To Whom it May Concern.....

Dear Baby Food Manufacturers,

I am convinced that you are part of the reason why today's children are overweight. Have you seen what you put in your baby food? Since when is it appropriate to give dessert to a 7 month old? Children, especially infants and toddlers, are very impressionable and when you market "apple pie in a jar" to them you are encouraging and establishing a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits.

Granted, you have a cutsier name for it than "apple pie in a jar", but that is essentially what it is. The first ingredient is indeed a fruit, but the subsequent ones include sugar and high fructose corn syrup; if this is not the definition of a dessert, then I do not know what is. And when your website calls such a product (and those like it) one of the required daily fruit servings, I get quite upset.

When I know that my baby's stomach is about the size of a strawberry and fills very quickly, why would I intentionally fill it with something so sugary? Would you sit down and eat an entire dish of peach cobbler in one sitting and call it a meal? Wait, don't answer that. You probably do engage in such behavior and while it is appropriate to do so on say, Thanksgiving, it is not appropriate to do so the other 364 days each year.

Therefore, while I appreciate your efforts to manufacture "healthy, well-balanced" food for my child, I think I will continue to make it myself. At least I'll know that any future ADD/ADHD behavior is genetic and not sugar-induced.

Sincerely,
A Concerned Mom