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!
- Organic Corn Flour (70%), Organic Banana Powder (16%), 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.
- May contain: wheat, gluten, milk and soy.
- 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.
- 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.
- “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.
- 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.
