is it really bad to give jars to baby still after one year of age

[bumbly]

just with difficult baby never have time to cook properly except weekends

is it really that bad? unhealthy?

Can you boil up some pasta one evening then add some cheese sauce (also premade) or even just grated cheese. Buttered toast is good, so is scrambled egg. But he does sound a very hard-work baby so don't want to add to your stress. Would he eat a picnic of bits of ham, bits of cheese, bits of tomato and toast?

remember a which report not that long ago

if you only feed your baby jars they will be malnourished as they dont put enough protein / iron in as they bulk it all out with cheaper veg

Thats exactly what the which report said they are as bad as that and the organic ones had even less protein in and made baby more malnourised

i HATE jars with a passion and you couldnt pay me to feed my child one ever... they TASTE discusting (have you tried them?) and home made foods actually tastes nice and edible

with the exception of baby rice for the earliest days, i wouldnt feed a baby food i wouldnt eat myself, and i wouldnt feed myself jars!

My son screams when I cook and hangs off my legs when I cook (13 months).

I now cook when he is on his nap, e.g spag bol, curry etc. Then we all eat at different times as DP works shift so I re-heat sauce as necessary and cook pasta / rice etc as needed. That way I also cook extra and freeze it for when I am lazy and take it easy for a while.

If I am out, fish fingers are a firm fav in our house, or in the night garden keeps him happy for 15 mins!!

Once you get into the routine it gets easier.

NannyL - is that the same for those ella's house pouches? they are what ds used to have sometimes. especially the pudding ones.

Oh I think that's total scaremongering. Of course jars of babyfood are devised by nutritionist. I was thinking my ideas (white pasta with cheese) are probably far less nutritious than chicken with veg and potatoes in a jar.

sorry nannyL but that is utter scaremongering. What the Which report actually said was:

'Paediatric dietitian Judy More told us that, typically, fortified non-organic savoury baby food has around 1.1mg of iron per jar whereas the organic equivalent has just 0.5mg. She estimates that a baby fed exclusively on commercially-prepared organic food would consume 20% less iron than a baby eating commercially-prepared non-organic baby food.

Other experts are less concerned and say that a healthy, balanced diet should give babies enough of the vital nutrient. Foods such as meat, fish and pulses are high in iron. But you need to give your baby plenty of fruit and vegetables as well - they provide the vitamin C that helps your baby's body absorb the iron.'

See here

thanks for that link

but did you actually read the whole entire report in the which magazine though? I did and i know it had a LOT more information in it than that link

i remember also being horrified as to how bad the ORGINAL which report (which have been a good year / 18 months-ish ago) implied jars were and the organic ones were worse than non organic

nannyl - do you know if it included things like ella's house pouches cos i always thought they were different to jars as on the ingredients they never contain any other random ingredients.

i cant remember for sure but i dont think it did... cause i dont think they were on mass sale then

(my opinion is that ellas hosue are a bit better than the others....)

if you go to a libraray they stock the which? reports and you could find it if you wanted to be completely sure

It doesn't sound to me like bumbly has time to go to the farking library.

Her ds will be absolutely fine.

i don't suppose you still have a copy of the magazine it was in do you nannyl?

bumbly don't despair. Just relax, don't worry. Slowly phase jars out, Try new foods, don't worry if they don't go down too well, they will be a firm favourite in 9 days time and then he'll decide he hates it again in 13. Some days I give my DC something I know they love and they all turn up their noses.Other days I give them something new and they devour it saying YUM, the next time I try it with them they won't even allow it near them let alone taste it again. That's kids for you aye!
Just try and relax and enjoy watching him try new things and just shrug your shoulders and eat it yourself when he turns up his nose!

Have been watching this thread with interest as I give my DTs quite a bit of jar food (max one jar a day, prob 5 jars a week). Mostly because I found it enormously stressful when I cooked a lovely meal for them (using my weekend afternoon off to do so!) and it got hurled on the floor. So now if they are grumpy and fussy (not slept, teething, or something), I give them a jar of something as generally they eat it, and if they don't, I don't care as there is no personal attachment to it IYSWIM.

I know that sounds mad, but only one of them has teeth (at 14mo!!) so chewing is hard, and we eat alot of inappropriate baby food (spicy curries etc) so have to cook separately really.

Am v interested in the lack of iron etc and poor nourishment in the jars. I am quite surprised really. Does the fact they still have formula (not cows milk) make up for it a bit? I know that is higher in iron than cows milk.

I think the main risk with using jars too much is that the child will develop a very bland palate and will reject foods with a strong or even a fairly mild flavour. That and the fact that they are a bit sloppy and don't encourage chewing.

If I was very short of time and had a child who would not allow me to cook (I don't now, but until about 8m DS was the biggest clingon ever and it is not helpful to be told you should 'just' let them cry and get your life back) then I would make sure that what DH and I had for our evening meal was suitable for my child and save a portion for the next day.

I do think that sooner or later the family needs to eat together, or if that is not possible then whoever gets home first needs to eat with the child at least 50% of the time. We eat together as a family half the time during the week and always at weekends, even though it means I eat my evening meals at 5pm which I hate, but I think it is important for DS to see eating as social rather than something you just do to fill your stomach.

I dont still have the magazine sorry

if i did i would have found and re-read the article and stated exactly what it said

Well there is an extensive summary in the link I posted and there is nothing that said that giving your child jars will lead to malnutrition. I'm afraid I think that if the article had said that, they would have put online, given that it's rather a headline piece of information. So I do think it's rather scaremongering and not terribly helpful.

Anyway, moving on as I suspect this diversion is not terribly helpful to bumbly. In the same vein as Thomcat's suggestions, here are a few other things you could try:

fresh pasta (mine likes fusili best) with:
tomato and marscapone sauce (spoon of jar tomato sauce or that suggestion by Sazzles sounds good) and a blob of marscapone stirred in.

Or cheat cheese sauce - add some marscapone and grated cheddar to cooked and drained pasta. This is also good with broccoli and cauli florets

Anything that can go under the grill/in the oven and doesn't require much attention: sausages, fish fingers or pizza

I tend to buy frozen veg, broccoli florets, peas, carrots etc. I just some them in the microwave for 5 minutes on a morning and I have snacks for ds for the rest of the day. Butternut squash is easy to cook too although not easy to cut up!

I also cook wholemeal pasta on a morning so it's ready for his tea. I stir in pesto or just add grated cheese. He's a cheese monster!

i have a cheese monster too. i been known to tell ds chicken is cheese so he will eat it

How about a slow cooker - can put something on early in the day, remove DS's portion at his meal time and then eats yours when DH comes home.

Otherwise wha tI often do is cood for DH and I (he also gets home late) and either freeze a few portions for DDs or if suitable keep until the next day for them.

Oh and I'm trying fishfingers tomorrow, nice and easy and a good shape for finger food Might have to put cheese with them though

do you have a food processor? cos if so when he is asleep you could make a load of sausages, freeze them and fetch them out as needed.

Do whar works for you bumbly. Don't be pressured into doing more than you feel you can comfortable doing.

I give my ds whatever we are having usually or if having something too unhealthy (eg. burger king ) I make ds a sandwich, or bung a jacket potato in the microwave and give him a fruit puree or yogurt for pudding.

I would start just giving him odd bits of whatever you eat in the day but my friend's ds is a day younger than mine and won't eat anything lumpy at all so is still on stage1 jars. Do what works for you to get through this difficult clingy time. Have you tried taking ds into the kitchen with u while you cook? I have to with my ds, I let him play with tupperware and rumage in the freezer. Not ideal but better than him screaming.