Feeling intense mum guilt due to baby/toddler pouches

[Hellosaidfred]

Obviously I’m not deluded enough to think that pouches compete against actual fruit / veg. But as a mum of a toddler who is extremely picky I’ve found these pouches a life savour for us as I assumed they’d be somewhat healthy.

My child will not touch veg so I always hoped that blending it in smoothies or giving him a few of the Ella’s kitchen or little Freddie’s fruit and veg purée blends during the week as a snack would count as something - but now I’m seeing articles about how bad they are and many comments about how bad these parents are for offering them to their children - I am starting to have mum guilt.

He eats plenty of actual fruit luckily if we slice into porridge or yogurt.

Not really sure what my aibu is, just wondering if there’s any mums out there that used these pouches and feel the same way

My children ate/ still eat loads of them. Something else to now feel guilty about as I spin a million plates. I think most parents I know use them.

On the bright side, I’ve just checked on Solid Starts how to get more iron in their diet and it suggests (alongside other more obvious foods) cricket, grasshopper, quail and elk. So that’s easy.

I listened to the journalist who conducted this investigation being interviewed on radio 4 earlier.

She says that she was using them with her own child, just like every other parent these days. She began to read the nutrition labels and approached the BBC to do a story on it. They sent pouches from all big brands to an independent lab for testing, and the results are pretty damning.

They’ve cross referenced the data with NHS/WHO guidelines and found the companies involved have got lax nutritional standards and in some cases, are being incorrectly advertised.

The bottom line of the investigation is that these huge companies are at fault. Parents who have used them are urged not to feel guilty. Better guidance and age labelling ought to follow.

@Hellosaidfred dont beat yourself up. You were doing your best at the time. It’s good that we have this additional information now though as it can hopefully allow people to make a more informed decision.

I feel pretty shit about it too. No going back. Just have to eat better from now on.

There should at least be a message reminding you fresh is best. Reminders are what tired parents need.

I breast fed mine and made organic food etc then one day when I was on the toilet he escaped from his bumbo chair (not sure how you spell that but a supposedly secure chair on the floor) and he ate the cat food. My other son ate snails and licked the drain when I was really ill and being sick and could not physically get up to stop him. Most Mums try our best and it’s never perfect. Just keep trying different things and doing the best you can. If they eat the odd bit of cucumber great. If they will only eat the pouches then so be it. It’s better than cat food.

There's nothing wrong at all with using them like you are as a snack or occasional meal replacement & I think they can be great at getting in a variety of veg of new flavors but it is quite disturbing when you look at the ingredients of the savoury meals marketed as healthy & wholesome as they are all sweetened with 'natural fruits & vegetables' ie loads of apple juice.
They eat the pouches of 'organic sweet potato shepherds pie' or whatever because it's been sweetened with apple juice. It's then harder to get them to eat home cooked food because they've learned to like sweeter foods.

It’s not just about the basic ingredients.

The research has highlighted that in those fruit pouches virtually all the Vit C had been lost in the manufacturing process, and although they are marketed as “no added sugar” etc they have actually been found to contain 4 teaspoons of “free sugars” so it gets around the advertising rules.

Unless you really went digging into all of this, you would have thought exactly like you did- it’s only 3 ingredients, all good? This investigation has really lifted the lid on it all and exposed quite a lot of these things which otherwise have been hidden behind misleading advertising.

Try not to use pouches past the weaning stage. A 3 year old should not be eating them, for example. It’s not just about the nutrition (or lack of) - your child needs to be biting and chewing a wide variety of food in order to develop the mouth muscles to speak properly. Research is now showing that eating a very soft diet is linked to poor speech development.

Don't bother with guilt, such a waste of mental energy. I weaned both our DDs on Hipp Organic jars and fruit pouches. I bloody hated toddler food prepping, and this was so much easier.

By the time they were at school they were eating a very varied diet, including lots of seafood and spicy curries. DD1 ended up playing two sports at County Level and DD2 was a competitive gymnast for 5 years, so I think they survived rather well (I didn't even bother BFding DD2, gasp).

My toddler loves a fruit pouch here and there, I gave her baby meals occasionally when weaning.
Honestly don’t beat yourself up, I certainly wont be. Most of us are just trying our best and everything in moderation. Life is for living, not enough hours in the day to worry about a fruit pouch as a snack.

And this is very much a First World problem. There are millions of parents in developing countries who would give anything to be able to provide Ella's pouches for their toddlers.

There was a panorama programme on BBC1 tonight about those pouches and I need to catch it on iplayer.

I’m guilty of using a lot of pouches for my first born from about 8-14 months as I was very sick (physically) and found it hard to cope. For my second I’m batch cooking, puree-ing and freezing all sorts. Love those little silicone trays from Nuk or other brands.

Don’t worry you sound like a great parent if your little One likes them, just continue offering them, maybe less often?

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!

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

@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.

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!

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.