Expert: Don't give your kids these snacks

Any parent knows that with kids comes a relentless need for snacks on hand, but not all popular snack types -- even the seemingly healthy ones -- are best.

Among the products you might want to skip are those squeezable pouches of various purees that many parents with toddlers have leaned on for quick and easy snack times.

"I don't want to start by saying they're wrong. I think they can be very convenient for families. Kids can enjoy them," Perri Klass, professor of pediatrics and journalism at New York University, told KCBS Radio. "What I'm sort of saying is they shouldn't be the thing that the child is always eating."

Toddlers who are constantly eating pouches miss out on the fun of learning how to eat "real food," Klass explained.

"The great thing about being a toddler is you get to learn about textures, and you get to play with your food, which is incredibly educational, and you're learning to handle it," she said. "But you're actually getting tastes and textures and real foods to explore. That's not always as convenient -- and it can be messy -- but it's a big part of development. It's part of what your fingers are learning to do, what your tongue and your mouth are learning to do."

"Developmentally, all purees or too much puree is not a great thing for toddlers," Klass added. "They're missing out on some of what they need to be experiencing developmentally."

If parents do use pouches, they should pay close attention to what's on the ingredient list.

"I'd be wary of anything with added sugar," Klass said. "I would look for all snacks for toddlers to be no added sugar. Ideally, not a lot of salt."

While it may be tempting to hand over a pouch of yummy fruit puree that you know your toddler will love, Klass said it's important to keep trying new foods -- even if it's constantly rejected.

"The thing about toddlers is you sometimes have to offer a food several times before the child really gets it and enjoys it. And you've got to keep doing that," she said. "You want to open up the world of eating with other people, eating at the table and enjoying all kinds of tastes and textures, being able to handle them with your hands, being able to handle them with your mouth and your tongue."