Manufactured Baby Food - not a surprise

[FrauMoose]

www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/10/baby-food-nutrition-weaning-breastmilk

I felt so smug for not using them when I read this. Totally validates why I do BLWing

Good for you mrsmartin. Always good to be able to feel smug so early in the morning

And I did BLW too

I was skint when my daughter was a baby. And I remembered how high a proportion of the jar got wasted from when my little brother was fed the jars. So making baby food ourselves seemed the obvious thing to do.

Mashing up bananas, carrots etc etc really didn't seem that hard.

Maybe if you don't cook for the adults/older children but just heat up processed stuff doing food for a baby seems difficult?

Good god, I think if I read another article or comment on the benefits of BLW, milk the main source of nutrition until 1yr, breast is best, I think my head will actually explode.

I breast feed, do BLW but as I have given a couple of formula bottles, spoon fed a few times and used a Ella's pouches I feel so incredibly guilty! Think I have to get of mn for a while

I'm assuming BLW is breast-led weaning. When my daughter was a baby the six month thing wasn't the big deal it is now - four months seemed the standard, and as my daughter was permanently voraciously hungry the health visitor said it was no big deal if I offered her a bit of baby rice when she was about 15 weeks.

So I'm not a breast-feeding only evangelist. More of a foodie who dislikes the way we're pressured into buying overpriced junk under the pretence that it's good for us.

No it must be 'baby led weaning'...

I don't think the article is saying BLW is best. It's saying that manufactured food is a lot less nutrient dense than homemade food. And that they have less calories per weight then formula. It is a useful thing to know, especially for those parents who are contemplating using solids from jars/pouch to fill up their LO in the hope of making them to sleep through.

Homemade food is very clearly purees in the study.

And that they also use infant formula for comparison.

It's on the BBC too btw, www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24013437

It's talking about Home made food not blw.

I know it's not talking about BLWing. But BLWed babies wouldn't use that stuff.

BLW babies can eat junk too - rusks, biscuits, cakes, crisps...

I did blw (with ds1 it was called letting him help himself) with both of mine, but I also used the pouches when out and about and not able to stop and give a proper meal. This article is a bit "and in other news pope is catholic". It tells us nothing we didn't already know and quite frankly it must be a slow news day. Why can't we also just raise our children in our way? Why does everything have to have a bloody label?

It's not really a shock is it? I mean, it isn't a good idea for pre-prepared and processed food to form your whole diet as an adult or child. A baby isn't likely to be much different.

What I take from this is the fairly obvious 'handy for out and about and when you are in a big hurry but best not to always feed your child from pouches/jars'. TBH, I'd have thought that was true solely from a cost perspective anyway.

I saw a blw thread once where someone said Ella's kitchen pouches were ok of the baby held and sucked them -

Anyway. I did spoon feedig and finger foods and used maybe three pouches a month when out. Very useful to have one in the change bag. That they're worse js no surprise is it, but you can't cart freshly prepared food out with you all the time.

I don't understand why people don't know this already. Commonsense I'd have thought.

I don't know if it's common sense actually. I've seen people on here defending that Ella pouches are just as good as homemade. They have some very clever marketing.

A friend of mine also gave me advice when I was weaning DD to use tinned fruit. Apparently they are in fruit juices so as good as the real thing. I didn't contradict her but just smile and nod.

I don't know if it's common sense actually. I've seen people on here defending that Ella pouches are just as good as homemade. They have some very clever marketing.

A friend of mine also gave me advice when I was weaning DD to use tinned fruit. Apparently they are in fruit juices so as good as the real thing. I didn't contradict her but just smile and nod.

personally I am grateful to Ella's kitchen, my children wouldn't have survived without those pouches! think it would have done them more harm being stuck indoors with me all day cooking than getting out and about in the fresh air (I get very stressed when cooped up in the house with a small baby).

as long as their breakfast and dinner are good quality homemade meals I am afraid I can't get worked up about a few fruit pouches a week.

Everything in moderation and all that

It's only true if the person preparing the food knows how to cook and create a balanced diet. Manufactured baby food is better than a crap diet of homecooked rubbish.

I did everything homecooked for DD1, and DD2 gets some manufactured stuff as well as the homecooked stuff, due to lack of time and energy. I trust myself to do what is best, and these articles aren't actually helpful.

I weaned traditionally for both (purees and finger foods).

No one is saying a bit of pouch is bad. No one says you can't exist on a diet of pouches Even. it is simply about being informed. Just like adults have takeaways, microwave dinners and eating out. Why does everyone have to go so defensive about this? I know chips are bad and DD had chips from she started solids. But I won't fool myself think fruit shoot is just as good as an orange. Or that that chicke stew in a pouch really is as good as a pot of real chicke stew.

onelittletoddlerterror Tinned fruit can actually be more nutritious than fresh fruit as it is canned nearer the source and loses less of the nutrients (unlike vegetables btw which tend to lose nutrients when tinned). So less good than an apple picked straight from your tree, but better than strawberries from New Zealand that have sat in your fridge for a week.

And actually I think the BLW thing is a complete red herring. My BLW DD had a far inferior diet to my partially spoonfed DSs. Not for want of trying, but she just spat out or ignored the good stuff.

schmee if you are referring to that study from
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/really-the-claim-fresh-produce-has-more-nutrients-than-canned/

Then the caveat being "Nutrient density measures were based on 6 nutrients. Based on Dietary Guidelines to Americans, vegetables are important sources of fiber, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C, and K in the American diet" and also "the nutrient density score used here focuses solely on nutrients to encourage, and does not account for fat, sugar or sodium."

They are all very interesting scientific study for sure.

Ella's are really sweet - and it is common sense that packaged food is not as nutritious as homemade its the same for adults.

I think its all about just making sure you give your baby a balanced diet and the occasional pouch won't do any harm but check the ingredients and nutritional value on the pack. Some of ella's savory ones are mostly fruit (thats why babies love them so much) but its not great for them. other brands seem to be more balanced although the study compared some of those too i think.

I basically want to repeat every ManchesterHistoryGirl said.

This article isn't about BLW, it's about pre-prepared food out of boxes not being as nutritious as homemade food. (Let's assume we mean healthy homemade food, with no salt added etc, just for argument's sake).

No shit Sherlock.