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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Why feed baby yogurts like petit filous?

75 replies

SparkyUK · 10/05/2009 11:46

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I was wondering what the point of those baby yogurts/fromage frais are. I mean, why do parents use those rather than just regular yogurts to their kids and babies? They seem more expensive and much more wasteful environmentally. Are they fortified with vitamins that baby wouldn't get otherwise or something?

OP posts:
ThingOne · 11/05/2009 09:58

Tesco . I don't have a nearby Tesco. I have sainsbury's, waitrose, co-op and morrison's. I use all of them so I can't tell you what I bought where 2.5 years ago but I do know my corner shop co-op sells big pots of yeo valley natural full fat. I'm sure a friend fed me some full fat flavoured rachel's the other day.

I didn't allow any added sugar in yoghurt when DS2 was a baby but now he's three and his sweet tooth is established without any doubt, I'd rather he ate yoghurt with sugar than no yoghurt!

AliandHerScallywag · 11/05/2009 10:10

I buy Yeo Valley natural full fat in small tubs too from Tescos. I spoon a bit into a small weaning bowl for DS and either eat the rest myself or put cling film on it for later. I once bought Plum Baby fromage frais and DS was not impressed. My mother ended up eating them .

goingnowherefast · 11/05/2009 13:33

The rachels ones aren't dull! they're really nice - I finish up dd's if she leaves any
I don't think sugar is a bad thing as part of a balanced diet - hell, there's sugar in fruit - but if dd hasn't got the taste for petit filous with more sugar than other things I can give her, then I'm not going to introduce them yet!

goingnowherefast · 11/05/2009 13:35

They are expensive though. that is an issue! I wish she'd still eat the plain natural yoghurt, she did for the first 2 months of weaning then dh introduced her to the rachels - it's a slippery slope, she'll be on the ben and jerrys before we know it!

muffle · 11/05/2009 13:39

I do use these - I know they are a rip-off but OTOH - if I get a big pot of yoghurt we often don't get through it fast enough and a lot of it gets wasted, which I hate. At least mini pots last a while unopened and you only open one when you need it. I buy mini humous pots and mini tuna cans for the same reason.

In my defence, it's not as if we're using things like this at every meal. Pudding for DS might be one of those, a square of chocolate, some fruit, a homemade pud, or sometimes he doesn't want pudding. So a pack lasts a few weeks.

DeeBlindMice · 11/05/2009 20:48

petit filous isn't yoghurt, it's cheese.

The Sainsbury's fromage frais are just mascarpone mixed with pureed fruit.

I give this to my daughter for pudding because she likes it, it's good for her, and when I used to give her natural yoghurt mixed with home-pureed fruit I was spending a lot of time pissing about to make food that she didn't really like.

One of the things about large pots of yoghurt is that once they are opened the yoghurt gets more bitter by the day, so in fact unless you have a child that eats massive amounts of yoghurt or likes bitter food, you can end up (as I did) wasting far more with the big tub method than by just giving your child a portion that is about right for their needs.

But basically your question is entirely disingenuous. You don't actually want to know why people might choose to feed their kids a pudding full of calcium and protein as well as fruity goodness (duh, I wonder), you just want to cast aspersions on people who don't live up to your eco and health nazi standards.

chequersmate · 11/05/2009 20:55

I found this too when I looked at all the 'baby' yogurts in the little pots the only ones without added sugar were sainsburys fromage frais.

I gave up in the end and just buy big pots of full fat yogurt.

I did buy Muller little stars recently but only to get the ELC voucher - DD will eat yogurt with or without sugar so can't see the point of buying the ones packed with sugar.

Crazycatlady · 12/05/2009 08:17

Dee you make a sensible point about large-pot wastage but your assumption about the OP's motives is harsh and uncalled for.

As new parents we're so often ripped off by manufacturers touting the 'must have' items for our baby that I think it's entirely right to question whether there is anything particularly beneficial about baby-specific foods before buying them, when they are very often more pricey than the normal version, packaged to the hilt and not always as healthy as we are led to believe.

There is nothing in Sparky's post that indicates she posted the question out of some strange desire to start a fight on here or look down on others. It's a very valid question about weaning, which I'd also like to know the answer to. Short of scouring all the yogurt and fromage frais pots on the supermarket shelves, why not post on mumsnet and ask a load of mums who've done that already?

