Feeling inadequate- how many jars does your 9mth old DC eat?

[Holymoly321]

DS2 is 9mths and although I do cook for him sometimes (AK batches for freezer for example), as I have to deal with 2.11yr old DS1, sometimes I have to give DS2 a jar of food for his meals (always organic). Having read some of these threads where the DC's are eating incredibly healthy looking varied meals all day long (much better than I or DH eat!) am feeling pretty inadequate...

holy don't be hard on yourself.....

if your ds2 has jars of babyfood - organic or not....it doesn't matter...

i also have 2 ds's and sometimes ds2 has soemthing I have cooked other times he has a jar...

imo some moms use the whole food thing to compete....i cooked all of dcs meals from scratch this week so I am a better parent then those who use some jars.....

mine ate loads of jars when she was weaning. we werent always having meals that she could eat and i dont have a freezer so couldnt batch cook. seemed silly cooking tiny fresh meals all the time.

she is 15 months now and eats as we eat, which isnt always perfect. she will be having garlic pizza bread soon curtesy of dd1 who has decided that she wants to know how it is made!!

its done her no harm. i have yet to find a food she doesnt like.

ds1 wouldn't eat my food, he would only eat jars... for a while it was spagetti hoops and sausages and nothing else!!

I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. When ds1 was a baby he never had jar food always home made and ate well until he was 2 years old when it all went down hill and I won't even tell you some of the things I've resorted to feeding him just so he'll eat!

Don't worry about it. You're not alone. I started off with cooking all of ds meals (also 9 mo) from scratch but have had to occassionally resort to jars now that he's moving about and takes up all of my time. It's hard to stand at the cooker when they've suddenly become danger magnets and into everything. And yes, I feel a bit guilty about it too but know loads of people who have used jars and only jars from the get-go.

I made practically all of DS1's food and he is now a right fussy little bugger now he's nearly 3 so maybe it won't matter! DS2 already eats a more varied diet that DS1 eats now! It's just that I am a really crap cook who HATES cooking - I mean I really hate it, and I really find doing meals for two kids three times a day and then for Dh and I a real bind - dread it most days! anyway, have just made a batch of chicken and rice type thing for DS2 which has made up 8 portions he'll have that tonight and the rest will go in the freezer...

BB - how are those DC's that are fed only jars turning out? Do their mums feel guilty too?

God, I know. I used to like cooking until I had to stand and make loads of different meals for ds, wash up, then make something for me and dp. It seems endless.

The dcs that are only getting fed jars are doing well. The mums don't seem to feel guilty about it although the both I know are back to work now so don't have the time. Talking to my mum all three of us were fed jars. Didn't do us any harm.

As others have said, don't be hard on yourself. I was never a fan of jars but definitely not in the earth mother, domestic goddess camp. I used to give dd cheat meals; dead quick but reasonably healthy. Most of these barely need cooking:

Scrambled egg on toast.
An avocado (the ultimate convenience food).
Chick peas (open tin, rinse, give to child.)
Bagel and cream cheese.
Couscous with philly / tom puree / tinned fish / any combination of above.
Pasta ditto.
Quinoa ditto.

During the course of the day she might have chewed on cucumber / carrots / fruit etc.

I think up to about 1 it's really about the experience of food, tastes and textures and playing, not sitting down to a meal to nourish and fill you up.

My DS is 9mnths old. I have 2 DD's aged 4 and 2.

We always do a meal for the 4 of us (minus DS) but will offer whatever we are eating for him to try.

He probably averages 1 or 2 jars a week when we are having something he cant have or as its been this weekend, he is feeling really unwell so wants fed slop rather than chewing on potatoes and veg!

I know what you mean - I can bet that my mum fed all of us jars! and we were bottle fed from birth too - and we've turned out ok - well, on a good day

Ds also has jars when we're out and about or when I can't be arsed with cooking (it really is time consuming and not always worth the bother). I doubt that when I have another dc they'll have such a varied diet as ds currently gets.

My mum only ever gave me jarred food (when they really were uninspiring favours) and I grew up eating pretty much everything put in front of me.

My main reason for doing most meals from scratch is cost and I find it easier to give him what we eat, hence the variety.

I only wish I got to eat as well as some of these DC's! Baked potato with cheese and beans for DH and I tonight...again...

I can sympathise, holy. DS is 9 mths and probably eats half jars, half homemade food. When DD was that age (now 3) I used to make all her food and never gave her a jar once but I just had so much more time then. That actually had its disadvantages as well because when we went on holiday and I could have really done with DD taking the odd jar, she wouldn't touch them so I made a point of making sure DS would eat food from a jar ... just didn't intend it to be so much!

As well as making AK batches of food for the freezer, I also try and give DS as much as I can of what we eat, usually the next day as he eats his tea before we do.

I have a friend who is v no-nonsense and doesn't really do guilt. Her DS(also now 3)had mostly jars and has turned out just fine! As for inadequacy, I guess we've got years of it ahead of us - by the time our DC's are in their 20s, we'll be professionals at it!

i only stopped giving DD jars because she is too hungry for them and i am too tight to give 3 or more Plum pots in 1 sitting - so although i now cook all her food, it's not because i think it's superior to jars

i try and cook her something like what we're having, in a separate pot, but using the same ingredients to stop me chopping up a thousand different things every evening, and i make anough for 2 dinners for her.

lunch is usually cheat food like BroccoliSpears - cheese on toast, eggy bread, pancakes, that sort of thing

but trust me, if they made jars big enough at a reasonable price, she'd be having some of those...

DDs (2yrs/9m) do have a reasonably varied week of home cooked meals - but only because they eat what DH and I eat. We wouldn't / couldn't cook twice every meal.

But then both of them wanted to feed themselves from early on and neither of them really liked purees etc, which made it more straightforward.

When we can (breakfast, weekend meals etc) we all sit round a table together.

Otherwise, usually DH & I will cook our dinner after girls are in bed, then I'll save some of it for DDs dinner next day. Lunch, DDs and I have together and its usually soup or pasta or easy things.

When we make a big spag bol at weekends (or tomato sauce or whatever) we'll freeze some for midweek lunches. I've always got pesto in the fridge, and you can freeze gnocchi and pasta parcels in small portions. This helps stop pasta lunches becoming too boring!

Sandwiches are always easy, as are things like houmous & pitta, and tbh sometimes cheese apple and crackers suit us all fine. I love scrambled eggs, but DD1 doesn't like it, sometimes we have it anyway.

A couple of times a week DH works late and I take advantage of this to have an early dinner of something he doesn't like with the DDs!