Baby Bellies Organic Banana Softcorn | Chewsday Review

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

Ingredients

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 11g per 100g coming from the natural sugars in the banana powder.
The sodium is 28mg per 100g, which works out to 2mg per 8g packet (practically none).
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 $2.15 for a small packet or $270 for a kg!! Super expensive, especially when you compare to popping corn kernels which are $4.90 per kg.
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.
The overall fat content is just above recommendations, but this really isn’t a major concern as the serving size is so small and the saturated fat meets the guidelines.

Marketing

“No added sugar.” This is a little sneaky as it could be argued that the banana powder is added for sweetness.
“Organic baby grade.” This is just fluffy marketing. Remember being organic tells us how the ingredients are grown but nothing about their nutritional value.
“Do what’s natural.” Because extruded banana flavoured corn is super natural, hey?
“Nothing artificial.” This is following on from the “natural” marketing.

Alternatives

This is not necessarily a bad product (except for the price) and are a convenient ‘on-the-go’ snack. The added iron is useful for babies, particularly those who aren’t eating a lot of solids yet and enjoy the puff texture, but I would suggest offering something alongside them.
Popcorn is a much 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 a more nutritious option.

The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.