We take a look at the labeling of Nutribén products for 4 months (I)

UPGRADE (07/12/2016): The information contained in this entry has been updated based on the new formulation and ingredients of the products.

A few weeks after we saw the Ordesa products, we are going to take a look at the brand today Nutribén dedicated to babies over 4 months.

Nutribén It is the brand with which Alter Farmacia, a Spanish company, has been selling products for infant feeding for more than 60 years.

Like many brands, they establish the four months as the start time for complementary feeding, although it is recommended that Babies drink exclusive breast milk up to six months. Babies who drink artificial milk can start eating before, according to the AEP after 4 months and before 6.

We will see below the different products that Nutribén offers for babies of this stage and to explain what could be improved in each of them, if there is something worth mentioning.

Baby bottle start porridge

It is a cereal porridge intended to be taken with a bottle. As we have commented on other occasions, complementary feeding should serve to learn to eat, to get used to new textures, flavors and to eat with a spoon or with your hands, more autonomously.

Add cereals to the bottle does not provide any learning apart from the taste, and since the taste of cereals is usually sweet, which is easily accepted, it is not too necessary to put cereals in milk.

If we also add that as food it also does not provide anything that a baby could begin to need even at six months, we consider that the cereal porridge for the bottle remains as a little necessary and expendable food.

Its ingredients are: “Cereals 72% (corn flour and corn starch), Sugar, Maltodextrin, Vegetable fat (Palm), Mineral salts (calcium and phosphorus), Vitamins (C, niacin, E, pantothenic acid, B1, B6, A, acid folic, K1, biotin, D3), Emulsifier (soy lecithin), Aroma (vanillin). May contain traces of milk"

We can see that carry sugar, nothing less than 28.1 grams per 100 grams of product. Sugar is not recommended to add to babies' feeding until they are older, and always with the principle that the less the better.

We see that the fat used is palm. Both in the diet of babies and adults, olive oil, sunflower or corn oil is better, since they are healthier.

Starter porridge to fruit

This porridge is intended to be prepared in a bottle or on the plate.

The ingredients of it are: “Cereals 40% (rice flour and cornmeal), Fruits 30% (apple, pear, banana and orange juice concentrate), Sugar, Maltodextrin, Vegetable fat (Palm), Mineral salts (calcium and phosphorus), Vitamins ( C, niacin, E, pantothenic acid, B1, B6, A, folic acid, K1, biotin and D3), Emulsifier (soy lecithin), Aroma (vanillin), May contain traces of milk. ”

This porridge also carries sugar and, as we observe, it contains various ingredients that come from different foods (apple, rice, orange, corn, banana, etc.). This makes it a non-recommended food in the first complementary feeding shots, since the ideal is that foods be offered one at a time with at least one or two days of space, in case any allergy occurs.

As for the introduction to the fruit it is necessary to say that Ideally, babies eat fruit directly to know its texture, flavor, smell, color and to provide all the nutrients of the piece. In a porridge with powdered cereals, the fruit loses much of its essence.

Cereals without gluten

The porridge gluten-free cereals It is the one that would come, in theory, after the starting porridge for the bottle mentioned above, since it is suitable for preparing it on a plate, in addition to a bottle.

In addition to corn also has rice (both gluten-free) and like the other products so far commented carry sugar And it has palm oil.

The ingredients are: “Cereals 61% (rice flour and cornmeal), Sugar, Maltodextrin, Vegetable fat (palm), Mineral salts (calcium and phosphorus), Vitamins (C, niacin, E, pantothenic acid, B1, B6, A, acid folic, K1, biotin and D3), Emulsifier (soy lecithin), Aroma (vanillin). May contain traces of milk".

By the way, we are recently that only 61% of the product is the cereals themselves (those of Ordesa carried 81%, for example).

Gluten-free cereals with adapted milk

As other brands do too, Nutribén offers its cereals mixed with powdered milk to be prepared only with water and, like its competitors, although it explains that they use adapted milk, in the ingredients we see that the milk used is skimmed milk (which nobody would recommend for a 4 or 6 month old baby).

The rest is repeated: added sugars and palm oil for some main ingredients (cereals and milk) that make up 51% of the product.

The ingredients are as follows: “Cereals 29% (corn starch and rice flour), Skim milk powder 22%, Milk proteins, Sugar, Maltodextrin, Vegetable fat (palm), Mineral salts (calcium, phosphorus and iron), Emulsifier (soy lecithin ), Vitamins (C, niacin, E, pantothenic acid, B1, B2, B6, A, folic acid, K1, biotin, D3, B12), Aroma (vanillin) ”.

Rice cream

Rice cream is intended, as indicated, for babies with gastroenteritis or diarrhea. It is noteworthy that on the web specify "no added sugar", which is true because it does not carry it, but curious because they highlight it as a benefit that the rest of the products do not have.

The ingredients are: “Rice flour 63%, Maltodextrin, Vegetable fat (palm), Mineral salts (calcium and phosphorus), Emulsifier (soy lecithin), Vitamins (C, niacin, E, pantothenic acid, B1, B6, A, folic acid, K1, biotin, D3), Aroma (vanillin). May contain traces of milk.".

Starter chicken-ham vegetables

We arrived with this to the pots to spoon. The latest recommendations say that the ideal is to offer babies food that is not crushed, but semi-solid, in a texture soft enough so that they can eat it with a little learning and thick enough (in the sense that it is not completely fine) as so you have to chew a little.

In this way it is avoided that they take the food from the spoon directly to the throat without doing anything and begin to accept before normal food, which after all is what they are looking for, that they leave the bottle and accept our food.

The ingredients are: “Cooking water, Chicken and Ham 15%, Vegetables 14% (carrots and peas), Rice 6%, Corn starch, Olive oil 0.5%, Onion, Lemon juice”.

It is surprising that the main ingredients of the potito add up to 35% of the content when, at home, it is clear that the percentage would be much higher.

Chicken Potito with Rice

The name itself says so. Is a pot whose main ingredients are chicken and rice, although it is true that between the two only add 22% of the product, a proportion that we consider too low.

The ingredients are: "Cooking water, Chicken 15%, Rice 7%, Carrots, Corn starch, Olive oil 0.5%, Onion, Lemon juice".

Chicken pot with vegetables

The ingredients of this potito are: “Cooking water, Chicken 15%, Vegetables 14% (carrots and peas), Rice 6%, Corn starch, Olive oil 0.4%, Onion, Lemon juice”.

In this case, the main ingredients add up 29% of the potito.

Veal Potito with Vegetables

This changes the chicken for the veal, which is a meat with a stronger flavor and that we would also recommend from at least six months, since it comes from larger animals (the veal is larger than the chicken, it is evident) and for this reason they have more collagen, which is more difficult to digest.

The ingredients are: “Cooking water, Vegetables 31% (green beans, tomatoes, carrots and peas), Veal 15%, Rice 6%, Corn starch, Olive oil 1.3%, Onion”.

In this case the main ingredients (chicken and vegetables) add up to 46% of the product, which is more than the rest, but it still seems very little. A homemade veal porridge with veal would have a much higher percentage of these ingredients.

Given the Nutribén It has an extensive offer of products for babies, we will continue with them another day in another entry.