Jars or Homemade?

[sunndydays]

Just wondered.....always thought homemade was best, have been giving dd homemade food for 4 weeks and she loves it, tried a jar, just for convenience as we were out, and she hated it! Refused to eat it at all and when I read the ingredients practically every other ingredient was oil I am sure the fruit and plain veg ones are better but just thought I would see what everyone else does/thinks

What jar was it? Sounds odd. There are lots of brands so read the labels and you should find one that suits you better. I chose ones without salt in at all. Having said that if She doesn't like it can you freeze batches of home made food for convenience?

Yes, that's what I do, she has had loads of different vegetables and loves them all. I was exaggerating slightly with oil being every other ingredient! It was a Hipp organic one, it didn't smell too yummy, but then not much puréed food does

Homemade here - I just blended food for DD and gradually made it more lumpy. The only jar-type things she had were those fruit pots that come in packs of 4, for pudding.

DS didn't take to purée so we just did finger food from the start.

I did almost exclusively homemade for ds1 - every three weeks I would spend a day cooking up veg, and some protein based purees, and freezing them in icecube trays, so I could give him a variety of tastes and textures.

With ds2 and ds3, I was less organised - they still got home made purees, but I tended to puree something that the rest of us were having, rather than having a freezer full of interesting coloured cubes to pick and choose from.

With all of them I did use jars occasionally - mainly because they were far easier when we were out and about. I well remember one holiday in Wales, when ds3 was weaned, but still needed his food mushed up. Dh's standard answer to feeding ds3 was to get himself a baked potato with beans and cheese, and feed ds3 from that - by the end of a fortnight's holiday, ds3 didn't want to look at another baked potato!

I forgot to say - fromage frais is a really good thing. Not only does it come in pots, for when you are out and about, but it somehow softens any food smears round the baby's mouth, so they can be wiped off more easily (or scraped off with the spoon, and spooned into the baby ).

babies need fats to absorb vitamins and to meet their calorific requirements. Specially in jars that are watered down to make it smooth.

ive been making my own, i think better for babies and it doesnt take much to make a few trays full of good food. but on the odd occasion i do buy jars.i love annabel karmel books are great!

I used jars occasionally for the first month- not even sure why, as I was at home with DD, so had time to cook. Other than that, she ate what we ate, minus the salt, obviously. I didn't puree things and she ate with her fingers, but I did feed her yoghurts etc with a spoon.

I think homemade is better as long as you make healthy meals. Wasn't there a thread recently about a poster finding an unidentified internal organ in Hipp Organic jar?

Yes, fats are important- also some vitamins are dissolvable in fat so it's a good idea to serve, say, a carrot with a bit of butter.

Yeah it was the hipp one that had salt in so I didn't go for that. Like the others I only use it as a quick fix on on my lazy days other than that she has what we have and I think that's got to be better. I agree on the smell thing. Jar foods stink of processed.

I was trying to just do homemade but it's hard work when you are staying with people so i gave DD one of the Ella's Kitchen pouches and she loved it. I'm going to keep doing homemade when I can as it is loads cheaper too but I am not stressing over it so much any more - thinking about it most are probably prepared in a much more sterile environment than my kitchen! I do check the labels carefully first though!

I think homemade is best but jars are good if you are out or in a hurry-they would be expensive to feed a baby on all the time though.
I started off weaning giving the odd jar and fruit and veg but once I started giving DD the family meals she wouldnt out a jar in her mouth. Not surprised really, they do taste pretty bad!

dd1 wouldn't eat jars
to this day she is still a ponce has very good taste

we used to take out little pots with breadsticks, chunks of cheese, slices of soft pear, and bananas for food on the go.

I use both for convenience and it can't help that he is trying lots of new flavours and textures.