Yogurt Suggestions please!!!

[missmelis01]

DS loves YoBaby, and even though it is organic, there is more sugar in each serving than I would like.

For those of you who give your babies yogurt, what brand of yogurt do you give? Does anyone know of a sugar-free yogurt? Is it acceptable to give "adult" yogurt to a baby?

TIA!

[C99]

Why wouldn't it be OK to give a baby regular/adult yogurt? If you are talking about organics, it's the same thing.

I give Nate the Trader Joe's brand of organic whole-milk plain yogurt and then mix in a little bit of organic strawberry preserves or jam, or sometimes honey (or, in the summer, fresh berries). He likes it and doesn't seem to know the difference between plain w/ something added and the flavored kind. And if you do it this way, you'd have more control over the amount of sugar added.

[SeekerMage]

I think that you can give adult yogurt, but the only difference is that you want the stuff higher in fat. That is why they recommend YoBaby and I have heard La Creme as they are both higher in fat and that is what you want them to have. I know someone has a recipie to make your own...perhaps that might be something more up your alley that way you can really control the sugar intake. HTH

[jillc]

Hi Melissa,

Funny, I just now got home from a Whole Foods run which I made specifically for yogurt for Abby. :)

We just started w/yogurt last month, too. I'm also trying to avoid the sugar in Yo-Baby, although we have tried it. The best I've found is Stonyfield Farms organic plain whole milk yogurt. I can only find it in a really big container, so I will probably end up freezing some in ice cube portions.

I mix the plain yogurt w/mashed ripe banana, or pureed pears, or applesauce.

Our pediatrician made it a point to tell us not to feed her low-fat or fat-free yogurts - only the whole milk yogurts are good, b/c the babes need the fat (and probably shouldn't have the artificial sweeteners, either).

HTH.
Jill

[squimp]

Usually whole milk (or full fat) yogurt is recommended for babies. Full fat yogurt will have that creamy almost yellow layer of fat on top that you mix into the rest. (Totally decadent - and dee-licious.....it's OK since I'm still nursing, right :)???)

You can buy plain whole milk yogurt which has no sugar, but usually comes in big tubs. Around here we have Nancy's and Brown Cow. Then you can mix in fruit to make it more interesting. Brown Cow also makes little half-pints of flavored yogurt that seems to have less sugar than the YoBaby. DD can eat half of one of these at a sitting.

[JElaineB]

For the original poster, make sure not to give uncooked honey to a child under one year old. It can cause botulism poisoning. Once they are a year old it is fine to give uncooked honey.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[pritchettzoo]

We use whole milk plain yogurt. Gracie likes it plain (yuck! ;)) but we've mixed it with pumpkin puree or applesauce or banana chunks. I like Stonyfield and Brown Cow (? on the name) because they're organic and don't have growth hormones, but you can find plain full-fat yogurt at the regular store. I think Dannon makes one.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and One More (coming July '05)

[miki]

FYI, freezing kills most of the culture in the yogurt so if you are feeding to get the beneficial aspects of those bacteria, don't freeze it.

[wreckgirl1]

Adult yogurt is fine - DD never got the YoBaby stuff (ridiculously expensive and overly sweet, in my opinion.) We buy Dannon plain for DD (_not_ lowfat). We buy it in the big tub, because she eats so much of it. I believe we have gotten it in the smaller canisters before, but we can't find it at our grocery store here. If you want organic, you can also buy plain Stonyfield Farms yogurt. Most Middle Eastern yogurt is also full fat and not sweetened (I forget the brand I used to buy - Erisivan?). They often come in the smaller containers. And "plain" is not the same as "vanilla" - the vanilla has flavoring and sugar added, plain does not.

My DD has always enjoyed the plain yogurt as well as flavored yogurt. Nowadays (15 months), believe it or not, most mornings she gets it mixed with pureed vegetables (like green beans or spinach). This is the only way we can get her to eat most green vegetables. But you can mix it with a small amount of pureed fruit, or preserves, if you want to sweeten it up a bit. With preserves, we just add barely enough to color it - less than a baby spoonful to several tablespoons of yogurt. Even pureed carrots will add a little bit of sweetness. But try giving it plain first - your child may surprise you and like it that way.

Cynthia

[jillc]

Yep, I know - it's a bit of a bummer, but it's either freeze some or throw it away, so I freeze it & figure at least she's still getting the calcium. I can't find any plain organic whole milk yogurt in small containers. A marketing ploy to get us to spend more for Yo-Baby?

[papal]

Ok, i know I have said it 50 million times here, so I am sorry for repeating but really, if you can, just make your own yogurt at home!! It is very very easy and cheap at half the price!
We use Horizon Organic Whole Milk and make yogurt with that. No other ingredients, no sugar, no nothing. We ALL love plain yogurt and eat truckloads of it. After my mom starting to make it at home (when she visited), we wondered how on earth we EVER ate the StonyField or the other organic one.. homemade is so much better!!! And since we make it at home, it is the same price of milk.. unlike store bought which is twice as expensive! And if we are running low, we can make some and it sets in about 3-4 hours.

[miki]

I got instructions from Rashmi (papal) on how to make yogurt. It's really easy and saves money. You could do small batches to suit your need. Or you could buy acidolpholus from a health food store and add that as a supplement to the frozen yogurt to get the benefits of the culture. Stonyfield does make their whole milk plain yogurt in the small container. Perhaps you can request it at your supermarket?

