery ingredients including "vegetable oils") you can give much more so than an odd jar. But maybe you are EBF then you would be a bit more consistent.

paisleyleaf · 11/10/2009 21:16

I never used jars for savoury. I dipped my finger in one once and it was revolting and nothing like what it was labelled to be. I'm also suspicious of how they keep so long. I did occasionally use the fruit puree ones though (with weetabix etc).
However, I'd never heard of the Ella's Kitchen pouches then.....they might be better.
I used to use a little thermos food flask for out and about.

WidowWadman · 11/10/2009 21:16

The only jars I have in the house are fruit jars, which I usually stir into my own porridge. The child gets proper food.

Original poster
woozlet · 11/10/2009 21:37

Yes the fruit ones do look a bit better.

Iwantitnow - yes he is on formula. I don't understand that argument btw - ok so formula is like a 'ready meal' with additives or whatever in it, so I should give him MORE of that in his solid food?

OP posts:
reservejudgement · 11/10/2009 22:12

YANBU. However, I will say that my similar attitude backfired on me one day when I forgot ds3's food and bought a jar. Ds3 wouldn't touch it! I was kind of proud of him in a way because it showed that he had discerning taste (meaning he loved my cooking!) but it was annoying that I had to go home early to get him something to eat.
Ds4 is so unfussy, he would probably eat pavement scrapings......

arabicabean · 11/10/2009 22:31

I personally don't see the problem with jars etc. My toddler only has homecooked organic food, but when he was younger I would use Plum and Ella's Kitchen fruit purees without hesitation. They were an absolute godsend when pressed for time, or out and about. The jar I used to buy was a Hipp Organic Apple and Banana puree. I still buy it on occasion, it's rather nice in yoghurt.

GreenMonkies · 11/10/2009 22:38

YANBU.

Vile things, full of processed bulk and un-listed crap. I'd never feed my child anything that I wouldn't eat myself, and something from a jar that looks like it's already been eaten and thrown back up again. [vomit emoticon]

I have 2 girls, almost 3 years apart, and went back to work after 6 months maternity leave each time, but neither of mine had garbage a jar of food, ever. DD1 ate some of whatever we were eating pureed or mashed, and DD2 was BLW, so ate what ever she could stuff in her mouth (which was pretty much anything, fluff, paper, her own hands.......).

So no, don't stress, just refuse it politely, and give her a broccoli floret.

BetsyBoop · 11/10/2009 22:40

Neither of our two had any jar stuff at all

the reason?

I tasted the free stuff that came with the Bounty Packs & it smelt awful & it tasted VILE. If I couldn't eat it why on earth would I feed to my baby?

YANBU

megapixels · 11/10/2009 23:26

YANBU at all. They look repulsive. I wouldn't want to eat it if someone paid me, so I wouldn't feel pressured into giving it to my dc. Just stand your ground.