What an idiot I am for not checking the labels on rookiebabies cereal !

[Rookiemum]

The vast majority of stuff he eats is home made organic fruit & veg. I have also bought a few organix fruit pots for emergencies and some of that plum baby food that only has fruit & veg in it.

However I didn't think to check his baby cereals and was shocked that they had sugar. Fair enough I thought I will just use the porridge assuming it would be what it said on the package, but no it has sugar as well.

I realise that I should have checked before I bought it but I stupidly assumed that as babies shouldn't have sugar, baby specific products wouldn't have sugar in them. I'm disappointed in myself because I thought I was taking care to make sure that rookiebabies diet was healthy.

Anyone else made a rookie mistake like me ?

If the rest of his diet is mainly fruit and veg, a little bit of sugar won't hurt. I think you are being too hard on yourself.

Baby specific products are not permitted to have e-numbers in them. But there is no regulation about sugar.

I agree with Kelly - a little bit of sugar to make the cereals you're giving him more palatable is not worth being shocked about

breastmilk tastes v sweet

I'm sure my milk is half sugar anyway

dont worry!

Ok I am probably being too paranoid, comes from reading too many weaning books.

I know what you mean rookiemum, I was horrified to find a jar of organic baby food contained salt!! I would have thought this was a definate no no , but apparently not. I am trying to make my own food all the time and freeze it, I am now totally wary of bought baby food.

If it makes you feel betttr I fed ds a jar of Hipp porridge before 6 months without realising it contained gluten . It happens , but not worht beating yourself up over. You sound more conscientious than many weaning mums

Salt arrrghh thats even worse isn't it.

I think I am just being a bit over zealous as bf didn't work out for us as DS has a tongue tie so I kind of see weaning as my chance to redeem myself back to being a good mum.

I suppose I naively assumed that manufacturers would avoid salt or sugar in their baby products, well now I know the evil truth.

Rookie, I just looked at my Heinz Organic Banana Breakfast - says it contains sugar. It is something like 17g per 100g of cereal, but then when I read the instructions for how much to make up, it says e.g. 3 tablespoons of cereal which is only about 14g of cereal, so the sugar content of that would be pretty negligeable. So I wouldn't worry.

However, see thread about Petit Filous. Now my little PF junkie will only be allowed them every other day!

i noticed that on baby porridge - bought adult organic instead.

Just bought some yeo valley fruit tumble yoghurts, don't think they have too much sugar in them, but if they do it doesn't matter because its ORGANIC (hem hem, in the same way that Green & Black organic chocolate is not fattening)

That's right! Green & Black chocolate is essential for getting your iron levels up and giving you energy too

Boots own brand baby porridge does not have sugar in, neither has M&S quick porridge....(not that i have spent hours obsessively checking in supermarket aisles). Also just cos it is organic doesnt necessarily mean good....a lot of the Hipp stuff has sugar added and the organic baby biscuit things you get have concentrated grape juice in = sugar (and dont get me started on petits filous!)

it is annoying rookiemum...i have been tricked this way too. There is a lot of life left for them to eat refined sugar - stick to fruits for now!

aaaww, rookiemum, i just wanted to say that i totally get it about wanting to 'redeem yourself'... i felt the same about my dd's weaning after having such difficulties with bfing. try not to put more pressure on yourself, although i do understand your thinking because i share it. Weaning has gone very well for us so far, i am relieved to say, which has helped with those feelings quite a bit. i'm sure you are an excellent mother now, in the past, and will be in the future.

Please don't feel too bad - we all presume that commercial "baby anything" will not contain sugar, salt etc etc - but hey, look a little deeper and what do we find???!!! We have all been there and felt soooo guilty for it - the good thing is, is that we have realised before we have given it time and time and time again !!! Don't feel bad, we have all been there - and fruit has its own "inbuilt" sugar !!! Our babies do need sugar - perhaps not artificial - but sugar all the same (as we all do!!!) Please don't punish yourself!!

Thanks everyone, particularly aie 71. I have recovered now from my initial surprise. I guess I need to get over it because he won't be eating homemade all the time when I return back to work in Jan.

Also rookiebaby refused my lovingly home made annabel karmel chicken dish two days on the trot, then spat out his macaroni cheese which he loved before, grrrrrr. So if a little bit of sugar gets him to eat his cereal then hey what am I going to do ....