Why are jars of food bad?

[riab]

I'm interested to know what other mums think about jarred food (babies) and if you think its bad why?

My 9 month dd just does not like eating (unlike her mother!) Absolutely everything I make her-all organic - she refuses to eat after the first mouthful regardless of texture or taste. Jars she will tolerate for a few spoonfuls then clamps mouth shut. Finger foods are her favourite so we go for as much of these as we can & the odd mouthful of jar/homemade when we can sneak it in!! I swore that I would NEVER give her jars but it really is a case of anything is better than nothing!! She is however thriving - how on this crazy diet I will never know, although I am still breastfeeding her too. Top tip for those worried about sneering looks when feeding in public from a jar - pop it in a plastic container either at home before you go out or when it has been warmed up - hide the jar & no-one is any the wiser. However it really does not matter what other people think about what you are feeding your offspring - all that is important is that you & your baby are happy & healthy!!

I think they are a complete waste of money, very expensive and the lazy option also I would never give my children anything that i wouldn't eat myself and the smell of the food in them makes me gag let alone eating them. It is not being snobby just honest. However I do see why loads of people buy them, they are convienient especially if travelling, I just chose not to buy them. Also another factor was that we fed both kids with a meat free diet and there was little choice with jar food.

cooking up big batches of home cooked food and froze it in ice cube trays then put it in bags was brillient and so easy I would highly recommend doing it. I worked so would do bulk cooking and then it was easy for anyone who was feeding them to do so.

Each to their own though what ever suits you and your families lifestyle makes for happy children.

PS My freezer is full of lovely organic icecubes of all colours & textures. Husband & I may have to start new diet of unspecified pureed mixtures if dd doesn't start eating soon as no room in freezer for any other food ARRGGH! Perhaps I can sell cubes on ebay

I made all my own (bought Annabel Karmel) and just used organic jars when I went on holiday as I could not but 'normal' food in Lanzarote.

My dd would eat anything though so as far as she was concerned it did not matter!!

Is there really flour used in baby jars? Is it a secret ingredient because I can't find it in the ingredients on any of the jars in my cupboard!!

Someone said something about how jarred carrot mush stained horribly and none of her homemade stuff had, meaning that the jars had something horrid in them. I puree organic carrots for my DS and they stain everything, his spoons, bowls, bibs, clothes. All my "baby friends" have said same thing.

IMHO those who are saying their baby deserves the best so they only give home prepared food should think of reasons why some of us give jars. I spent hours upon hours pureeing fruit and veg and DS refused to eat for a week, and still refuses here and there (now 8 months). It is soul destroying when you have spent your only "free time" preparing it all only to be scraping it into the bin.

My niece was raised on jars alone, and at age 7 will eat anything, she has even tried snails, mussels, octopus etc that most kids refuse. Her brother (now 3.5), who had a lot of allergies when young, was raised solely on home prepared food, and will now only eat garlic bread, mini scotch eggs and pringles. Hmmmm.

when i had my 1st child i worked for a company that sold baby products and we got things like jarred food free so my son had them all the time, then when i had my second child i couldn't afford to buy them i have seen two very differant results which i swear is to do with the jarred food my son would not eat home cooked food when he got to the age where baby jars were no more he was such a fussy eater he would not touch any fruit or veg. he would not eat anything that took two much chewing which lead him to have delayed speech, apparently the chewing action is what helps bring speech along. my daughter on the other hand got used to home cooked food from the word go and she will eat anything both fruit and veg and never had speech problems

How can it take an hour to puree carrots? I bought a hand blender for £5 from Argos and blitzed everything, no straining involved.

Ginnmummy, I had no intention of causing offense to anyone, sorry if I did that.

Just because I think homecooked food is the best to give doesn't mean it's right.

I have opinions on lots of things but that's all they are, MY OPINIONS, not the definative answer.

as for bogus organic food sellers then I would be ashamed to call that person a friend!
I'm sure there are others out there but all we can do is do our best and trust people (rightly or wrongly so).

I don't know why we get into such debates on here. I will keep my opinions to myself in future for fear of upsetting someone !

Well to turn it all around perfumelady. Ds1 had 98% home cooked food. Now aged 7 cannot talk and would eat less than 10 different items of food for years. Now he will eat grated veg hidden in foood, but hasn't eaten fruit for years and didn't eat meat at all for 4 years.

Ds3 was given a lot of jars (had 3 children 2 gluten free one not), and now (21 months) will eat everything and anything (despite being gluten free- so his jars didn't have flour in- not wheat flour anyway!), and (touch wood) looks like being the first of the children not to need speech therapy.

They're not bad, they are just another option. Read the ingredients, taste them yourself & you'll know if they are ok or not.

I use the organix fruit purees sometimes - mainly because I think they taste really nice - I eat them for pudding sometimes!

I slaved over many hot stoves, some food T loved others he hated and his tasted changed weekly. Mostly used Annabel Karmel recipies. Felt home cooked food was better for him as I knew what was in it and read something that jar's contained preservatives and fillers. Did take jar's on a camping holiday for convenience but the monkey refused all point blank, (not easy cooking meals on a campsite, but managed it, Just!!!).

From about 9 months I also brought the Organix Puree, they are yum. I also give him the Yeo Vally natural yoghurt either on its own or mixed with mashes banana or strawberry. Just found Mums4 organic yoghurts which seem to have no Bad!! things it it. I try to avoid as much sugar in things as possible as at just over 1 it send him a little nuts!!!

3catstoo - truce??

Good idea Ginnmummy.

