UPFs, prepared baby foods and the issues

[YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME]

From The Guardian and a recommended read for all parentshttps://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/15/ultra-processed-babies-are-toddler-snacks-one-of-the-great-food-scandals-of-our-time#comments

We’re all educated about BF as material is forced on us as soon as we’re pregnant.

I’m not going to dignify this nonsense with a response 😂 that chip on your shoulder is going to have my eye out!

I had a necessary C section but I don’t pretend it didn’t harm my DC’s gut health. Good thing I BF, which helps balance out some of the damage. Why would what you said bother me? It’s true!

I’ll leave it there but I’m glad you understand how you’re making others feel here.

Now let’s get back to UPF snacks!

Do you honestly think doing something you don’t really want to is going to damage your MH? You need to develop some resilience. Jeez. Just if doing something you don’t really want to for a few months for the benefit of your child sends you into a spiral of depression you should rethink parenthood. We aren’t talking about people with serious mental health conditions. We are talking about the vast majority of formula users who just don’t wanna breastfeed’ coz it’s icky. 🙄

do you honestly suffer a mental health condition every time you have to do something you don’t really want to? How do you hold give a job? How do you even exist?

No, I don’t, because I own the C section was less than ideal. FF mums usually won’t admit that FF isn’t the best option, clinging to ‘fed is best’ . I’m not upset, just perplexed!

If doing something you’d really rather not do for your child is sending you into a spiral of depression you really need to rethink parenthood because you have no idea what’s coming.

fulfilling a task you’d rather not do for a few months is not the same as undergoing something that will spiral you into the depths of not coping.

I can’t believe people would claim it would affect their mental health. Maybe a tiny percentage of people yes. The vast majority just don’t want to do it. Like they don’t want to clean the oven or go to the gym.

Who has said it’s the best option? Or that it’s non UPF? Anybody? Thought not. You just keep pretending they have because for reasons I think I’ve just discovered, you need very much to feel like a better mother on this thread as you have hang ups.

Breastfeeding can be brutal mentally for those who want to breastfeed or are we going to pretend it's a walk in the park mentally and not difficult at all for a lot of women? So of course it would be difficult for women who don't want to do it in the first place.

I formula fed from birth because I didn't want to breastfeed and not because it's ''icky''. Of course it isn't icky, I just didn't want to do it and thankfully, I get the final say over what happens with my body.

I don’t seem to think anything, I was just saying that depression and mental health in general are more damaging than being formula fed, I’ve never heard of anyone being seriously ill or dying due to being fed formula. People can choose how they want to feed their baby, there isn’t much difference between formula or breastmilk. By the sounds of it you’ve never had to make the decision to formula feed, so I don’t think you really know why some people choose to, everyone will have their own reason and luckily it’s up to them and not some random internet judge.

I have a question for some of the less intelligent posters on here, if they can climb down from the Best Mother Ever pedestal they are all fighting for:
If a mum can't breastfeed, then what? Is the poison otherwise known as formula acceptable then, or is it better to let the baby starve?
Honestly, so much nonsense on this thread.
It's all academic once they reach their teens anyway. Oh yes, I am sure you are convinced the sterling start you give your child will pave their ways for a lifetime if healthy eating and sensible food choices.
I have news for you.

Less than 2

Come back in ten years time. You many have learned a thing or two.

I can’t believe people would claim it would affect their mental health.

I was so sleep deprived with my exclusively breastfed baby (who pretty much permanently wanted to be either feeding or just comfort sucking, who refused to go down in her cot for months, who refused to go to anyone else, even her father who btw is v hands on) that I started hallucinating and had intrusive thoughts.

I also lost a cousin to postnatal depression -not saying that was breast feeding related but I feel compelled to post when I see views like this because we really need to be more empathetic (esp when considering what might affect another person’s mental health), even if we were able to breastfeed and birth as we planned. We’re lucky if we could. I didn’t get the birth I wanted and I still feel disappointed, even though I know that’s irrational.

If breastfeeding is such a walk in the park, why the need for validation so often on here from breastfeeding mothers who make it their whole personality? Breastfeeding is a tiny part of who I am as a mother even.

