"My kids ate squeezable baby food pouches and they turned out okay."

There are a lot of motherhood sins I need to confess.

I had a caesarean with my first and a whole sh*tload of drugs with my second and third babies.

I breastfed them and then I gave them a bottle and all three kids refused to give that up.

My last born had a dummy and my first born slept in my bed.

I’ve skipped through pages when reading Where are the Green Sheep and I’ve been known to hide our copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

I’ve occasionally forgotten to send my kids to school without their lunch/library books/sports kit/ excursion notes and I never, ever, EVER listen when they are talking about Minecraft or Lionel Messi’s latest hat-trick.

Oh, and today I realised there was another parenting sin I had committed.

I fed them baby food in squeeze pouches.

You know the stuff. You know you know it.

With your first baby you swore you’d never touch it.

No baby of mine is going to eat something prepared in a (gasp) commercial kitchen.

You swore your precious firstborn would only ever ingest substances created by you. You averted your eyes and pushed that trolley firmly down the baby food aisle.

Never would you touch the evil stuff.

What kind of mother would?

It probably lasted a few months right? You’ve probably blocked out exactly how you got your hands on the very first tube, lest you should ever have to ‘fess up, but there it was nonetheless. It was innocent enough looking all covered in pictures of fruits and veggies and using words like “natural” and “organic” so why not try it just once?

Just once you lulled yourself into believing.

Come baby number three it’s hard to remember being so pompous.

The baby food aisle was the first stop (after the Kinder Surprise for the screaming two-year-old in the trolley).

Even today I come across unused pouches of the liquid gold in car glove boxes, down the back of couches, in the bottom of my handbag along with a few tampons and a hand-bag sized ball pump.

(Who knows when you need to blow up a limp soccer ball right?)

So it’s a shame to read, once again, that mums like me, are being shamed - once again - for making our lives convenient, simple and even that little bit easier by feeding our babies commercial baby food.

There is a headline shaming us all today branding squeezy baby pouches as “takeaway food” for babies.

A series of nutritionists have told News Limited that these squeeze pouch foods are "too sweet", "too smooth" and that mothers who give them to their babies obviously don’t give a sh*t about their babies and are only out for themselves.

Well they didn’t exactly say the last part, but it’s the feeling you are left with isn’t it.

A spokesperson for a “well-­established pouch brand” defended the use of baby food saying their products were “made without added salt, sugar, artificial colours and flavours or preservatives”.

And on and on the mummy shaming goes.

Look let’s get a few things straight:

Most mums and dad who use “pouch food” to supplement their baby’s diet give them homemade food and finger foods as well.

No adult (well, no adult that isn’t a catwalk model trying to conform to some useless body ideal)  still eats baby food.

Even kids who do get homemade organic puree from the finest sources can grow up to hate certain foods, just as those who got a few jars or pouches can grow up to be perfectly healthy kale-smoothie-drinking grown-ups.

Shauna's kids don't ALWAYS eat healthily, but they turned out okay. Image supplied.

My kids are past the baby food stage now so I’m writing this with hindsight, but here are some more facts from the social experiment that is my small family – two of my three kids had lots of squeeze pouches, one had a bit less – and all three are okay.

All three eat vegetables.

All three are a healthy weight with healthy habits, bright inquisitive happy minds and a healthy interest in all food groups.

It's true: My kids ate squeeze pouches and did okay.

Look even Kate Middleton has admitted that she fed the stuff to Prince George - his favourites being a Greek-style yogurt with kale, strawberries, and amaranth as well as a spinach, sweet potato, and apple purée, and broccoli with pears and raspberries.

If he eats it then so too can my kids. Image via Getty.

Let’s stop the food shaming.

If it’s good enough for a royal kid - its good enough for the rest of our children too.