My little girl loves yogurt and now that we are on people food, I want to switch her to regular yogurt vs Gerber or YoBaby. I normally purchase light and fit for myself. My question - does she need regular yogurt? Mine is low fat, low cal, etc.... I assume she needs all the vitamins/fat she can get (she is 3% weight). Or can she eat what I buy? Thoughts/suggestions please.....
BTW - yes she is petite, but very healthy...she eats all the time, the ped is not worried about weight....
Edit - getting tons of responses - please keep them coming. My worry about Gerber - it doesn't need refridgeration which makes me wonder how many preservatives are really in it.
My son is 13 months and he loves Yoplait I buy him the red kind because it doesn't have aspartame like the blue kind does. He's been eating these for quite sometime.
I give my kids store brand full fat plain and add fruit. My ped. said that b/c babies are still growing so quickly and need fat and protien for brain development until age two that they should have full fat dairy products. After age two switch to low fat. I think that YoBaby has a YoKids version for older children, I don't know if it is lower in fat but since you already use that brand it may be worth looking into.
Up till age 2 babies need full fat everything-yogurt, cheese, milk, cottage cheese, etc. I love Stoneyfield organic yogurt.
Get her the plain (or vanilla) full-fat variety in the large tub (I think it's 32 oz- we buy the Dannon or sometimes Stonyfield). She needs the extra fat for her growing body. Read the label for the one(s) with the simplest & easiest to read ingredients (would your grandma, assuming she ate yogurt, recognize all the ingredients?).
If you want to, you can dole out smaller amounts into snack containers for travel/daycare.
Get the light & fit for yourself. :)
(Edited to correct a typo)
You will save yourself money by not buying Gerber or the smaller packaged yogurts. I buy Dannon Plain whole milk yogurt 32 oz or Stonyfield Organic Plain whole milk, and you can just dole out what you need. Its also great for making fruit smoothies for the kids. Beware though, because even some of the organic yogurts that are flavored and sweetened w/out using aspartame, etc., have so much sugar per serving. My son was hyper after having the Banilla Stonyfield, so I quit buying it. He will eat his yogurt plain, w/out sweetener so I figure why give him the extra sugar. And I've even grown accustomed to having plain yogurt w/honey in it (so good!). You might try that for your daughter, and yes, I think they need whole milk too. But, more than the whole milk, beware of the stuff like Dannonino, and Gogurt, etc. as they have food coloring and I believe all the stuff can really affect children. PS. Another benefit of plain yogurt is that you can add mix-ins, like any of the pureed jarred baby fruits to make your own flavor, or if she's doing more solid fruits, you can just smoosh up some fresh and put it in.
yes, she should be having full fat yogurt, just like how she has whole milk. We buy Stoneyfield Farm plain whole fat yogurt and add fruit to it - my son loves it. I tried several other brands before this one but the quality of the Stoneyfield I felt was much better than the others.
Good luck!
I would keep her away from light and fit or low/no fat as they have Aspartame which is not good for little kids. I give my daughter Stonyfield, Horizon Organic, or Yoplait Greek Yogurt with he fruit on the bottom as they have far less sugar and are organic.
I would give her regular yogurt if she were my child. You can actually buy the Danimals (there's one in a small orange container) that are fortified with some of the nutrients kids need vs. adults.
I have never purchased YoBaby or Gerber for my kids (now 2 and 4), but at that age, we went through YoPlait Custard Style like crazy.
The fat is really critical to her brain development.
There isn't a reason why she can't continue on YoBaby or Gerber for a bit. If you do switch her to regular yogurt, I would go with regular Dannon or Breyers.
I would think that once her weight increased a bit she could change over to what you regularly buy.
Also, there are little single serve 4-packs of cottage cheese that are good. My daughter tears them up.
We do YoBaby or Horizon tubes in our house.
i get my daughter the big tubs of whatever flavor she wants that time. she loves strawberry and peach.
We like the OIKOS greek yougurt (as opposed to dannon or yoplait greek) it tastes better and does not have as much sugar.
Stoneyfield is another I choose for my little ones.
Yougurt is a great add in for fresh friut smoothies!
Updated
We like the OIKOS greek yougurt (as opposed to dannon or yoplait greek) it tastes better and does not have as much sugar.
Stoneyfield is another I choose for my little ones.
Yougurt is a great add in for fresh friut smoothies!
Hi - tons of responses here! Our doc also said whole milk everything until age two because they need the fat. We did Stonyfield organic whole milk yogurt in the big tub. A lot of times I could give with just cut up fruit, sometimes I needed to add just a bit of sugar or honey to make it more appetizing.
We also bought Trader Joe's baby yogurt sometimes. I don't know how much sugar was in it, but it had a thicker texture like custard style so it was easier to feed to my little guy and he could even do it a little himself with the spoon or dip graham crackers in it.
We stick with YoBaby...its one of the better yogurst for them. I also buy Horizon Organics or Simply GoGurt (we like to freeze the tubes for DD1s lunch) and they don't have all the colors and such and are lower in sugar and artificial sugar than others.
Most yogurts aren't made from whole milk, except for baby or childrens yogurt. It's really important, that your daughter only get whole milk, at this age. At least, that's what my pediatrician told me when i asked the same question!!
My son is almost 2 and still eats YoBaby; he loves it:)
YoBaby or Yoplait custard style...your little one still needs all the fat she can get! And those 2 brands have a nice, thick consistency which is easier (and less messy!) for her to eat. :)
My kids love the Danon Danonino yogurts , they are made with whole milk.
I stick with regular yogurt for the kids - not low/no fat - and organic when I can afford to - no hormones or anitbiotics. I don't want the kids to have aspartame and really have tried to cut it out myself. I did notice that Meijer brand was made from cows not given hormones, so I tend to grab that when I don't have extra grocery money for the organic.
My son is 18 months and loves to eat the Gerber yogurts. It is regular yogurt, its just made with whole milk and fruit puree. I would definitly keep her away from some of the low fat yogurts that use artifical sugar (especially aspartme). That can be VERY bad for her.
I love Stoneyfield too.
