Baby Food: Stage 1 vs Stage 3

[Karenn]

So, my best intentions of making my own baby food have fallen by the wayside, and I've been using a variety of store bought food. But, I have to confess, when it comes to single ingredient foods like pears, sweet potatoes, bananas, etc. I cannot perceive any difference between stage 1 and stage 3 foods. They all seem to look and taste the same. The only difference I can find is the price. Aren't the stage 3 foods supposed to be lumpier? Am I missing something?

[egoldber]

In general there is NO difference except the size of the jar. In some brands, the older stages are a "little" lumpier, but not so much generally.

And it really is just as easy to mash a banana with a fork as it is to open a jar of banana. :)

[AngelaS]

I agree, there is no difference between stage 1 and 3. I usually just bought the 3s since it was a better price. LOL

I also agree, that mushing a banana takes no effort. I only bought the jarred foods that we don't normally eat.

[brubeck]

You can also buy regular 'adult' applesauce much cheaper than in the little jars. Just read the label to make sure you are getting the 'no sugar added' kind.

[Karenn]

Would you believe I tried the mashed banana thing, and he wouldn't eat it?? I've tried mashing up anything I can think of and he won't have a thing to do with any of it! So, I decided not to stress about whether or not Colin likes my "cooking" and just go with the Gerber for the time being since that's what he'll eat! :) He wouldn't have anything to do with formula until a couple of weeks ago, so maybe he'll start eating my "cooking" soon too.

[KimMae]

Here is a link http://www.cspinet.org/reports/cheat1.html to a lot of information from a not-for-profit organization on baby food. I don't know from personal experience but thought I'd pass this along.

Here is a quote from one of the sections:
About half of Gerber and Heinz's second- and third-stage fruits are "fruits with tapioca." Gerber sells over 100 million jars of fruits with tapioca per year. Bananas with tapioca is Gerber's top selling baby food--over 40 million jars were sold in 1994. Neither Gerber nor Heinz makes jars larger than 2.5 ounces of plain versions of the fruits that are in their fruit-with-tapioca products.
All varieties of fruit with tapioca contain water, fruit, chemically modified tapioca starch, and sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Heinz' products also contain chemically-modified corn starch. Although these products are labeled "fruit with tapioca," the name of the fruit(s), such as "Bananas," is written in large letters, while "with tapioca" is written in smaller letters below. This labeling likely leads consumers to assume that the products are largely fruit, with all the nutritional benefits of full-fruit products. However, the fruit-with-tapioca products that we examined contain half or less as much fruit as the products made only from fruit and water. In other words, a 2.5-ounce jar of first-stage bananas or first-stage prunes actually contains more fruit than the 4-ounce jars of second-stage products that are adulterated with water and chemically modified starch.

[brubeck]

This is one of the reasons I preferred Earth's Best. And it always pays to read the ingredients label.

[Karenn]

That's an interesting report. Of course upon reading it, I ran to check my Gerber bananas! (I was feeling a little guilty that I might have been feeding my baby tapicoa!) The label specifies that it contains 100% bananas and the ingredients are listed as "fully ripened bananas, citric acid and ascorbic acid (vitamin c)." I peeked at the rest of my single ingredient foods, and none of them list any ingredients besides the food, water, and occasionally the ascorbic and citric acids. I'd like to think that the labels are accurate. I have to wonder if maybe the information from the article is a little out of date? The publication date is listed as 1995, almost 10 years ago. Maybe Gerber read the report and got their act together! Wouldn't that be nice!

Either way, I'm glad Colin is FINALLY getting to the point where he's willing to eat some of the fresh food that I'm preparing for him so I won't have to worry as much! :)

[egoldber]

You're right that info is mostly out of date. There was a huge scandal about this several years ago and most baby food companies changed their products.

The main problem I have with jar food is:

1) price
2) they aren't really necessary
3) they keep babies from experiencing textures

The jar foods are so smooth, and anecdotally, other moms I have known that have used them for a long time have had trouble with their babies accepting the texture of "regular" food.

HTH,

[KimMae]

I'm glad to hear that the information is out of date! I was horrified with the data.

[anna lisa]

Beth,

I'm interested to know, if you skip the baby food what did you feed Sarah after rice cereal??

Just curious,

[egoldber]

I just used "regular" food. I only used cereals for a month (rice first, then oatmeal then barley). By the end of the month, she was eating VERY thick cereal (like thick mashed potatoes).

I "think" the next thing I tried was either applesauce (unsweetened Motts applesauce) or mashed bananas. A lot of food can just be mashed with a fork and thinned with breastmilk or formula. Tougher foods (broccoli, green beans) I put through my mini-chopper and thinned if necessary. I used this method to go through all the major fruits and veggies. I then just gave her foods that were less and less smooth. By 10 months, all the solids she was eating were "table food", but she was also still, of course, taking about 20 ounces of formula a day in addition to 3 "meals" a day. When we dropped formula at 1 year, I added 2 more snacks in addition to the sippy cup with milk at meals. Sarah also didn't get her first tooth until she was 14 months old. I just made sure that the foods I gave her were well cooked.

This worked for us, but a lot of babies move much more slowly into the world of solids. Sarah LOVED foods and eating much more than she ever did the breast or bottle. Some babes are more food cautious and some babes have a very strong gag reflex and need softer foods longer. It's all very individual.

And I did use baby food occasionally. We went to Europe when she was about 9 months, and we supplemented with a lot of baby food there just because it was easier. And I used it to introduce new foods that I didn't usually cook or eat and didn't want to buy a lot of until I knew she was OK with it.

HTH,

[ctsiouts]

My baby is a 'baby food hater!' The only things I can get her to eat from the jar are bananas and sometimes the tender harvest broc. cauliflower combo (EW!) She will eat the cereal sometimes, but now that I am fairly certain she's not allergic to anything I usually give her what I am eating as long as I think she can handle it.
She absolutely LOVES people soup so I give her lots of homemade soups, I let her suck on raviolis that I hold for her and last night she ate a nasty fried taquito thing that was the only thing available at the time. I felt really guilty about feeding her people food until I realized that she was going to be eating the stuff anyway and it's better than her not eating at all!
I really hate baby food myself, if she has to eat it I try it too and most of it tastes disgusting. Especially the meat ones. I do like all of the fruit flavors - maybe that's why those are the only ones she likes too!

I'm only posting this because I'm excited that Beth didn't do much of the baby food. I also would try to make my own 'pure' veggies and fruits but she's not too fond of those either. She loves whatever mommy has though. She's only 7 months and doesn't yet have teeth either.


Christy
DD - Anya Christina 08-09-02