Best early weaning foods

Best early weaning foods (4-6 months):

Once you have decided when is the right time for your baby to start weaning, the next step is to decided what foods to get started with. Exciting, right? Now, remember that as much as you might enjoy bread and butter, babies need to start with unrefined, fresh foods that you either mash and feed with a soft-tipped spoon or carefully cut into small pieces for babies to slowly learn to feed themselves.

Good first foods include: mashed steamed carrots, mashed steamed or baked sweet potatoes, mashed steamed parsnips mixed with a little breast milk, formula or water from the steamer to thin them out it if the purées are too thick.  You might want to use a food processor or potato masher, just make sure the puree has an even smooth texture at first, with no bits to prevent a chocking risk.

Once root vegetables have been introduced you can try broccoli (which is also a great finger food if cooked until soft), peas, green beans, spinach, kale, cooked apples or pears. Ripe soft fruits like bananas, raspberries, avocado or mango can be mashed or cubed without steaming them first which makes them an ideal “on-the-go” lunch or snack.

Single vegetable or fruit purées are preferable in the early stages of weaning as they allow you to identify any foods your baby might be reacting to (vomiting, developing a rash, runny tummy, gas, bloating or simply not enjoying that much!). Our advice is to remove them from baby’s diet and reintroduce them in a few days. If the reaction repeats itself, talk to your health provider about it. We find it is helpful to keep a “weaning diary” to help you keep track of what foods you have already introduced and how your baby enjoyed/reacted to them.

After a few weeks, you will have introduced plenty of vegetables so you can start mixing them into more adventurous purées. Soon after you can get on with adding protein and some grains to them.