What foods should you choose for your baby?

Just as you conquer stage one of weaning your baby and your baby is on three meals a day – happily eating all the foods you offer, it is time to move to stage two, which means you need to get serious about food!

The stage between seven and nine months is a period to really consider the nutritional content of your little one’s meals more carefully. 

Your baby can now eat protein foods like eggs, cheese, pulses, chicken and fish. Limit some foods if you feel that they are indigestible, i.e. spinach, lentils, berry or citrus fruit – and don’t worry if some foods, like pulses, peas and raisins pass through your baby undigested. Until they are about two years old, babies cannot completely digest husked vegetables and the skins of fruits.

Peeling, mashing and puréeing fruit and vegetables will aid digestion. Bread, flour, pasta and rice should be preferably replaced with wholegrain products, as it is more nutritious.

Once your baby has passed the six month mark and is happily eating bread and other foods containing gluten, there is no longer any need to give him special baby cereals. You can use adults cereals like instant porridge or jungle oats – these are just as nutritious and cheaper. Choose a cereal that isn’t highly refined and is low in sugar and salt.

If your baby is eating a good balanced diet of fresh foods they will get a perfectly adequate quantity of vitamins and minerals.

 Fruit

• Your baby should now be able to eat all fruits, and both fresh and dried fruits make a great snack. Different fruits contain different vitamins, so include as much variety as possible.
• Dried fruits are also a good source of other nutrient and energy.
• Vitamin C boosts iron absorption so it’s important to include Vitamin C-rich fruits like citrus or berry fruits in your child’s diet.
• To begin with, give berry and citrus fruits in small quantities as they can be indigestible and some babies can have an adverse reaction to them. Combine them with other fruits like apple, banana, pear or peach.

 Vegetables

• Introduce as many vegetables as you can.
• Spinach and broccoli may be too strong, but they are very important, after a few attempts your baby will accept the taste.
• Combing fruit and veggie too is an excellent way to get them to eat their veggies as they like the sweetness.
• Steaming carrot sticks, broccoli trees or small cauliflower florets make excellent fingers foods.

Eggs

• Eggs are an excellent source of protein and also contain iron and zinc.
• They can be given from six months but the white and yolk must be cooked until solid.
• Hard-boiled eggs, omelettes and well-cooked scrambled eggs are quick to cook and nutritious.

Pasta

Pasta tends to be a favourite with babies and young children. It’s a good source of carbohydrate and adding tiny pasta shapes to purées is a good way to encourage chewing. Many vegetable purées make good pasta sauces, add a little cheese too!

Fish

Many children grow up disliking fish as they find it bland and boring, so try and mix it with stronger tastes.

•  Fish is an excellent low-fat source of protein and it is important to encourage a liking for it from early on.
• Be careful not to overcook fish, it will become very tough and tasteless, cook it so that it just flakes off the fork but is still firm.
• Always check for bones!
• Oily fish like salmon, trout, fresh tuna and sardines are particularly important for the development of a baby’s brain, nervous system and vision and ideally should be included in the diet once a week.

Meat

Chicken is an ideal first meat; it blends well with root vegetables which gives the purée a smoother texture. Chicken also works well with fruits like apple and is particularly delicious when cooked together with butternut or sweet potato. If possible, try and use the chicken thigh or dark meat as this contains twice as much zinc and iron than the white meat.

Chicken Livers, also extremely rich in iron, are ideal for babies as it has a soft texture and is easy to digest.

Teaching your baby to eat red meat:

We mistakenly believe that babies don’t like the taste of certain foods when, in fact, it is the texture that they object to.  This is often the case of red meat.

Unless you choose to raise your child a vegetarian, red meat is an excellent source of iron. It provides the best source of iron, which is vitally important for both physical and mental development.

Other sources of iron can be found in:

• Egg yolk
• Wholemeal bread
• Fortified cereals
• Beans
• Lentils
• Dark green leafy vegetables
• Dried fruit (apricots and peaches)

When it comes to introducing meat and chicken into your baby’s diet, it can be done in numerous ways and it is entirely dependent on how you wish to feed your baby, as long as they are eating it and growing healthily there shouldn’t be any problems.

For more information and guidance or advice on weaning your baby onto solids please get in touch with The Bumbles Cookery Club.

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Bumbles Cookery Club

The Bumbles™ Cookery Club offers detailed workshops for each vital stage of the weaning process, as well a support and social group for moms to enjoy.

Our goal is to guide and assist moms, and dads, through the different weaning stages and to understand and learn the importance of each stage, when to introduce each food group and how to create delicious, nutritionally balanced meals not only for your little one but for the whole family.

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