As a mom of a toddler who has food allergies, I am always on the lookout for snack options. My son is allergic to multiple foods, which rules out most of the popular go-to items that most moms keep in the diaper bag, like Gold Fish crackers or animal crackers. For a long time, I relied on cereals like Cheerios, Rice Chex and Kashi Heart to Heart to act as substitutes for crackers and picked cereals like Trix to replace cookies. Rice, wheat and corn based cereals often do not contain milk, soy, eggs or nuts, which are the foods my son is allergic to.
Recently I have started looking beyond the cereal aisle for snack options. I have discovered several winners in the toddler snack section at Babies R Us. They carry several organic brands, which often use ingredients that my son can eat. For example, we found some veggie sticks and jelly sandwiches that are perfect for snacking on the road. They also had some organic fruit snacks that make a great dessert. I appreciate how all these items are conveniently stocked in one section. At the grocery store, I have to hunt through several different areas to find different types of snacks.
Another product that I have discovered recently are the pouches of baby food that are made for toddlers. You screw off the cap and hand it to them like it’s a juice pouch. They can squeeze the pouch and suck out the yummy purees. We bought banana, which my son loved, as well as strawberry and another berry flavor. They were really easy for my son to eat and they were mess free. It’s something that I can toss into the diaper bag and pull out when my son is hungry and we’re somewhere where we can’t make a mess, like the car or the grocery store.
I’m so glad I found a one-stop shop that carries all these great snacks for my son!