Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, my kid is a teenager so maybe this is just a new trend, but I have to ask: what’s up with pouches?

By about a year old, mine was basically eating the same foods we were at that point, just mashed up or diced smaller for safety. I couldn’t imagine giving her purées from a straw/spout at that age, where she couldn’t see or smell or chew anything.

Or am I not understanding what “pouches” are?

No you got it. I think pouches are super easy and the baby doesn’t get as messy as when they eat real food. I never used them but it’s very common. If you go to a restaurant or if you’re driving somewhere it’s easy to give the baby a punch instead of real food. It’s a convenience thing. But the kid is pretty much only eating sweets and breast milk. Not my cup of tea.

Not all pouches are sweet. My kid eats a huge variety of vegetables in pouches, mostly with no fruit mixed in but sometimes a small amount for flavoring. It's less sodium than "real food" (what we eat) and I can control exactly what goes into them. But the main reason is it's just extremely convenient.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the issue with the "sugar bomb" pouches. Most of these pouches are not with added sugar. The "sugar" listed is naturally occurring complex sugars. Is it really a surprise that fruits contain sugars?? You'd get the same amount of "sugar" eating these fruits whole.

Kids who eat from pouches are more likely to eat a lot more fruit (and thereby take in more sugar) than if they were to consume the fruit whole. It's just easier to eat in this format than if having to chew. It's kind of like an adult smoothie---I can eat significantly more fruits when in smoothie form than I would if consuming a bowl of cut fruit.

In general, consumption of these pouches is correlated to childhood obesity, and so a little may be ok, but a full pouch diet probably isn't good for kids.

In this case, the infant doesn't seem to be eating enough even if she is using pouches. So I don't really think it's anything to be concerned about here, though I do understand the general impulse to try and avoid pouches with so much fruit.

Anonymous wrote:Ok, my kid is a teenager so maybe this is just a new trend, but I have to ask: what’s up with pouches?

By about a year old, mine was basically eating the same foods we were at that point, just mashed up or diced smaller for safety. I couldn’t imagine giving her purées from a straw/spout at that age, where she couldn’t see or smell or chew anything.

Or am I not understanding what “pouches” are?

No you got it. I think pouches are super easy and the baby doesn’t get as messy as when they eat real food. I never used them but it’s very common. If you go to a restaurant or if you’re driving somewhere it’s easy to give the baby a punch instead of real food. It’s a convenience thing. But the kid is pretty much only eating sweets and breast milk. Not my cup of tea.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone, I don’t have a group of mom friends so I wanted to make sure DD’s diet is within the normal range in terms of what’s being offered. She hasn’t been weighed for the last 5 months but a friend of mine recently remarked on how thin she is, and she eats much more when offered pouches only (which I’ve done a couple of times as a test) than when it’s a combo of home made stuff and pouches, or just homemade food. Also, I will try hummus - thanks for the suggestion!

If your baby is truly underweight, I think the solution at 11 months is still supposed to be milk/formula based. Again, NOT AN EXPERT. But from what I understand, babies under 12 months are still supposed to be getting the majority of their calories from breastmilk/formula, and the solid food is mostly exploration/whatever they can get.

I would add that if you are concerned that your child is truly underweight, you should get in to the pediatrician before the well visit (unless it’s like next week). But if it’s just that someone said your baby seems skinny, well, some people just think all babies need to be chubby, but really babies come in a spectrum of weights just like adults do. Some will be on the skinny end.