Should you give babies and young toddlers a baby food pouch? 

In the last decade, the sale of baby food pouches in the United States has grown by 900%. In fact, 50% of all products in the baby food market come in a pouch, according to a recent study that compared the World Health Organization’s guidelines for nutrition and marketing in this category. Baby food pouches show up in the baby food aisle of grocery stores and superstores everywhere. You can even find them at Starbucks!

Pouches have become part of the nutritional mainstream for babies and toddlers…and kids! A source of whole foods, usually fruits and/or veggies, grains and meats, many brands boast no added sugar, juices, salt or artificial colors, and say they use organic ingredients.

Some companies claim the content of their pouches are prepared at lower temperatures compared to jarred baby food, and this increases their nutrient content.

While the possibilities are endless with these convenient creations, I advise caution when using them. 

In this article, I’ll share my expert advice and wisdom as a parent and pediatric dietitian. You’ll learn:

• The pros and cons of using baby food pouches
• The recent research about food pouches
• Why it’s important to connect through feeding
• 5 pointers for effective use 

The Pros of Baby Food Pouches

Pouches are easily portable and re-sealable for handy feeding at home or on the go. They don’t get crushed like some whole fruits and vegetables, or break like glass jars. 

Storage is a snap; you can refrigerate or freeze any partially used containers.  They can be eaten cold, at room temperature, or heated up in warm water.  

They make fruits and vegetables more accessible to babies and toddlers when fresh options are not available, or when time is limited.  

It’s easy to complement your own cooked meals or restaurant fare with these pureed food blends to boost your child’s fruit and vegetable intake.

Concerns about Baby Food in a Pouch 

Sixty-five percent of children who consume baby food pouches do so directly from the spout. This gives me concern about how these products are being used with young children. Additionally, I’ve got other concerns:

• Pouch purees are to be introduced around 6 months, when your baby shows developmental signs of readiness. However, some manufacturers make it confusing by stating they can be used at 4 months, or for the “sitter.”
• For infants, sucking on pouches may interfere with language development. Using a spoon allows for a variety of foods to engage the mouth muscles that are necessary for proper speech development. 
• Babies and young children should be learning how to use a spoon to build their fine motor skills.
• Purees are a smooth texture, and infants need to progress at around 7 or 8 months to a variety of textures.

I recommend using a spoon when feeding these pouch purees. Most kids suck on pouches directly from the spout. It’s ok for toddlers to “suck” on these pouches occasionally, but doing so with regularity may cause problems later on.

A good rule of thumb: Make sure your tot has started spoon-feeding themselves, eats finger foods, and drinks from a cup with minimal spilling before giving them a pouch to “suck on.” Remember, the goal is to advance little ones along with feeding skills. By a year of age, your baby should be self-feeding with utensils (and his hands), drinking out of a cup, and eating a wide variety of foods, flavors, and textures.

Don’t rely on squeeze pouches as the only source of fruits and veggies, or other blends. The goal is for your child to recognize and accept real food, too! 

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Keep Your Baby’s Nutritional Requirements in Mind

As baby pouches become more popular, it’s important to make sure they fit into the overall goals for a child’s nutritional needs. 

• Support your baby’s growth and development by supplying the nutrition they need, especially for critical nutrients like iron, DHA and vitamin D.
• Minimize added sugar and salt. Be mindful of total sugar content on the nutrition facts panel, too, as that will affect the sweetness of the product. Many baby food pouches have sweet fruit as the first ingredient, and this shapes a baby’s preference for sweetness. 
• Unfortunately, what is described on the front of package may not match up with the ingredient list. Remember, the order of ingredients on the list describes the distribution of ingredients. What’s on the ingredients list first is the main ingredient or most concentrated ingredient in the product. If apples or pears are first, the product is mostly apples or pears.
• Another downside, sometimes the product name doesn’t match the ingredient priorities on baby food labels. Example of misleading marketing claims: A veggie pureed baby food that has pears listed first and vegetables as the third or fourth ingredient.
• Heavy metals in baby food is another consideration.