[papal]

Hey Wen! I didn't know you started making your own yogurt! Yay!! I am so proud of you! :D

[missmelis01]

Thank you all for your replies. I appreciate all of your advice, and am going to look for some of the other yogurt mentioned. DS loves the stuff, so a big tub would probably save us some money! :-)

Rashmi, I would totally be interested in making my own yogurt, if you would be kind enough to share the recipe. Let me know if you would prefer that I email you directly.

Thanks again to you all.

[papal]

There is no real recipe as such. You just need some starter yogurt. I can mail you some if you like (I just mailed some to Alexis (dowlilal), so depending on if she was successful in making the yogurt, i could send you some too). Or WEN, where did you get your starter???

Ok, so once you have starter yogurt here is what you need to do.
Another thing that would make yogurt making very easy is an insulated case (hot case as we call it) with a stainless steel insert. You can get these inexpensively at an Indian/Pakistani store. The removable stainless steel insert is the key here.

So, you heat up the milk till it is scalding hot. I actually bring the milk to a boil. Then you let it cool down so you can put your finger in it without crying out in pain (heehee, basically, till it is warm). Then, in the hotcase, add a teaspoon of the starter yogurt. Then add the warm milk. Stir. Shut hot-case. Leave it alone for 3-4 hours.. sometimes longer. It will be yogurt when you open. heehee. For the next time you make it, use a teaspoon of the yogurt you just made and so on and so forth. Once it is set, pop it into the fridge. If it remains outside, it will get progressively sour. For someone like me or Leela, that is a good thing. We love our yogurt sour. But dh, he does not care for it. So we always put it right back in the fridge.

Hopefully Wen sees this too so she can say where she got her starter yogurt.

You don't HAVE to have a hot-case. Just use a regular steel or glass dish. Make sure it is nice and clean before you put the starter and yogurt each time (even if using a hotcase, make sure to wash everything clean before making a fresh batch). The hot-case helps, especially in winter to keep the milk warm for a longer period hence helping the yogurt bacteria do its thing. If you don't have a hot-case, maybe you can put the dish into a warm oven too (at the lowest setting.. i forget what it is called).

I know it sounds complicated but that is because i make everything sound complicated. But it is really simple!!!

[miki]

After Rashmi gave me the above directions, I just adapted to what we have available at home. I didn't ask Rashmi to send starter. I experimented with a few brands of yogurt. I'd just use the last bit from the big tub to make up a batch. The texture I got varied and I think it's due to the additives in the yogurt. The best that I got was from a yogurt called Cascade that came from the health food store. It is not organic but I use organic milk.

I do what Rashmi said about heating up, cooling down, and using clean containers. I use a big glass batter bowl. I'll put that in the mibrowave with a little water in it. When the water boils, I'll swish it around the bowl. That's my lazy way of sterilizing the inside. During the summer, I put the milk to set up in the garage because the garage would be around 90 degrees. I read somewhere on the internet you should try to keep the milk around 85 degrees for the bacteria to grow well. In the cooler weather, I warm up the oven a tiny bit and turn it off. Then put the milk in there. I check the oven and if it's getting cool, I'll warm it up a bit. I have an electric oven. If you have a gas oven with a pilot light, you probably wouldn't need to warm it at all

So thanks to Rashmi, we do have homemade yogurt. But I still do buy it occasionally because I don't think ahead and make more in time. Sometimes Lorelei is HUNGRY and crying for the yogurt when I open the fridge. And I have to scrape the bowl to show her there is no more yogurt!

[papal]

Wen,
Do you want me to send you some starter to experiment with? email me if you do!

[missmelis01]

Thanks so much for the directions -- I can't wait to try it.

And it doesn't too complicated! ;-)

[kristenk]

Rashmi -

Where did you get the starter that you started with? If I wanted to try to make some yogurt, would I start with organic store-bought yogurt or is there an actual "starter" to find at Indian grocers?

DD absolutely loves yogurt, and I'd love to be able to make it myself!

ETA - didn't mean to just jump into the middle of the conversation, but this is the first time that I heard about making yogurt for baby at home! :)

[calebsmama03]

I'm so excited to try! I have a yogurt maker on my Christmas list (I know I can do it without, but I'm lazy!) and if I don't get it I'll be buying it right after CHristmas!
Lynne
Mommy to Caleb 3/3/03
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Oh my!! #2 5/05

[papal]

The origins of my starter are very old..lol. My mom got it from my cousin in Florida who brought it over from India some 10 years ago. heehee.

Well, you can use the organic store bought yogurt as starter but i found that the yogurt was very sticky for my liking. I have a feeling they somehow modify the yogurt so it does not make good starter..so nobody can replicate it at home and stop buying theirs!
I think Wen said (above) there was a certain one that she liked better than others?

If you have any Indian friends, you can ask them.. if not, i can mail some to you. I am not sure if the Indian stores would have any.. i have never really asked.

My 'spice-project' got derailed temporarily.. but i think i can send out mailings of yogurt. lol.

[miki]

Rashmi,

Thanks for the offer. Maybe I will take you up on it after the holidays. We are still stuck in NY because DH cannot get away from his office here. No idea when we're heading home. Hopefully by xmas. Then I'll be back in my kitchen.

[psophia17]

I've been giving DS plain "adult" yogurt for ages - he likes it without any sugar (which is strange, because while PG I couldn't get enough sour stuff). Anyhow, he likes it a lot. Stoneyfield Farms yogurt is organic and I don't think it costs much more than non-organic yogurt, and you can get the full-fat version. I had a lot of trouble finding a full fat version - almost no one buys them, so stores don't stock them...