Sharing tips on good food

[Rara]

Anyone want to help put together tips on finding good, wholesome foods from the various shops/supermarkets? I've been reading "The food our children eat" and found it v interesting but also horrifying how much crap is passed off as "healthy" kids' food.
Very much agree with author's beliefs that our children should eat modified versions of what we eat and get them into good habits from babies.

Read on another thread about organic versions of cheerios and stuff like this. Am interested in what other parents have found in the way of food with no added sugar/salt, etc and also what has gone down well with their babies/toddlers (my dd is nearly 8m and starting more adventurous stuff and finger food etc.) Would be really interested in other Mumsnetters have to say...

Rara, everyone, and have you SEEN the colours of those new flavours of sunny d???!!! Did the world learn nothing from the 80's day-glo food colours and their hyperactive associations??! Hello!

Marina, LOL at visions of you knawing your hands - I've been there too! Incidentally (and I want to touch wood here) dd 'seems' to be broadening her horizons on the food front at last at nearly 2 1/2. I did the same as you Marina and kept offering our dinner even when I knew she wouldn't touch the stuff, whatever it was, and now she's started trying things - hurray!

Young children often start refusing food when they get to about 18mths because their taste buds are developing and they realise they don't actually like the flavour of brussels sprouts or whatever. They're learning to be discriminatory, which I guess at one time would have stopped them eating poisonous substances. Shame it includes our lovingly prepared meals!! And at 18mths they are beginning to understand that the issue of food is a BIG one and that they can get all sorts of reactions from you by refusing to eat. I think to avoid it becoming a long term problem you have to stay calm, showing no emotion when your efforts are rejected, keep offering a variety of foods and NO snacks! And make it easy on yourself by not spending ages on a special meal only to have it rejected. Instead, try to prepare meals that you can all share and then it isn't so bad if one out of three turns their nose up at it.

LOL at the Sunny Delight story - we call it Chemical Soup in this house - yuk!

Rara, excellent!
I still remember a speaker (community dentist) foaming at the mouth about Sunny Delight at our postnatal group and listing the odd things in it (vegetable oil?). It also does not need to be kept refrigerated, apparently. It has got so much gunk in it you could leave an open bottle in the airing cupboard all night and still drink it in the morning (assuming you wanted to).

Thanks Marina for helping to lift me out of the cloud that seems to descend onto me everytime I go into the kitchen to cook dinner! I wouldn't mind so much if he would at least try a little of something new put in front of him, but he takes one look and lifts the bowl towards me, his nose in the air and says 'NO!'. Grrrrrr!
I will give him his usual (boring) fare and add a few little extras off of our plate to tempt his taste buds!

yes, my toddler is broadening his food horizonz again, after going through a worrying jam sandwich phase.

To encourage him to try healthy foods that he's rejected in the past, he has his main meal of the day when he is really hungry - even if I have to wait for a while until he gets to this stage.

Sounds feasible, SueW - I didn't describe what I meant very well! I was trying to say that as they get older they learn to distinguish and register the flavours their taste buds are sensing.

I saw the Sunny Delight rainbow colours today in the supermarket. Even my children recoiled in horror!

I have been very disappointed with the organic baby food range available since my son was born 18 months ago. A lot, or most, of the 'organic' fresh/fresh frozen meals available either from organic shops or by mail order actually contain a great deal of non organic ingredients. Is this legal? For example, Chow Baby are selling "Organic" Fishermans Pie made with non-organic fish! The only company I've found that I have been pleased with is Truuuly Scrumptious (great name by the way) - their food has been a great hit with both my son AND my husband!. However, it is often sold out in my local store. Does anyone know how far out of Bath/Somerset they will deliver to?

Aligood - What makes fish organic? I understand with freshwater fish, salmon, trout etc not being farmed intensively, but surely all seafish are organic?

