Baby eating shop bought baby food.

[jodiekidd]

My baby is 9 months old.

He loves shop bought baby food which I've been mainly feeding him on since we started weaning.

He's putting on weight well and is 50th percentile.

He does eat other little bits but it's mainly jars and pouches.

I'm feeling quite shameful and embarrassed that he's eating this but he likes it and it makes my life easy.

Will this effect his eating habits going forward. Has anyone else fed their babies solely shop bought food?

It won’t cause him any harm, no- but I would be making more of a conscious effort to give him allergens regularly to prevent any allergies. This will expose him to new textures too.

Prawns blitzed up with some herbs and breadcrumbs to make little fish cakes to introduce shellfish, peanut butter on toast, tahini on some baby rice cakes for sesame, etc.

My child had this and finger food and home made puree, basically a mix of whatever

This didn’t work for us we were advised to introduce allergens in this way and told it would help prevent allergies but dd1 the first time had peanut butter she had a reaction and now needs an epi pen prescription and for dd2 and ds1 the first times we introduced dairy egg and peanuts the same thing happened each time and they were diagnosed with allergies and also carry epi pens it was the first time each time too so I was really confused (and sad it didn’t work out like I thought)

The only thing I will say about shop bought baby food is there is no difference in taste unlike fresh food. ie you know when you eat a bowl of strawberries you can get sweet ones, not so sweet etc, baby food made in factories always tastes the same jar to jar, pouch to pouch. We used it but we also gave veggies that we were having with dinner etc so they get used to lots of different tastes and textures.

I totally understand the convenience but try to give him the same foods you are eating as going forward it will mean he is more likely to eat the same meals you do so you aren't preparing two different dinners every night. Just watch any salt you add etc. We avoided anything considered children's meals like chicken nuggets but instead gave them the same things we were eating.

When introducing nuts. Make sure to wipe some on cheek for 3 days. If no reaction. Put some on his lip for 3 days no reaction then it's fine. Do the same for shellfish

I used to use it a lot, but i tended to put some mushed food of ours with it too.

I don’t think it means he’s destined to only eat ready meals for his whole life so I wouldn’t worry overly about it. But the reason he loves it is it tends to be quite sweet. They say no added sugar but they use things like apple juice concentrate to actually make them incredibly sweet. Also at 9 months you probably want to start introducing some finger foods - at some point he does need to be able to eat something other than puréed food from a jar/pouch and earlier is better for getting them used to texture and especially veg in actual veg form. I love the Jo Wicks cook book and the weaning GP on instagram. Things like healthy baby muffins, meatballs, croquettes, vegetable omelettes are easy to batch cook and freeze and relatively low mess.

You need to put nutty things on cheek for 3 days if no reaction then on lip for 3 days if no reaction then its okay. That's how you introduce allergens

The fact that it is bothering you is something that you should take note of. Is there a reason that you are not making him home made meals, other than the fact that it is easier for you? I personally would not feed a young child in this way.

I got advised to put some nutty things on cheek for 3 days if no reaction then lip for 3 days if no reaction then its fine

That approach is not necessary unless there is a family history of serious food allergies.

My HV just told us to go ahead and try things as no family history of reactions. It was a massive shock when they reacted first time. With my second and third she still said just try that I couldn’t let my anxiety limit their diets 🤦‍♀️

Its what I got told by my health visitor

I don't give a f if there's no history I won't risk it. It's what my health visitor advised.

I think, as pp have said, shop bought baby foods are quite uniform in texture and taste so you may be storing up future problems. If you try them yourself, they don't really taste like "real" food.

NHS and solid starts doesn’t say anything about this- just start small and introduce early in the day to observe.

I don’t know it’s different for families where there is a history of severe allergies. It might be good to share your guidance with the OP as I didn’t know this.

When introducing nuts. Make sure to wipe some on cheek for 3 days. If no reaction. Put some on his lip for 3 days no reaction then it's fine. Do the same for shellfish

you do not need to do this unless serious allergies in family. If they had a reaction they usually start mild - it’s incredibly unusual to have a full on anaphylactic reaction first time.

also giggling at smearing prawn on a poor baby’s face!

Can you not just start mixing it up by also giving your baby bits of whatever you’re having?

I'd rather that than chance it if he has reaction. But can see the funny side

We have ZERO allergies in our family and we wiped peanuts on his cheek, he was fine. The next day we gave him peanut butter on toast. Immediate anaphylaxis. Thank god we were 3 minutes away from the nearest A+E or my child would be dead. It's really dangerous to tell other people to be gung ho and ignore medical advice about potential allergies.

DT’s were weaned on pouches and jars - made things so easy. They worked their way through the difficult age ranges. Great way of introducing loads of different tastes. They had no difficulty moving onto regular food and were never fussy eaters. Only offered one meal - take it or leave it!

Unless the guidance has radically changed in the last 3 years (which I'm fairly sure it hasn't), then this is your HV going off on one, rather than what is actually recommended.

Allergens should be introduced very soon into weaning, as the safest time is 4-6m, so if sticking to 6m weaning they need to be introduced pretty much immediately.

My health visitor said it doesn't always start of mild. I'd rather be safe than sorry

See it can happen. I'm so sorry it happened to your baba. X