Is baby jar food frowned upon?

[LeoLeah77]

This girl I know had put a few pictures up on Instagram saying how she only cooks homemade foods for her lo and couldn't possibly give her jarred foods. Then some other girls piped up saying 'you wouldn't catch me giving lo jarred foods, homemade is the best and so easy to do, just laziness in my opinion.' And whilst I have always given Ava homemade foods there have been occasions where I've needed a baby food jars as a backup if I'm cooking something lo can't have or if we're in a rush to go out and I haven't made her anything to eat.

The comments quite honestly pissed me off. Just seems a bit snobby that they'd look down on moms who feed their baby jar food. At the end of the day as long as baby is getting fed what does it matter?

Your opinions on this matter?

 

[Kristin52]

I used jars mostly, but did make my own.
My son was the pickiest eater and I fed him organic food from a jar because frankly, my kid had to eat.

Don't listen to others.

 

[kit10grl]

With DS I have to admit I used to feel a little like this. It was a lack of knowledge honestly. I always believed that they were full of rubbish and additives. A thread on here made me wonder. We did BLW so never had a need for purees shop bought or homemade but once I went and had a look at them based on the things I read here and realised I was mistaken and actually very little is added to them.

They have been a godsend for me this time round and all of DD's ventures into weaning have been jarred/pouches. My sister commented once that I should make my own like she did as its so easy and then she bought me a recipe book. But A toddler and a baby with special needs who requires a lot of medical help through the day plus a multitude of appointments leaves me no time. And at bedtime I have no energy to be batch cooking.

LO's dietician is happy for us to use them so that's enough for me. Its actually good for us because the consistency of the food is always the same for each stage which I wouldn't be able to do at home neccesarily. It allows us to see that Robyn is developing and coping better with each stage

 

[AnneD]

People *will* frown on anything and everything if they decide to take issue with it, or if it makes them feel superior - jarred v home-made food, cloth nappies v disposables, Pampers v Lidl's own nappies, Johnson&Johnson v Aveeno, Dr. Brown v Tommee Tippee bottles, breast v bottle, you name it. With some people, you can't win, period. Don't feel bad for feeding the odd jar here and there, as you say you do, all jars, or all home-made food. You're feeding your child as best you can, she's not going hungry, and this is all that really matters.

I was never fed a spoonful of jarred food when I was little, my husband was only ever fed jars. (This is not why we are currently separated. ) I personally don't want to use jars with my child (bad memories from when my cousins were little), but if it so happens that I do end up feeding her a jar, it won't be the end of the world. (I would, however, blow my top if inlaws did it behind my back to spite me.)

 

[_jellybean_]

Yeah--I think people get on their high horse, lol! It's ridiculous though...sometimes you can't do anything right. Silly to look down on mothers for giving jarred food. People are mean sometimes.

 

[Gidz]

I only feed my lo homemade foods but will probably be switching to jars in the near future when she starts daycare.

It's a personal choice based on experiences, affordability, time, etc. I don't look down on one who use jars.

 

[meli1981]

Not all of us has the time to cook, and puree our own baby food, i have three kids to care for! Ill be using jarred food

 

[SpringerS]

I didn't think jars/pouches were particularly bad, just a waste of money but after reading this article and looking further into it, I would only give them in an absolute emergency, tbh.
https://www.thealphaparent.com/2013/02/the-truth-about-baby-food-jars.html

 

[AC1987]

I fed my LO homemade stuff because I didn't hafta buy extra anything for her, I've tried jars in the past and there's no way she'd touch it.

 

[MummyMana]

I tried a couple of jars for Imogen but the smell was just awful, of she sees me reacting badly to what ages eating she's not gonna want to eat it (I have and always have had a lot of food issues!) I puree my own mush, but I freeze it, so I can't imagine its that much different, its essentially a baby ready meal :L

 

[SaraEmily]

I figured someone would post something negative. Anyway, Eliza got pouches from 6-8 months until she started table food. I don't feel the least bit guilty about that.

 

[CatherineK]

Do what works for you. I would give jarred food happily if I did puréed foods or if I was rich, but for us it's easier and lota cheaper to just feed baby whatever we eat. I'm already feeding two, so I have to cook anyway, and the new baby will join in at six months

 

[aliss]

I would ask them how windy it is up there on their pedestal!

(No, I don't use them... too lazy to open a damn jar, I am. Talk to me about lazy! I just scoop stuff off my plate!)

 

[kettle28]

I cook and purée, lo was soo poorly for first 10 weeks with bad allergy to cows milk&lactose I don't want to risk it, otherwise I'd be using those fab organic pouches

 

[kit10grl]

Some of the points the article raises are why I like jars tbh. As I said before we need food to be of the same consistency to be able to see an improvement in how DD is handling the food. constant variation wouldn't allow me to measure her progress.

And the big thing about water being added, when you freeze a homemade puree and then defrost it water is added to that too.

And the 'supermarket refused veg' it refers to is still of high quality. Supermarkets refuse veg unless its perfect. Even if its a funny shape they would refuse it. Other shops like independent retailers buy this 'substandard' veg and sell it on to the public.

The article also shows a picture of an Ella's pouch in the section about added ingredients but then doesn't refer to them in the article. That's a pretty dodgy link to make. And is trying to be just as misleading as they claim the food companies to be IMO.

To be honest I see it the same as the BF v FF debate. BF is best but FF is ok too. There's nothing wrong with jarred foods but yes fresh is better quality. No different to an adult eating a ready meal for convenience.

 

[lomelly]

I make some and I buy some pouches or jars. Depends what the veggie or fruit in question is. I will purée what I'm eating if LO can eat it, but for example, he can't have my pizza.
Do whatever works, and don't look down on others for doing what works for them.

 

[LeoLeah77]

I do literally give her most if what we eat. I did a homemade chilli the other day and thought I'd try it with her - she loved it but towards the end it got a spicy for her so I gave her a petit filous to wash it down with. She gets some bloody good meals! When she was on purée food it was usually apples, pears, butternut squash, sweet potato etc. I always did it homemade but I was never weird about giving her jars. It just shows the narrow-mindedness of some people. She's always posting pictures boasting about how she's still breast feeding and won't ever give her formula and now she's getting on the homemade food bandwagon. Like as if she's super mom or something. Some people aren't fortunate enough to breast feed and some don't have enough time to do homemade foods. Just snobbery. Arghh!

 

[Peggy O]

I bought one the other day to check the consistency (my dr's idea when I said I was going to make my own puree) and when I got it home it had fish oil in it, and other stuff. I took it back and got a simple sweet potato and water one. I wouldn't want to give LO fish oil as she is supposed to try one plain food at a time. We are only on cereal right now, but trying one veggie a week soon. That is just what the dr advised...Nothing wrong if other people want to use the tuna kind though. Some mom's get so very high horse-y about things on line. CTFD Haha.

Just for the record I will probably use jars occasionally, just no tuna oil ones for us.

 

[Larkspur]

Unless you are feeding your LO home-made organic food for every meal, someone is going to find a reason to frown on you because people love to find reasons to frown on others.

In fact, even if you are feeding them home-made organic food for every meal, someone is going to be frowning because it's not raw/bio-dynamic/homegrown/free-range/BLW/the ideal balance of nutrients and proteins/your OH didn't make it and is therefore not doing his share.

So just do your own personal best and screw what everyone else thinks.

 

[Peggy O]

^ exactly.