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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think pouches are awful?

497 replies

AIBUnamechanger9 · 01/04/2024 04:46

I have two DCs and have never fed them from pouches. I see babies and toddlers sucking on them everywhere and it seems horrible for their teeth? Also for having a routine of eating at mealtimes or teaching them to eat properly. I recently spoke with a friend (who I am quite close with and believe she’s a wonderful mum) and she told me her 8 and 10 yo children still eat from pouches, especially if they’re on a day out, etc.

AIBU to despair at the prevalence of pouch feeding?

OP posts:
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9
VestibuleVirgin · 01/04/2024 20:46

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 18:41

I fucking hope you didn't use an electric washing machine, after all you could wash by hand!

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Gosh, debater of the year has arrived

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 01/04/2024 19:44

We used them in moderation - when the kids were babies they were great for days out or when we were away from home etc

If you never give you baby/ toddler any home cooked food then that’s a bit of a shame, I agree.

My two did continue to quite like the plain fruit purée ones as they got older tbh - but they saw them more as a kind of smoothie I think! Or like Americans eat “apple sauce”.

User8643733 · 01/04/2024 19:41

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Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 19:39

AIBUnamechanger9 · 01/04/2024 18:49

Also my own kids aren’t fed organic home cooked foods, they’ve had meals from pots when we’ve been home late or a handful of chips when we’re out. It’s again more about the prevalence and yes, what does it do to teeth? Sucking in all of that liquified sugar can’t be good for teeth, can it?

MYOB!

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 19:39

AIBUnamechanger9 · 01/04/2024 18:46

OP Here, I didn’t mean that pouches shouldn’t be used at all. I completely see their utility for travel etc. But they do strike me as a bit of an unfortunate accommodation to the current world, everyone’s got to be going somewhere and doing something constantly. No time to sit for a meal (or even heat a jar of baby food), just suck a pouch down whilst you’re on the go. The same is true for adults I suppose, so many drinkable meals and pouches?

Apologies if my original question wasn’t entirely clear. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to use them from time to time but I do despair at how prevalent they’ve become.

Oh thank you so much for coming back and sanctioning when it's ok to use them. But who made you the police of use of pouches? MYOB!

Good to see you're being judged on this, by the "what did you do before these awful things were invented"'you deserve it!

Senzafine · 01/04/2024 19:16

I can't stand judgemental threads like this. Weaning is one of the most exhausting things ever. You're usually still up through the night, feeding your baby milk through the day and top of it you have the pressure to home cook something 3 times a day for your baby.

I used pouches, sometimes twice a day if I was exhausted. My son is 2 and a good eater, eats a wide range of food and no issues with teeth. The worst thing about using pouches is the smug, judgmental mums who think they are better than everyone else because they never use them!

Orangello · 01/04/2024 18:58

Try chicken nuggets instead of a Big Mac?

I honestly would have cried happy tears if DC1 had agreed to eat chicken nuggets. Still remember when he was about 1, we were travelling and desperately looking for 4-6 month purees in a foreign country, as DC1 screamed at 'just smash a banana with fork, how hard is that really'.

Theright1 · 01/04/2024 18:55

But how do you know how prevalent they are? Do you see people use them out so you assume they use them at home too? How do you know what people do at home?

Also not all are liquefied sugar? Just avoid the fruity ones and check the sugar content on back. I always get less than 5g/100ml sugar.

I've mainly done baby led weaning but use pouches when out

Original poster
AIBUnamechanger9 · 01/04/2024 18:49

Also my own kids aren’t fed organic home cooked foods, they’ve had meals from pots when we’ve been home late or a handful of chips when we’re out. It’s again more about the prevalence and yes, what does it do to teeth? Sucking in all of that liquified sugar can’t be good for teeth, can it?

OP posts:
Original poster
AIBUnamechanger9 · 01/04/2024 18:46

OP Here, I didn’t mean that pouches shouldn’t be used at all. I completely see their utility for travel etc. But they do strike me as a bit of an unfortunate accommodation to the current world, everyone’s got to be going somewhere and doing something constantly. No time to sit for a meal (or even heat a jar of baby food), just suck a pouch down whilst you’re on the go. The same is true for adults I suppose, so many drinkable meals and pouches?

Apologies if my original question wasn’t entirely clear. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to use them from time to time but I do despair at how prevalent they’ve become.

OP posts:
Glass113 · 01/04/2024 18:41

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 18:40

Did you get medals awarded as well?

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It's a stupid argument anyway. Should I send back my washing machine because people used to wash by hand or sweep up instead of using a hoover.

Times change.

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 18:41

VestibuleVirgin · 01/04/2024 07:06

What do people think happened before such crap was invented? We cooked and pureed food, stuck it in a tupperware pot.
Dear god, we even washed nappies!!

