Do jars seem 'bad'? If so, why?

[NellyBluth]

I had this conversation with other mums and thought it was fascinating how we all felt that there was something 'bad', or 'guilty', about feeding 8/9mo's jars - but not pouches.

We heavily weaned DD with jars because neither she nor us were too keen on BLW, but she took such little food that spending ages cooking her purees etc until she wanted lots of food seemed a waste or time and effort. I bought jars because they were cheaper than pouches, and we still use them sometimes when we are in a mad rush. Recently she has had that dreaded tummy bug that has done the rounds and the only solid food she is really interested in is jars again, which led to this conversation because I fed her a jar while we were out.

Now personally I don't mind too much - it's not exactly a Happy Meal for a 9mo, after all - but I do agree that there is something about the pouches that make them seem 'better' or 'healthier' and for some reason I felt I had to explain about the jars. The other mum who uses jars also felt the same, though neither of us could really explain it and new it was quite silly to feel a bit defensive about using them. Does anyone else feel like this? Is it the branding of pouches, maybe? Or the fact that they seem like something our parents generation might have weaned on?

I'm struggling to think of what we do eat!! Honestly, we eat a lot of our main meals at our respective work because of how busy we are when we get home in the evening, getting DD bathed and into bed etc, so we just have snacky food in the evenings. We do eat a lot of stuff with salad. I guess at 9mo DD might be able to tackle salad? (it's not gone well in the past...) Roasts. Homemade pizzas or 'kebabs' (iykwim). Though I did make the AK chicken, sweet potato and apple puree and I could have happily eaten that as a meal!

Glow, maybe us two need to start a 'please god help me get organised with food' thread...

Nelly yes, they can eat salad, but DD will only eat tomatoes. She wouldn't touch lettuce, cucumbers, radishes or anything else I've put int them! I work full time and DD eats her lunch and tea at nursery during the week anyway. So I guess I've paid someone else to solve my 'should-i-resort-to-a-jar' problem . She's very easy to feed for breakfast, since she's a huge fan of weetabix. I think I did it right by sticking to weetabix from the start haha.

I don't like jars or pouches - not because of any perceived healthiness (my mum weaned us on re-hydrated dessicated flakes which remind me of fish food now - I clearly remember the smell of mixing it up for my little sister) - but because they all taste so bad! I couldn't persuade myself to feed DS anything that I wouldn't eat myself - so we pretty much BLWed (but without strict adherence to the rules, or the poor boy wouldn't have eaten a yoghurt until he was 2)

Marketing is what it all is - I've tried some of the various 'fruit snacks' - like the flakes, and some others that pitched as if they were dried fruit, but turned out to basically be wine gums - those particularly wind me up because if you read the nutritional information they're generally no better than Haribo, yet persuade people to pay their exorbitant

our mainly had what we were having at that age but when out would have the jars etc.

we eat lots of pasta, rice, or cooked meat and veg etc, casseroles can be easily mashed and frozen, my 23mth old dd eats salad, is a big fan of cucumber and tomato but not salad leaves.

fish pie, shepards pie, anything like that is fine for a 9mth old and again easy to make and freeze in portions, but tbh i wouldnt worry too much, do you give her finger foods as well? ie cheese, sandwiches etc, so she is eating home made food their and gradually will just eat more of what you eat, you can always offer whatever you are having alongside her jar, just give her bits to pick up etc :)

She will eat cheese sandwiches like they are going out of fashion, and has loads of yoghurts and fruit, eggs, baked beans, weetabix and porridge, so I suppose she is getting lots of traditional 'solid' food. Its the idea of a 'meal' that I feel we're struggling with, like Glow. But I guess she will start to chew more lumpy food as time goes and then will be able to eat what we eat.

Did you say your LO is only 9mo NellyB? That sounds like a great list. Don't be so hard on yourself. Mine probably only reliably eat chips when out at that age. It's still the only thing when out I can count only her eating. Not every salad has tomatoes, you see.

Yes, only 9mo. I think I'm worried comparing against other friends at the moment as I'm the first one back to work (me and DP f/t) so we don't have the time they do to create spectacular baby meals!

Nelly that's just mummy guilt talking. I have to go back to work at 7mo, but DD was a spoon refuser so was BLW by the nusery. (I started it at 6mo). Her nursery commented she's the least fussy eater they have.

We just have to do what we have to do.

Heh - isn't everything mummy guilt?

Cheers, Nelly and Pootles. :-)

We have indeed puréed or mashed stuff for the freezer - mostly chicken with roasted peppers and carrots that we've then added to jar food and that has worked quite well.

