To think pouches are awful?

[AIBUnamechanger9]

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?

I feel quite sad in a way that this post has by far received the most thanks i’ve ever had. Really sad what we go through as new parents.

YABU

my children never had them either but I think people should be able to feed their children whatever they want without judgement from ‘perfect parents’.

Would you like a prize?

The peach puree pouches are absolutely brilliant for making Bellinis.

I may have missed the point of the thread....

Im in the hosptial recovering from a very serious operation. So so lazy .... i still always managed to mash a fucking banana or whizz up some veg for my children. That's being a parent.

YABU - my child who is 6 still likes pouches every now and then. Stop judging, you do you and leave everyone else to their own choices.

I had my eldest when I was 19 and had to go back to work when she was 16 weeks, this was 19 years ago and I fed her quite alot of jars back then. My next two I basically just fed child friendly versions of what we ate. I also breastfed them alot longer than my first but she's the one who is rarely ill and eats absolutely anything where the other two are fussier and she has the best teeth. To be honest other peoples babies diets aren't something that I concern myself with.

I think they're fine! My toddler has the yogurt ones and definitely knows how to eat with cutlery as well but also the pouches are handy for travel and lunchboxes.

I think they are wonderful!

I had post natal depression with my first child who I anxiously home made all things in a baby lead weaning frantic storm as if I somehow had to earn my way to a happy child by working as hard as possible.

My second child I fed almost exclusively for months on pouches and milk. I was a relaxed mum and I ignored the parenting forums for the whole year first year. Joyful.

If you genuinely enjoy it, fab. Cook all you want.
If it makes you want to cry. Trust me, it’s not the answer. Pouches all the way 😁Your baby will still be blessed to be amongst the best nourished babies in human history.

It's just basics. Whatever you've eaten. Whizz up with a hand blender. It's not difficult or time consuming and you know whats in it!

Im not suggesting that you wash your clothes using rocks at the river. But surely good nutrition is a parents role. (And its cheaper!)

They are! And so convenient.

I just had a look at the back of mine:

Apples 71.9%, strawberries 20%, raspberries 5%, Bananas 3%, concentrated acerola juice.
The other ones are 99.9% apple juice, and 0.1 concentrated acerola juice.

I honestly dont see how thats particularly problematic or why that couldn`t be part of a (generally) balanced diet.

@Maddy70 Please explain how mashing up a supermarket bought banana that's been sat in your fruit bowl losing nutrients with every passing minute, is better than a pouch of organic mashed FRESH banana with nothing added? If the "brightly coloured packaging means it's junk" is all you can come up with then......🤷🏻‍♀️

What a hero! And that veg you wizzed up in the blender is SO different from 70% pureed carrot and 30% water you can buy in a pouch, because_!

Can’t wait to hear the reasons. Maybe because it was blended with love. Maybe because your kids were so lucky to have a mum who isn’t a lazy cow.

You’ve got your kids staying in the hospital with you??? How did you swing that? How do the nurses feel about you having a purée machine with you? 🙄

I thought it was about some type of a 👜 handbag or something....

It's just basics. Whatever you've eaten. Whizz up with a hand blender!

Not sure a 6mo would fully appreciate pureed thai green curry. Or if "whatever you have eaten" is pizza, is that really nutritionally superior to unsalted pea puree pouch?

I think you're being very silly and dramatic 'despairing' about people who are simply giving their children healthy food in a way the child will consume it, and that is convenient. If you have a child who will happily eat a balanced nutritious diet without the use of pouches, and are happy to revolve your life around providing three home cooked meals a day, then you are fortunate that your child is compliant where food is concerned, and that your lifestyle affords you the excess time required. Unfortunately this is around 90% good luck, and not something you should feel superior about having achieved.

@GingerPirate @Willmafrockfit

i thought this was about cat food
I thought it was about some type of a 👜 handbag or something....

I thought it was going to be about these type of pouches...

I thought it was going to be about marsupials.

Have you judged the fathers as harshly as the mothers?
they have the time to think, shop and make the food as well?

fed is best. You’ll quickly realise we are all just doing our best at this parenting malarky. No one intentionally wants to do harm. You’ll do things she pulls faces at as not good. Not all babies are the same, not all families are the same.
it is never good to judge as you look like a twat when your halo falls.

My two had pouches as babies, good way to get healthy food in when out and about. They then went onto using cutlery and eating normal food and their teeth are in perfect condition. I disnt even think that there could be any issue with pouches. Im a terrible cook and work full time, so could not spend houra making little frozen blocks of this and that and every time I did they hated it, but were happy with pouchea and could try different flavours and ingredients all look perfectly fine. Im pretty sure you wont see all the pouch fed children grow up to be adults only being able to eat pureed food, unable to use cutlery and with rotten teeth unable to work and with low IQ all because they had ellas kitchen pureed banana pouches.

I use them in addition to what my DS eats (sometimes not much). He regards them as a treat (don’t have them every day) & I get the prune ones or the pear ones to help keep him regular…

The cognitive dissonance of some posters is incredible. I never said it was junk food but anything in a packet is less healthy compared to cooking the same ingredients in a kitchen. It's hardly rocket science. Packets exist to make life more convenient and that's the added value which you pay for. That's perfectly fine and nobody is suggesting that all foods need to be prepared from scratch. However food companies know that "convenience" is a less effective marketing tactic compared to "health", especially with it comes to parents making the purchasing decisions for their children.

A veg pouch is obviously healthier than Mcdonalds but it's not a direct substitute for steamed, mashed peas at home. That's where the marketing deception comes in. Many companies aim to give the impression that their pouches are fine to be used every single day as a substitute for freshly cooked meals when that's simply not the case (as per the previous study on nutritional density). But if they get enough mothers buying their pouches for daily use, they make huge revenues.

At the end of the day companies want to make money. They don't genuinely care about the health of your children or your family. Whatever health benefits are inside a product (organic produce, no added sugar etc) are usually there because they are great for marketing, which in turn sells more products. They will try to keep their margins as low as possible, which results in things like adding more water to dilute the purees or using high-fructose fruits to make it taste sweeter but still claiming there is no added sugar.

It's not being a conspiracy theorist to take a lot of the advertising we are being bombarded with every day with a grain of skepticism.

I just knew this would be about baby pouches.

just rein your bloody neck in. You have no idea what those children are eating the rest of the day