To say 'Fuck you, Ella's Kitchen, I'll boil my own carrots!'

[missmillimentscardigan]

Obviously I get that those pouches can be convenient; I just don't understand the blind adherence to the Ella's Kitchen 'feeding a baby everything from a pouch' idea. Why would you pay probably ten times the cost of a carrot to buy a pouch of pureed carrot? I hate the twee packaging and the stupid baby talk on the packets and cynical marketing guff.

I think parents are led to believe that they couldn't possibly prepare something for their baby to eat themselves, and that it's better and somehow safer, to buy them a pouch of fruit or veg and feed them that instead. So many of my friends, when starting off on weaning their babies, have just bought a load of EK pouches and given them that, and only that. And I find that a bit sad, that parents think that they couldn't /shouldn't cook a parsnip / bit of broccoli for their child, and that the first flavours their baby tries are from a weird vacuum pouch that doesn't even need refrigerating.

I'm no Annabel Karmel, and my children certainly don't eat lovingly prepared homecooked food all the time (hello, beans on toast). But I do enjoy cooking for them and my DH, and so does he. Those pouches have a place, but not at the exclusion of everything else. It's satisfying to see your child eating something you made and that you know is nutritious.

I'm not criticising mothers and fathers for using them; I just feel a bit sad that we are losing and abandoning simple skills, like very basic and inexpensive cooking for children, because baby food companies want us to think that they know better than we do. And they don't!

I did find it odd that a friend gave a pouch of banana puree, what is the point of that! A banana and a fork is all.you need. Having said that I won't be carrying around a flask with homemade food like I did last time it was a right pain in the arse!

Remember that thread when a Poster said that Ella's Peach Puree made an excellent Bellini? , sheer genius!

You absolutely are criticising other parents here

Personally I'd save your 'sadness' for neglected babies and all sorts of actually sad things.

If parents want to educate themselves on how to feed their babies without pouches, there's a shit ton of information on the internet.

xpost with Youre

I find life is much nicer if you try not to give a shit about what other people do when it does not matter. Try supporting other parents than ripping them down. I cannot care about someone buying purees.

Baby led weaning is the way forward! No pouches, no smush. just chuck some veggies on a plate and let them gnaw on them. The best part? You get to eat your dinner while its still hot as you dont have to spoon feed them first.

We did do a couple of pouches at the very beginning, but at the time we had no kitchen (as in, we had a microwave and a sink and that was it for a few months before we moved) so obviously spooning straight out of a pouch was really the only way.

You are criticising parents for using them.

People don't use them all the time because they don't know they can mash their own carrot. They will have been managing to feed themselves 3x a day for years. They use them because they are really easy, particularly when they go out or want to feed their baby quickly and aren't preparing a meal for anyone else.

The babies very likely don't give a shit.

My older DC is incredibly fussy and the EK pouches (the 'green' / 'red' ones with mixed fruit) are sometimes the only fruit intake he has in a day.

They make cracking ice lollies as well actually.

I've never fed ds them and when we've been out with friends and there babies I've never seen anyone use them.

I've got a great little gadget and I fill pouches at home and take out with me.

Tbh I doubt if anybody uses pre made baby food at every single meal, it would be very expensive wouldn't it?

HoneyDragon - "Dd self weaned on pizza."

I don't know why but that gave me a mental image of her browsing a leaflet and phoning Dominoes for a delivery

The reusable pouches you can buy on Amazon are great for sneaking alcohol into festivals.

I've heard.

your OP is one big goady criticism

you don't want to use them
you don't like them
then don't!

I didn't use them at all at home but they were great as a 'packed lunch' for days out. Shoved in the bottom of the bag but no risk of breakage, leakage, no cutlery required etc. DD liked the fruit ones best and they were guarantees to perk her up when she was tired and grouchy.

Surely no one uses them for every meal?

I live outside the UK and do extended visits back (3-6 weeks at a time). Batch cooking when you're a guest in someone else's home isn't always possible so quite often on these visits ds's main meals are all Ellas. It's not cheap but that's not a consideration for me. He was also very hard to wean at first - his gag reflex was majorly sensitive and vomiting at every meal time made BLW a no no for me. He's getting there now. I couldn't puree stuff as smoothly as the first Ella pouches so for me they were a godsend.

I'm with the OP actually.