But... She is 9mo and very unpredictable with food. For instance, she ate loads at the weekend but not much since. She loves her toast and butter, mind! Shame I have to ration it because of salt.

glowfrog they are still the same at 19mo sadly. I've read it's because young children eat for growth, which comes in spurts. On the other hand, we eat to maintain our bodies, so it's more regular in take. If you think of it this way, it all makes sense. Neither DH and I like the wastes and end up eating food DD left behind. A dog would certainly help .

Thanks, OneLittle. I guess I know all these things but I'm just really looking forward to stopping with breastfeeding and when she has days where she doesn't eat much solids, that horizon seems to recede a little further away. :-)

As far as I can tell the jars seem very healthy and nutritious.

The only problem I have with them is that I would rather DS ate "proper food" i.e. not mushy food. Having said that I've given him quite a few jars, they're very easy and convenient especially if you haven't prepared anything or you're away on holiday, or just rushed for time.

well they taste disgusting, have you tried them? I wouldn't give my DCs anything to eat that I wouldn't eat myself

but psychologically I prefer to see a baby with pouches than jars because I remember back when there was frequently bits of broken glass in the baby food jars and I saw the woman I babysat for picking glass out before feeding her kid because it was that "normal" to find it - so now even if the ingredients were identical I still can't bear to watch a kid being fed out of a jar

Stinkin - did you enjoy drinking breastmilk/formula, then? :-)

glowfrog yes I tasted every brand of formula I offered my baby, and the one that I found least palatable was actually the one that made him sick. He got on well with the ones I found most pleasant. They're so small why would you feed them anything that you haven't tried yourself?

Well, let's see - there's an Annabel Karmel salmon and sweet potato pouch thing whose smell I find repellent and seems to taste little of actual salmon... But my DD loves it and guzzles it (when she's in a mood to eat that is). On the other hand, I'm quite fond of her baby porridge but she pulls a total Maggie Smith when she tries it.

Taste is all so personal. I'd heard a lot about the digusting, mushy pots of junk food. So I started tasting them. I thought all were fine - except a curry one I bought when visiting family. Not enough salt for my taste however . DS loved them, every last one he ever tried - he was vastly happier eating bought mush in the early days to BLW or my own, lovingly made purees.

As they are the ones eating, it doesn't matter if the contents appeal to us or not [shrug].

I think jars cost more than home-made food. I am very mean with money so would prefer to save the pennies. Don't care what others do. Matters not a jot.

Stinkin - not having a go, but surely they will have different tastes from us? DD loves sardines, for example. I think sardines are plain evil. But I'm not going to not give her strong fish, or sweetcorn, or mushrooms, or raisins, or other normal foods just because those are foods that I think taste disgusting. Surely there is a limite with that idea?

There has been no broken glass in my jars so far! But I think thoughts like that are probably behind why a lot of people don't like jars as much as pouches.

I don't think it was ever "normal" to find broken glass in baby food stinkin! Wasn't it one high profile case of contaminated jars in the 1980s?

Pouches vs. jars is definitely a marketing triumph. I used the pouches occasionally for food on the go but the savoury ones didn't taste very nice. DS mainly ate what we did but I also gave him Cow&Gate jars as they tasted lovely! I gladly finished off any he left

Never felt any guilt about jars whatsoever.

was early 90s and a reglular thing, for a period of time anyway, was "normal" for the woman I babysat for anyway she'd just pick it out and carry on

sardines taste of food even if its not a food that you like, some baby food doesn't taste like food at all! by tasting baby food/drinks you can at least tell if they are excessively sweetened (which makes them addictive so they turn their nose up at "normal" food)

Puréeing or mashing from our own meal doesn't work - my OH has a HUGE appetite, and there is very rarely anything left. Plus, baby eats dinner at 5pm, we have dinner around 8pm (after OH is home from work). Also, OH always adds lots of salt and chilli to our meals when he cooks, so most of it wouldn't be suitable for a tiny stomach.

I use a mixture of homemade and jars and pouches. I just get whatever is on offer to be honest. Cow and Gate seems great - good range of flavours, and the stage 2 stuff tastes fine to me. I used Ella's when he was just eating fruit and veg, but they don't have a good range of stage 2 foods.

I did have this lovely dream where baby would eat nothing but the finest homemade purees made with love, and where he would play with only wooden toys and wear only organic cotton....real life is very different!

SarryB it's normal they eat at 5pm. We give DD leftovers. My 19mo eats around 4.30 to 5pm. I guess you need to see it's not a transitional phase, it can go on for a very long time, and work out a strategy on what you'll do in the long term. If you are happy to pay and can afford pouches for that long, then all is good. My mum said my brother and I didn't have anything resembling normal adult dinner time until school age. But your LO might be different. Many toddlers seem to be able to stay up till 9 or 10pm. Mine starts her bath routine at 6.30.