A World Health Study just found that half of baby foods analyzed obtained more than 30% of calories from sugar, concentrated fruit juice or other sweetener. This habit of feeding baby sugar essentially trains kids to crave sweet foods, leading to childhood obesity, adult diabetes and heart disease.
But the problem is much deeper: those food pouches our kids love have been linked to childhood obesity, speech delays and problems with motor skills development.
Here’s why you should avoid giving your kid any food squeezed from a pouch, compliments of the folks at baby and child food company Fresh Bellies,
#1 THEY DON’T LEARN FOOD TEXTURES
According to expert Amy Shapiro of Real Nutrition NYC, pouches don’t include spoons, tools which actually help introduce your baby to see and try new textures without scaring them (for example, potatoes). Without a spoon, your little one is just drinking food.
#2 PROMOTES DELAYS IN MOTOR SKILLS
Pouches have been linked to speech delays and issues with motor skills, because kids are squeezing food in their mouth instead of practicing hand/eye coordination to put food in their mouth, which is an important developmental milestones. The prolonged sucking motion of a pouch, beyond the bottle phase, also impacts speech development.
#3 UNDERMINES SOCIAL EATING
When a child is munching on a pouch in the car for lunch or on the couch, they’re not learning to appreciate food as nourishment, understanding their body cues, or really experiencing a meal as “social time” around a table with the entire family.
#4 KIDS DON’T LEARN TUMMY CUES
Kids are squeezing food in their mouths in large gulps instead of savoring each spoonful. The “one spoonful at a time” approach gives babies the space to learn to eat when they’re hungry and to stop eating when they’re full.
With Fresh Bellies baby food (), kids learn to eat how they should – from a cup with a spoon – and without masking vegetables with things like sweet fruit. When ever possible, go with fresh.
That’s the lesson here.