Age guidance on pouches? (Mostly BLW)

[LilsMummyJ]

I'm mostly doing baby led weaning with my 6mo but we sometimes use pouches either along with a meal as a side, as a spread or mixed with yogurt. I have bought in a few 7 month plus 'meal' pouches (beef casserole, spag bol etc) as a backup for when family babysit, if we are having something not suitable (take away or overly salty food etc), and for taking to the caravan in case we are eating out lots and don't want to overdo salty foods!

My question is, can I ignore the age recommendations on pouches since we are giving our baby solids anyway? Or do the 10 month plus or 12 month plus pouches contain chunks that could pose a choking risk to my 6mo? I know she can't have anything with honey until 12 months but is that the only thing to check for?

If we can ignore the age guidance then I will be able to get a lot more variety and more meals similar to a normal meal which would be more in line with BLW for those occasions when we aren't able to do full BLW.

Sorry for such a long post, I know I'm waffling! Hope it makes sense!

It's to do with consistency. The 6m will be smooth and they get gradually more chunky. Don't leave some to look after your 6 mo with a 12 mo pouch.

Can you not just leave something to be heated / prepped if you want to stick to finger food?

We gave our 7 month old a 10 month pouch that we'd mashed down more. We're doing a mixture of finger foods and purees/mashes. I think with spoon food the lumps are more of a risk than finger food because baby can't control what they take in their mouth in the same way so I wouldn't give a 10 month pouch as it comes.

That makes sense, might try that! Will give greater variety but still keeps it safe to limit choking risk.

Why not make a soup for when someone babysits. The amount of meat in those pouches is around 10% so a blended homemade stew would be so much better and with real taste instead of artificial due to pasteurisation, high pressure and high temperature.

I think it might be a choking risk of you're giving paunches older than the recommended age, especially if she's going to be more used to finger foods

I personally wouldn't leave a baby in the care of someone else with a pouch aimed at older babies unless I was very sure they knew the signs of choking and what to do.

If you are doing BlW it's pretty easy to give them something like a sandwich if you're having something else. My youngest would never eat purées but we didn't find we had to buy special four for her.

This is a great idea thanks!