To add another angle - I was fed mainly on jars as a baby (i doubt they were as good as the ones today) and this has not maimed me in any way!

I am real foodie, will eat anything, have traveled the world eating and my job is in food writing, so I reckon a few months of jars is a tiny part of raising a child x

I do cook for my baby as I love cooking but I also give good jars etc when out and about - balance in all things i reckon

Def. anti.
I prefer to cook my own so i know whats in it . Plus its cheaper.

Keep it in perspective, girls! I was a breast feeding, home cooking, pureeing mum when mine were babies. ds1 ate anything i shoved under his nose so i was an insufferably smug mother who couldn't understand other people putting up with fussy eaters. Then along came ds2 who was such a stubborn little toad that by the age of 1 his diet consisted solely of weetabix, bananas, marmite sandwiches, chocolate and fromage frais. My efforts to give him 'proper' food ended up with him being on the 75th centile for height & the 2nd for weight - ie pretty malnourished!
I'm pleased to say that he has improved greatly over the years and now eats almost anything.
Give yourselves a break - feed jars if you want to or not if you don't. Don't criticise other mums if they're less 'perfect' than you - children are individuals!

My dd is 9.5 month old and i do mixed homecooked and jars when out and about. My dd will eat anything and I mean anything i have not yet found something she doesn't like she even ate lobster when in the states! I find that the baby jars are great when you need them but now she tends to eat what i eat i use jars less.

There are many thing you can do to 'harm' your children but in my opinion feeding them jars of food is not one of them. I also think when she gets a bit bigger i will give her the odd tin of beans/spagetti/ravioli and people won't comment on that.

exactly the same as dizzydi!!!

actually I gave her mainly jars at the beginning as I was very clueless, if not useless, back then - very poorly unorganized and not a great cook. she never complained and ate like a pig.
Now she has them only when out or when fridge is empty etc.
she eats anything you put in front of her, and she's only 14m.

there are so many things to worry and stress about I personally do not think this is one of them.

Sorry haven't read whole thread but thought I'd stick my oar in! DS1 (now aged7) had nearly all home cooked and pureed stuff - quite a fussy eater now. DD (aged 5) had mostly home cooked but some jars and even fussier! DS2 (aged 14 mths) has had loads of jars or what the other 2 eat ie fish fingers, chips, roast dinners, whatever! They are all fine, lively and healthy!
With DS2, I honestly didn't have the time and effort to stand and cook loads of Annabel Karmel stuff like I did for his brother. I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference

They do taste vile - the smell isn't too good either !!! Needless to say I didn't use them (ds aged 4 and dd aged 2). I was fortunate enough to be able to be a stay at home mummy for a while (but then circumstances changed and had to go back out to work part time!!)and cooked for both of mine - using the freezing method and both my children will now eat, or at least try, anything. Jars - some babies love them, some don't - every baby is different!!
Jars do have some "scare" stories attached to them and often confusing ingredient labels. Home cooked IS best if you have the time !!! With regard to jars if you look at the label for say a chicken casserole, or shepherds pie, the meat content is only 6%ish - isn't a homemade chick cass or shep pie usually made with majority meat (well around half) with the rest being veg? We are always being told not to add salt to our babies food but jars appear to have salt (sodium) albeit tiny amounts??!. Some of the threads mention some frozen food companies including Babylicious & Plum Baby, which I must admit I did look at but never tried, I did use one such company which delivered to my door, food still frozen. They were really helpful with advice when I phoned. \link{http://www.baby-pure.co.uk}
With jars there is also the scary bits of news out there about toxins \link{http://www.healthandnutrition.co.uk/hffhk/pages/ARTICLES/weaning2.htm}I think the scare stories were what really freaked me but I had to search to find them - shouldn't we all be told about these findings and not have to search around to find them. Anyway, good luck and hope this has helped (even if just a little bit)

oh god yes, the awful feeling of cooking up a freezer load full of stuff that DS refuses, frankly at 18 months I've found he eats better if I aren't streesed and as I hate cooking that generally menas 'compromise food'.
Getting any food into him at all is a win for me so if its a jar of chicken casserole then thats better than nothing or a chocolate biscuit!

I give him a mixture of 'easy' foor like baked beans on toast, scrambled egg, mashed potato and cheese, jars and some homecooked stuff but he really turns his nose up at the homecooked things (probably because i'm not a brill cook)

I agree that when they are on first stage weaning fruit cubes are relativly easy to do ( i only burnt 4 pans) and jars of apple purree very expensive. I did homecooked puree's for 4 months! But now he needs slightly more than just steamed carrot shoved through the blender and after an hour of cooking a stew with lovely organic meat and veg that cost 2x as much it is incredibly stressful to throw it away and still have to find something that he will eat.

The give then what you have thing doesn't alwyas work as last 4 nights i've had a bowl of cereal and yogurt, cheese sandwich, mince chilli (he hates mince) and panfried potatoes and turkey breast. Out of that the only thing he would have was the leftover panfried potatoes.

It seems like every issue ends up in an argument on MN these days.....

Isn't it fair to say that it probably makes very little difference whether you home cook or buy jars? We are over-nourished in the West, and babies have access not only the most varied and rich diet ever in history, but also baby milk which is enhanced with vitamins.

Personally I have breastfed/home-cooked, it is just what I felt comfortable with, and has been a lot cheaper. But I would have no hesitation in giving formula/jars if I felt I needed to. I know friends who have given formula from day 1 and jars before moving onto junk food, and their children are invariably bigger and more advanced than mine.

I did used to think it was vitally important but have now stopped worrying about doing the 'right' thing.