Thursday, March 1, 2007

Strange discovery

I was recently at the grocery store when I made a strange and startling discovery: baby food desserts. I am not making this up. I made most of the noisy boys' baby food--really much easier than it sounds--so I didn't go down the baby food aisle much. I'm making Baby b.'s food too, but since we're on the go much more than I was with the twins, I rely on the little jars on busy away-from-home days. Anyway, I was scanning the shelves for the familiar pears, bananas, and sweet potatoes when I saw, "peach cobbler," and "hawaiian delight," and "vanilla custard dessert." What is this about? Why would anyone buy dessert for an infant? Is this a new phenomenon or has this been around for awhile? With childhood obesity at an all-time high, I do not understand why baby food manufacturers would even begin to think this is a good idea. And, I suppose if it's there, parents are buying it. Baffling.

12 comments:

Jen said...

Baffling indeed. I have it on good authority that one of the blueberry items has been around for awhile. My mother-in-law apparently has a recipe she uses with it.

How old is your baby boy? My youngest is about to turn 7 months.

WilyHacker said...

Those are there for the father-to-be baby showers. I've been at some where the new father has had to sample a couple jars. They're more likely to go along with it if they can have some peach cobbler to go along with their peas.

Craver Vii said...

That’s just crazy. Do they have a picture of a baby Elvis on the jar?

Anonymous said...

Actually the vanilla custard ones are pretty tasty (do NOT ask me how I know this!) ...Frazzmom

Llama Momma said...

Jenn - My youngest is 6 months, so very close to your little one!

Wileyhacker - that makes sense, and along with Jenn's and FrazzMom's comments, leaves me to believe these are not meant for babies, but adults!

So...fess up...any of you actually feed this stuff to your babies?

spaghettipie said...

Unfortunately, I think they've been around at least for a little while. I was always appalled by them too (and never fed them to my daughter). As I recall, the first ingredient was sugar, and maybe even contained a little high fructose corn syrup (yum...).

But I guess we need to train 'em early to have dessert with every meal.

Yvonne said...

Well, all of those have been around since Justin and Emily were babies. Never bought them - babies dont need any more sweetness than what they already have!

Llama Momma said...

SP -- EXACTLY! What are we teaching infants if we're giving them dessert at every meal???

Yvonne - So these have definitely been around for awhile. CRAZY!!

It's the opposite of what I did with the noisy boys. I actually joined a CSA when they were a year old, so I'd be forced to cook "weird" vegetables I had never heard of. Between the years of one and two, they must have tried almost every vegetable out there. My theory was: at such a young age, they'll eat anything. Introduce them to the healthy stuff now! To this day, they are amazing eaters, and absolutely love veggies. (And beans, lentils, hummus...you name it!) It could be a fluke, but I don't think so. I hope to do the same with baby b!

Jen said...

You know, I'm pondering getting involved with a co-op or CSA. They're tons of farmers' markets where we're moving though. I'd love to chat with you sometime about it and your experiences.

Llama Momma said...

Jen -- I'd love to chat sometime. You're going to Hearts-at-Home this year, right? Maybe we'll run into each other there! (I'll be there with FOR NOW and A MUSING MOM.) :-)

Jen said...

fri. or sat.? for now knows me

Llama Momma said...

Jen - Both. We'll be at the Mom's night out on Friday night and the conference all day Saturday. From reading your blog, I'm guessing we'll run into each other in the big book room! :-)