Are Baby Food Pouches Healthy?

Baby food pouches are super convenient aren’t they, I’m sure the majority of parents reading this have used them if your baby is over 6 months. Personally, a cold mashed spaghetti bolognese pouch for my lunch doesn’t sound that appealing, but my daughter Lizzie used to absolutely go crazy for them- plus we didn’t even need a plate and spoon- bonus! However, I have since realised just WHY she loved them so much…

The British Dental Association launched an appeal recently about the amount of sugar in baby food pouches. They studied the contents of 109 pouches for under 12 month olds, and found that over a quarter had MORE sugar in than a can of coke. With some products, which are marketed at babies as young as 4 months, having 150% more sugar than the fizzy drink.

The language used on the packaging has also been criticised, with all the high sugar products using language such as ‘nutritionally approved’, ‘no added sugar’ or ‘high in fibre’, which makes them sound healthy, but actually they're not really- confusing hey. 

So what can we do?

It’s unrealistic to never use pouches, but there a few simple changes we can do to help:

-Only use pouches as a treat or when out and about, rather than relying on them for every meal.

-Check the sugar content before you buy- the study found that supermarket own brands often have less sugar that some well known brands such as Ella’s kitchen and Annabel Karmel.

-Use a spoon to feed your baby- letting them eat it straight from the pouch means that the food stays in contact with their teeth for longer and puts them at risk of erosion and decay.

Finally, we just want to let you know that we're all just doing the best we can as parents, and everyone's situation is different. Our aim is to make you aware, not to be judgy!