— Char Nolan

You know, I, one of the things that I, um, I think being a practicing pediatrician for 20 years has humbled me in a lot of ways. And one thing that I've come to realize is that you cannot imagine the challenges that various families are facing when it comes to feeding their children. And so, while I would say, you know, a whole food, like, you know, the broccoli florets, um, are definitely the preferred thing. Um, I think it's really important to understand why a family might be choosing those types of products. And, you know, one instance that I can give you is kids who have, uh, neurodevelopmental differences and difficulty with textures. Mm-hmm. The pouches actually may fill a role in exposing them to foods they might not otherwise try. So in general, I would say it's not my go-to. And, um, I certainly don't think there's a need to use those pouches. Um, but I also think it's important to sort of not demonize them, especially if families have specific needs or reasons that they're using those foods. But, um, I'm, I'm not a huge fan, but I think they can have a place and a role. Um, they certainly do add convenience too, so if a family's traveling, it might be better to give them a pouch than to have like no access to vegetables whatsoever.