Are baby food pouches and purées really that bad?

[RedPandaFluff]

I have a seven month old and have done a fair bit of steaming and puréeing veg, but as we've been out a bit more now that restrictions have eased, I've been using ready-made pouches a lot more. They've been great - I've got the veg-only ones so they must be reasonably healthy, the baby happily wolfs them down, and I get to save some time. In recent days, I've mostly relied on them rather than cooking for DD.

HOWEVER.

Some mum-friends I have are a bit sniffy about them. They seem to spend a lot of time and effort making recipes from Annabel Karmel and Joe Wicks books, which makes me feel terribly guilty as, once we've been through all the allergens etc., I plan to give DD a version of whatever we have to eat. So basically I see the pouches as a bridge to this.

Am I being a terrible mum for using pouches instead of lovingly crafting special meals for DD? Are pouches really that bad?

And home cooking in my eyes is what i personally cook.... not pretending I am some sort of Delia lol! (I would never make a stock from scratch!)

And home cooking in my eyes is what i personally cook.... not pretending I am some sort of Delia lol! (I would never make a stock from scratch!)

@sauvignonblancplz

Please, enlighten me as to how a pouch of organic puréed peas is worse than my Asda own brand cheap as chips peas? I'm so curious.

Anyway, the point is OP that you want to avoid parents like @sauvignonblancplz

They really aren't good people to be around if you want to be supported as a mother.

My husband actually works in a job where he goes into food factories and sees how these things are made. Buying good quality pouches like that is really not going down the low quality processed food train....

@2155User have a read of the First Steps Nutrition link I posted up thread - might be useful.

My DT’s had loads of the jars - I bought them in bulk. They were brilliant. Easy, great range of foods and contained the types of food I wanted them to eat. Easy transition to our food but still took them out with us as a back up. You can’t go wrong with them.

@RedPandaFluff I would never judge you in how we you chose to feed your child, you asked a question and I answered with my own opinion.
Yes if your friends are being rude that’s not ok.

I didn't get them , just because they are so expensive ! You can reusable pouches on amazon , so I would blend my own fruit / veg and put it in there , so much cheaper and less food waste x

@HarrietM87 I had read that before. Tbh nothing on that made me think twice about what I'm feeding. As I said I read the list of ingredients.... it's what I would use if I was to make that recipe. I have no concerns

@PrayingandHoping I am not suggesting they are the devils work in the slightest

I have a difference of opinion however on what I consider to be more nutritious and what I like to cook. Simple.

Some children are hungry tonight , if your kid got a pouch or salmon and kale they are winning .

Actually my kid did get salmon tonight 🤣 homemade fish pie! Ha ha! She ate what we were eating (then I had to add more water in it was it was too thick. And not one ingredient was organic!)

@HarrietM87

I have read it, but it still doesn't really answer my point.

Other than price, which is massively dependent on whether you can afford it or not, a pouch of organic puréed peas is no difference to what I can provide by purchasing peas and purée them myself?

Praying have you really read it? If you had you’d know it’s not just the contents but also the proportions of the ingredients, the textures and the cost.

@PrayingandHoping Well my kid threw the curry I made on the floor and devoured five popadoms.
I used a jar as I didn’t have the right ingredients....
oh how the tables have turned !
You’re the snob and I’m the slum

I've used them. The only thing I used to do is check the sugar content on the back and try and pick the less sugary ones.

@HarrietM87

If you choose carefully (Babease etc) there are a huge variety of pouches now that specifically don't add 'sweet' ingredients etc to make the taste more palatable.

Obviously some pouches do, but if you select correctly, there are ones that are exactly the same proportions as what you would do at home.

@HarrietM87 yes I have really read it.....

I am capable of reading a back of a packet of ingredients and making my own mind up as to whether I think it has a good quality ratio of ingredients and equal to what I would make if I was making it for her

Texture wise, it is spot on right for her. I know that from when I make her food myself what she can cope with

Yes it's expensive for what it is but without getting personal that isn't an issue for us..... if it was then yes maybe I would be cooking separately for her when needed.

2155 I suppose it’s not as straightforward as comparing homemade pea purée with a pouch of 100% pea purée (though even then I’d say they taste different and have a different texture), because when you wean you don’t give single vegetables for meals (except at the very beginning for some people). It’s once you get on to the ones that are mixes that I think they can be less good than homemade. They’re predominantly padded out with cheaper and sweeter flavours like carrot or apple, which won’t necessarily be reflected in the name on the pouch. From memory for example there’s a “Berry” Ella’s kitchen one that is majority apple and only a tiny bit of blackberry. The ones that have meat tend to have a vastly lower meat content than anything you would ever make yourself.

Again, if you had read the link you’d know it explains it all much better and in more detail than I have here.

I used pouches with my son from time to time but I wouldn’t have given them to him for every meal for those reasons. In particular I wanted him to get used to stronger/less sweet tastes as there’s a problem generally of lots of sugar (including natural sugars from fruit) being added to all of our food these days.

I’ve just looked at Babease online and they’re all stuffed with sweet potato and carrot from what I can see. Very few “green” vegetables. Babies like eating sweet things, so manufacturers focus on sweet flavours so you buy more. Doesn’t mean they’re the best thing to give them.

Feed your baby what you like. I gave my son loads of pouches (there's no way I can match them with my cooking skills), I was just picky about which ones. I made a point of trying them all as I gave them to him. Many taste of nothing and are only good for belly fill. Check out the ingredients as most are sweet - sweet potato, carrot or butternut squash based.
The For Aisha pouches were delicious! Highly recommend them as well as Piccolo & Sainsbury's own x

Feed your baby what you like. I gave my son loads of pouches (there's no way I can match them with my cooking skills), I was just picky about which ones. I made a point of trying them all as I gave them to him. Many taste of nothing and are only good for belly fill. Check out the ingredients as most are sweet - sweet potato, carrot or butternut squash based.
The For Aisha pouches were delicious! Highly recommend them as well as Piccolo & Sainsbury's own x

Again Harriet... people can read the back of packets and choose those that aren't full of sweet ingredients....

Yes there are pouches with sweet ingredients in them. But there are also plenty that don't.

@HarrietM87

I think no matter what, you'll always stay in the "I've never wholly feed pouches camp"

There are plenty of pouches that offer a meal that isn't disguised by sweet taste... in fact I distinctly remember my sons curious face when I fed him one that was predominantly kale!

@HarrietM87

This is one of my baby's favourites. Not one sweet ingredient.

U just have to look and make wise choices. Like life generally.