I fucking hope you didn't use an electric washing machine, after all you could wash by hand!

Flamingogirl08 · 01/04/2024 18:40

Craftier · 01/04/2024 18:26

You could apply that logic to all threads.

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Many of them yes.

However ones like this where the OP isn't asking for advice about if they should feed their kids pouches but have simply started a thread to say, "they despair" at people who do. That is just silly, just don't feed your kids them and leave everybody else to it.

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 18:40

VestibuleVirgin · 01/04/2024 07:06

What do people think happened before such crap was invented? We cooked and pureed food, stuck it in a tupperware pot.
Dear god, we even washed nappies!!

Did you get medals awarded as well?

Noyesnoyes · 01/04/2024 18:37

OP not been back, probably too busy batch cooking organic delights!

ArchesOfsunflowers · 01/04/2024 18:29

SaffronSpice · 01/04/2024 18:06

Baby can and should have what you’re having.

It reminds me of a friend’s baby-weaning class. They were told to ‘just mush up a bit of what you are are having’. One of the mums asked, seriously, if they should take the pickles out of the Big Mac first?

You laugh, but my 5th certainly stuffed in a Mac Donald’s as soon as she coordinated her fist to her mouth.
(maybe I was being judged by a pouch wielding mother and didn’t notice)

Oneofthesurvivors · 01/04/2024 18:28

Craftier · 01/04/2024 18:26

You could apply that logic to all threads.

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Well yeah, 95% of mumsnet is just nonsense.

Craftier · 01/04/2024 18:26

Flamingogirl08 · 01/04/2024 18:03

Threads like this do my head in. If you want to give your kids pouches then do and if you dont want to give your kids pouches then don't!

People arguing over how other people feed their kids is just silly.

You could apply that logic to all threads.

Glass113 · 01/04/2024 18:13

SaffronSpice · 01/04/2024 18:06

Baby can and should have what you’re having.

It reminds me of a friend’s baby-weaning class. They were told to ‘just mush up a bit of what you are are having’. One of the mums asked, seriously, if they should take the pickles out of the Big Mac first?

I always left them on and left the chilli on their kebabs. I never gave them pouches though, I'm not a monster.

SaffronSpice · 01/04/2024 18:08

I wonder what a perfect mother should have done in those circumstances

Try chicken nuggets instead of a Big Mac?

Orangello · 01/04/2024 18:06

DC1 refused to eat what we were having. (no additional needs) In fact, he refused anything with lumps in it til he was more than a year old. He was also a bottle refuser. I wonder what a perfect mother should have done in those circumstances - let him starve? Because of what he 'should' do and 'should' be eating?

I can confirm that despite having purees, he did somehow learn to eat after all.

SaffronSpice · 01/04/2024 18:06

Baby can and should have what you’re having.

It reminds me of a friend’s baby-weaning class. They were told to ‘just mush up a bit of what you are are having’. One of the mums asked, seriously, if they should take the pickles out of the Big Mac first?

NaiceUser · 01/04/2024 18:05

BadSkiingMum · 01/04/2024 16:35

It’s not about the amount of sugar in fruit/veg (where it will be naturally combined with fibre), it’s that the industrial processes break it down in such a way so that it becomes free sugars.

From the conclusion of the report posted above:

The studies in this review suggest that home- made foods, foods that are minimally processed, and heating for as short a period of time as possible prior to being mashed or chopped and consumed soon after preparation are likely to retain more nutrients, and be lower in free sugars, than those that have been industrially processed using methods that involve shear treatments followed by prolonged cooking and/or thermal storage.
Mechanical pulping, puréeing, homogenisation or blending of fruits and vegetables reduces the particle size, may introduce oxygen to the system, causes the release of intercellular components, and provides a larger surface area for reactions to occur. Depending
on the food matrix involved, this kind of processing in combination with thermal treatment can have several effects including enzymatic or oxidative degradation of nutrients and phytonutrients, reductions in total fibre and redistribution between soluble and insoluble fibre.

But again, no one is saying that pouches shouldn’t exist - it’s a convenience food and there may be good reasons why it is convenient to feed a baby with a pouch on that particular occasion.

What do you think happens when we chew bananas/apples/any other fruit in our mouthes? IT BECOMES PURÉED! JFC

Flamingogirl08 · 01/04/2024 18:03

Threads like this do my head in. If you want to give your kids pouches then do and if you dont want to give your kids pouches then don't!

People arguing over how other people feed their kids is just silly.

NaiceUser · 01/04/2024 18:02

@VestibuleVirgin How is this 'crap' please? Baffled tbh

To think pouches are awful?