Nutritional advice for babies

[LI]

I need some food advice - is anybody qualified in this area? The food standards agency website talks about yoghurts:

Even products labelled 'no added sugar' might be sweetened with concentrated fruit juice, which can damage teeth. You could make your own sugar-free snacks for your baby, such as carrot sticks, pieces of peeled apple and pitta bread, or try adding pur?ed fruit to plain fromage frais or yoghurt.

Now is a yoghurt with pureed fruit really better for baby teeth than yoghurts with added sugar? Rachel's organic yoghurts actually have a higher % sugar than some of those which list sugar as an ingredient. My dentist has told me before that fruit smoothies can cause tooth decay in adults - so surely pureed fruit can too? I am interested mainly as my baby is very into eating yoghurts so much so I tend to mix other food in (yum, carrot & lamb strawberry yoghurt) so I am not following the advice to give them in moderation!

[The Nappy Lady]

Hmmm, I think it is one of those areas where you can over analyse to be totally honest.

Every parent I know gives their children Fromage Frais or Little Star Yoghurts and I don't personally know of any little ones who have had problems with tooth decay.

I guess if you have a child that is prone to it then you need to worry more, but otherwise I would just carry on doing what you are doing and be vigilant about tooth brushing (another thread on here about this) now, or as and when teeth arrive.

Happy to be shouted down if others think otherwise!

Molly

[The Nappy Lady]

The tooth paste / tooth brushing thread...worth a read if you are concerned about teeth in general:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,405199

[LI]

Probably over analysing, that seems to be the case with all baby related stuff Molly! But I am genuinely interested whether the sugar source makes a difference. Yun - thanks for that. My little one (7 moths old) will happily (maybe an exaggeration) eat savoury & sweet things as finger food, but will not eat savoury puree / sauces. I am trying to get a good amount of food down as he is nearly off the growth charts (another story) so am trying a mix of mummy and baby led feeding!

[The Nappy Lady]

Apologies if I sounded dismissive LI, not intentional :))

Molly

[The Nappy Lady]

Posted same message twice somehow....strange.

[LI]

No offence taken Molly:) I've just heard so many baby myths by now... Anyway I have done some more research and I think the sugar is just as bad from puree as from added sucrose. Looks like I'll have to try more water after meals and battle with the teeth cleaning!