Not fortified rusks?? Do they exist?

[archiesmummy]

HIya all,
My DS (almost 8 months) was given (by a friend) a rusk the other week and he loved it. He was teething badly but looked so content chewing on this rusk. We are doing BLW and he hasn't taken to anything more suitable like toast ot crust or even carrot sticks...
I know they contains lots of sugar and I'm not keen on him getting used to too much sugar at such an young age, but what worries me even more is that they are fortified with all sorts of vitamins and iron. I personally don't eat anything fortified and I want the same for my DS, but everything ready made for babies seems to be fortfified. Is this the case??
Is there anything out there that is natural?
Hope you all got some good ides coz I'm a bit lost.

Are the Boots Organic ones any good?

You could make your own rusks. My baby loves the homemade ones. They do crumble a bit though.

I'd love to make my own, have you got a recipe, please? NOt great at baking though, so hope they are not too difficult..

Sorry Frizbe tried Boots Organic ones but DS didn't like them

ArchiesMummy, The rusks recipe is in Jennie Maizels' "Finger Food for Babies and Toddlers" book which you can get on Amazon.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to quote it here or is that against copyright rules?

sorry to be such a dunce, but why is it that you are anti-fortification? should i be too?

I think it's just me aitch71. I just feel that if you eat a balanced diet then you get your vitamins and minerals from there.
I don't agree with taking supplements and eating things that are fortified is the same thing really.
In fact, if you eat a lot of fortified cereals it's easy to get too much, most things just go through your system, but some you can actually get too much of and it's not good for you. As an example, I got too much iron when I was younger and since the symptoms were the same as not enough iron (dizziness & tiredness) I ate things with lots of iron and made myself really unwell.. Just scared me off fortified stuff anyway.

Sorry to go on, but why do big companies think they should decide for us anyway? It's like they're saying we can't be trusted to eat properly to me. I feel slightly insulted by the ever growing range of fortified foods on the shelfs. I have even seen sweets (german, to be fair) fortified with vitamins no doubt so parents will think they are "healthy" and it works, because my MIL bought a packet and said just that!!!!! .

OK, I've said my piece will shut up now, promise..

interesting, archiesmummy... food for thought. (unfortified food, of course.)

Can I whisper very quietly here to say that some fortification - specifically folate - is necessary for some people? Women planning to become or who are just pregnant really really need fortification or a viable alternative such as supplements. I'd hate a pregnant woman reading this to think they are exempt and can get all they need from their diet. To get sufficient folic acid to prevent a neural tube defect pregnancy a woman planning a pregnancy would have to add approximately ten servings of broccoli or five servings of spinach to her diet each day. And because the bioavailability of folate in food is approximately half that in folic acid supplements, and folate is unstable if cooked - you would need to eat your ten servings of broccoli raw. If we can fortify food in Britain to a sufficient extent we could potentially prevent 300 spina bifida births each year. Sorry for the hijack - getting off my high horse now.

Yes, of course folic acid is necessary to take as a suplement, but I heard they are planning to fotrtify our bread with it and then i think it is wrong. Fish oils may also be good as it can be difficult to get enough just from diet, but I belive we should be given a choice if we want fortified products or not so they should be clearly marked...

Can understand your point of view AM, but you are probably an educated and responsible parent. In England over the last five years less than 50% of pregnant women took any kind of folic acid. Nothing we do seems to encourage a higher use. In fact in each year over that period less and less pregnant women took supplements (39% in 2004, which is a shocker to me!). So we still terminate about five pregnancies a week in this country because - to put it bluntly - the women didn't take folic acid and have a spina bifida pregnancy. I wish it wasn't so, but I can't see any other way of protecting these unborn babies but to fortify basic foods. But I do still respect your right to think otherwise!

I'm shocked janinlondon, I had no idea!! How very strange considering the information is so easily available everywhere...
But with so many people keeping on smoking and drinking while pregnant I shouldn't be surprised that they don't take folic acid.
I wish more people realised what a great responsibility and privilege having a baby is.
Can I ask, since you seem to know so much about this subject, what happens with any excess folic acid, does it build up in your body or is it harmless?

Harmless AM. I do hope you didn't mind me hijacking. Sorry - it is one of my "special" high horse subjects!!