Lifting the lid on baby food

Little Sis is currently working her way through a full spectrum of flavours in our weaning adventure. I’ve been relying on ready-made baby food as I seem to have my hands full with the toddler and a baby.

I’m sure I can’t be the only mum who worries that ready made baby food isn’t as good as homemade food which is why I was really interested  to hear about the launch of an independent report authored by nutritionist and food writer Fiona Wilcock called ‘Lifting the Lid on Baby Food’. The report has been published on the back of research conducted by Cow & Gate which revealed that even though 68% of mums feed their children baby food, only 7% of them feel confident that it is of good quality.

The survey reveals that a fifth of mums (21%) say feeding their child manufactured baby food makes them feel like a bad mum. The research shows that four out of ten mums (39%) feel they are being ‘judged’ by other parents for not making baby food from scratch. Mums heap pressure on themselves because a quarter (23%) are sceptical about manufactured baby food, and two in five (39%) are concerned about added salt or ‘nasties’, like preservatives.

Other top research findings include;
•    68% of mums have fed their baby manufactured baby food yet only 7% feel confident that the food is of good quality
•    39% of mums feel judged for using manufactured baby food and 21% feel like a bad mum for using it
•    23% of mums feel sceptical about using manufactured baby food because they don’t know what goes in it, and 39% are concerned about added salt or ‘nasties’, like preservatives and colourings, which may be present
•    19% of mums feel that manufactured baby food is a necessity but wish they could do better for their child
•    18% of mums will only feed their baby organic food and 9% of those surveyed said they believe manufactured baby food contains a lot of pesticides
•    Babies are more likely to be fed manufactured baby food in Worcester (100%), Chelmsford (100%) and Brighton & Hove (90%). They are least likely to be fed manufactured baby food in London (58%), Aberdeen (58%) and Coventry (54%)
•    Mums in Gloucester (42%) and Brighton & Hove (45%) are most judgemental when they see other mums feed their children baby food. Mums in Swansea (7%) and York (9%) are less judgemental
•    Older mums (45+) are more likely to feed their child organic food

More information can be found on the Cow & Gate website.