A google search of baby food pouches yields overwhelming options. When I see babies sucking on these pouches I think: are we in a spaceship? We are raising children, not astronauts. Most of us do not suck our meals; we bite and chew them. Please consider the following problematic aspects of baby food pouches before you buy more of them.
The texture in every food pouch is the same.
Babies develop their tongue muscles and jaw muscles by experiencing different textures. They learn to move food from the center of their mouth to the sides, where their gums are. As they grow teeth they learn how to use them for biting and chewing foods. Homemade purees such as oatmeal and mashed potatoes differ from each other. Pouch purees are identical to each other and offer little in the way of challenging and strengthening mouth muscles.
The flavor of every specific pouch is the same.
Every strawberry pouch tastes the same as the next, every spinach and broccoli pouch tastes the same as every other spinach and broccoli pouch, every pear and oatmeal pouch tastes the same. However, each of these whole foods can vary in flavor, color, and texture. Taste buds develop with exposure to differing flavors. Variety is the spice of life and a diet heavy in pouch food may not encourage your children to try new foods.
Dental health and general health alert
Grazing on food pouches causes the same potential outcome as grazing on sippy cups full of milk or juice: the sugar bathes teeth and gums in sugar, leading to cavities in those very teeth that your baby worked so hard during sleepless nights to grow. Even pouches with “no added sugar” contain plenty of sugar to injure young teeth. If even one fruit is listed in the ingredient list, then likely the pouch contains well above the recommended sugar level for babies. You can read more about how manufacturers of baby foods fail to meet World Health Organization standards of baby nutrition and mislead consumers here.
Heavy metals were found in some baby food pouches. According to Consumer Reports, fresh or frozen foods generally are safer for babies than food pouches.
Pouches are expensive!
For instance, a 3.5 oz banana food pouch by a well-known brand costs $1.69. Extrapolating, a pound of this same pure banana food pouch costs $7.72. Compare this to the average price for one pound of bananas in the US: around 63 cents. Put another way: Banana food pouches can cost 12 times more than fresh bananas.
The cap of a baby food pouch poses a choking hazard.
If the cap fits through a toilet paper tube or a paper towel tube, it is small enough to get lodged in a child’s airway. Be sure that your baby cannot grab the cap.
The plastic of baby food pouches adds to environmental pollution.
The pouches are not always recyclable and end up in landfills. Pouches fail to support a greener lifestyle.
Our conclusion
Baby kangaroos live in pouches. Astronauts live on pouches. We propose that the rest of us should live pouch-free.
Julie Kardos, MD with Naline Lai, MD
© 2024 Two Peds in a Pod® Banana image created wtih ChatGPT
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