Superfoods for babies: 6 GREAT first foods for weaning your little one
As you approach the baby weaning stage, you’re going to start thinking about the best foods to feed your baby in terms of taste, texture and of course, nourishment. A good place to start? Focusing on feeding them savoury food – and in particular, vegetables.
When your baby is weaning, they are at their most receptive to try out new flavours. By weaning with vegetables from the off, you're encouraging your baby to enjoy these flavours, preventing them from developing too much of a taste for sweet flavours.
So to help you, we’ve identified six great foods for weaning your little one:
1. Butternut squash
Butternut squash is a fantastic weaning food for babies. It purées well, has a mild taste, and because it’s a sweeter vegetable, is a good first introduction to veg after the sweetness of milk. Nutrition-wise, it’s high in vitamin C and beta-carotene, which transforms into vitamin A in the body.
2. Peas
Not only are they filling and tasty, peas are packed with protein, fibre, vitamin C and folate. They're also a good source of niacin, iron, potassium and phosphorus, and contribute to your little one's intake of vitamin A, magnesium and zinc.
3. Broccoli
Broccoli is without a doubt one of the healthiest foods you can feed your baby. It’s a fantastic source of vitamin C and also contains iron, folic acid, beta-carotene and potassium. Don’t fear the dark green veg – adding it to your child’s diet from a young age can actually help them acquire a taste for it.
4. Sweet potato
Sweet potatoes are a wholesome, versatile and delicious first food for babies. These wonder spuds are high in vitamin A, beta carotene and potassium, and also contain a decent amount of vitamin E and calcium.
5. Quinoa
Quinoa is a fantastic introductory grain. It's a complete protein source, offering all 9 essential amino acids (unusual in grains) and is a good source of fibre, folate, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese And as well as this, it contributes to your baby's intake of thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, iron, zinc and copper.
6. Carrots
Carrots are an excellent weaning food due to their sweeter taste and high nutritional value. They are especially rich in beta-carotene – making them a superior dietary vitamin A source.
As we touched on before, the key at this crucial stage is to feed your baby plenty of fresh, nutritious vegetables. Which granted, can be tough when much of the baby food you find in shops has a high content of fruit ‘fillers’. This is why Babease founder Tom Redwood was inspired to create his baby food range.
“I was surprised to find all the fruit based baby food that was out on the market and not the sort of meals I grew up eating,” says Tom. “Not enough vegetable led products and way too much focus on fruit!”
The Babease range is REAL food for babies, not baby food, packed with ingredients like sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, butternut squash and quinoa, and never uses fruit fillers.
Stage 1 is a veg-led range which is either just veg or a veg and fruit combo (with never more than 30% fruit) and in addition a Stage 1 fruit range to be served as a dessert, which is created to be not too sweet (e.g. using sharp tasting fruits such as mixed berries). The Stage 2 range contains no fruit at all.
For more information on Babease baby products and stockists, as well as recipes and advice, pop over to www.babease.co.