Beware of the Sugar Diet

Yesterday the husband and I went to the grocery store and stocked up on food for both ourselves and for Dylan. When we got home I cracked open a pouch of Gerber Organics 2nd food for my little guy and fed him half a serving. He loves those pouches and it wasn't until hours later when I was laying in bed about to fall asleep that I realized why. In the night's stillness I began thinking about how heavy Dylan is, how my back hurt from carrying him, wondered whether he is getting enough healthy food in his diet and how much he should actually be eating. Instantly it occurred to me that I never took the time to read the nutritional information on his food. Here I am constantly looking at the ingredients and ensuring that everything he eats is organic and yet I pick out his Gerber pouches by their name, "Banana Squash," "Pears, Carrots & Peas," and never by the nutrition they offer. In comes my biggest fear: that I am feeding him pure sugar.

I sprung out of bed and went to the kitchen to examine the labels of the foods we just bought for him and in plain text it was confirmed: 11 grams of sugar, 17 grams of sugar, 12 grams of sugar per serving. UGH!! The guilt of my irresponsibility immediately sunk in. How could I be so naive as to trust baby food to be healthy simply because it is organic? Obviously I feel like a fool. I went back to bed with a new attitude. Though I realize fruit has a lot of sugar in it, these little convenient pouches have no place in my babies diet or my kitchen. I refuse to raise Dylan on sugar whether it's from fruit or not, period. 

I woke up this morning determined to come up with a new menu plan. During my quest I stumbled upon a great blog that talks about how much sugar is recommended per day as well as the hidden sugars in children's foods. I also found a very useful menu chart from another website that acts as a fantastic guideline for feeding your baby based on their age. As parents we would never blindly trust a stranger with our child's well-being so why would we take that same risk with their food? From here on out I will strictly prepare Dylan's food myself. Lesson learned!