Navigating the baby food aisle

Dr Alex Chung, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, Monash University

Early childhood is a time of huge physical, mental and social growth. The food your baby eats in these early years helps set the stage for healthy habits later in life. But with supermarket shelves full of colourful pouches, snacks, and ready-to-eat meals for babies and toddlers, it can be hard to know what to choose for your little one.

Food marketing is a powerful tool used by food companies to drive sales. And evidence shows it works. Exposure to food marketing influences children’s preferences and shapes what we, as parents, put into our supermarket trolley.

Let’s break it down so you can feel confident choosing foods that support your child’s development.

Packaged baby foods are not for everyday

Packaged foods for babies and toddlers are everywhere, and they’re marketed to look healthy. Bright colours, cartoon characters, and pictures of fresh fruit and vegetables are all designed to catch your eye. Claims promoting nutrition, health and development benefits appeal to your desire to choose the best for your child.

But these products aren’t meant to be your child’s main source of nutrition. Research shows that many packaged foods are high in sugar and low in important nutrients.

The ingredients are not always the same as what you would use if you made the product at home. Many products contain added sugars and have a sweet taste, reinforcing children’s preferences for sweet foods. While the smooth or dissolvable texture of many of these foods do not support young children to learn how to eat more complex textures.

Most packages contain multiple different claims, but products do not have to be healthy to make these claims. Claims like natural, no added sugar, and organic are commonly used by food companies. Stricter rules are needed to regulate the use of claims on these products.

Think of packaged foods as ‘sometimes foods’. They can be useful for travel, parties, or when you’re out and about, but not for everyday. Here are some tips to help you decide what’s actually nutritious and what’s just clever marketing.

Turn the pack over

The most important information about the product is often on the back. The ingredients list tells you exactly what is inside the product. Ingredients are listed from most to least, with the first few making up most of the product. Check if the ingredients match what you are expecting. Consider if you would use the same ingredients if you made the food at home. 

Check for hidden sugar

Many baby foods taste sweet because they include fruit purées, fruit concentrates, or fruit juices. These are all forms of added sugar. Added sugar isn’t needed in a child’s diet. Choose foods without sugar, fruit juice concentrates or fruit purees listed in the ingredients.

Avoid feeding directly from pouches

Offer food from a spoon instead of the spout on a squeeze pouch. This supports chewing, swallowing, and speech development and helps babies learn self-feeding skills.

Nutritious alternatives to packaged foods

When choosing foods for babies and toddlers, think about the developmental stage of your child, and choose suitable foods from the five food groups: wholegrains; vegetables; lean meat, eggs, lentils, beans, and tofu; dairy products such as plain yoghurt; and fruit.

Around six months, babies are ready to explore solid foods. You can introduce foods in any order, just be sure to include iron‑rich options from the meat and alternatives group. Texture matters too. Babies need lots of practice chewing and swallowing, so the transition from smooth purées to lumpy foods and then chunky foods is important.

By 12 months, your child can enjoy a wide variety of family foods. Eat together as a family and offer your child small portions of the family meal. 

Between main meals, offer smaller meals made up with nutritious foods from the five food groups. Ideas include wholemeal toast or flat bread with avocado or nut butter, homemade pikelets with plain unsweetened yoghurt, zucchini slice or frittata, cucumber sticks with hummus, corn on the cob, wholegrain wraps with grated cheese, sliced fruit such as strawberries, kiwi fruit, banana, peaches or watermelon.

Avoid hard or round foods that can present a choking risk such as whole nuts, whole grapes, raw carrots and popcorn.

In short

Healthy eating in the early years is important for setting positive habits that can last a lifetime. Nutrition isn’t the only important part – we also need to think about  how we can encourage a variety of foods, texture progression, and shared family meals. 

Choosing whole foods from the five food groups, and preparing these at home when you can is a great way to tick all of these boxes. Packaged foods can be helpful now and then, but keeping them  as ‘occasional’ foods avoids excess sugar and helps kids develop important self-feeding skills.