Gerber baby food confusing-ness!

MommaMcG · March 2010

I never knew buying baby food would be so confusing! I went to Target tonight to get a few jars to put in Claire's Easter basket (we start solids in a few weeks...eek!), and my mom and I spent 10 minutes trying to figure everything out! I went in prepared to buy bananas and sweet potatoes, but the first one I saw said it was a "stage 3" food. Umm...I thought it was one of the first things they could eat? I was going to get it anyway, and then I saw the same product, in a different jar, and it was labeled a "stage 2" food. ???? Same ingredients and everything. I got the stage 2 one, but I just don't know why Gerber has made it so confusing. Did anyone else have problems when they first started buying baby foods?

Bride7-14-07 · March 2010

To confuse you even more, they even have a stage 1. The stages have different textures. Stage 3 has larger pieces than the smooth stage 1 and 2. HTP. :-)

manda429 · March 2010

The advantage of the stage 1 is it's in a smaller jar because your LO won't eat so much when they first start out. Stage 1 will be runnier too. It's probably a better deal to just buy the stage 2, put a third of it in a bowl and thin it out with a little water.

FinallyMrsBMW · March 2010

I was totally confused the first time too! We usually bought the two-pack in the stage one Gerber foods. Sometimes BRU has these for 10/$10 and you can get the organic ones...pretty good deal. Like pp, we liked to get the stage one at first because DD would seriously eat a couple bites and that was it. We started with cereal for the first couple months though and then added more solids.

MommaMcG · March 2010

So that's what the stages are! I was thinking it had something to do with the actual food choice. I couldn't for the life of me find what the difference was! We are starting her on rice cereal this week, so do you still think stage 2 is fine for when we start the solids?

IU_baby · March 2010

MommaMcG:
So that's what the stages are! I was thinking it had something to do with the actual food choice. I couldn't for the life of me find what the difference was! We are starting her on rice cereal this week, so do you still think stage 2 is fine for when we start the solids?

I'd probably start with Stage 1 because they are thinner and come in smaller portions at first.

FWIW, we have never bought jarred bananas or applesauce. When he was eating purees, I just mashed bananas for him with a fork and gave him unsweetened applesauce.

MommaMcG · March 2010

IU_baby:
MommaMcG:
So that's what the stages are! I was thinking it had something to do with the actual food choice. I couldn't for the life of me find what the difference was! We are starting her on rice cereal this week, so do you still think stage 2 is fine for when we start the solids?

I'd probably start with Stage 1 because they are thinner and come in smaller portions at first.

FWIW, we have never bought jarred bananas or applesauce. When he was eating purees, I just mashed bananas for him with a fork and gave him unsweetened applesauce.

We are going to mostly make our food too, but I was just getting a few jars for the Easter basket. I had no clue what to get her! Smile

slacy · April 2010

We were members of Sam's Club when E was little. They had Gerber baby food there in bulk (veggies and fruits). I didn't realize it was Stage 2's - so we unknowingly started E on Stage 2's. He was ready and did absolutely fine. That being said, O has taken quite a bit longer to get used to the whole solids thing - we started with Stage 1 for him and will probably be moving to stage 2 very shortly.

Sara