We continue with the entry of a few days ago when we talked about some of the products Hero baby, specifically with those intended for babies from “from 4 months”.
As we mentioned in the previous entry and those of Nestlé, the ideal is that all these products begin to be offered at 6 months for babies to drink exclusive milk until then (which is the most recommended).
In the previous post we talked basically about fruit jars. Today we will focus on the rest of the products: cereal porridge and vegetable pots.
Cereal powdered porridge
Hero baby It has two gluten-free cereal-based products for 4-month-old babies. Both contain enzymatically hydrolyzed cereals (point in favor), which are better prepared, digested better and taste better without the need to add sucrose or sugar.
The ingredients of the porridge gluten-free cereals they are: partially hydrolyzed gluten-free cereal flour (94g / 100g) (rice, corn and tapioca), grape juice from concentrate, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron), vanilla aroma and vitamins (C, niacin, E, pantotheic ac., B2, B6, B1, A, folic ac., biotin, D and B12).
The rice cream Contains partially hydrolyzed rice flour (94g / 100g), grape juice from concentrate, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron), vanilla aroma and vitamins (C, niacin, E, Pantotheic ac., B2, B6, B1, A, folic acid, biotin, D and B12).
At first glance, the only thing that can be said is that they are not fully hydrolyzed, since there is a percentage of 6% (little), which is not.
Liquid cereals porridge gluten free
They are cereals "with continuation milk" that make up a porridge ready to drink.
The ingredients are starter milk (80g / 100g) (skim milk, vegetable oils, lactose, whey, minerals and vitamins), concentrated grape juice (25g / 100g), hydrolyzed cereal flours (6.7g / 100g) (corn, rice and tapioca), milk protein, vanilla flavor, minerals and vitamins.
Despite saying on the one hand that it contains continuation milk and on the other, in the ingredients, which contains starter milk, we see in brackets that they have skim milk that, like cow's milk that is, It is not recommended until 12 months.
The powdered cereals mentioned above are 94% hydrolyzed, in this case, however, 6.7 grams out of 100 are hydrolyzed.
It contains lactose and milk proteins and therefore it is only recommended for children who are drinking artificial milk. Breast-fed babies who have not tried any products derived from cow's milk should not do so until 12 months to avoid a possible allergy.
We can see in the image of the product that they are intended to be taken in a bottle. The cereals added in a bottle are nonsense. The objective of offering cereals and ultimately complementary feeding to babies is that they begin to try new flavors, textures and new ways of feeding (with their hands, with a spoon, ...).
A bottle with cereals teaches nothing beyond the taste of cereals (which is almost eminently sweet because almost all children like it). A spoon does generate learning and start eating as it really is.
Porridge good night
Good night porridge is cereals designed for dinner, since, according to Hero, "They are made with slow-absorbing carbohydrates that prolong nutrition throughout the night."
I don't know what Hero means "all night", but I doubt that a 4-month-old baby will be nourished for the whole night for having taken a cereal porridge at dinner time (and even if it were, it would not be the most recommended).
The ingredients of the porridge good night powder they are: partially hydrolyzed gluten-free cereal flour (94g / 100g) (corn and rice), grape juice from concentrate, minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iron), vanilla aroma and vitamins (C, niacin, E, ac. Pantotheic, B2, B6, B1, A, folic acid, biotin, D and B12).
As they specify, these porridge differ in that carbohydrates are slowly absorbed (corn and rice), however if we look at the cereal porridge mentioned above (those that do not specify whether they are day or night), they all carry corn and rice with the exception of also having tapioca.
The liquid version of the porridge good night contains starter milk (90g / 100g) (skim milk, vegetable oils, lactose, whey, lecithin, minerals and vitamins), concentrated grape juice (12.3g / 100g), hydrolyzed cereal flours (7, 3g / 100g) (corn and rice), milk protein, vanilla flavor, minerals and vitamins.
Again we see skim milk in a product intended for babies of 4 months.
Hero Baby menus
It's about baby food pots “Made with olive oil” Y “100% natural”.
One of the menus we can find is the jar of assorted vegetables. Its ingredients are: vegetables (70%) (potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, peas, celery and onion), cooking water, sugar, olive oil (0.5%), vegetable oils and salt.
Vegetables are recommended after six months, because they tend to capture nitrates from the soil (the carrot even has someone who recommends delaying it until 7-9 months) so 4 months is too early for them to take.
Legumes (peas, although green, are not vegetables), are also recommended after six months.
It is not advisable to offer this starter jar because it contains a huge variety of ingredients and in case of allergy we will not know what is the causative food.
It is advertised as a product "100% natural". I don't know what they mean by that, since we see in the ingredients that it contains sugar and salt (sugar is a refined product and salt is not found in nature unless we evaporate salt water) that should not be offered to babies even at less than 12 months, as they help you like something more that really does not have that taste and makes them even eat more than they need (and thus move to milk, more important in this age).
Hero says he is “Made with olive oil” and it is true, it contains 0.5% olive oil, but it also contains other vegetable oils (I imagine that soy and / or sunflower oil) so the message leads to confusion. The consumer may think that it is made exclusively with olive oil and yet contains only a small proportion.
The other menu available is that of carrots with rice in poultry broth, which contains poultry broth (45%), carrots (34%), chicken meat (10%), rice (5%), onion, corn starch, olive oil (0.5%), vegetable oils, parsley, salt and bay leaf.
It could be called "carrots with chicken", since it contains more chicken than rice, however chicken is omitted in the name to accommodate rice, more common among the feeding of a 4-month-old baby.
Both carrots and chicken should not start offering until six months.
Salt, as we have said, can also wait as well as parsley and bay leaf and on olive oil I comment the same as with the other pot, labeling leads to confusion.
