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Baby Bellies Organic Banana Softcorn | Chewsday Review

This week’s Chewsday review features another Baby Bellies product… Banana Softcorn! Are these a baby friendly alternative popcorn? Are they worth the money? Check out this week's review to find out…

Ingredients

Organic Corn Flour (72%), Organic Banana Powder (14%), Organic Sunflower Oil, Mineral (iron), organic antioxidant (organic rosemary extract).
A short ingredients list of essentially flour, powdered banana and oil, but I like that iron has been added.
All of the ingredients are organic which tells us how the ingredients are grown but nothing about their nutritional value.
Allergens: may contain wheat, gluten, milk and soy.

Positives

The added iron provides 18% of a babies’ (6-12 months) daily needs which is good for such a small packet. Getting enough iron can be tricky for babies that aren’t so good with typical high iron foods, so this gets a tick from me.
This snack has no added sugar, with 8.8g/100g coming from the natural sugars in the banana powder.
No added salt is great for a packaged snack food.
The bite and dissolve texture is really useful for teaching biting and chewing skills in children and is a safer option to popcorn. I wouldn’t recommend popcorn for children younger than 4.

Negatives

These are $1.80 for a small packet or $225 for a kilo!! Super expensive, especially when you compare to popping corn kernels which are $4.90 per kilo.
These are really just puffed air with no fibre. Fibre helps us feel full, so with only 0.3g per serve they aren’t going to be very filling for babies.
The overall fat content exceeds the guidelines at 14.6g/100g. This isn’t a major concern as the serving size is small and the saturated fat (the bad kind) meets the guidelines.

Marketing

Alternatives

This is not necessarily a bad product (except for the price) and can be used as a convenient ‘on-the-go’ snack. I would suggest offering something more filling alongside them. The added iron is useful for babies, particularly those who aren’t eating a lot of solids yet but enjoy the puff texture.
Popcorn is a cheaper option but only suitable for children 4+ years given the tricky texture. These softcorn are much more appropriate for younger children.
Cruskits or Baby Mum Mums are cheaper alternatives with the same dissolving texture. I also recommend spreading these with puree or nut spreads to make them more well-rounded.