Feeling intense mum guilt due to baby/toddler pouches

Why?

You can feed a 6 month old whole food. It's the baby led weaning approach.

My 10 month old has never eaten a puree, she's only only ever had whole foods cut up into safe to eat pieces from 6 months old. She just eats what we eat and we take her portion out before we add salt and seasoning for us.

I wouldn't call that confidence.

I would call that a lack of self reflection.

I think it is just disgusting that they are allowed to market and sell them in be first place. I thought baby food had to meet certain standards.

It's the producers that should feel guilty. Yes, of course you don't have to buy them. But they market them as healthy which is just wrong.

Hopefully something will change.

I didn't really use these pouches with DC2 (I used the "meal" ones more with DC1), but I have more than a few times put the inside of fish fingers in the blender with a little milk 👀

I’m most interested by the idea that people are feeding their children these pouches beyond weaning and as even three year olds.

Why - just ease? I wonder what these parents would have been feeding their children before.

It should be blindingly obvious a three year old doesn’t need to eat a puréed shepherds pie or similar…?

Ahh yes this is the article I’ve mentioned in my previous post.

It seems to be written by someone who has never fed a baby before. You can’t feed a 6 month old whole piece of fruit. You need to puree it.

And the writer is badly informed about Alpro Growing Up Milk. I’m not sure why they call that one out as a follow-on milk and suggest cows milk is better. Why would anyone offer the Alpro stuff if their child doesn’t have a dairy allergy? It’s way more expensive for one thing. But those of us with children who do have a dairy allergy, we must use an alternative milk from the age of 1 when we can no longer get prevention formula. NHS dietitians recommend the Alpro Growing Up ones because they are fortified and high in calories. You don’t actually want a low calorie option at that age.

I really wish we could all make a collective decision to stop with this mum guilt nonsense. It’s just misogynistic waffle to yet again make women feel like they’re failing when they’re not. I feel guilty about nothing. There’s many problem people in the world let’s focus on the ones who SHOULD feel guilty.

Ask yourself this: would you look down on a friend for feeding her child a pouch? If not don’t look down on yourself.

My husband weaned out LO as he was on leave. Zero guilt when I showed him the article. Even asked why he would feel guilty for making the best choice he could at the time? Must be nice to have that confidence.

My kids had plenty of those pouches, now they are 12&14 and happily graze on “real” veg and fruits. Please don’t worry and be kind to yourself. You are doing an amazing job x

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/15/ultra-processed-babies-are-toddler-snacks-one-of-the-great-food-scandals-of-our-time

Just stop using them now that you know. Don't beat yourself up, you're more informed now so use the information as you need to. Imagine they weren't there, what would you do instead, maybe try that.
I get what people are saying, 'oh it never did mine any harm' etc but really they're not great so don't fool yourself into using them and thinking they're okay when they're really not and there's better options out there.
We can all do better but no point doing worse when we have new information.

I saw this today on the BBC website and was underwhelmed because I don’t think any of this is that surprising. This stuff is pasteurised so it can be stored at room temperature. Heating to high temperatures means the vitamins will be gone. And yes it has loads of sugar in the form of fruit juice because that’s what makes it taste nice. And I guessed all of this when my kids were babies but I still gave the pouches as snacks when out and about because they were easy. And just as a pp said, just because it’s not perfect doesn’t mean it’s shit. It has minimal ingredients so is not UPF and will still contain plenty of dietary fibre. There are far worse things you could give your kid as a snack and I don’t think there is any reason at all to feel bad about it. We are all doing our best.

Honestly I look back now at what my now age 30+ kids ate with absolute horror ! First born I puréed everything into little ice cubes and froze them , she became up quite a fussy eater and ended up with far too much beige food. By the time I got to number 3 I can’t even remember what I fed them, except for when I found chocolate smeared round her face at a few weeks old, courtesy of her older brother! They all are now fit and healthy, eat pretty much everything and are great , imaginative cooks !
Try not to feel guilty, they tend to grow up anyway, regardless of what you’ve fed them!

@RosiePH pretty sure I had the same freak out about the Alpro milk (also recommend to us by a dietician) and then checked and saw it was less sugar per 100ml than cows milk, which no one ever worries about.

I think we should be skeptical about food manufacturer's claims and motivations when their ultimate aim is to get us to buy more food from them. But the expose journalism can be just as bad - they want us to click and watch and read and then worry and click more.

It was on Panorama tonight, you can use iplayer to catch it.

My 3rd child absolutely loved the aldi cheesy potato pie pouches from aldi as a baby which my husband used to give him when I was at work..he's now got the healthiest taste in food out of all my kids and loves his fruit and veg

I think the issue is that the companies are deliberately misleading the customers- so they make it sound like it's a very healthy option when the majority of it is actually apple, processed so that it's very sweet and that's why they like them. So some parents are looking at it and thinking, it's green and it's full of spinach or whatever and not realizing how sweet they actually are. It doesn't mean you've done anything wrong. I'm sure there's a lot worse things they could be eating.

The most nutritionally dense, fortified with actual measurable vitamins & minerals, wholegrain and high in fibre, no palm oil food DD2 would have eaten aged 9 months wouldn't have been some overpriced plastic pouch of goop.

It was the bowl of Pedigree Chum Mixer in the kitchen.

Poor bloody dog walked into the kitchen and looked like he was going to start crying as we came back from the front door.

Looking on the bright side, DD's hair was definitely very silky and she seemed to have loads of energy.

How many dads are wracking themselves with guilt over feeding their children food sold for children? I'd imagine around about ...none.

Seriously don't do this to yourself.

It’s always something though isn’t it. Just because the pouches aren’t maybe the A++ healthiest version of eating a vegetable, does it mean it’s bad to give them to children? We’ve got nothing to feel guilt about.

I really don't think there is anything to worry about- unless using for every single meal!!
I used the pouches and they were so helpful. I think they got my daughter used to different tastes and textures in the weaning stage without loads of time and effort for me. Great for when they can't have what you are having or for when out and about. Like most things- moderation is key.

This prompted me to check the iron and vitamin C on my baby’s formula tin. It’s more than adequate (although it is a medically-prescribed formula for CMPA so I don’t know if that makes a difference) so even if he only ate pouches until he was one, he’d still get all the nutrients he needs. However, I wouldn’t let him do this because he does need to get a variety of textures.

There was a Guardian article a few months back on a similar theme. The writer said Alpro Growing Up Milk was awful because of the sugar content however an NHS dietitian told us this was one of the best milks for us to use as its fortified and high calorie.

I think the sugar thing is being misrepresented by the show and articles. Pureeing (or making a smoothie) fruit increases the free sugars. That will happen at home just as it does when Ella’s Kitchen puree fruit. A lot of fruit does need to be puréed for young babies. You can’t give a 6 month old a slice of apple. It needs to be puréed. And I haven’t seen any NHS guidance saying don’t feed weaning babies fruit, or limit it to a teaspoon a day for example. Why does this guidance not exist if the free sugars from fruit being puréed is such an issue? If it’s fed as part of a balanced approach with veg and meat/fish if appropriate then surely it’s fine.

edited to change a typo.

I remember pureeing so many vegetables to make my own pouches for my weaning child, eventually nursery asked me to just buy the pre made ones as she apparently hated my cooking. Alas.

I feel like nowadays we’re made to feel that if somethings not the absolute best option, it’s shite? Fine, they’re not as good as eating actual vegetables but I’m pretty sure they’re better than the meat paste and Skips I was raised on!