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!

Pouches,jars are useful,good on go.i used them occasionally
But never meant to be mainstay of diet
IMO children should eat wide range foods,textures with family. progressing toward no jar,pouch

I don't understand at all how smooth foods/purees hinder speech. All of my dcs have had issues with lumpy foods/gagging/reflux and had smooth foods for much longer than other children and dd1 and dd2 were very ahead with their speech despite only having purees?
Ds1 was behind but had hearing problems and ds2 is about average but it certainly hasn't caused them to be behind.

Chewing [mastication] works the Musckes in temporomandibular joint,jaw in a Hinge type way
By elevation and depression if jaw,food is shredded,muscles strengthen and this is important in speech Development and swallowing
Foods need to have adequate bite,consistency to chew upon,ESP al child get older to develop speech,swallow

Does sound like it is important then I think I must have just been lucky as dcs were terrible with anything even remotely lumpy.

Ariane - doesn't mean every child who has smooth food will have problems but it is a factor, so yes, it is advised to encourage as much chewing as possible.

I fed my DD freshly cooked home made food and never imagined she would be a vegetable refuser, but at 8 she is still not properly reconciled with green things. I am fairly sceptical about taste and think that it develops in mysterious ways that we cannot control. But I do always prefer to give my family food that I have prepared myself or bought prepared from reputable suppliers (baker, butcher etc) that I know.

Food has nutritional,social and psychological benefit.IMO home made is best
I made fresh and it wasn't a bother at all,plus means they get taste for family preferences
Food is one of the earliest and easiest things a child learns it can influence out comes with

"plus means they get taste for family preferences"

This is what I believed! Everyone in my family (nuclear and wider) is a happy eater of fruits and vegetables of all descriptions - eating plants has never been an issue. So why oh why has DD taken so long to acclimatise herself to them? Makes no sense!

Yes,I should have said ideally get taste for family food preferences
Of course my dc are refusenik about certain food staples to make a point
I fastidiously ignore and don't bite(sorry!)

This thread made me laugh!
We were in Germany when my 2 were weaned and German children are weaned exclusively on jars.
Most German mothers would consider opinions on this thread totally bonkers.

Baby jars are (mostly) organic and produced to extremely high standards. I very much doubt that my cooking is comparable.

Incidentally, I know farmers who grow carrots for a baby jar company and they have to follow extremely tight guidelines in order for their carrots to qualify.

IMHO this whole discussion is very much comparable to bf vs. ff and only serves to make mothers feel inadequate.

No.as i said jars completely acceptable,useful but have upper age limit

regular food with your family is best.I've not introduced "research" to berate jars
No one has said jar,pouch is maternal failing.cause that's how bf/ff threads go

I think there is a point (probably when DC are 3 or thereabouts) when you just serve up family meals to everyone and it is take-it-or-leave-it, albeit with the obligation to taste at least a forkful of everything... and no alternatives.

I've been doing that with my two since they were about 12 months old - I serve up and either they eat it or they don't.

I'm a little shocked at jars being used for older babies/toddlers -I do use the odd ready meal (eg if DH and I are out for dinner) for my 16 mo DTs like "little dish" or "cook" but its proper food like fish pie or lasagne, not purée/mush.

Yes, I'm a little shocked at a 2 year old having 2-3 jars a week too ceeveebee - We've got 2 left in the cupboard, and I'll be buying no more, now that LO will be one in a months time (when the feck did that happpen??!).

The overwhelming majority of his food at 11 months (and since he's been about 8 months old), is served in front of him on his table/in the suction bowl. We have a spoon each, and he uses his hands too. If he doesn't want to eat it, we stop. He eats mostly what we eat - pasta, rice dishes, all sorts. Nothing (aside from fresh bananas) has been rejected yet :)

Once they hit 6/7 months its easy to take soft cheese/peanut butter sandwiched cut into fingers or rice cakes, soft fruit sticks etc out and about. I don't judge those who use jars but its not nice seeing them given cold. Who wants to eat cold stew. Unless your in a cafe where they will warm it up for u, in which case if ur sat at a table with ur coffee/lunch then its no easier to give jars than a finger food lunch .

It is just a social convention to serve some food hot and some cold. Babies and toddlers are unaware of this so it really doesn't matter if jarred food is heated or not.

I agree with diddle do your own research on the article before you make any assumptions from it. The author jumps between US/UK/other European laws and regulations regarding baby food. Some of the studies the author refers to use very small sample groups and are designed to prove a point already made.
In the UK the regulations for baby food are much stricter than in the US, and also stricter than the regulations for 'proper' food here in the UK.
The article is designed to shock and scaremonger, to make ordinary mothers feel like failures.
I probably use a 50/50 split between home cooked food and jars/pouches for my 8 month old. Going on holiday next week and will use all jars and pouches.
I know a new mum who read that article (it's been around for years) and decided to do 'baby eats what we eat' only problem being, they eat pizzas, chicken nuggets, chips, crisps etc she claimed it was better for her baby as 'jars are full of rubbish' you might think she is a bit dim, but if that is all she knows!

But baby jars are jars! nothing inherently wrong with them, but surely no one thinks a diet solely comprised of heat treated, preserved food (or whatever it is they do to get it "jar ready") with a best before date of 2 years hence is fine?
I eat jars of pasta sauce. Tins of beans. But I do try to get some fresh food in my diet. Why would you feed a child under 18 months an entirely jarred diet? Organic - fine, wonderful. but it's not fresh.

Blessed was organix korma, for it was the only think DD1 would eat without a fuss.

Many many jars of it were consumed at GParents, in restaurants, cafés and motorway services.

It made leaving the house possible.

DD1 grew up to be a really sensible eater, DD2 who ate beautifully as a baby and BF too, was a horribly fussy toddler and is still a pain aged 12.

Believe me what they eat as babies has no bearing on their ability to. become stubborn control freaks.

Gosh this thread has run and run! We are away from home at the minute and I am more pleased than ever with the little pouches - DD is loving them. Tonight she had organic sweet potato, broccoli and carrot in an Ella's pouch. It's the only one I haven't liked the taste and smell of - but that doesn't matter as DD wolfed it down.

That blog link left me a bit I agree it was cobbled together and didn't differentiate between different types of jars etc. The main criticism of the Ella's pouches seemed to be that it was more expensive than making it - which is bollocks unless I happen to be making those foods for us - and frankly I don't need anyone else telling me how to spend my money. DD is only 2 weeks into weaning and with a few finger foods and some mash I think they're great! Once she's eating a bit more she'll start getting more of what we're getting.

Spend own money as you wish but pouches are overpriced and costs more than homemake
Did you start thread to get animated and say won't be told how to spend own money?
Jar,pouch are safe and adequate.but kidding your self on they're cheaper,well as you say bollocks indeed

I have no idea who your response is to scottish as I didn't start the thread And for me at the minute (factoring in shopping time, prep time, cooking time, energy bills, lost earnings time, amount DD eats) pouches are cheaper than cooking from scratch. No doubt in a few weeks time when she's eating more and a greater variety that will change. But I can assure you for the moment pouches are saving me time AND money.

you, ive read post as you were the op.
you do like your humphy wee faces dont you
ella is a great brand, i used them we liked them but cookin is way cheaper

Well as you can see I am not the OP. Hope that helps.

indeed, ive acknowledged i got it wrong.i misread