Why are baby jars of food bad?

[WeeSooty]

I'm just about to start weaning my DD. Planning to do home cooked meals ect. However I have been given free samples of baby rice, a purée baby jar of food and a purée pouch of fruit. One of my friends in particular is horrified by this but can't seem to properly explain why other that not good for baby apparently. Are they really that bad and why are they so bad?

Thanks!

My 11month old has half to one jar (small jars-hipp ones) for lunch usually, he just doesn't have a big appetite and has reflux.
Perhaps the poster who feeds her 21 month old has a child with a small appetite? Or perhaps it is half a large jar followed by finger foods or fruit.
Neither is neglect. Not feeding a child at ALL would be neglect.

Ahh yes, those jars are a bit bigger. I've only ever seen the small ones

This is what the poster who said half a jar for 21 month old actually went on to say:

Yes its not jars every meal of course, and we try and vary the jars, as well as a variation to non-jarred normal meals, and she doesnt have a jar for lunch. Variation is the key I think. When I say 2, I mean about 21 months.

She is not neglecting her child in any way.

The important thing, is to READ THE LABEL. Check the ingredients - the same way you would when buying something for yourself. The list of ingredients always starts with what the meal has most of - so if it says 'water' first, you know the majority of the meal is made of water.

I've used jars and pouches, along side finger foods and homecooked meals. I found the jars great for going out in particular. While on a long train journey with my 7 month old, I chose a cauliflower cheese jar, and a fruity pouch (both won't stain clothes etc), much easier to feed baby from a jar on a train than attempt BLW on there!

I also always have a couple in the cupboard for those days when we get home at 6pm, I've forgotten to defrost something homemade and he needs to eat quickly before bed. In the same way that I would have a frozen pizza for tea if it was late and I was hungry.

The cost isn't that bad, if you're using them as an occasional 'convenience food'. Asda often do 12 jars for £5, which would easily last us a month.
We don't eat ready-meals, in fact I can't remember the last time I had a microwave meal, as we don't own a microwave!

Oh, and my lad eats anything. Mostly - he loves spicy foods, and strong flavours like capers and olives.

Thanks for the link to that article Blessyou.
It was a real eye opener!

I would expect a little water to thin something the meat and veg. I wouldn't expect the main ingredient to be water to thin the mix and then the next biggest ingredient to be starch to thicken the mix. That suggests that the water is being added to make the it go further.

I would say that sounds sufficient for an 11 month but seriously I don't think for a 21 month.

Oh, and if anyone just reads that alphamum article and accepts it at face value, they are just as 'gullible' as the parents who feed their babies jars or pouches.

Come on people, read the labels, do your own research, don't just read one article from a woman who calls herself 'alphamum' and take it as Gospel.

I agree, my 11 month old would swallow a big jar whole if you let him. I would've thought that by 21 months, the toddler should be mostly eating what the parents are? My LO rarely has jars nowadays, even he eats what we eat most of the time (minus salt and high sugar content).

None if mine were on jars by 21 months, ds3 is 14 months and hasnt had a jar or pouch since he was maybe 9 months. he's eating potatoes, veg, pasta, stews, etc. But I don't feel inclined to tell everyone else that they should do it my way.
Also that article is atrocious. She seems shocked that a jar of banana and cookie crumble something should have a lot of sugar in it! The clue is in the name, both bananas and cookies are high in sugar! Also the reference to gluten and coeliac disease; gluten is in bread, so are toast fingers out? Fruit and veg purées are mostly water; an apple is mostly water. Bad science indeed. I also can't work out if she's in the US or UK, she refs the FDA and also cites studies of baby food in the Czech Republic. But tbh, anyone who calls themselves Alpha-anything is an idiot in my book.
I'm with Visualiseahorse, and not just for her brill name. Read the labels.
Rant over. I'm off for some chocolate. (High in fat and sugar, you say? What?!!!!!)

ANYTHING made in factories is going to at some point contain foreign bodies. They shouldn't but they do. It's just like dog food, the reason they are fit for consumption by humans is because the process sterilizes the product.

I'd be rather surprised anyone over a year using a jar, and really surprising a 21month old. If you want convenience there are organix toddler meals and similar which at least look like food.

diddle that poster also said "I have a two year old, and she eats mainly jars of food. She prefers a limited variety though" or words to that effect (can't c&p as I'm on the app)

Precisely fliss she only changed her stance once called on it.

Baby food in jar isn't that bad
With PFB it's all I used for months, as I was terrified of doing it "wrong" (thanks HV )
She was fine!

Fair enough Fliss, but I've no reason to believe the poster was lying when she elaborated in a later post. And to call it neglectful is still wrong, by any creditable definition of neglect.

Feeding a 21 month such an insufficient diet is IMHO a persistent failure to meet this physical need. Seeing as neglect is such a difficult this to define in terms of definition, I'm basing on my own perceptions of neglect. But I can tell you also any HV worth their weight in gold would attempt to work with any parent to improve such a diet.

MrsSham, I agree

Seeing as neglect is such a difficult thing to define, its not the kind of accusation you should go throwing around. How would you feel if someone accused you of it, based on their own perceptions of it?
The diet described may not be perfect, but I'm still certain it's not neglectful. It is meeting the child's basic need for nutrition.

I'm sure it does diddle but 'proper' food requires chewing which is essential for speech and language development. A diet of mainly jars (as zippey first claimed) simply won't provide the child with that.

Im back at this thread late, so apologies. Yes our little one eats a limited range of jars - there are about 5 varieties that she adores. She eats about half a large jar per meal. Id say I was going a bit over the top when I said she mainly eats jars - Id say we get through about 2 or 3 jars a week and one of those jars is usually on Saturday when we are out for the whole day. The other times she would eat what we eat or have something specifically prepared for her. For lunch, she usually has toast/bagel and/or soup. She usually eats a 2nd and 3rd course of greek yogurt and pureed fruit as well as a sweet on occasion (chocolate/biscuit)

I think her diet is ok, could be better could be worse. She has been fussy about home-made food in the past, its usually been the case that if she doesnt want to eat we will get a jar out. This doesnt happen often. If it does happen I think its because she doesnt like the food offered, which I think is fair enough. She'll get there.

Oh Id add that she also drinks quite a bit of formula milk.

Thanks for coming back to the thread zippey. I'm not a qualified paediatrician, so feel free to ignore me, but it looks from what you have posted about your DD's diet that she eats very little with a mixture of textures, specifically lumps of food that need chewing. As well as helping toddlers move onto proper food, chewing is really important for speech development, so I'd strongly urge you to start introducing some more textured / chewing foods into her diet

Zippy your range of foods seem geared to younger child than near 2yo.why?
Formula milk and jars are adequate for young child but not meant to be main nutrition
Is there reason for bulking up on Formula milk,it is expensive and unnecessary at her age.

The advantage of pouches is that they won't break in the changing bag when out and about. Ds has 1 or 2 in a week and generally follows blw the rest of the time.