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bowling and baby food


Robyn Openshaw - Jun 13, 2010 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


Caveat about this post (two days after I wrote it): I mean NO disrespect to any parent. Parents are just doing their best! My intent is always to expose the refined-foods industries and their products for what they are, to raise awareness and help others get educated earlier than I did. In about a week, I will post a blog about my oldest child and the garbage I fed him. When I had my first baby, I was young and actually believed that because the jars were pasteurized, they were safer than raw fruit was! So, I cast no stones here ……

So I went bowling with my kids, nieces, nephews, siblings and parents last night.

(Here’s what we often get when we’re out, that’s really healthy. This will mean something only to those in Utah/Idaho. Café Rio or Costa Vida, whole-wheat tortilla in a vegetarian salad. No rice, chip strips, or cheese. Extra romaine, pico de gallo, black beans, and guacamole.)

When we were hanging out afterward, I noticed my sister-in-law taking little things out of a container and putting them on my baby nephew’s tongue. The container said Parents’ Choice Little Puffs.

I am always fascinated by how products have changed since I was a mom of babies. That chair that vibrates your baby to sleep–where was that 15 years ago?!

Anyway, I asked her what the point of these little things are. They look like the marshmallows in Lucky Charms but not as brightly colored.

She and my brother said they help keep the baby quiet when you’re out with him. They melt on his tongue so they can’t choke a breastfeeding baby who is unaccustomed to food.

You get this stuff at Walmart. (But please don’t.)

It has all kinds of synthetic stuff in it that I cannot pronounce. Like cyanocobalamin. And pyridoxine hydrochloride. But it also has “natural strawberry flavor.” That’s comforting, right? Because it’s NATURAL! (What does natural mean? Pretty much nothing, according to the law. Refined sugar is technically “natural” because it derives from actual food if you trace it back far enough–cane juice being a food.)

The packaging touts that the product is “Naturally Flavored! Whole Grains and Real Fruit!”

Well, the second ingredient is sugar. And there’s lots of processed stuff in it, even if there’s a pinch of whole grains and a pinch of something that started as a fruit.

I’m underwhelmed on behalf of babies everywhere. They need nutrition, real food, more than anyone.

Posted in: Relationships, Whole Food

12 thoughts on “bowling and baby food”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Cyanocobalamin is just vitamin B12, and Pyridoxine is B6, I can think of worse things to feed your children. The B vitamins are an often overlooked, but very important for all sorts of healthy body functions. B6 and B12 break down carbs, fat, and proteins and helps to produce red blood cells. Obviously, getting your B vitamins from sources such as liver, meat, brown rice, fish, butter, wheat germ, poultry and eggs is ideal, but not always possible. I personally have to supplement my B12, I use a water based (hydroxobalamin) form of it, but it has really helped the fatigue, migraines and other side effects of my chronic illness. I would probably check before giving any kinds of supplements to a baby, however, so I see where you are coming from.

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Yes, I know what they are. But they are chemical versions of vitamins, and they aren’t food.

  2. Anonymous says:

    My preferred method for “shutting the baby up” is to give her real food. If my baby is hungry, I nurse her. 😉

  3. Anonymous says:

    I totally agree! what would be the good alternative when you are out and about at places like that and would preferably not nurse? little bits of fruit in a cup? avocado?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Good ideas. They won’t “melt in your mouth,” but they’ll be real food. I used to take a banana with me when I was out.

  4. Before we made changes to our eating habits, I was guilty of feeding those to my baby. It was more because they melted quickly and calmed me from worrying about the baby choking. Ridiculous now that I look back, as there are plenty of REAL foods I could have chosen instead. I cringe now when I see kids eating those nasty things! Don’t even get me started on the “graduates” meals in a plastic dish for the microwave no less!

    I laugh at myself because I was brainwashed by all the commercials and advertisements. There was even one instance I questioned myself after mashing a fresh banana up for my child to eat and then thought was that just as good as buying a jar of organic bananas? I mean, the jarred food was probably sterilized etc. and I just mashed up a banana in my kitchen (not a sterile environment)! How absurd is that?!?! And that is when things really clicked in my head!

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Laura, believe it or not, before I started down this path, 16.5 years ago, I was that brainwashed too . . . to think that a “sterile” bottle of baby food was better than a plain banana.

      The truth will set you free. Thank goodness for education. I never purchased another bottle (or box) of baby food after my first child.

  5. Anonymous says:

    oh man don’t get me started on those things (and others that are fed to babies) yuck! my friends just got really excited last week to show me these new num-nums?! (they are rice cake GF baby cracker things) I looked at the package and said thanks to my friend but the second ingredient was sugar so why would I give my kid that?

    You can bring along a baked potato and give chunks. or bananas. or a really soft pear. I’m not sure for really really little since my DD didn’t get much food until after 14 or so months (just breastmilk)

    thank Heavens I learned after my first child (only about to have my third so i’m still new) but I cringe at thinking I fed him those plastic containers of “food” meals warmed up in the microwave. (and back then I thought my normal soup, etc I made wasn’t okay for babies–the the packaged stuff) okay I’m done. thanks for sharing.

  6. I think the ingredient list should be in BOLD on the front of the box. None of this “whole grain” or “all natural” stuff! Reading ingredients is really key when it comes to being informed and learning what you are putting in your mouth or even more important, your babies mouth!

  7. Anonymous says:

    I’m glad you posted this, not because i give my baby crap, but he is 10 months old and eating real food. I’m still nursing but he seems to be weaning himself, i’m a little worried that if he doesn’t get breastmilk he’ll not get enough nutrients. What would you give a baby to help get the vitamins he needs if you couldn’t breastfeed?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Raw goat milk. Mashed avocado and mashed banana. Those were the things I started with. I also made yogurt or kefir with the raw goat milk and blended fruit into it. Green smoothies. I gave my babies cooked whole foods at 18 months, along with 60-80% raw plant food at any meal.

  8. Anonymous says:

    ~HELP~ I have a breastfed baby that struggles to eat solid food (she is 12 months) and does not like things sweet. (i.e. organic homemade baby food such as apples and pears are way too sweet for her). She loves carrots, parsnip, zucchini, and squash. I’d love to get her to eat more food but she struggles with sweetness and texture. We have a Kitchenaide blender (can’t afford a BlendTec) and would love ideas for baby food. Also, she’s dairy, wheat and coconut free (allergies!), which means MOM is now DF, GF, and CF since she’s still relying heavily on breastmilk.

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