Mama-Come-Lately

Mmm, the white stuff.

Back when the baby was starting to eat solids, I was thrilled to discover that he loved yogurt. It seemed he would eat his weight in YoBaby if I let him. Awesome, I thought — probiotics, whole milk, and it’s organic — what’s not to love about this?

And then I read the side of the container and was far less thrilled. There are 11 grams of sugar in four ounces of the stuff. No wonder. I may as well have been putting two sugar cubes in front of him, or filling his sippy cup with Kool-Aid.

Just to see what would happen, I mixed some mashed banana with whole-milk Fage. He took a taste. He stared into the middle distance, seemingly considering whether he liked what he just opened his mouth for. And then he opened his mouth baby bird style, asking for more, over and over.

I admit I may be splitting hairs here — he’s been on formula pretty much since day one, and the first ingredient in that is corn syrup solids. I’ve never felt great about that, but I’ve made my peace with it. And there are plenty of websites and people who would have you believe that the body can’t tell the difference between honey, sugar, corn syrup and agave nectar. But I’m not in that camp.

But I still feel smug: No refined sugar, much cheaper, I know exactly what’s in it, it’s still good for him, it’s calorically dense, and he’s learning to love food that’s not crammed full of sugar. Victory on all fronts!