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 12/05/2009 09:12

With you on that one Crazycatlady - yet again Mumsnet member does what they can to provoke a fight and make OP feel like a ocado-delivery-odering-guardian-reading-anti-burgers-and-chips "nazi" (none of which is bad by the way - except the nazi bit )

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 12/05/2009 09:13

ordering - obviously

giantkatestacks · 12/05/2009 11:43

I just give the dcs the same yeo valley plain yoghurt that we have (from a big pot). The baby has hers plain or with fruit and the 5 year old has his with honey.

I hate buying 'baby foods' or in fact 'childrens' foods' - they eat what we eat.

If I want to give them a sweet pudding then they can have banana custard or rice pudding.

And do we have to have the word 'nazi' bandied about? Its really tedious and offensive.

EyeballsisonaDietAgain · 12/05/2009 11:49

I am sitting in my office surrounded by people who are teaching students about the Holocaust so yes, fewer daft references to Nazis, please. Go and google Nazi, you might find out what the word really stands for.

However, I can't see what the fuss over these is about. DD eats them, as well as Little Stars and she is over a year old. She likes them, they are handy, she can eat them herself without creating too much havoc. Are these going to be added to the long list of fruit shoots and sausage rolls then? 'Cos I'll buy more if so!

Plus, I really like the adult sized ones and the desserts

EyeballsisonaDietAgain · 12/05/2009 11:51

Sorry, my first paragraph sounded a bit harsh. It's just a sore point as my work deals with the Holocaust on a daily basis and there is a lady chatting to me at the moment who went through it all, hence the prickliness.

NoFurtherQuestions · 12/05/2009 11:53

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giantkatestacks · 12/05/2009 11:53

My objection isnt to the product or its sweetness per se I'd like to clarify but the packaging. I dont like the dcs to think that all food has to come in brightly coloured packaging as its mostly junk food that does.

And the portion is tiny as well - my dcs would eat about 3 for pudding I reckon...

Sorry if thats a bit lentil weavery...

EyeballsisonaDietAgain · 12/05/2009 11:55

I bought Night Garden ones the other week . I did give myself a telling off at the checkout but they had Upsy Daisy on them

lal123 · 12/05/2009 11:57

my DD loves them, sometimes she will eat 3 of them - SO WHAT???? She is 5, she brushes her teeth, sugar is NOT bad for her. I am lucky - I can afford to choose to buy them.

"I dont like the dcs to think that all food has to come in brightly coloured packaging as its mostly junk food that does" - I don't undertand your point at all. So these foods would be OK by you if they came in a boring brown wrapper????

giantkatestacks · 12/05/2009 11:58

Eyeballs [shakes head and tuts] now thats a slippery slope if ever I saw one

lal123 · 12/05/2009 12:01

Eyeballs - everyone knows the squeezy high school musical ones are clearly the coolest

mrsjammi · 12/05/2009 12:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

EyeballsisonaDietAgain · 12/05/2009 12:03

I know, I know, it was wrong of me and I repent...sort of. I ate the one with the Pontipines on . T'was only one fecking spoonful anyway!

giantkatestacks · 12/05/2009 12:03

lal - well if I got through 6 of them a day all of my food budget would be going on petit filous for a start...not to mention the barmy amount of packaging.

And yes a brown wrapper would be better actually - I would like the dcs to judge the food by the taste of it and not by the packaging - we had a playdate once where a friend of my ds refused to believe I had given him yoghurt (in a bowl) because it didnt have a character or a cartoon on the pot.

And yes I know everyone is going to say thats very santimonius but there we are...

Astrophe · 12/05/2009 12:05

A few people have said they'd rather their kids eat petit flious "sweet yoghurt" than no yoghurt at all...just pointing out that Petit filous are not yughurt at all, and hence don't have the nutritional value of yoghurt cultures.

I think they are basicly the same as a few tablespoons of milk, with some sugar and colouring and thickener - like a packaged milkshake...Which is fine and not going to do them any harm, but personally I think they fall into the 'treat' category, not the 'every day' category for kids foods.

And yes, the packaging is annoying from a marketing, money and environmental POV.

giantkatestacks · 12/05/2009 12:07

or even sanctimonius...

EyeballsisonaDietAgain · 12/05/2009 12:07

You do realise that tonight's supermarket dash has just been extended by about half an hour while I
a) try to find a full fat yogurt
b) read all the ingredients