Guilt Mongering Health Visitor

[Limoncella]

Now I now that Im extremely lucky to have a nice HV, but at DS's 8month development check last week, all was going swimmingly until she asked about how he eats.

'Very well' i said...a jar of whatever ( chicken & veg eg) for lunch, bit of fruit, jar of whatever for tea, yogurt etc. loads of milk. Anything that I put in front of him infact.

The look on her face was priceless - 'So you don't do any cooking for him?' she finally asked...

I then got on the defensive (prob a bad thing) and explained about not having the time. She then said it would be a good idea if I 'made the effort'. Grrrr. This dragged on for 15 mins until she finally gave up. I left feeling annoyed that she was questioning what i did with my days (eeerr, work, commute 1.5hrs, come home, play, put him to bed, eat and then put myself to bed!!)

Now I know its not ideal to feed him jar food, but its organic and no salt/sugar etc. Is it really that bad to do this?

Sorry long post!

Harpsichordcarrier ... Macdonalds and fruit shoots but not nutritionally balanced, additive free organic jars? Why?

can't speak for Harpsi, but perhaps because McDs and Fruitshoots are tasty (if evil) and jars taste like... well, have you ever eaten one?
And the former are occasional treats but the latter is twice a day every day...

Bobsmum...its not a case of skipping jars....its a bit of a necessity at the moment. But good advice re the frozen foods!

Aragon - thats what DS has too now A jar for lunch, a jar for tea, but supplemented with a bit of mashed banana and so on etc

yes that;s right Mrs Badger. I did a blind taste thing on jars for my baby shower (don't ask) and I'm sorry but they tasted vile. whether they are organic is neither here nor there tbh. They taste horrible, and they are processed and not fresh.
for older children I don't see a big issue with Macdonalds occasionally as a treat, or fruit shoots if we are out and dd1 asks for one.
but jars for babies: no.

Jars are vile to adult palates I agree but if baby likes them ...

I don't want to drink warm milk or eat salt free rice cakes and breadsticks but my dcs seemed okay with these.

ragu
ragu
ragu

shove in peas & pasta

voila

yes, I could make my own sauce but quite frankly I can't be arsed sometimes

no and dc's wouldn't object to Macdonalds either but would you want to eat processed food, every day? twice a day?
I could never really face packets either.
that's not the way we eat. and really I don't see it is any more difficult to give the kind of finger food I talked about below.

But amateurmum, I watched Nina and the Neurons the other week and she said that a baby has thousands and thousands more tastebuds than an adult which is why middle aged men are more prone to cover their food in salt because they just can't taste properly anymore.

And if Nina said it, it must be true

Am I the only person who thinks Mr Limoncella should do some cooking? Am I just a big bossyboots? Poor Mr ThursdayNext...

Harpsichordcarrier the finger food suggestions you have given sound great and if I ever have dc4 then I will bear them in mind.

But jars are not harmful, do not IMO set up bad eating patterns for life (my 3 dcs all seem quite normal after deprived babyhoods with little home - prepared food on offer except those that required nil preparation - banana, mashed pear etc!).

Are you sure you are not projecting what you would/would not like to eat onto dcs? I wouldn't want to eat them but my dcs seemed quite happy with them and if they are covering all the bases nutritionally why should mums be made to feel guilty.

Mr Limoncella definately should do some more cooking - but to be honest, he doesn't even cook for us, and even when he does its pizza (this is his way of cooking)

Re the bland jars...DS had an apple/pork dinner one yesterday...I tested it to see if it was too hot, and it was v v tasty! Looked at the label and it had rosemary, caraway seed etc etc. V yummy

It isn't good to eat processed food all the time though, for any of us. yes of course I am projecting my tastes onto my children, I have always applied the same standards to their food as I do to my own. but honestly, honestly would you choose to eat food from jars? twice a day? to menus chosen by baby food companies?
it's just a market like any other. I would rather choose what my baby ate that Heinz or Cow and Gate.
but no I am not suggesting you should feel guilty, we all make our own choices, I was just making some suggestions for Limoncello and mentioning my own experience and not commenting on your choices at all.

Quick-cook pasta, with tomato puree and quick-steamed-in-the-microwave broccoli, and grated cheese. vroccoli is the quickest vegetable to cook, i have found, and babies do love it.

roast a chicken at night, and you can keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 days, picking bits off for meals.

Veg really are quick, 10 minutes in the microwave - ready chopped stuff for extra quickness.

noodles - it's funny to watch them if nothing else.

If you boil potatoes at night, mash them and freeze them into bags, you can sling the bags in the microwave

ThursdayNext nags Mr Limoncella incessantly until he does some more cooking and is very, very glad he lives with Limoncella and not ThurdayNext .
I do think it's slightly strange that it's nearly always the mums worrying about food, or being told off by evil health visitors, even when Dads share child care. This applies in our house, so I'm not being superior, just slightly puzzled.

limoncella, what are you going to do when your ds is too old for jars but too young for what you currently like to eat?

Buy Kiddylicious

There are so many many things parents can find to feel guilty about that I don't think the HV should be adding to the list. My only concern re jars would be the bit about tastebuds developing and DCs being used to quite bland food - my oldest 2 were fed largely on jars (working full-time, like OP felt that spending weekends playing with them was more important than cooking), and they were much more faddy with food as children - hated anything remotely spicy etc - than my younger 2, who had mostly home-cooked food.

have you seen those 'steam fresh' bags of baby carrots, green beans etc that you can buy in the frozen section? two minutes in the microwave and you have a good plateful of veggies over which you can grate some cheese. of course that's finger food but they're handy to have in. also frozen peas when your baby gets the pincer grip, just tip them out onto the tray still frozen. if nothing else it's a time-waster while the main event is cooling down.

Haha ThursdayNext

I really don't know what we'll do to be honest when he's grown out of the jars.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, Im thinking that when he'll be able to manage finger food better (instead of just lumpy stuff) it will be easier for me to make him easy stuff for lunch/tea (ie suggestions made further down). It will be far easier to make up a nice big plate of stuff he can actually get to grips with (pieces of cucumber/cheese/ real pasta with tuna etc etc etc) which have nutrtional value, rather than making him stuff at the moment that is good for him, but requires mashing etc

truthfuly limon (my favourite tipple on a hot day, btw), i reckon he'd be able to eat all those things right now.

Aitch, you took the words out of my mout
Certainly my lot were on sandwiches, toast, scrambled egg, pasta, rice n stuff at that age....tuna pasta and veg with cheese was and still is a firm fav. Best thing about it is it's ready in 15 minutes! Those steamfresh bags are good too. But with my first i was a bit more wary, 3rd time round as long as he wasnt choking i wasnt worried!!!

I suspect a jar of meat and vegetables is more nutritious by far than a pizza crust or bit of toast.
On the other hand, if your ds is eight months old you don't have to puree everything any more. Just make pasta and add grated cheese and a few frozen peas and let him eat it with his fingers. Makes a nice change if nothing else. Also sandwiches are good - banana/cheese/tuna or microwave a potato for a few minutes then mash the contents with cheese.
As for packet cheese sauce - tsk! - making a sauce with real ingredients takes just the same amount of time!

mouth

i have several friends who haven't known what to do after jars. so yes, they have 14, 16 and 18 month old toddlers on jars.

limon- do sandwiches, scrambled egg (whisk with butter, add dash of milk, microwave til firm) anything...just to get him into the habit of food other than from a jar.