Feeding is as Important as Baby Food

With the fast-paced world we live in, it’s easy to give young children foods they can eat without your help. Remember, feeding is a chance to connect and enhance attachment. When your child eats in the back seat while you drive, you miss out on an opportunity to connect.   A positive feeding relationship in infancy sets the stage for future healthy eating in toddlerhood, childhood, and the teen years. 

Appropriate Use of Pouch Food 

I’ve got a few pointers for using baby food pouches so your baby becomes the healthy, self-feeder he was meant to be!

1. Put it on a Spoon for Baby

The original intent for baby food pouches was to use them with a spoon. Parents could squeeze a bit of baby food onto the spoon and feed it to their infant. 

Today, spoon feeding is skipped and sucking from the pouch is the norm. This misses the opportunity to teach baby how to eat off a spoon and use his mouth muscles to manage, propel, and chew food, advancing their oral motor development.

In early childhood, kids need diversified texture so they learn to chew, self-feed, and advance their feeding skills. 

Babies who do not advance to more textured food by 9 months of age have been shown to have a greater likelihood of becoming picky eaters and having feeding problems later.

Using a pouch shouldn’t harm your baby if you keep moving forward with feeding skills, such as introducing finger foods, offering the spoon, and encouraging self-feeding. 

2. Mix in More Texture

Add textured foods such as chopped and cooked veggies, rice, noodles or shredded meats in a bowl with puree pouches to add texture. These varied textures will stimulate your baby’s sensory system and train his mouth muscles to handle a wide range of food textures.

3. Monitor Baby when Eating a Baby Food Pouch

No matter what, when, or how you feed your baby, they need to be monitored for signs of choking. Being together at mealtime will continue to enhance the parent-child connection and bond. 

4. Start Finger Foods Between Six and Eight Months

Between six and eight months, babies develop their hand grasp and can hold a finger-shaped, or long, thin rectangle of soft food, such as buttered toast, soft cooked vegetables like sweet potato, or ripe fruit like banana or avocado. 

By eight months, the pincer grasp emerges, and your baby can pick up small bits of food with his thumb and forefinger. 

At this stage, introduce foods like strips and small cubes of soft food to your baby’s meal routine. Use this opportunity to introduce singular veggies and fruits so your baby can appreciate the flavor and texture of these foods.

5. Always Sit to Eat

This is good advice for any child at any age (even adults), but especially for the new eater who is learning to handle food. Sitting for meals and snacks helps children pay attention to their food and eating, learn to eat mindfully, and stop eating when satisfied.  

Your job is to provide quality nutrition and establish a good eating environment. If baby food pouches are part of your feeding plan, be sure to use developmentally appropriate feeding utensils and food textures to foster lifelong eating habits.

Resources for Feeding Baby

• Check out our nutrition booklets, workshops, and courses
• My book, The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids

You may also enjoy reading:

• Is Rice Cereal for Babies Safe?
• Toxins in Baby Food: What You Need to Know
• The Ultimate Guide to Baby’s Nutrition in the First Year

How Many Baby Food Pouches per Day?

When you’re starting solid foods, baby food pouches can be a convenient way to have purees on hand. I view pouches as a convenience food, not a mainstay of feeding your baby. To that end, I typically recommend 1 pouch per day maximum. When on vacation, or visiting relatives, relying more heavily on food pouches for a short time is fine. Additionally, babies are only on purees for a couple of months. After that, they should be exploring all kinds of textures, flavors and new food!

Can Babies Eat Straight from Pouches?

I don’t recommend feeding your baby directly from a pouch. Sucking on a fruit puree, for example, reinforces the sucking mechanism, rather than other muscles in the mouth, like the ones used for chewing and speaking.

This article was updated on October 2, 2024.