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01-22-2013 at 8:44 AM
jstrat53
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XP: What to look for when buying food for LO

I am trying to branch out when it comes to what I feed DD.  I have been giving her pretty much all of the baby purees since she was 6 months but now she eats more "real" food.  Recently, I was looking at yogurt, cream cheese (for on toast), and nurtrigrain bars but I am not sure what to buy.  Is there a rule of thumb for comparing labels, what to look for, what to avoid? I worry about giving her too much sugar.  The nutrigrain bars I looked at had like 8 grams of sugar per bar, that seemed like a lot but she probably would only eat half at a time as a snack. 


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01-22-2013 at 8:52 AM
silvie25
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What about trying the baby bars first? In the baby section there are tons of baby friendly options. I've never thought of trying nutrigrain bars but I'm sure they can't hurt in moderation. You're right, try and stay away from lots of sugars. How about toast with sugar free jam or butter with cinnamon? I do that often. I also do oatmeal with fruits.
If you're looking for a snack, there are mum mum rice crackers! Dd loves those.

For yogurts dd loves the little Danone ones, and Another bend called lil ones. Both no artificial sugars. GL!
 
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01-22-2013 at 9:24 AM
LalaMama81
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Just feed her what you'd feed yourself. Just limit sugar and salt. 

I think you are over analyzing. There is no need to buy special baby food or baby bars or baby yogurt.

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. I do buy the trader joe's brand of cereal bars but when I compared them to nutrigrain the tj's ones were better - less sugar, no artificial anything and no food dyes. I was less impressed w/ nutrigrain.  

Ellie 9.08, Violet 8.11 
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01-22-2013 at 9:43 AM
jstrat53
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LalaMama81:

Just feed her what you'd feed yourself. Just limit sugar and salt. 

I think you are over analyzing. There is no need to buy special baby food or baby bars or baby yogurt.

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. I do buy the trader joe's brand of cereal bars but when I compared them to nutrigrain the tj's ones were better - less sugar, no artificial anything and no food dyes. I was less impressed w/ nutrigrain.  

 

I dont' think I am over analyzing anything.  I give her lots of things that I eat too including oatmeal with fruit, cheese and whole grain crackers, cut up pieces of fruit or fruit cups packed in water or 100% juice, graham crackers, and cheerios but It is hard to always give her what I eat.  I pack myself a sandwhich and an apple for work.  I can't pack that for her. I just wondered if anybody had advice/ideas about nutrition labels when buying foods for LO. How much sugar is too much? How much sodium is too much? Things like that.     


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01-22-2013 at 9:46 AM
oliversmom...
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Ok. Deleting and starting over. Can't get this stupid thing to format right. Sorry about all the edits.

I don't know exactly how to quantify how much sugar and sodium is too much but I think anything with added sugar is too much sugar to give it to your LO on a regular basis. I don't think a nutragrain bar is going to be harmful but I think there are healthier options out there for snacks for babies. I'm not a health nut by any means so that's just my opinion.

If you want to feed LO nutragrain bars I would look at the label and compare to the baby brand and the generic brand and choose the one with the least added sugar and sodium.

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01-22-2013 at 9:51 AM
etude de l...
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First of all if you are worried about sugar then don't give 100% juice! Most juice has 20-25g per 8oz serving (same as a soda or bag of skittles) Always dilute or I buy Fruitables which has 7g and some veggies and comes in a juice box. 

At that age I did string cheese into little bits, mum mum crackers, apple sauce in squeezable pouches, gram crackers, Cheerios or puffs, pb&j into little bite size, pasta (little over cooked).... Pretty much anything soft and could be squished (just stay away from hard and crunchy unless its in a baby aisle) 
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01-22-2013 at 10:06 AM
SteelCity4...
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LalaMama81:

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. 

What fruit do you add? Is it fresh, frozen or canned? The only thing I can think of to add to yogurt is canned peaches. Right now, fresh fruit is really expensive in my area, and it goes bad so quickly. I want to give LO more yogurt (he's constantly on antibiotics), but he hates the taste of plain yogurt.

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01-22-2013 at 10:09 AM
LalaMama81
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Well, maybe over analyzing was the wrong choice of words, but I still stand by my advice to feed her what you eat yourself. 

Why can't she eat a sandwich? Or at least the components of a sandwich? Just cut appropriately. She can eat the bread, condiments, meat or cheese - or PBJ if you are starting PB before 1.

RE: the apple, apples are harder, but if cut appropriately or grated it would be fine. Pears are a lot softer, DD has been able to eat those since she was 7 months or so, whole.

But yea, pasta, grilled cheese, any kind of veggie or fruit, cheese, hummus, etc.  

Ellie 9.08, Violet 8.11 
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01-22-2013 at 10:34 AM
oliversmom...
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SteelCity44:
LalaMama81:

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. 

What fruit do you add? Is it fresh, frozen or canned? The only thing I can think of to add to yogurt is canned peaches. Right now, fresh fruit is really expensive in my area, and it goes bad so quickly. I want to give LO more yogurt (he's constantly on antibiotics), but he hates the taste of plain yogurt.

