Petits Filous "Suitable from 4 months"

[morningpaper]

I mean REALLY. It's a pot of sugar! Jolly nice but hardly a first food, is it?!

I feel like ringing Cow and gate and shouting at them now

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And some of the ingredients in those jars are truly rum

She sets 'em up, gotta love it

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Jarred food made my dd vomit loads when I tried it once.. I'm not really up to scratch as to all the hideous stuff contained, but my sis insists they are fine.. no additives or preservatives... what stops it from going off then, and why does it all smell and look the same? please help.. then i can tell her why she is filling her baby with cr*p

Saw an interesting interview on the Baby Channel (I know, I know..) with a mum who does frozen baby food. She used to work for Heinz. She compared jarred foods to drinking long life milk - ie it's heat treated to make it last longer so any nutrients are cooked to death leaving the contents smelling of cat food. It might not be poison but it's certainly not fresh. How long can it sit on a supermarket shelf for anyway?

She also suggested (her theory so not proven but rings true with me) that the reason children are so hard to please later in life with regards to food is that they're weaned onto processed watery crap (mmm 7% chicken) and then expected to eat a brocolli floret which is totally alien to them.

I used jars with ds when in a hurry, but now with dd, there are all these frozen baby foods out there. I fill the freezer with them, so at least if we've run out of an AnnabelKarmel gourmet delight then dd will get fresh stuff and it actually smells like real food rather than pet food.

thanks for that.. know i know why it smells foul! I love AK book.. got the 1st cook book for ds and he loves it!

By hunkermunker on Thursday, 16 February, 2006 11:02:47 AM

MH, the current guidelines are to wean from six months. If you've been told four-six you've been given the wrong information

Coincidentally, I was leafing through DS's Red Book just this morning (I hadn't seen it in a while since losing it when he was 5 months old ). It says in there that weaning should start at 4 - 6 months, which suprised me, but possibly where MH got it from?

I thought, just wait til I tell Hunker - never thought I would have the opportunity so soon!

Just looked in my red book. Nothing at all about weaning...
When dd was a baby, the official advice was 4-6 months. Lots of people interpreted that as 16 weeks although that is slightly less than 4 months. I don't think it did dd any harm...
OTOH, current advivce is 6 months, and that is definitely what I'm going to aim for. After all, that is based on the latest and most up-to-date research and I'd rather base decisions on available research rather than anecdotal evidence (i.e. dd1 seems ok).
Surely it's obvious that the only reason these companies sell these products is to make profits. It is beyond me why people trust the advice of, say, C&G whose entire raison d'etre is to make a profit above that of the WHO... If companies can sell jars of baby food from 4 months onwards rather than 6 months onwards then that means a whole lot more jars to sell (and you might get a few bf mums too, who, despite your best efforts, can't be persuaded to buy formula... )

Are you sure it's not in your red book LucyJu? I was given a replacement about 6 weeks ago (just before the "lost" one turned up - typical!)Both of them say solids from about 4 - 6 months. Page 2.3 (in feeding and care of teeth section). Perhaps they give out different information on different areas of the country though?

Agree with you about the commercial issues an the 4 months thing - however, it is little wonder they are allowed to say it on jars if the information being given to parents from the NHS says it's ok.

(I know this is slightly off track from the OP btw )

PF at 4 months, over my dead body - cows milk intolerance runs in my family...

I think the rather important point here is that many parents frequent this site, who are not armed with any prior information and need help.

Therefore, to dismiss or even belittle recommendations from WHO out of hand because you have decided differently whats best for you baby, is irresponsible, IMO.

Thats not to say you are a bad parent for weaning early, feeding baby jar food (which i do use here and there myself), etc, you have just made your own choice.

It does NOT mean that because the government do not have this at the top of their list of things to change, and because C & G and other companies carry on labelling the way they do, that the WHO do not know what they are talking about, or exaggerate their research/results. Why on earth would they?

I think people should try to follow the guidelines given by the WHO and make sure that when people ask advice that they pass these guidelines on to those who dont know better. Better to err on the side of caution isnt it? I dont believe the statement "it never did me/mine any harm" is ever particularly sound advice anyway.

If early weaning didnt do any harm, id be interested to see literature or research on the increased incidence of bowel disorders such as IBS, Diverticulosis, Crohns Disease etc, and the increase in various food allergies/intolerances that are so much more common these days.

Afraid my red book is a pile of pants too.

"When babies are 16 weeks old solids may be introduced, before this age babies are unable to digest solids. If you want (!) to start giving solids before then, ask for advice."

I'm in Stirlingshire and dd is 8 months old so that is really out of date!

My 3 year old Hertfordshire one for ds is slightly different: "The majority of babies should not be given solid food before the age of 4 months."

But I remember when I weaned ds at 5.5 mths (he's 3.5 now) telling people about the WHO recommendations and that was why he wasn't weaned at 16 weeks like all his peers (or his cousin at 9 weeks). I wasn't particularly well informed on baby stuff at that point but I did know that there was a discrepancy b/w what my HV/friends/family were saying and what the scientific/medical community were saying.

Brilliant post, VVV.

Squarer, my red book for DS1 says 4-6m and also says you should sterilise everything you use for baby's food for the first 6-7 months. Mental. It says to seek advice if you want to wean earlier than 4m. And no doubt your HV would say "just give baby rice then" - gah.

There is nothing about weaning in DS2's red book, which is a completely different format.

DS1's is from April 04, DS2's from last month.

excellent post QV
well put

My HV was only too aware that many parents choose to wean earlier than the guidelines recommended by scientific sources and the WHO. (Because parents always used to, or because their Mum said thats what they should do, because they feel like their baby is not sleeping due to hunger etc etc).

She felt that it was necessary to discuss weaning at the 12 week check because at least, if parents did decide to wean early, then she could at least make sure she had done her duty and passed out the relevant information, precautions, advice and tips on weaning in advance of people attempting it, if in fact they chose not wait until 6 months.

I think some HV's - particularly mine who are fab - are caught between a rock and a hard place on issues such as this.

Thanks you HM & HC!

Really enjoyed VVV's post, it makes such good sense.

If you're getting conflicting info and struggling to decide who to believe, it's helpful to think about the agendas involved, eg:

Heinz: make more money
Government: get re-elected
WHO: improve world health

Not a hard decision really, is it?

Oh, forgot to add:

HV agenda: mad as box of frogs