Should I feel guilty about Yoghurt or Fromage Frais

[AussieSim]

My 8 mth old loves Yoghurt or Fromage Frais. I only buy the stuff especially for babies (is that necessary?). I find it useful to trick him into eating stuff he doesn't like so much e.g., a little taste of yoghurt, then a big spoonful of cereal. Here in Germany they are particularly paranoid about giving babies proteins and don't recommend dairy until after 12mths old, but I have gathered that this may be a bit over the top, but I am still spooked. I have no one with allergies in our family and I am still breastfeeding.

I'd love to hear what you guys think. Maybe then I would have one less thing to feel anxioius about.

I give them cows milk in things from the word go - well 4 months. We have no allergies and I have yet to notice a problem with them.

Absolutely no problem giving these at all. You can use ordinary full fat yogurt and fromage frais- no need for stuff especially for babies IMO. You'll find it is more expensive. You are doing a great job, keep it up

Hi Coddy - still breastfeeding by the looks of other threads

yes - thenks to you mears

Entirely down to YOU - well done

(smug smile)

I can't believe Yoghurt or Fromage Frais are a problem, and my DS1 (4) and DS2 (now 14 months) have loved them right from the beginning, and still do.

I got well pied off recently though when visiting at the in-laws. My SIL has a baby the same-ish age and when I started feeding DS2 a Petit Filou MIL pipes up "gosh, you're not giving him that are you...? * (SIL) says her dentist told her NEVER to give babies yoghurt or fromage frais as it simply rots their teeth! "
I haven't ever heard this and DS1 has excellent teeth and problem free visits to the dentist.
Poor SIL's DD is already vegetarian (like SIL) and obviously not allowed sweet desserts - she'll probably rebel when she's about 8 and refuse to eat anything except Big Macs and Ice Creams..

I was similarly advised here in CH to introduce dairy products like yoghurt relatively later than in UK. I think it was supposed to be around the 10-11 month mark but I did it a little earlier than that for dd without ill effect. It was a large proportion of her dairy intake for a while as she went off breastfeeding at around the 8 month mark. It is ideally supposed to be unsweetened but neither of my kids has tooth decay as a result. I used the Milupa Baby and Petit Suisse varieties in the main.

hth

Well, I don't know what I would have given ds to eat if he couldn't have milk, cheese or yoghurt!

Our Ds (8mnths) has from frais (mixed with veg)everyday for lunch and youghurt (mixed with fruit) every day for tea. Until we mixed in the from frais, he wouldn't touch the veg. Now we're even managing to get some chicken into him!

Just go for it!

fisil - can I ask what sort of yogurt/ff you use? Ds loves them and I struggle with other foods. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate carrot and broccoli mixed in Raspberry ff or am I wrong?
Would like to know what you do. Thanks!

DD has loved yogurt and fromage frais since weaning at 4 months. WE have no allergies in the family and DD seems okay too.

Thanx guys I knew you'd make me feel better.

we just get plain full fat from frais from ocado.

He has a thing about orange veg, so his lunch most days is carrot, butternut squash & sweet potato (and sometimes courgette, which is an honourary orange veg in his view). After we've warmed it up we scoop a large teaspoon full of ff over the top. We don't mix it in, but have a bit of ff & a bit of veg on the spoon.

He has it everyday at nursery - I don't know if they do it differently to us (we send it in separate containers). I'll have to ask.

For tea we use full fat plain natural yoghurt and mix it in with mashed up fruit (pear & banana are favourites). He gets through a 500ml tub over about a week.

Hope that helps. I've just realised how limited ds's diet is. But like you, we had weeks of him not touching anything at all (except pear & banana) so we've gone back to basics and are gradually building it up.

Apologies if someone else has said this, have just scanned the thread - but my understanding is that yogurt is rather different to other dairy products. I was following Suzanne Olivier's "What should I feed my baby" and she is ultra cautious about when she introduces potentially allergenic foods, but even she recommends yogurt from 9 months, whereas she doesn't bring in milk until 12-15 months. She also explains why it is that yogurt is less likely to cause allergy problems than other dairy, but I can't remember the details.

Anyway - yogurt is also SUPER healthy, so keep going. And with no allergy history plus breastfeeding you're doing brilliantly.

My dd2 LOVES those plain fromage frais from Waitrose. She now loves petit filous and we can't even walk down the aisle where they are without her going bonkers. She has goats milk formula as she suffers with a bit of excema but the fromage frais doesn't seem to exacerbate it (whereas pure cows milk as a drink does).

When I did my post-natal exercise class at the hospital, the dietition gave the class a talk on feeding babies. She encouraged us to give our children cheese, plain yoghurt and unsweetened fromage frais from 6 months, mainly for the calcium. She advised us against giving them cows milk to drink until 1 year (because it has less iron than breast or formula milk). I mix both with fruit purees, but I have also found a brand of unsweetened fruit yoghurt, 'Mums4', in Waitrose. I avoid petits filous, because they have added sugar.

We have loads of allergies in my family and I myself have food allergies and intolerances.... asthma etc etc.

So my ds was classed as high risk but I was never told not to give ds yoghurt. He's 2.3 yrs old now and loves all dairy products. He had excema as a tiny baby, but none now.

I think because they don't know much about allergies that sometimes they are over cautious with the advice they give out.

fisil - What a recommendation! Plain yog and fromage frais on fruit and veg. For the first time in ages I couldn't spoon it in quickly enough. What a pleasure it is to feed a baby who opens his mouth and enjoys. Thank you so much

Oh, that's lovely to hear. Glad it works for you too!

Ok, here goes. The process of making yogurt uses up some of the lactose in the milk, so that babies who are lactose intolerant might still be able to eat yogurt. (same is true for cheese). I come from a family full of food allergies and have given both my kids (3 and 1) yogurt since they started solids at 6 months. This was also given the thumbs up by their paediatrician in the us. She also said that it is ok to give babies under 12 months dairy products, but to try not to give them milk as a main drink. A little here and there is ok, but not as a sole source of liquid. I seem to remember that she said it was because the milk didn't have enough nutrients vs. formula or breast milk and it wasn't good for them to fill up only on milk.
Please make sure that you read the ingredients. Even the "organic" ones seem to add all sorts of junk. Sainsbury's full fat yogurts don't have any added starches or junk. Don't waste your money on the "baby" ones, they aren't any different, just more expensive.

I think you need to be careful when avoiding foods with sugar as babies do need calories. I remember reading about dieticians being concerned about babies receiving foods with sweeteners as they are then lacking in calories. I remember finding it so difficult to find foods that did not have added sugar though (ie too much). Is that still the case?
Even when giving my children juice I preferred to avoid juices that said 'no added sugar' because they were loaded with sweeteners. I would give sugar before artificial sweeteners to young babies and children. My children are not fat, nor do they have fillings at age 16, 14, 13 and 9yrs. Tell a lie. 9 yr old got a tiny surface filling when she was about 7yrs old but I know that was because she didn't brush her teeth properly at night. She sometimes collapsed in her bed at night without the brushing and fell straight asleep and I was so relieved to have a break from her constant chatter that I let her

I completly agree about the artificial sweeteners Mears. I suppose I am ultra careful as diet drinks give me and my mother stomach cramps so I avoid any sweeteners for dd.

With regards to yoghurt I do use the organic ones with added sugar sometimes but usually use a full fat natural yoghurt and add chopped or pureed fruit to it. I reckon that she is getting the calories and sugars from the fruit but unlike actual sugar it isn't empty calories.