The Healthiest Baby Yogurt Melts: Three Brands Compared

When Wolfie was a toddler, he loved Happy Baby yogurt melts. I have a very clear memory of a plane ride to Aruba where he must have eaten four bags of them (as part of my effort to keep him quiet). I also have a clear memory of feeling bad about this, because these melts were more a treat than a healthful snack–white sugar was the third ingredient!

I resorted to Happy Baby because they made the healthiest baby yogurt melt back then; the only other option was one by Gerber, which had four times as much sugar and wasn’t organic. 

A Better Melt: Meet Amara

If you’re the parent of a toddler now, you are luckier than I was ten years ago.

Amara Organic Smoothie Melts are delicious, easy for toothless gums to chomp, and great for little fingers–just like those Happy Baby melts. And they are also much healthier than any melt that came before them. 

Amara melts don’t have any added fillers or flavors. 

Unlike the Happy Baby or Gerber melts, Amara Smoothies are made of only fruits and veggies–you won’t find “natural flavors” or other additives in these melts. 

By comparison, both Gerber and Happy Baby melts contain ingredients like inulin, tapioca starch, strawberry flavor, juice concentrate, and mono- and diglycerides.

Amara melts are totally organic. 

Amara’s melts contain only 100% organic fruits and veggies in their short ingredient list. 

While Happy Baby melts are also certified organic, they contain “natural flavors,” as mentioned above. And most Gerber melts contain zero organic ingredients, making them the worst of these three brands. They seem to make one yogurt melt variety that is organic, but it still contains “natural banana and strawberry flavors” and too much sugar. 

Amara Smoothies contain no added sugar. 

Amara doesn’t add any sugar to their melts, which means that the sweetness comes only from the fruit (or sweet veggies) that the melts contain. 

It’s true that Happy Baby melts are pretty low in added sugar. But considering how much sugar kids consume from snacks, treats, and desserts generally, this is a great and easy place to eliminate it now that you can. Happy Baby makes a line of “Creamies” without cane sugar, but they use a lot of juice concentrate versus actual fruit. 

Most of the varieties of Gerber melts contain 4 grams of white sugar per serving, making them once again the worst option. I did find one Gerber flavor that did not contain white sugar, but the sweetener is from cheap white grape juice concentrate, which is only marginally healthier. The healthiest option from Gerber is these Whipped Melts, which have the shortest ingredient list and no sugar or juice concentrate. Still, these are not Good Stuff Good Stuff because none of the ingredients are organic! 

Amara boasts third-party certifications.

Amara is not only certified organic, but also Clean Label Project Certified, which means their products are subjected to the strictest regulatory standards to protect consumers from environmental contaminants. 

Neither Happy Baby nor Gerber have this certification, which means less peace of mind for parents. 

Amara is dairy-free. 

I don’t think dairy is necessarily unhealthy, but it does have a high environmental cost and can be a source of dietary exposure to toxins like phthalates and PFAS. For vegan families, Amara offers a baby melt option that derives its creamy texture from coconut rather than cow milk. 

Happy Baby Yogis contain dairy, as do the Gerber Yogurt Melts. 

Gerber does offer at least one flavor of plant-based melt, but the rest of the ingredients make this one we cannot recommend. And Happy Baby Creamies are slightly healthier than the Gerber version, but they contain fillers and concentrates that Amara does not use. 

Amara melts contain actual veggies. 

In addition to being free of added sugars, Amara melts contain vegetables, including whole beets, spinach, and carrots. 

Both Gerber and Happy Baby have blends that do technically include some veggies. Gerber has one where the first ingredient is pureed squash, which is great! Unfortunately, the rest of the ingredients include things like juice concentrate, flavors, and gelatin, so I would still avoid these melts. Happy Baby’s attempt at adding veggies is pretty weak. For instance, Happy Baby Blueberry & Purple Carrot Greek Yogis contain no actual purple carrot–just purple carrot juice concentrate! 

Bottom Line: Healthiest Baby Yogurt Melts

In the battle of baby yogurt melts, Amara Smoothies are the winner (even though they don’t contain yogurt!). 

With their commitment to organic, whole food ingredients, zero added sugar, and Clean Label Project Certification, Amara is hands-down the brand I would choose if I had a toddler and a plane ride ahead of me today!  

Stay sane,