Our thoughts on squeezable food pouches

During our team catch up last week, one topic sparked passionate discussion amongst our educators: squeezable food pouches for children. While we understand these are a convenient meal option for families on the go, they present many issues for children’s development, from nutritional deficiencies and resistance to new textures and flavours, to motor skills and speech development challenges.

What we also discussed was that parents might not even think of these issues. Labels often read ‘all-natural ingredients’, ‘organic’, ‘fruit and vegetable’ and so on, and children, even fussy eaters, usually enjoy the taste of the pureed foods. So, of course it seems like a win-win option, as children apparently get the nutritious goodness they need in an independent, fuss-free manner.

If you are unaware of the problems we have with squeezy packs, read on! We have put together a list of reasons why you should avoid them.

Nutritional Value

We always say fresh is best, so if a baby food pack can be stored unrefrigerated for 18 months, it’s probably not a great option and should definitely not be a part of their daily diets.

To give food pouches this super long shelf life, the pureed food goes through an extreme heat process, where they are sealed and taken to temperatures as high as 350 degrees Celsius, which kills the bacteria that would otherwise spoil the food within days. The high temperatures also kill off most of the nutrients present in the fresh puree, so by the time your child is sucking the liquid food from the pouch, there’s hardly any nutritious goodness left in it.

A Multisensory Experience

Eating is a multisensory experience and children learn so much from it! They see what’s on the plate in front of them, they can smell their food, they experience different temperatures – warm steamed veggies and chilled fruits, for example, and they learn about different textures – picking up small apple cubes, cooked rice or warm soup touching their lips.

As children grow older, it’s very important that they develop oral-motor skills, which assist with speech development and are learned through chewing and using their lips to scrape food from a spoon, for example.

When children are mainly fed squeezable food, they are not given the opportunity to take an active role in eating or to develop these important skills.

A Developing Palate

Children are often fussy eaters – we know getting them to eat anything other than chicken nuggets is a daily struggle for a lot of parents. But while some might think the pureed veggies are a good way to sneak veggies into their little one’s diet, this is actually a poor strategy on the long run.

Veggies in squeezy packs tend to be bland and unidentifiable – as they are often combined with many different ingredients and have to go through the extreme heat process. So when you try to transition from a sweet potato squeezy pack to actual sweet potato pieces, for example, your child won’t be able to recognise the smell, look or flavour, making them more resistant to trying it.

The Price of Convenience

There is a huge global trend now to be environmentally friendly and reduce waste production. We know this is hard, especially when you have little ones who are growing quickly, but an easy way to minimise waste going straight to landfills is to not buy squeeze food pouches and other products that come in single-use packs.

While food pouches seem inexpensive, it is much cheaper to buy whole fruits and vegetables, cook and freeze them in individual reusable containers. So that while saving the environment, you are also saving money.

At Bush Babies Nurseries, we provide daily meals which are full of flavour, texture and smell, and our team of educators are passionate about preparing your child not only for school but for life. To book a centre tour of our Eagleby or Helensvale childcare centres, contact us here.