Our top 5 baby food purees

Most babies are weaned at between 4 and 6 months. Current World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines recommend a full 6 months of breastfeeding before introducing solids, but many parents find that their babies are ready for a small amount of food before that time. Medical advice indicates that babies' digestive system is too immature to cope with solids before about 17 weeks but after that their appears to be little evidence of any benefit in delaying the introduction of solids (in developed countries).

So having waited until your baby is ready, what should you give them to eat? Our advice is to keep it simple; gradually introduce a range of pureed fruit and vegetables such as pear, carrot, green bean, sweet potato and parsnip. Once you have tried a range of single flavours you can start experimenting with interesting combinations - why not try pureed parsnip, apple and swede for example?

Try to use organic vegetables and fruit wherever possible. Parents in the UK may find that they are eligible for the government backed fresh start scheme which provides families with vouchers to redeem against the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables and it is certainly worth investigating whether you qualify for this scheme.

Another great tip is to steam and puree bulk quantities of fruit and vegetables at once and freeze them in ice-cube trays so that you can mix and match to create your recipes later on. A microwave is invaluable for quick defrosting. Listed below are our five favourite baby food purees suitable from 4-5 months of age:

Sweet potato, carrot and courgette puree

Sweet potato, swede and green bean puree

Mashed avocado and apple puree

Broccoli, pear and pea puree

Carrot, apple and parsnip puree

If you follow the advice above and freeze single flavour purees in ice cube trays then it is easy to experiment with these and other flavour combinations. As a rough guide 1kg of raw vegetables or fruit will produce around 25 frozen cubes when steam or boiled and then pureed.

After a month of combining fruits and vegetables in this way your baby will be ready to move on to more complex flavours including a little meat. We'll shortly publish our top five stage two weaning recipes as well! Good luck and get pureeing!

Labels: baby food, purees for babies, stage 2 weaning

posted by Richard @ 1:20 PM 0 comments