Ella’s Kitchen pouches in the Times today

[sjxoxo]

my mum sent me an article today in the times about Ella’s kitchen pouches, saying some of them contain more sugar than a can of coke!!! I’ve had a look and it seems to be the fruity ones. Apparently worse if you let the child suck on the pouch.. but horrified as baby boy (6m) loves these and eats a ton of them.
Food for thought!!

“They also said that pouches were worse for teeth than food from jars that is fed with a spoon. The contents are designed to be sucked directly from the pouch, meaning the food spends more time in contact with a baby’s teeth just as they are erupting. This puts them at risk of tooth erosion and decay.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9ecdeb28-fe15-11ec-ab20-2fd534744dd7?shareToken=dd6b2090cb8f72df1d47a2ce5eb7adb8
(not sure the share token will work)

But of course puréed fruit is sugary! It'll be the same as if you purée your own fruit if make a smoothie etc.

Puréed fruit is sugary, whether it's in a pouch or not. I'm sure there is a note on them not to let the kids suck from the pouch though because of small parts. Maybe not, just remember it from when DD1 was small. We used them occasionally but I generally squished them onto a spoon and used the savoury ones when DD was just starting out.

As others have said fruit is very high in sugar, so obviously those pouches will have loads of sugar 🤷🏼‍♀️ as for the teeth bit, as long as teeth/gums are being brushed twice a day not sure what the problem is really

As with all these things, they're just completely unnecessary as a regular part of a child's diet. Once in a blue moon when you're travelling etc, fine, but there's no need to feed your child mush from a straw every day. Just give your 6m old some actual fruit! That way he's actually getting benefits (fine motor skills, oral development, texture exposure, social eating skills) as well as sugar.

Yeah like previous posters say, they'll have the same sugar as you would get if puree-ing that same fruit yourself. Its very easy to just look at the ingredients (which will be just that fruit and maybe water) and see what's in them.

I do agree with the article that they shouldn't be advertising them for 4+ months.

I’m not sure what you were expecting?

all pre made baby food is full of sugar and crap put into it to keep it on the shelf.

I remember reading that some jars of baby food have more than a toddlers RDA of salt in a single jar.

started looking and true enough. Heinz is particularly high salt content

Not sure why this is surprising. Fruit is sweet. Processed food like this has more sugar than something less or unprocessed. You don’t need to buy them and your baby is predisposed to like sweet things so I’d get him eating proper veg instead. Steamed broccoli, chunks of courgette and cucumber, avocado etc.

No one needs to buy packaged stuff like this, it’s very expensive and has loads of packaging. It might be convenient but not more than giving them some of what you’re having. And the learn nothing from sucking on a packet. Food is about hands and texture and playing as much as tasting and eating.

Gosh, all them nasty ingredients.

I actually disagree with pp, I think they have more sugar than fruit you puree yourself as they deliberately select the sweetest fruit varieties. Some of the pouches taste like jam. Also if you get the ones that are mixed fruit/veg they are often overwhelmingly fruit with a tiny amount of veg added.

It’s not about the ingredients, it’s about the naturally sugary fruit being processed to a high degree, smoother than you could make at home, directed straight on to the teeth and gums in a way that smushed fruit on a spoon or a chunk of fruit in a fist wouldn’t be. It’s not the worst thing in the world but they’re designed to be highly palatable and it’s better on the whole to get children used to the taste and texture of “whole” fruit (maybe chopped!), eg skins and all.

Obviously puréed sweet fruit contains a lot of sugar?? They’re fine on occasion, especially for ease when travelling, but they shouldn’t be a daily staple!

Oh I agree with the feeding straight from the pouch, I didn't even realise people did that.

However people are acting as though there are nasty added ingredients, or that all processed foods are bad for your health.

There are many different forms of processing, it depends on that and the ingredients. The sole fact that something is in a pouch does not make it bad for health.

What nutritional advantage does smooth puréed fruit from a pouch have for a baby over a chunk of banana or a piece of broccoli?

Why did you think pureed fruit would be low in sugar?

Same as orange juice being high sugar. As you wouldn’t be able to eat 15 oranges in one go, but 15 oranges juices goes down easy and full of sugar. Your body would stop you if you tried to eat 15 oranges. Same with the purée you make at home.

For kids who won't eat the physical fruit its gets a portion of fruit in them each day. Convenient for when out and about

Fruit contains sugar. These pouches only contain fruit. They actually say to squeeze into a spoon for feeding. Clean your child’s gums and teeth, no drama required. To be horrified is completely OTT.

onto

A 6 month old doesn’t need fruit. And you can stick a banana in your pocket, bag, buggy. Can be a bit messy but no more than spoon feeding them a packet given they shouldn’t be sucking it by themselves.

There is a significant amount of research that shows pureed pouches are dreadful for weaning. Feeding purees is actually a higher risk of choking that solids.

This article discusses the invention of baby food and the intensive marketing to convince mums to buy jars. It has references to peer reviewed studies too - solidstarts.com/baby-led-weaning/history-of-baby-food/

If food comes in a tin, so you eat it from the tin or jar & not decant onto a plate or bowl?

why would you let a child suck the contents out of the spout?

I don’t feed from the pouches.. that’s not a ‘’normal” way to eat imo.
I do feed mashed fruit & veg that I make myself.
I buy mainly the vegetable pouches and items that I wouldn’t necessarily purée myself like sweetcorn or brocoli.
I give some chunky food but mostly purée as he has no teeth he doesn’t get much from an apple for example.
Im in France and here the current recommendations are all fruit and veg from 4m and some meat and dairy from 6m.

I just posted this as I thought it was interesting and informative. We all know fruit contains sugar, I think the part that is particularly interesting is why the brand(s) make ranges containing largely sweet fruit flavours, rather than vegetables. I noticed Ella’s now have a little note on the corner saying ‘’more veg’ so they are likely aware of consumer thoughts on the subject.

This article shouldn’t be used as yet another stick to beat mothers with, we’re all just trying our best to fed our kids.

Used in moderation with a spoon and alongside regular teeth cleaning, there’s no need to get overly worked up about this.

Meh, no harm if they're part of a balanced diet. We did BLW anyway but the Ella's prune purée pouches are helpful if DC get constipated.