STARTING SOLIDS?
Are you planning to or have you recently started solids.
This cook-up I did the other day while doing a consultation with one of my families. This is the only purées that this parent will ever have to make for their little one and it only took two hours from start to finish.
Parents think starting solids is really complicated but it’s only as complicated as you make it.
By starting off a batch like this at the beginning you should never need to puree again. By the time your baby has made the way halfway through this selection and tried all of these textures you can start mashing/ chopping other foods and adding to these purées.
Here’s what I did.
Cooked up in reasonable portions of each of the veggies and fruits below
5-6 x Carrots
4-6 x Potatoes
4 x Sweet potatoes
1 x Broccoli Head
1 x Cauliflower Head
5 x Courgette/ zucchini
1/2 -1 x Pumpkin
4-5 x Apple
4-5 x Pear
Peel chop and boil or steam all of these separately. You can use a multi-layer steamer to boil and steam multiple on the same pot.
* Mash the potatoes (the starch in the potato doesn’t lend well to purée) and puree the rest.
* Make sure to reserve some of your vegetable water to add to purees as needed.
* Once you’ve made your purées you can transfer them to an ice cube tray.
* Cover them and label them then place in the freezer.
*You are going to run out of ice cube trays for all this food but just put the remaining veggies in separate bowls covered and put in the fridge to cool.
*Once your vegetables have been frozen pop them out of their ice cube trays and into individually labelled Ziploc bags and back into the freezer.
*Then do the same with the remaining food.
My recommendation when starting solids is to start when your baby is ready and showing interest in food.
The average age is about five months.
Start with one taste at lunchtime and continue to introduce new tastes every 1 to 2 days.
Just give this one meal go for about 1-2 weeks between and one – three cubes of food depending on the portions and your babies interest.
At this point, you’re looking out for signs of discomfort from the food so make sure that they are continuing to poo normally although it will be a little firmer than normal for a breastfed baby but we want it to still be regular and comfortable to pass.
After 1 to 2 weeks you can introduce another meal either breakfast or dinner and repeat for the third meal in another week or two.
Continue introducing new tastes and combinations.
Now that your baby has started solids cook a few extra veggies when you’re making your meals and take little portions out of regular family meals and freeze them for your little one.
These can easily be added to the purees that they’ve tasted and will introduce them to new textures.
Once your baby has tried all the tastes that you have frozen and a few combinations you can start adding new tastes to their meals from the fridge and the pantry.
The next taste I’d be introducing are
Avocados,
Oats,
Eggs,
Other healthy fats
Slow-cooked red meat with the bone intact if possible.
The juices from these meats and the bone broth are really good for your baby so try to offer some of these veggies that were cooked with the meat as a first introduction and then some of the meat.
Remember it doesn’t have to be big portions and you’re going to add it to veggies. One small ice cube size portion is enough.
So make up yummy lamb shanks and save some for baby.
Salmon- is another great food to introduce to babies as it has lots of good fats and protein and is easy to digest.
Next, introduce some tuna, chicken, tofu and more vegetables like mushrooms aubergine bell peppers etc
Now look at introducing some more fruits such as watermelon and berries
Start introducing some / all of the high allergy foods like nuts and nut butter some dairy products like cheese and Greek Yogurt.
If you’re doing some baby-led winning let your baby suck on some eye fillet or lamb chop. You can start introducing some finger food once you and your baby are comfortable.
Don’t be afraid to introduce some good healthy fats to the meals- for example, you can cook food in olive oil add some butter, coconut oil or gee to their meals
Good healthy fats are important to help them feel satiated and for their development, both brain and body so don’t be afraid of good fats.
Good fats include dairy products, anything coconut, nuts and nut butters, avocado, and healthy oils. Such as olive oil, avocado oil coconut oil.
Next is to add a little bit more protein
I’m also a big fan of introducing bone both into your babies diet. There are plenty of good quality ones in health food shops or you can make your own.
As your baby explores new foods and textures start introducing more varied textures and finger foods, have fun with food combinations and explore tastes and favourite meals from your family.
Remember every time you cook a meal. Can you portion some of this off for your baby? Always keep some basics in the freezer so that you can easily add to it from the pantry fridge or fruit bowl and whip up a quick meal.
By nine months ideally, you’d like your baby to be eating pretty much everything that you guys are eating.
The most important thing is to have fun enjoy introducing solids make sure that your baby enjoys eating and exploring the food with touching mashing and playing with it.
