i never really bought too much of this stuff for my kids but in the first year with my first born, i had no clue about making the food myself

I’ve banned these so called healthy snacks totally and I wouldn’t give them ever to my bubba.
Back to basics is what we’ve done, just pure foods and home prepared meals and snacks. And ditch the sugar also in the kitchen cupboard.

To be fair, there is a lot of natural sugars in these products from the amount of fruit added. But sugar is sugar so still not great.

This is so wrong that baby foods have this in them. Yes fresh is best or home made but some parents do not have the time for this. i do use them but as travel snacks. Reading what is in food products these days can send you around the bend trying to decide if it really is needed in the food.

Thats so disappointing. As a parents who has other children and works fulltime, the convenience offered by giving children the Raffertys brand because I thought it was healthy. Now to read this – so disappointed.

Whilst it’s not always the easiest, making your own is always best! Plan, prepare & freeze.

Baby snacks do not come in packets!
steam some carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, grapes, strawberries, puree’s or steamed apple…this is food!

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have pre-packaged foods, we would have the time and ability to make it all ourselves (like mums used to!). I made the majority of my sons food but did use some pre-packaged stuff for the ease when on-the-go.
I am pretty sugar concious so look at total sugars per 100g. Anything over 10% generally doesn’t get touched, unless it has a high fruit content. My son is learning how to look at the sugar amounts and while he doesn’t get it now, he often shakes his head and says “nope, too much sugar” and sighs as he puts it back 😀

there needs to be better control over packaging and labels as they are often misleading.

As if it’s not bad enough the big companies are packing food for adults full of hidden sugar, but I’m disgusted to read they’re doing the same to baby food. Although I’m not surprised.

• • 
  • • mom93821 replied
    • 06 May 2016 , 6:41 pm

  ---

  Shopping can be time consuming with so many labels to read!

I can’t believe they are allowed to sell them. I know the baby yoghurts are high in sugar

I was shocked to see the sugar content in these popular brands. Once again clever marketing pulling the wool over the consumers eyes. Who’s got time to read all the labels & compare when you’re trying to shop with kids. You’d think you could take something on face value as being healthy especially when it comes to kids food. Such deception.

I’m surprised but at the same time not surprised. It’s scary to see how much sugar is in alot of things but having so much in things aimed at kids, is especially worrying!

To be honest it does not surprise me at all. Read the label properly. We’re so obsessed with what’s not in the food (gluten, msg, etc) that we forget to look at what is actually there

Packaged food that has to taste good and have a long shelf life is never going to be healthy. Fresh produce is always best.

I try and avoid packaged foods but can certainly see the lure in buying these out of convenience. I think most people have the belief that if it is a baby product it must be okay. Hopefully parents will think twice and read labels to see exactly what they are giving their kids.

I always tried to avoid packaged baby snacks, but if I needed them, I tended to use weight watchers snack bars – they usually had less fat and sugar than the kids’ ones.

• • 
  • • june11 replied
    • 05 May 2016 , 6:47 pm

  ---

  Some of the Weight Watcher’s snacks I checked have a high salt content.
  Some that have low fat have more sugar in them and less fibre.

fresh is always going to be best and more nutritious. I am not surprised really, there is always going to be nasties in pre packaged shelf foods. They are fine so long as they are an occassional thing, as lets face it…we are all very busy mums and sometimes buying these products is just easier 🙂

This isn’t a surprise – its on the packs (if you have the time to look for the fine print nutrition information on the packs). The promoted healthiness on the pack fronts is at odds with the contents. Its outrageous that the Government allows such false claims to be made on these foods. The sooner this issue is fixed, the better. Education campaigns go a long way, and put pressure on the food companies to improve what they are putting on supermarket shelves.

I think Choice is doing a great job making people aware of how unhealthy some foods are!