Hi Just saw lower down on this thread something about Ready Brek and salt - Ready Brek has NO salt in it (or sugar) and is brilliant for babies over 6months - my ds loves it. The couple whose baby died were extremely dodgy and had another kid who was in care after being found with a nasty burn mark on her face... I was v suspicious about that case and, while I don't put salt in ds's food, I think we shouldn't let that case bother us too much. BTW I like Chow Baby stuff, and so does ds, and I agree about the organic fish - surely if it's sea fish that's not farmed it can't be 'officially' organic but that doesn't mean it's not healthy and natural.

Oh, one more thing, I don't think you 'give' a baby a sweet tooth, they're born with one. Breast milk is EXTREMELY sweet. They need the calories to grow to naturally prefer sweet things to bitter/sour ones, which could be sign of poison. That's not to say I think you should stuff babies with chocolate, but don't worry that you've 'made' your baby like sweet things, they can do that for themselves.

my health visitor told me that couple who fed their baby ready brek also fed it smash with gravy powder too very dodgy!. anyway changing the subject but staying on food my daughter went thru a phase of not eating dairy products til i discovered munch bunch ice lollies which are a bit of a novelty at the moment. Not very exiting but i thought Id share it with you I'll stop waffling now.

Yes, they did give their poor little three-month old instant mash and gravy granules, but I still can't work out how he had 9grams of salt in him in just 24 hours. That's the average intake of an adult, and as we all know, tiny babies can only eat a fraction of what adults eat - my son was weaned at 4months and could only manage a few teaspoons. That amount of salt is several teaspoons in itself. As I said, v v dodgy. It's bothered me for a long time.

Yes, they did give their poor little three-month old instant mash and gravy granules, but I still can't work out how he had 9grams of salt in him in just 24 hours. That's the average intake of an adult, and as we all know, tiny babies can only eat a fraction of what adults eat - my son was weaned at 4months and could only manage a few teaspoons. That amount of salt is several teaspoons in itself. As I said, v v dodgy. It's bothered me for a long time.

I think the salt levels would have built up as his immature kidneys wouldnt have been able to cope with it. Anyway I dont want to talk about this any more its too depressing and send shivers down my spine. Babies that young shouldnt be given any salt.

Totally going off the subject but what do you think of baby Danone(fromage frais pureed fruit)I've just started weaning my son and was thinking of these.

Theyre the ones with formula milk arent they.my daughter used to love them, especialy the apple flavour and they taste nothing like formula milk.

Leander, mine too loved these and still does at 22 months! I think I introduced them at around 7 or 8 months, didn't start weaning until 5 and she was quite slow. Any doubts, ask your HV. I started off using, and still do, the Harmonie Organic fromage frais, just because I understand that if it is organic there is no added salt or sugar. Made me feel better when I started weaning.

Ok, won't mention it again - but the baby Danone stuff is good. And the portion sizes are perfect for tinies.

I think organic foods can have sugar and salt, though usually at reduced levels and organic sugar & sea salt. Personally, I worry more about additives (colours etc) rather than sugar.

How old do babies have to be before they can have yoghurts

I think yogurts are ok at any age. You are just not supposed to give them cow's milk to drink (as opposed to follow-on or formula) as their main source of milk as it doesn't have enough nutrients (extra vitamins etc.) and can be difficult to digest in large amounts.

organic foods can have sugar and salt - you need to check the labels carefully, even on organic food.

You have to be careful with thinking that 'organic' = 'good'. Don't get me wrong, I think that most organic food is better for less pesticides, etc, and more reassuring to give to babies. However, 'organic' can mean many different things - for crops, I believe the complicated rules for organic accreditation (is that a word? ) do allow certain pesticides to be used, so we shouldn't assume there will be NONE used. For meat & dairy, the animals were probably grazed on pasture etc rather than being stuffed with pesticide-covered barley feed. Have a look at the soil association website

The baby harmonie yogs are the best thing to start your baby onto yogurt - or plain organic unsweetened yog with some fresh fruit puree. The Danone ones are full of sugar and I seem to remember have lots of 'filler' in.