Hellobee Boards

We feed our son kefir and it was very very little sugar. We also give him greek yogurt with a little bit of honey or some fresh fruit. But they both have dairy. =\

I give her plain yogurt, it has about 6grams of sugar per 4oz. I add my homemade fruit purees

We do greek yogurt (chobani). It does have a good amount of sugar (I think less than 20g) but it has a lot of protein (14-18g). That is for an adult 6ounce cup serving. It is also all natural and doesn't have artificial sweetners.

She gets plain Greek yogurt with some fresh fruit blended in it.

I was going to suggest Greek yogurt as well.

I try to give her Nancy's yogurt, in general, which doesn't have any added sugar. She adores the yogurt tubes, though, and I can't find a low sugar version of those. I just don't want her to get hooked on the non tangy sweet version of yogurt.

Bumping an old thread.

So I'm working on a spreadsheet that compares Greek yogurt versus non-greek yogurt. Also, plain yogurt versus flavored. I was really interested in the what the sugar content of yogurt was across the board.

At this moment, I'm noticing that plain yogurt clearly has less sugars than flavored. Having Vanila or fruit does increase the sugars. Also, Vanilla is not any better than fruit flavored.

As for baby yogurt versus regular yogurt, I don't see a huge difference in sugar... Although, I have not seen a plain yogurt being offered for baby yogurt... everything I've seen is flavored. But baby yogurt gets you by adding vegetables like spinach to make it seem healthier. So go with strawberry yogurt or strawberry spinach yogurt that both have sugars. Hmmm...

For example Stonyfield Organic Whole Milk Yogurt (not the greek version) with French Vanilla flavoring has more sugar than Stonyfield Yobaby Vanila yogurt (also, not the greek yogurt kind). French vanilla yogurt has 0.132 grams of sugar per gram of yogurt... while Yobaby Vanilla has 0.08 grams of sugar per gram of yogurt.

So plain yogurt is best (less sugar) but adding purees to sweeten it and if you aren't careful, you might be putting the sugar back in.

As for greek versus non greek yogurt... the only difference I see is that greek yogurt contain protein. Calories, fat, carbs and sugar are roughly the same if you are comparing plain versus plain and flavored versus flavored.

My own preference is to find shelf stable yogurt (for convenience) but so far I am unable to find a plain yogurt (both greek or regular yogurt) that is sold in shelf stable pouches.

Honestly, I'm not even sure if my babies will like just plain. I'll give it a try. Maybe they won't like it and I'll have to give them flavored stuff. In that case, I'll just buy what they like because flavored yogurt will have more sugars however you look at it.

I have the spreadsheet if anyone want to see it. I only looked at Gerber, Happy Tot, Plum Organics and Stonyfield yogurts.

@Mrs. Lion: I just added to my post -- that baby yogurt advertised flavors with vegetables like spinach or beets.

So I can see the appeal of baby yogurts that contain strawberry and spinach (for example) over choosing just a regular strawberry yogurt. One sounds better for a baby. But sugar wise... they all have sugar because it's flavored.

But yeah, I guess the best kind of yogurt would be plain. (and that's if they like it.) I'm not even sure if I'll eat plain yogurt.

@Madison43: Yeah, I looked at whole milk yogurt for both baby version and regular and I don't see a difference... once again, the caveat being baby versions are usually all flavored.

@bluestriped bee: There is a difference between the natural sugar that occurs in any dairy or fruit and the added sugar put into products when they are flavored. Even if you end up with the same amount of total sugar in grams, it's healthier to stir in some fruit puree to plain yogurt than to get flavored with added sugars. The USDA is going to start labeling food with both how much total sugar vs. added sugar your food has.

Also, the amount of spinach added to baby yogurt is probably pretty small and is just for marketing- maybe try to puree your own or add some from a baby food jar to the fruit puree/ yogurt mix? I would add green veggies to blueberry or plum puree since they are darker and my DD never noticed lol.

@caterw: was going to respond with pretty much the same comment.
We buy organic whole milk yogurt & just stir in our homemade fruit purees & chia seeds, then chill to hydrate the chia seeds. It's LO's favorite thing to eat these days! I could never go back to eating store-bought flavored yogurts, myself, because they taste sickeningly sweet to me now.

@bluestriped bee: I know you said you were focusing on shelf stable and I haven't done research but in my mind it feels like these have to be "less good". Kinda like how shelf stable probiotics aren't as good as the live ones that need to be refrigerated.

If you need another option could you look at maybe freezing yogurt? They dethaw nicely.

I was appalled when I bought Emma Stoneyfield organic baby yogurt and the second ingredient was sugar! I just buy plain whole greek yogurt now and mix it with some fruit.

I mostly buy plain Greek yogurt and mix in chopped up fruit and a little granola. The yogurt has some sugar from the milk (lactose) and the fruit has natural sugars, but the are no added sugars. The granola I use is sweetened, but I can control the amount I add to each bowl.

When LO was a baby he would eat it plain, but now I think it's too tart for him without fruit or granola.

When I want to buy flavored yogurt, I get Siggi's because it's a lot less sweet than most brands. I especially like their full fat flavors, but they're hard to find.

We do full fat Greek yogurt. Our fave is Fage. Has 9g per serving.

@Mrs. Microscope: Is that the Skyr 4% whole milk yogurt? I see on their website they make Skyr 0%, 2% and 4% yogurt.

I just put that into my spreadsheet and it does look like Siggi's fruit flavored yogurt does have less sugars than other fruit flavored yogurt from other makers.

Siggi's 4% whole milk yogurt with mixed fruit has 0.066 grams of sugar per gram of yogurt. Stonyfield Greek whole milk yogurt with strawberry has 0.10 grams of sugar per gram of yogurt.

When I compare Siggi's vanilla versus Stonyfield vanilla (both whole milk and both strained ... maybe comparable to Stonyfield's greek)... Siggi's has 0.064 grams of sugar and Stonyfield has 0.080 grams of sugar per gram of yogurt.

@Mrs. Microscope: Oh, ok, cool. Though, it's pretty hard to find in my area. My local target does carry the 4% whole milk in mixed fruit flavor. If I want plain, I have to go into the city to get it. Isn't a huge problem since I work in the city.

I found a shelf stable greek yogurt. Sugar content is high (not too high according to my chart) but it is sweeten by purees. So I guess that's better.

http://happyfamilybrands.com/product_lines/happy-tot-greek-yogurt-2/#orange-apple-sweet-potato

This is what my kids have been eating. Again not shelf stable, but I would hardly consider that pouch a substitute for real greek yogurt.