I'm all for pouches when needed but there is an undercurrent that its safer and better for a baby to have a pre-made pouch rather than mush up abit of carrot.....or that making "baby food" is a hideously laborious job best left to professionals. When really a fork and a bit of cooked veg or banana is all you need.

It feeds into the "what can we do to reduce the amount of obese children" thread.

I'm not dissing anyone elses parenting choices or being smug at all. I used puches sometimes when they were more convenient ( and I used formula when more convenient too).I just don't like the commercialisation of childrens food. I mean banana IS a completely pointless product and waste of money.

I meant "banana puree"

Hang on. I don't feel sad that children are eating food from a pouch; I use loads of convenience foods myself, including for my dc. And they have their uses, as I said in my op. I just find it a shame that lots of parents do not seem to cook at all for their children.
I wanted to see what other people thought about it. Hence posting on mn. That's all.

I used a mix of jars/pouches and homemade when I was weaning my son. I found the jars/pouches really convenient, especially if we'd had a busy day or were out of the house all day.

I got the whole "never feed babies ready made jars, that's all they'll end up eating, it'll make them fussy" etc off the doctors and HV. My son is nearly 2 and eats anything put in front of him.

I'm one of those people that cooks because they need to eat, it doesn't give me any pleasure (just another chore) and I don't get any more satisfaction from watching my son eat something I've made than if he ate something ready made. People have different interests/passions in life, you obviously like to cook, some people don't, and it doesn't make them a lesser parent.

For what it's worth OP, my DS would totally agree with you. He much preferred real food and turned his nose up at Ella. I've never used them and as a result save myself a small fortune.

But, they help a lot of people out when their hands are full and its unreasonable to judge them for that. They're a good product and ridiculously convenient.

You're on pfb aren't you?

With dd1 we lovingly made all her (organic) food ourselves. We cooked batches and froze them. Hardly ever bought anything for her to eat ready made. Those poor children who constantly had ready made.

With dd2 she heartily refused any home made food. We tried. Oh yes we tried, but she totally refused. Eventually I found she would eat the 4month+ stuff. What I called complete slop. Then she would have some finger food. But she didn't like any in between texture.

Ds self weaned straight onto finger food. Never bought baby food as he wasn't interested. He was much more interested in a slice of toast.

I'm not criticising mothers and fathers for using them

Oh yes you are. Your whole OP is very judgy about parents who use pouches.

We went more along the finger food route when weaning, but we used pouches too, mainly for convenience, and mainly when out and about. Even if a parent does use pouches at every meal (surely most don't, given the price of them?), babies aren't going to be on a puree only diet for long. They'll start eating other solid foods soon enough.

We still get the Ellas Kitchen fruity pouches now, as at the minute, it's about the only way my toddler will eat fruit. He's going through a phase of turning his nose up at every offer of solid fruit and home made fruit purees / smoothies. Hopefully he'll grow out of that soon, but in the meantime, it's fruity pouches or no fruit.

DS eats pretty much what we eat the majority of the time but I do use the pouches as pudding. He has a prune one a day and it really helps him not get blocked up. I don't fancy making my own prune puree to be honest.

I do love the pretence that you're not judging

I've got a stack of the fruit ones in my cupboard. My kid is 7. She has fresh fruit with her school packed lunch. And sometimes, I realise we've run out. Shocking, no? Call Social Services. Those days, I grab a pouch.

I used them during weaning you.
Here's one reason for you to judge me on... I liked that she could suck them and I didn't have to bother helping. God that was good! I could tell you that I liked her being in control of her intake, and I wanted to avoid cajoling and making food something to be coaxed into. But no - the main reason was that they were easy, quick, little input from me... Shoot me.

I'm well aware that I could peel a carrot, boil it, mush it, wash up, feed it to her, wash all that up... For a tenth of the price.

Guess what?
Couldn't be arsed with that. (most of the time)

Judge away

I didn't use purees at all. I also didn't make special baby anything, so what? It doesn't make my way better than anyone else's, just different. My entire reasoning was that I make healthy meals anyway and I can never remember to buy extra stuff when I'm shopping.

We can all find stuff to get all sadface about in other people's parenting, just as there will be something each of us does that someone else can feel all smug and judgemental about.

If both of you survive and the baby doesn't have a tattoo, then you've probably done okay.