Food pouches: yes or no?

Food pouches can be really handy at times and I have used them on the go or while travelling. They are convenient BUT we should consider the health, cost and environmental impact that they do have on our children and on the planet.

Composition of food pouches:

Pouches available from the supermarket often have a high amount of free sugar; this is due to the processing of the fruit and/or vegetables. The fibre removed from the fruit and/or vegetables will release the sugars and this will have an impact on health, texture and taste of the food.

Offering pouches instead of food made at home is likely to increase the risk of being a fussy eater later on. This is mainly because the child is not exposed to the food as a whole but it all appears as a smooth puree with no differences in colours, shapes, textures and taste.

Health impact

Many food pouches are advertised as suitable from 4 months+ of age. But we do know that the recommendations for starting solids do explicitly say that complementary feeding should start from around 6 months of age when the baby is most likely to be developmentally ready. 

Oral health

Food pouches do often have a nozzle to suck the puree from. Suckling will increase the risk of developing tooth decay because of the high free-sugar content of these. Suckling will also have an impact on the delaying fine motor skills development.

Fine motor skill

By offering pouches directly from the nozzle instead of offering them via the use of a spoon or offering age appropriate finger foods will decrease your baby's ability to develop those motor skills needed for chewing and picking up food also called hands-eyes-mouth coordination. 

Texture

The baby also will get used to the very smooth texture of the food in the pouch which will make it harder to accept different textures later on and also it will slow down the texture progression (smooth, lumpy and ultimately pieces). 

Taste

Manufactured food pouches are often made with very sweet fruits and/or vegetables. We do know that we are more likely to accept very sweet tastes. That’s why it is important to start complementary feeding by introducing bitter tastes first. Getting used to sweet tastes will decrease the chance of accepting bitter tastes later on.

Satiety

Satiety decreases due to the smooth texture and the high-free sugars content. It is also likely that the eating pace will increase as a result of the sucking directly from the pouch.

Cost

These pouches are not as cheap as we may think. They are, yes , convenient if we don’t have time to cook or we are out and about but in the long run it adds up to the cost of living.

Environment

The process, packaging, transport and storage and ultimately the waste of these products all have an impact on our planet and therefore on our children’s future.

Bottom line is that we should use them occasionally only when we don’t have any other alternative.