Let’s chat about pouches – the pro’s, the cons, and answers to our frequently asked questions.

There are more baby foods in squeezable plastic bags for sale than ever before. We can understand why! They are incredibly convenient, involve zero prep time, and are (usually) relatively mess free. I’ll admit, they came in handy for me (Luka) on a plane trip once! 

But there are a number of downsides to food pouches and frequent use of pouched food can raise a number of nutritional and developmental concerns. Before we dive into these, let me preface – my intention is not to offend anyone! We are all trying to do our best (and mum guilt and shame isn’t good for anyone), but knowledge is power and the more we know, the more informed our choices can be. 

Firstly, let’s talk about nutrition. If you didn’t know any better you would be led to believe that baby pouches are healthy! Right? The marketing is clever. The better options are often promoted as organic, the ingredients list is often clean, and there are often minimal added sugars and preservatives. However, even though they may not contain nasty ingredients, that doesn’t make them beneficial (unfortunately). The reason being, they are significantly lacking in nutrients. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ll know that my whole food philosophy is to focus on nutrient dense foods, to fill yourselves and your children with the most nutrients possible as opposed to ‘empty’ foods or ‘cardboard-hydrates’.

So why are they so lacking in nutrients? It all starts at production.The fruits and vegetables (and sometimes meats as well) are boiled down with an ultra high heat to make them shelf stable (ever wondered how lamb can sit on a shelf in a packet without preservatives?). They are then made into flavour combinations (eg apple and pear) then boiled further and packaged. All this boiling has a few effects. It leaves the fruits and vegetables in a syrupy state which is very high in sugar, the bad bacteria is killed but so is all the good bacteria, and the fibre, fats and proteins which would normally help the body process that amount of sugar are boiled off too. What you’re left with is a blood glucose rise and not enough nutrients to keep baby full! Additionally, babies that are commonly given pouches then get used to this sweet food, and it can make it more challenging to get the baby to eat and enjoy savoury foods down the track!

How amazing are these infographics from @nomoreoldbabyfood love the message they are spreading!

Let’s also explore the impact pouches can have on development. 

We know for babies and children that touching, chewing and eating food plays a vital role in their oral and motor skill development. Chewing skills do not automatically develop at specific ages. Safe and coordinated chewing only develops through practice, consistency and exposure to a variety of food textures and shapes. Sucking food from pouches doesn’t provide these practice opportunities. The ‘messy’ stage of eating is just as important. It’s during the (tremendously) messy stage that babies learn how to self-feed and it’s through the touching, smelling, smooshing, splattering and chewing of food that babies learn about the tastes and textures of different foods.

If you do find yourself reaching for the food pouches often, here are a few tweaks you can make to support nutrition and development

• Try reusable pouches. If you need a low mess, on the go meal for your baby, reusable pouches can be a great way to go as you can control what goes inside! We like these ones from Haakaa (discount code BOOBTOFOOD).
• Try pouring the contents out of the pouch, where possible. Babies will benefit more from eating off a spoon than sucking out of the pouch
• As often as possible, give your baby opportunities to get messy at mealtimes

But I get it – sometimes you just don’t have time to make your own food and you need a quick and easy grab!

Im really excited to have collaborated with Le Puree to create some incredible PRE-MADE purees (and also finger foods) for your baby! The difference between these pre-made purees and a store bought pouch is that these meals are cooked, packaged right away then frozen – so NO heat treatment or processing other than the actual cooking!

My favourite thing is that these purees use my FAVOURITE ingredients for babies that are nutrient-dense power houses – like liver, bone broth, salmon, beef, lamb and heaps of vegetables. They also include a fat source in each puree which is essential to help our little ones bodies best absorb the fat soluble nutrients!

You can use my discount code BOOBTOFOOD10 for all orders. Check out our bundle here.