baby yogurt

My kiddos seem to love the latest addition to their food: yogurt. I started off with the Gerber yogurt with fruit, but do I really need to keep may $2.50 for four things of yogurt? Can't I just buy them regular full-fat yogurt?? What do you all do?

 

Buy regular, full fat yogurt. But plain is best because the flavored stuff has a ton of sugar. Just mix in some pureed fruit or mashed banana for sweetness.

 

Yep, full fat plain yogurt! My kids loooooove that stuff. You can even make your own yogurt quite easily if you're ambitious. I think somewhere on here someone posted a crockpot recipe for making your own yogurt.

 

I make some baby food, but I don't think I'm THAT ambitious - lol. :blink:

So from now on I'm getting the yogurt and mixing in the fruit. Excellent. I think I will keep a few of the Gerber ones on hand, though, because they don't have to be refrigerated, so they are good for days that we are out and about.

 

I buy the baby yogurt only when it's on sale - the rest of the time I just use full fat yogurt with fruit added and they love it just as much!

 

I buy a big 32oz container of full fat plain yogurt and mix in my purees. It's so easy and economical with twins - and healthier too!

 

Actually making your own yogurt is very, very easy.

Here's my recipe. I make it on an evening I will be at home.
1/2 gallon of milk
3/4 cup powdered milk (to thicken it) If you use whole milk, omit the powdered milk.
1.5 T vanilla
4 T honey (to take that edge off of plain yogurt - omit if honey makes you nervous)
4 oz store-bought plain yogurt with active cultures (as a starter. You need the bacteria to make your own)

Combine milk, vanilla and honey in crockpot. Heat on low 2.5 hours. Unplug and let cool - with the cover on - for 3 hours (cool less time in the winter when your house is colder). Add the 4 oz of yogurt. Stir well. Replace lid and wrap the whole crockpot in a towel. Let sit overnight or at least 8 hours. In the morning, voila! Homemade yogurt. I've been doing it for about 2 years now.

 

Wow! I was just thinking about this today because I don't want to spend so much on baby yogurt. This forum is awesome.

 

Hey, thanks. That doesn't sound too hard, so I may give it a try!

 

I would def omit the honey in that recipe. I didnt think under 2 was suppose to have any honey?

Whats the diff between full fat and low fat as far as yogurt goes?

 

Full fat is made from whole milk and low fat from skim I believe. I think under the age of 2 they recommend that you feed full fat yogurt and dairy products as the brain needs the fat for development. My kids get lots of healthy fats from avacados and olive oil in their diet, so I don't stress about it too much, but I try to make sure to keep stocked up on full fat yogurt. It's so much tastier than the low fat stuff too!

Oh, and thanks for reposting that yogurt recipe! I have been meaning to look it up again. I did it a couple of times before we were off dairy and it was easy peasy. I think I am going to get back at it this weekend

 

Just to add to the yogurt thing...are they drinking from straws yet? Mine LOVE smoothies...I use the full fat yogurt, a little crushed ice and then put whole banana, strawberries, or actually whatever I have. As we got older I did pineapple and some other stuff. So they get yogurt with other goodies.

 

I haven't tried straws yet - I was actually was thinking about trying that just today.

 

It was right around 8.5/9 mos that mine became obsessed with straw cups, not for BM or Formula though...like they only expected water. Then I used thicker straws for smoothies.