My daughter Amara rejected banana. She rejected sweet potato. She rejected apple, pear on its own, and a carefully prepared butternut squash puree that I'd spent forty minutes making and that she dismissed with a single look before turning her head away with the finality of someone who has made a decision and will not be revisited on it.
My name is Rachel. I'm 32, I live in Cardiff, and weaning Amara was one of the more humbling experiences of my parenting life so far. She was six months old, she was developmentally ready, and she had absolutely no interest in any food I offered her. I was starting to wonder if she was simply going to refuse solids indefinitely when I tried the Ella's Kitchen Organic Mangoes, Pears & Papaya pouch.
Why Tropical
I'd been starting with the obvious first tastes — the mild, gentle, single-ingredient purees that all the weaning guides recommend. Amara had rejected all of them. I started wondering whether the problem wasn't the texture or the concept of food, but the flavour. She'd been exclusively breastfed, and breast milk has a naturally sweet, complex flavour. Maybe the mild, slightly savoury purees I'd been offering were simply too different from what she knew.
Mango, pear and papaya is a bolder combination — tropical, sweet, with a complexity that single-ingredient purees don't have. I found it on ALTOE and ordered it thinking: if she rejects this, I'm calling the health visitor.
The Breakthrough
I squeezed a small amount onto a spoon on a Tuesday morning, offered it to Amara, and waited for the head-turn.
She opened her mouth. She tasted it. She looked at me with an expression I can only describe as surprised interest. She opened her mouth again.
I sat very still, the way you do when a wild animal has come close and you don't want to startle it. I gave her more. She ate the whole portion. She then looked at the empty spoon with what I can only interpret as mild disappointment.
I may have cried. Just a little. Just for a moment. Six weeks of rejection and then this — a mango pouch on a Tuesday morning in Cardiff.
What Changed After
The mango pouch was the door. Once Amara understood that food could taste like that — sweet, tropical, genuinely delicious — she became more willing to try other things. Not immediately, and not without the occasional regression, but the fundamental resistance softened. Within a month she was eating a much wider range of flavours, including some of the mild purees she'd previously rejected.
I think what happened is that the mango pouch gave her a positive association with the spoon and the whole process of being fed. Once that association existed, other foods had a chance. The Ella's Kitchen pouch didn't just feed her — it changed her relationship with food.
The practical details also held up well. The 120g pouch is a generous size — larger than the standard 70g pouches — which meant there was enough for a proper portion with some left over for the fridge. The resealable design kept it fresh for the next day. The organic ingredients — 100% fruit, no added sugars, no preservatives — meant I felt good about what she was eating even before I knew she'd eat it.
Several Months On
Amara is now nine months old and eating with genuine enthusiasm. She has opinions about food — strong ones, mostly positive — and mealtimes have become one of the best parts of our day. The mango pouch is still a regular in our rotation, partly because she loves it and partly because I feel a specific fondness for it that I'm not entirely able to explain rationally.
It was the thing that worked when nothing else did. That's worth something.
You can find the Ella's Kitchen Organic Mangoes, Pears & Papaya Baby Food Pouch on ALTOE. Browse the Baby Snacks collection for more options, explore the full Baby & Toddler Food range, or take a look at the Nursing & Feeding and Baby & Toddler collections. The Latest Products collection always has something new worth discovering.
If nothing is working, try the mango. It worked for us.
— Rachel Osei, Cardiff
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