AIBU to think it's strange there's no discussion of latest baby food pouches news on here?

[parakeet]

Maybe I've missed it.
Here's the BBC report https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62j0l0gg4go

There was a thread this morning on it, I think

I’m not really surprised in all honesty. Those pouches are the equivalent of feeding your baby a microwave dinner every night IMO. I don’t actually know anyone who used them other than in an emergency out and about. They really shouldn’t be forming the bulk of any child’s diet.

This isn't news, just common sense.

Ready meals aren't that healthy...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weaning/5324218-important-article-for-parents-of-babies

You only have to look on the back of the pouch to realise they put Apple juice in things like shepherds pie to get a baby to eat them. I don't think it's news

There have been threads over the years - people get pretty defensive and don’t like to see the evidence that these pouches aren’t the nutritious option that they are advertised as. Lots of ‘but it’s just veg, like you’d cook yourself’.

I’m pretty annoyed with manufacturers who advertise them so misleadingly. It’s similar to the completely unnecessary follow on formula or growing up milk - big companies aiming for profits rather than what is best for babies.

It isn't new. I remember 21 years ago the health visitor did a talk on weaning and I distinctly remember her having cans of coke and teaspoons next to the jars comparing the two and there was more sugar in a jar of baby food.

All "baby food" is utter shite.

Just give them real food.

I don’t think it’s fair to say everyone already knew this therefore it’s not news. I certainly didn’t know it, and there’s a large migrant population who also probably have no idea. Baby food should meet certain nutritional standards. I hope whichever governing body takes action and enforces some

This isn’t news but people buy it so it will continue being manufactured.

It is like anything else that some people develop a reliance on. These pouches are quick, and easy to use.

Pouches have always been bad tho - this isn't new news.

I’m not generally an idiot and I lived with a type1 diabetic for many years, so I did realise that the sugar content in some of these pouches is high. But I hadn’t appreciated how much the mineral and vitamin content can drop compared to home-cooked food.

As a working mum I did use pouches and toddler ready meals - usually if we were out and about or visiting family and maybe a few times a week at home dc might have a fruit pouch or a toddler ready meal.I feel really bad about it now, but at the time it didn’t feel like a terrible choice as long as I didn’t use them all the time and i figured it might be better than eating what I was cooking for dh and I (which might have too much salt in, or be too spicy, or not able to be “mushed up”.)

By the time ds2 came along I was more confident cooking (as dc1 was older I’d had a lot of practice) and dc2 was always less fussy than dc1. I can’t work out if that is because dc1 ate all these identically flavoured ready meals, so when she hit something that tasted different she was more likely to freak out.

It makes me really sad because Ella’s Kitchen appears to have amazing values, it’s hard to imagine that they are deliberately bamboozling parents who are trying to raise healthy kids who enjoy lots of flavours.

I agree.

But generally any threads about foods for weaning involve a lot of defensive posters insisting that it really is just pure veg and basically the same as a home cooked meal (despite the obvious sweetening with apple juice etc in them)

My children refused to eat them. When I tasted them myself, I could understand why.

I mean nobody actually thinks they are healthy do they? There is a reason babies love them like little kids love a mc Donald’s.

It’s why they have real food when it’s then offered as it’s loaded full of sugar rubbish. Fine for an emergency or a “treat”.

My dc have never had a pouch. I was advised to get them used to it, in case of emergency or travel. And every time I gave them one they had the worst tummy runs. Just shows

Probably because those who used them, genuinely thought they were giving their children decent food and are now upset and angry, and those who didn't use them know better than to crow or be smug.

All we can do regardless of which side , is to feed children food of know provenance from now on.

It's still common sense. McDonalds have reached the far reaches of the world. Quick is usually unhealthy.

They can adjust it but it'll never be healthy

And if they do adjust it it will never ever be cheap

People don't like to admit they want to choose convenience so lie to tehslevs and get defensive.

My dd loved pouches when she was a baby, I was extremely busy and they were convenient. She had baby vitamins too and plenty of milk and was happy and healthy. I think fed is best extends sometimes to more than milk!

I mean nobody actually thinks they are healthy do they?

Manufacturers of baby food have enormous marketing budgets and go to enormous lengths to convince parents that their products are healthy, and use clever wording incorporating claims about nutrition and buzz-phrases about fortification with vitamins and minerals and “the right balance for each stage of development” and the like to give the impression that they are a superior product. Which is the problem: for every person who knows that this is just largely promotional persuasion, there are worried parents who aren’t getting the information from elsewhere being bombarded with this, desperate to do the right thing for their baby’s health, who it works on.

I mean nobody actually thinks they are healthy do they?

People really really do think they are healthy. And the believe that something factory made is better than home cooking is very pervasive.

You see the same thing in baby milk being better than breast milk. Or in adults that meal replacement drinks are more nutritious than real food. These myths are very deep seated.

I always knew that the pouches would be rubbish but was still shocked at just how rubbish they are - I'd assumed some work had gone in to making sure they contained sensible amounts of RDAs for protein, vitamins and minerals. But apparently not.

In the end, if you didn't cook it yourself (or someone you can genuinely trust like a close relative did) you don't know what's in it, and the packaging will almost certainly be misleading.

Most of the savory food in pouches tastes disgusting, but to be fair, no more so than the baby food they used to sell in jars.

It’s bonkers even at 17 with my oldest we knew these were full of rubbish people are too scared to do BLW but will believe anything on the front of the pack and ignore the back.

‘Fed is best’ is quite a low bar. Like normally as parents we’re aiming for a bit better than ‘not starvation’.

These pouches are clearly deliberately misleading parents to think they’re healthy so I don’t blame the parents at all. The slogans and packaging make them look like good wholesome food.