Help! How To Pick The Best Yoghurt Pouch

This is something we get asked all the time. If you are looking for advice on how to pick yogurt in general, then go check out our article on this here. We do also cover a little bit on pouches in there too, but this is a more detailed dive into what pouches on the market at the moment actually pass muster! 

Now, we will also say there is a lot of judgement around using food pouches, but we get it. There are always going to be times when we need quick and easy convenience options and squeezy pouches are perfect for that. We would recommend leaving them to times when you do need them, rather than using them as an everyday option. Where possible, still serve the pouch of yogurt in a bowl and with a spoon. This is a good idea so that we are practicing those all-important feeding skills.

So, what to look for:

• Full fat (aiming for more than 3.5g per 100g of fat and avoid anything less than 3g per 100g as this is low fat)
• No added sugar. Now, this includes added fruit juice or fruit concentrate. These are often added back in to sweeten the yogurt and count as “free sugar” which means it is similar to adding in your white table sugar. 
• Good source of calcium, with more than 125mg per 100g 
• Live yogurt cultures in the ingredients. Some processing methods can destroy that all important probiotics in yogurt, so this is definitely one to look for.
• Good amount of protein, this is more than 3g per 100g. 
• However, we want to avoid your “high protein” yogurt. They often contain more than 10g per 100g of protein and 15g over a pouch. Now for most little people, especially babies, this actually exceeds their protein needs for the day. This is without ANY of the other protein foods they will consume. They also miss out on that all important iron in yogurt, which we often try to get from things like red meat, that also provides a lot of protein. There are many reasons why we want to avoid excessive protein intake in infancy, including the potential to add stress on little kidneys. 

So, which pouches meet this criteria? 

Unfortunately, not many! Below are a couple that you can easily find at most major supermarkets. Now this list is not exhaustive. You mind find in different states there are others that make the cut too! There are also new products hitting the shelves every week. So, we encourage you to turn the pouch over when you see something new and look at the label to see if it worth buying.

Here are some pouches we think are pretty good:

	Tamar Valley Dairy Kids-No Sugar Added  It is full fat No added sugar or free sugar from fruit juice Live cultures Good source of protein (3.6g per 100g) Good source of calcium (143mg per 100g)
	Jalna-Pouch of Purity Organic  It is full fat No added sugar or free sugar from fruit juice Live cultures Good source of protein (4.1g per 100g) Good source of calcium (162mg per 100g)
	Petit Miam-No Added Sugar  It is full fat  No added sugar Live cultures Good source of protein (5g per 100g) Good source of calcium (162mg per 100g) Avoid their range that isn't "no added sugar"
	Farmers Union-Greek Style Yogurt Plain  It is full fat  No added sugar or free sugar from fruit juice Live cultures  Good source of protein (5.5g per 100g)  Good source of calcium (196mg per 100g)  Avoid their other flavours for kids. The fruit ones have added fruit concentrate to sweeten
	Rafferty’s Garden-No Added Sugar  It is full fat No added sugar Live cultures Good source of protein (4.3g per 100g) Lower than the others but still a good source of calcium (129mg per 100g)   OTHER RAFFERTY'S DAIRY PRODUCTS: Their custard range has added sugar Their shelf stable yoghurt breakfast products don't have live cultures, are moderated sugar from the added fruit and unclear on amount of calcium in them

The take home:

Beware- many of the yogurt pouches marketed to kids with colourful characters have added sugar and are low fat. If you want more options or to save a little money (pouches are incredibly expensive compared to tubs) then you can also buy reusable silicon and plastic pouches that you can fill with the yogurt you usually buy. As well as being more affordable it is also a better option for the environment with less single use plastic being used. However, they can be a little fiddly to clean. 

It sounds obvious but another easy option is just putting your usual yogurt into a normal reusable container. Yes, it isn’t as convenient as a pouch and will mean stopping for snack time but as we recommend seated and supervised eating it is a good option too. 

Have you seen any other yogurts that deserve to be on this list? If so, let us know and leave a comment below.