I know you're not asking me but I'm going to answer you anyway Smile

We puree fruit and add it to yogurt. We use frozen peaches, blueberries, strawberries, mango, etc and steam them until they are soft. Then we put it in the blender to puree and freeze it in ice cubes. When we give him yogurt we thaw a cube or two of puree and mix it in. In fact we also buy the big tub of yogurt and if we don't use it all and we are getting close to the expiration date I freeze the rest of it in ice cubes, too, and thaw before I give it to him. 

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01-22-2013 at 10:37 AM
kbruington
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SteelCity44:
LalaMama81:

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. 

What fruit do you add? Is it fresh, frozen or canned? The only thing I can think of to add to yogurt is canned peaches. Right now, fresh fruit is really expensive in my area, and it goes bad so quickly. I want to give LO more yogurt (he's constantly on antibiotics), but he hates the taste of plain yogurt.

I would try to do fresh fruits or frozen ones if possible and avoid fruit cups or canned foods that could be packed in syrup. It might be expensive but it's better for your LO so worth it!
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01-22-2013 at 10:39 AM
kbruington
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 I still get baby products for my son like YoYo baby yogurt, baby cookies, etc but I do feed him what I eat too, just a little more plain if possible. My LO really likes the cinnamon raisin bread torn up into pieces :)

I'm glad you're being conscious of what you are feeding your LO, that's a good thing! Feed a lot of fruits and veggies, whole grain pastas, breads, old fashioned oatmeal, etc. I cook up a bunch of ground turkey and add that to pastas, or mix with sweet potatos I've cooked. There's tons of options if you try to plan meals ahead. Also, there are a few really good websites with recipes for things to feed your baby that are good for them, one being Nurture Baby.com
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01-22-2013 at 10:42 AM
LalaMama81
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kbruington:
SteelCity44:
LalaMama81:

Buy regular, full fat plain yogurt and add fruit. Buy real old fashioned oatmeal and add fruit. 

What fruit do you add? Is it fresh, frozen or canned? The only thing I can think of to add to yogurt is canned peaches. Right now, fresh fruit is really expensive in my area, and it goes bad so quickly. I want to give LO more yogurt (he's constantly on antibiotics), but he hates the taste of plain yogurt.

I would try to do fresh fruits or frozen ones if possible and avoid fruit cups or canned foods that could be packed in syrup. It might be expensive but it's better for your LO so worth it!

This, definitely frozen over canned. If you do canned, only get the stuff that is packed in juice and rinse before serving. We can our own peaches and use those sometimes. 

I usually buy fresh fruit that is in season - so right now that's apples, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes if on sale and florida strawberries are coming in (they've been $5 for 2lbs here recently.

Frozen mango, pineapple, berries, peaches. Just thaw slightly, dice and mix in. I wouldn't even bother pureeing.

Also, you can always add applesauce - the kind w/ no sugar added.  

Ellie 9.08, Violet 8.11 
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01-22-2013 at 2:48 PM
KaliChick
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For whatever the reason, finding full flat plain yogurt is difficult here (which is crazy considering I'm in Southern Cal) and my little one needs full fat (he's barely on the growth charts) so I still get YoBaby Yogurt.

I get steel cut oatmeal and make him that and then add fruit.  He loves pancakes and toast.  I do little bites of meats but he seems to still have a little difficulty with them.  He loves meatballs. I do cheese sticks and grilled cheese.  You can do a little turkey or ham in there too if you want. 

I had totally forgotten about graham crackers and need to do those.  I did buy some of the freeze dried yogurt melt things (in the baby aisle) that I keep on hand and of course puffs just because they are easy.

My mom made a beef stew the other night and I just cut it up really small for him and he loved it.  I make a big batch of chicken noodle soup and really lightly puree it.

As for a rule of thumb, definitely want the lowest sodium and lowest sugar.  If you're doing fruit cups get them backed in water or juice not syrup.  Frozen is better.  If you're making soups use low sodium broth.
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01-22-2013 at 3:36 PM
katieh1017
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Some stuff we give Lillian is: grilled cheese, quesadillas (cheese, cheese & blackbean), pierogies, pasta, shredded cheese ,sunnyfield vanilla yogurt, pancakes, french toast, pizza, oatmeal, waffles,toasted cinnamon raisin with cream cheese, turkey sandwhich's cut up, veggie & turkey burgers, hummus on mum-mums, peas...I still give her purees of fruit and veggies. I have done BLW but now I pretty much just cut everything up into small pieces.

As far as reading labels, I buy organic for dairy, most fruits & veggies, then the jar or pouches of purees that are organic. She's not getting like an oreo but she will have those Ella's organic cookies. 
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01-22-2013 at 5:11 PM
kbruington
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katieh1017:

Some stuff we give Lillian is: grilled cheese, quesadillas (cheese, cheese & blackbean), pierogies, pasta, shredded cheese ,sunnyfield vanilla yogurt, pancakes, french toast, pizza, oatmeal, waffles,toasted cinnamon raisin with cream cheese, turkey sandwhich's cut up, veggie & turkey burgers, hummus on mum-mums, peas...I still give her purees of fruit and veggies. I have done BLW but now I pretty much just cut everything up into small pieces.

As far as reading labels, I buy organic for dairy, most fruits & veggies, then the jar or pouches of purees that are organic. She's not getting like an oreo but she will have those Ella's organic cookies. 

Same here. BTW, Lillian is ADORABLE! Look at all that hair :) Gorgeous.

 
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