ok so while every one has suchstrong feelings on what we feed our children what are every ones feeling s on farleys rusks? Daisy is a nightmare with milk and i am really struggling to get her to drink it so have to hide it in foods but there is only so much youcanhide inthree meals a day!! So every day i give her after her morning milk or as a snck in the afternoon a farleys rusk with cube of fruit and an ouce of milk. i stupidly thought i was doing a good thing as it says on box it is an ideal weaning food for babies and each rusk contains 20% of recommended amount of iron. they are reduced sugar and daisyreally enjoys it. To be honest she rarely shows much interest in food so it is so nice to see her open her mouth hungrily for anything other than apple bloodey puree!!!!!! She refuses yoghurts and fromage frais of any description and every ounce of milk counts but on a thread recentlysomeone commented on how muchsugar is contained in a rusk !!!! so am now thinking maybee its not such a clveer idea.Im not going to stop giving it her just wondered what every one thought. It can be confusing cus on box it says reduced sugar so you think it is fine . i have ti say a lot of the fromage frais s are full of sugar too , but they are also seento be good baby foods.

I think everyone will tell you that rusks aren't recommended because of the sugar content, even the reduced sugar ones. But I'd personally say everything in moderation and you'll be fine.
There was an article in Mother and Baby this month, that basically talked about how everyone is beginning to take the feeding guidelines to extremes, there were mums featured who made their family live on just raw fruit and veg and people that just didn't realise that their babies were malnourished!!
Basically it said that some amount of sugary foods are fine, and there really are worse things we can do for our babies. Literally there are mums out there that are being advised to put double cream in all of their meals, a spoonful of jam into yoghurts etc etc, so I don't think a rusk a day is going to do Daisy any harm.
If she enjoys it, is getting her milk because of it and has a good, healthy varied diet, then you'll be fine.
You know best, and like you rightly point out, fromage frais are also full of sugar!!
On the iron topic though, it's worth knowing that iron from cereals, things like rusks and leafy green veg is much harder for your little one to absorb than iron from red meat, so as soon as Daisy is ready/old enough it would be worth introducing some kind of beef dish...also you should try giving her something that contains vitamin c when you give her foods containing iron because it helps the absorption.

Thankyou Lindsay that is very helpful daisy is chicken mad and not really liking my beef dinners but will eat jars of beef stuff does this count? she eats my bolognaise is theirmuch iron in minced beefsorry dumb question. She eats loads and loads of fruitso gets vit c and i hide weetabix infruit puree does that contain iron.

Lindsay is absolutely right about the iron from red meat being easier to absorb, however i have been a vegetarian all my life and my mum and dad and granma and grandad (when they were alive) were veggies all their adult life and none of us have ever been anemic so goes to prove you can get adequate amount of iron from other iron enriched veg and cereals, it's not as easy to absorb as red meat but i shouldn't worry too much if Daisy doesn't like beef xxx

Absolutely, Mez is spot on, there are plenty of ways to get her to have iron if she won't eat beef! But if you can get her used to it, all the better!
I've just made Henry a beef dish that he loves, and he's not been a massive fan up until now, but it's quite sweet, has a lovely texture and has orange juice in it for vitamin c!!
It's an Annabel Karmel dish, the link is:
http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/babies-6-9-months/braised_beef_recipe
I assume that minced beef would contain the same amount of iron as normal beef steak and weetabix is bound to be fortified with iron.
Daisy looks plenty healthy, I'm sure you're doing fine!
It's great that she loves chicken, Henry is really not a fan as the texture is not great, I think now I'm not pureeing and just mashing though he will prefer it.

Sod Rusks. Give em a Greggs pasty.

Gabe has farleys rusks and he quite likes them. I've heard most babies don't like rice so I haven't bothered with it. On reading this though, I will buy the reduced sugar ones I think!

I also heard rusks have gluten in them so you shouldnt give them under 6 months?? But they say 4-6 months and I've been giving them since 4 months...

I got the reduced sugar gluten free rusks. My lo doesn't like them prefers baby rice. I love rusks myself.

Hi Tigerlily,
On the topic of gluten, I read guidance recently that says the ideal time to introduce gluten is sometime between 4 and 6 months (not what the HVs tell us I appreciate and we can only follow what we think) but I thought it was interesting reading. It is specifically targetted at breastfeeding mums but I don't see why the same guidance wouldn't apply for ff mums.
http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/raisingaglutenfreechild/a/Breastfeeding.htm

tom loves rusks made with boiled water we tried him on the gluten free ones he didnt like them cant say i blame him they are dicusting!!!

Oh yes I LOVE rusks too. Made with whole milk. Sadly I am on a diet so it is skimmed milk and no rusks for me booo.

Thats very interesting about the gluten. I must say I agree with the theory behind it, that the longer you avoid certain foods, the greater risk of allergies etc....

And another thing...baby yoghurts say they're from 4 months, but HV said No dairy until 6 months?!

Gabe is only having rusks or cereal at the moment but just so i know for future reference!

Lily never liked rusks with milk but when she got bigger they were good as she could feed herself half a one every few days, just to get her used to holding food.

They are sugary but as I had a baby who would drink v. little milk I know how important it is to get some down them! So don't feel bad if she has rusks, she prob doesn't have anything else with much sugar.

Tiger Lily, I gave Lily fromage frais from 4 months and got no adverse affects. Will give Evie them once I start giving her a proper lunch, probably next couple of weeks.

xxx

Sod Rusks. Give em a Greggs pasty.

LOL!

I think Rusks are probably similar to other biscuits. Currently companies can label anything as low sugar if it has 30% (i think) less sugar than the original version. Obviously though if the original is packed with sugar then even low sugar varieties can have a lot.

I initially thought I wouldnt give them to Nathan but am so excited about when I wean him that I'm sure there will be some naughty little treats sneaking in.

I give my LO low sugar rusks for breakfast about twice a week. On other days he has weetabix, baby muesli or toast and always has fruit & yoghurt. I also give him apple & spelt biscuits or baby biscotti as a snack sometimes. I think it is about all things in moderation