The problem with pouches

Is there a problem with pouches? Those brightly packaged squeezy packets of commercial baby food so easy to pull out

of a nappy bag or when dinner plans go awry?  Commercial baby food includes pouch packs, jars, cans, and snack products such as puffs, rusks, rice cakes, snack bars, and yoghurt drops. While they can get you out of a tight spot when your baby is hollering to be fed, they often miss the mark compared to home-cooked food in many respects. Some of these are explained below.

Sweet taste

There are no single vegetable products currently on the market. Instead vegetables tend to be mixed with fruit or sweet vegetables such as sweet corn or sweet potato. This bumps up the sweet taste and may lead to your baby preferring mainly sweet foods. While fruit and vegetables are good for your baby, providing mainly commercial baby foods makes it harder for them to learn to accept the comparatively bitter or savoury tastes of single home cooked vegetables. Clever marketing with claims of ‘no added sugar’ tricks us into thinking the food isn’t sweet, when actually it may contain a lot of natural fruit sugar. For example, a single 120g fruit pouch can contain 14.4g of fruit sugar, which equates to 3.5 teaspoons of sugar.

Low in iron

The meat content of commercial baby foods is usually low, typically only 6-10% of the meal. This means that a 120g pouch would provide 12g of meat at best, which is likely much less than you would provide your baby if using home-cooked food.  The low meat content in commercial baby foods results in lower provision of iron compared to equivalent home-cooked meals.  Babies have a high requirement for iron, therefore using mainly commercial baby foods risks low iron intake.

Limited skills development

Pouches provide little opportunity for fine motor development. This is because your baby uses a less-refined grip to hold and suck from the pouch. Therefore your baby isn’t learning the precise control and hand-eye coordination required for spoon- and finger-feeding. Commercial baby food tends to have a uniform  texture compared to home-cooked food. This uniform texture doesn’t provide much opportunity for your baby to progress their chewing skills.  If you rely on these foods, your baby may not learn to manage a variety of textures.  This can lead to long term problems with fussy eating.

Limited sensory information

Pouches offer very little sensory engagement. This is because your baby isn’t able to see, touch, or smell the contents. Since there is only taste to discover, your baby is unlikely to learn to visually recognise a food they accept the taste of. Therefore your baby may refuse the same food when it is offered from a bowl that they accept from a pouch.  Commercial baby food also tends to have a uniform taste compared to home-cooked food. Your baby’s palate matures rapidly over time, so the bland first foods are no longer so interesting by 9 or 10 months. Even the 10mths+ commercial foods don’t offer much taste compared to home cooked equivalents. If you rely on these foods, your baby may not learn to accept new tastes. This can lead to long term problems with fussy eating.

Pouches promote sucking

Pouch food is usually easily and quickly sucked down without much need for chewing. Due to the fast pace of eating, your baby has less time to recognise their own fullness. This may lead to inappropriate weight gain.  Also, commercial foods tend to be more acidic than home-cooked food. Sucking rather than chewing produces less saliva, maintaining the higher acidity of the food. It is unclear whether the increased acidity causes any long term harm.

Low food allergen exposure

Commercial foods tend to be low in food allergens such as egg, fish, wheat, peanut, tree nuts, and sesame. It is well accepted that foods which pose a risk of causing food allergy should be introduced in appropriate textured forms before your baby is 12 months of age.  If you are relying mainly on commercial baby foods, it is actually very difficult to expose your baby to these potential food allergens.

Costs

Commercial baby foods are expensive compared to home-cooked food. A typical 120g pouch is $1.99, so feeding your baby 2-3 of these each day is around $4-6. Across one week, it totals $28-42.  Hence, the cost of convenience is high compared to the far lower cost of preparing home-cooked food.  Also the cost to the environment can’t be overlooked – typically only the glass jars can be recycled, not the plastic pouches.

If you do use pouches

• Try to use them only occasionally or in emergency.
• Aim to reserve them for possible back-up when you’re away from home and your baby’s usual food has run out.
• Try to limit them to when you’re out of routine and away from home. This could be when you’re on long flights or car journeys, on holiday, or away from civilisation such as when tramping or cycle touring.
• Look for commercial baby foods with added iron. Examples are iron fortified cereals and muesli, iron fortified finger snacks such as rusks, rice cakes, puffs, and biscotti. Try to add home-cooked shredded or chopped meat to commercial savoury food.
• Whenever possible, squeeze the contents into a bowl or onto a spoon if you haven’t got a bowl. This means your baby can use their touch, smell and sight senses.  It also means your baby isn’t able to form an association to the food by it’s packaging.
• Putting all food into a bowl and spoon feeding it to your baby allows them to recognise their own fullness and for you to respond to their cues to end the meal.
• Wherever possible, try to serve commercial baby food mixed with other food of appropriate texture for your baby’s stage. Examples include mixing commercial fruit puree with cereal or baby muesli, or adding extra pasta and chopped or shredded meat to a savoury meal. This improves the nutritional content of the meal and changes the taste and texture so that your baby is not experiencing a uniform taste and texture.
• Ensure your baby is exposed to home-prepared food allergens of appropriate texture, rather than relying on commercial foods to do so.
• You can buy reusable baby food pouches to fill with home made food for your baby.
• Ensure you refrigerate any open products and discard them after 24 hours.

The final word on commercial baby food

Where possible, it is best to prepare the majority of your baby’s food at home and use your freezer for storage.  Be aware that if you do opt for commercial baby foods and your baby is already established on a variety of home-cooked meals, they may reject the somewhat bland commercial counterparts.

If you are having problems moving your baby from commercial baby foods onto family foods, consider consulting a registered Dietitian experienced in fussy eating.

Further reading

This article is the third in my series on complementary foods. You may wish to read the first two:

https://littlepeopleeat.co.nz/?p=688

https://littlepeopleeat.co.nz/?p=711

This article was written by NZ Registered Paediatric Dietitian, Fiona Hall. It is intended to complement but not replace information from a medical professional who knows your child.  If you have any concerns regarding your child’s health, please consult their medical professional.