I’m embarrassed for you as so many posters who are concerned about babies being exclusively fed on UPFs have stated many times that formula is better than nothing and people who can not breast-feed should absolutely use formula. No one is saying anything about starving a baby other than you. It’s not quite the smug gotcha you think it is

Where do you live? You don’t have to be too specific, but is it a city?

Why? Are you planning to put a hit out on me 😂

Because your answer is relevant to the thread.

I think the writer would probably have done better to avoid the topic of infant formula (although I completely understand why they did so), as it is an emotive topic and massively derails any discussion.

The main issues are around the marketing of highly processed food products to an often-vulnerable group of consumers (new parents) with the intention that these products are then given to even more vulnerable people (babies and toddlers). The issue with those highly processed products, for example pouches, include that they are far too smooth (so don’t promote chewing), contain too many free sugars, too little fibre and can also increase the risk of tooth decay depending on how they are consumed. Yet they are marketed as ‘healthy’…

The First Steps Nutrition Trust report is worth reading:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/5d93d133019c986514158dd3/1569968443400/Fruit_%26_veg_pouches_report_for_web_Oct_2019.pdf

The writer was focussed on toddler drinks rather than infant formula - expensive, unhealthy and completely unnecessary. They should be banned really.

I hear you on that. Dcs wouldn't take to any premade baby food at all, I tried one of them, and then realised why! This meant I was continuing to batch cook all sorts of weird and wonderful concoctions. Damn you Anabelle Karmel!

“It's impossible to make a shelf stable food that isn't UPF in some way”

I think you’ve misunderstood what UPF means.

But being happy with choices is ok if it isn't causing harm. I see the shite people feed their kids and it isn't OK. The children who were being fed loads of UPFs 18 years ago are all obese around here and they didn't have to be. they have a lifelong issue with obesity and potential ill health because of choices their parents made. Parents who had similar income and time constraints as to our family.

Oh do 't be embarrassed on my behalf, please.
I don't think I'm the one being g smug, but whatever

I watched a documentary years ago that revealed that baby food had pesticide levels more strictly controlled and regulated at levels specifically for babies. If you use you own fruit and veg, even organic, the levels are higher.

Not the point of the thread but why is nobody talking about all the crap they put in kids medicine in particular paracetamol and ibuprofen that are used by most families regularly? There's about six 'E' numbers per dose and its almost impossible to buy them without artificial sugars.

Not the point of the thread but why is nobody talking about all the crap they put in kids medicine in particular paracetamol and ibuprofen that are used by most families regularly? There's about six 'E' numbers per dose and its almost impossible to buy them without artificial sugars.

Because people aren't feeding their children 3 bottles of ibuprofen every single day. Unless someone is extremely sensitive to artificial sugar, the benefits of taking a tiny dose of medicine far outweigh the nutritional risks. Medicine is also not marketed as "healthy" or as anything you need to be taking excessively. The aim is to take as little of any medication as necessary. It would actually be illegal if pharma companies attempted to use health benefits like natural ingredients or no E numbers as a selling point because they are misleading people into thinking it's acceptable to take a particular medicine more frequently.

The main point of the article is how marketing & packaging misleads people. There was actually a MN thread about a year ago on baby/toddler pouches. There was a militant group of posters defending Ella's Kitchen because they were deceived by the marketing into believing it's just as nutritious as fresh. Even when someone linked a scientific study proving that the manufacturing processed destroys key nutrients, some posters still weren't convinced.

In a breathtaking display of stupidity, there was one mum who was convinced that chewing up fresh veggies is exactly the same as the "maceration" process used to produce purees for shelf stable pouches. So the study that claimed maceration and heat treatment reduced vitamins was bullshit because you also have to chew your food before swallowing. That is the level of intelligence these big food companies know their target market have so it's extraordinarily easy to manipulate consumers.

It's basically a social issue because formula feeding is far more acceptable and often encouraged in the UK. If not wanting or being able to BF is due to universal MH or physical issues, you would expect the rates to be similar in all countries with similar socio-economic structures. However in BF rates are much higher in every European country which has extremely similar living standards. The next argument is that the UK has doesn't have maternity leave. It definitely provides enough paid leave for mums to BF for at least 4-6 months. The USA has an appalling rate of paid leave (6 weeks) yet mums who are determined to exclusively breastfeed have a system of pumping and freezing.