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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Over heard conversation in Asda today re: jars

466 replies

jmum6 · 12/04/2006 16:40

Was in Asda buying follow on milk when 2 women came looking at the baby food.

'Really can't be doing with cooking for him' says one woman.

'No' says the other 'what a waste of time.'

Didn't know whether to laugh or cry. :o

OP posts:
ggglimpopo · 12/04/2006 18:29

Better a jar of crap than the whipped froth off a capuccino and a couple of marshmallows. Wasn't the same woman coming over all caring and maternal, was it?

jodie1984 · 12/04/2006 18:59

well that just took me 30mins to read ds didnt help ejecting the dvd 4 times!! must be my home cooking giving him all this energy!!

i am with enid 99% ds eates all homecooked meals apart from yoghurt and organix fruit purees (i would make them if i had a bigger freezer) i also work full time. the thing is i choose to make nutritious food for my ds rather than watch corrie or EE.

i am a very fussy eater and i dont want him to be like me, the only thing he wont eat is marmite!!

PutAPeachyInYourSimnelCake · 12/04/2006 19:04

DS1 and ds2 had mainly jars (not so ds3 he hated them).

Last thing I wanted to do after a day at work was waste baby time making them food. We could eat take away's etc, but they obviously couldn't.

Also useful if you're feeding a kid with allergies as ingredients are listed; I didn't want to make two of everything for Sam, neither did I want to deprive Dh of milk / etc.

(Twas before I was dx dairy intol)

hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:05

DD ate mostly homemade, but with some jars for my convience, especially when away form home. They are not evil! I agree that 24/7 is not ideal, but I don't like to judge without knowing circumstances.

I love cooking and cook most days, but I am more than willing to have a day off and have a takeaway or a pizza, etc. instead. And we eat out lots too.

DD has had a variety of food from various sources. She has never been a fussy eater and still isn't, at 4yo. She will try anything put in front of her and likes most, onbviously not all, food. She generally eats healthier but has the odd "naughty" stuff too.

To call it child abuse though, even for 24/7 use, is a bit silly IMO. They are much worse things that can happen to a child than be fed food from a jar. Now that is child abuse, not this situation FGS.

morningpaper · 12/04/2006 19:08

hehe

So what is worse:

  1. Buying jars
  2. Giving whatever adult food you are eating even if unappropriate (e.g. a casserole with SALT so it tastes of something)

Please let me know as I have just started weaning and am taking option 2

morningpaper · 12/04/2006 19:09

unappropriate Blush

I'll get my coat

hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:11

I never cook with salt. Didn't before having Dd either. We stopped adding salt at home when my sister was born, so I'd have been 10. We use other things, such as herbs or spices, to flavour food instead.

PutAPeachyInYourSimnelCake · 12/04/2006 19:11

Child Abuse is when you DON'T feed your kids, or when you feed them the food their bodies can't handle ffs.

From some of the famillies I have worked with, a jar was a Godsend... no crisps in it, the dog hadn't licked the utensil it was prepared in, no salt, it hadn't been left open on the side for a week..... you get the drift.

There's a real world very, very different from MN you know.

compo · 12/04/2006 19:12
  1. but pureed before salt is added. Ie. if you're cooking veg take some out before adding salt for yourself. You get used to going without salt anyway and it's beneficial to the whole family
PutAPeachyInYourSimnelCake · 12/04/2006 19:12

mp

Salt, definitely.

Not only is it bad for them, it gives them a taste for it as they grow up.

Tinker · 12/04/2006 19:12

All great chefs cook with salt so I'm using your option 2 mp as well as leaving it out sometimes.

hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:12

Quite right. I listen to stories of what some people have done to their children and believe me giving them jars, however often, does not rate highly on my list of what is really bad for a baby/child.

morningpaper · 12/04/2006 19:12

Hula baby one day put a teaspoon of salt in it

It will be yummy

colditz · 12/04/2006 19:12

ds got loads of jars when he was a baby. I was living on toast, tinned hotdogs and supernoodles, as was too depressed to cook. He was much better off on jars. On the odd occasion I cooked something decent, he got that instead, and by the time he was into lumpy food, I wasn't anywhere near as depressed and had started cooking properly again, so he got 'dinner', not jars.

morningpaper · 12/04/2006 19:13

But a moderate salt intake isn't actually THAT bad for you is it?

Chefs use shedloads and you don't see Delia keeling over

hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:14

mp - I really am not keen with it. I prefer to add the herbs and spices. I notice when I go out for a meals, if too much is added - yuk! I prefer it without and it is better for me apparantly (not reason for doing; just habit). I put a knob of butter (when not dieting) on my veg instead.

jodie1984 · 12/04/2006 19:14

wasting time cooking food for you child???? i would consider deciding whether to go for cow n gate or hinz mush wasting time!!

he is always in bed when i cook.

morningpaper · 12/04/2006 19:15

but Hula the butter is nice because its so salty

hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:16

I like butter, but not salt on its own.

BTW, no one has ever noticed that I don't cook with salt when they come round for meals. Even after eating and if it has come up in conversation (which has happened a few times when talking about weaning, etc. or how things were made).

Original poster
jmum6 · 12/04/2006 19:18

Went off to give ds his homemade, lovingly prepared annabel karmal ministrone recipe and homemade mashed (all by myself) banana, and have come back to read all this!! Took me 30 mins too!

I agree with Enid mostly, but like everyone else do have a few jars tucked by just in case. BUT when I use them I do feel so guilty, especially when they stain bibs and clothes, I wonder what on earth is it doing to his insides!

To those mums who say they won't eat their food only jars, then don't offer jars, keep offering your own and they soon will.

But even I don't buy puddings, how hard is it to mash a banana/papaya, open a tub of yoghurt or other fruit options?

I do use weetabix and ready brek though :o

OP posts:
hulababy · 12/04/2006 19:18

Darn, keep forgetting to add this bit of info...

I was in Waitrose this morning and there was a women in there also buying lots of jars, the boxes of baby food in powder form, and baby juice. Now that will have cost her a fortune!!!

compo · 12/04/2006 19:18

thing is mp you probably get moderate salt intake from things like bread, yoghurt, baked beans, butter etc so adding extra to other foods isn't good for you I'm afraid

PutAPeachyInYourSimnelCake · 12/04/2006 19:19

It's up to an individual how they use the time

I had to be up for work at 5, so i went to bed with DS. (NOTE: DS sleeps very rarely anyhow).

So, that wasn't an option.

All shopping donw on lunch breaks.

He went on to lumps at a sensible age and in fact despite AS is a very good eater in terms of variety and extremely healthy and fit.

And he hates salt.

Which in a family with familial hypertension (sp?) is excellent imo.

no, sorry but there are far more important things to worry about, and worse things you can do to a child.

PutAPeachyInYourSimnelCake · 12/04/2006 19:23

But Shock to baby puds (also a mashed banana fan) and juices.

But mainly the juices as they are SO high in sugar.

But maybe she was going into hospital for a life saving op and leaving her child with her Father for a fortnight? Hmmmm?

See, you never know the background.

Original poster
jmum6 · 12/04/2006 19:25

Don't get me strated on babyjuice!!

Do you know you can buy flavoured baby water?!!

What a complete con!

I perservered with water for ds. It took me until he was at least 6and half months to get him to accept water. But we kept trying, everyday and eventually he accepted it, and now asks for it (by crying - only 7and a half months) when he eats his solids.

Baby juice? Why?

OP posts: