Bringing up Baby: The Best Baby Food for Your Little One

best baby food solids

Eating the right food is important for your baby’s development. Whether you buy it or make your own, here are some of the best baby food options to give your little ones the nutrients they need!

Much like the discussion around breast milk versus bottled milk, there are a lot of opinions about baby food. Picking up a jar at the local market is easy enough, but pureeing vegetables and fruit can be pretty simple, too! Fortunately, homemade and store-bought baby foods are both great options. Baby food from the jar and homemade foods are very high in the nutrients and vitamins your child needs to grow. Whether you decide to stick to the jar or reach for the blender is up to you. Here are a few tips to know the best foods for your little one so they grow up to be healthy toddlers!

What Are the Best Baby Foods to Start With?

Developing a baby feeding schedule can seem complicated at first, but it gets easier with time. There are baby food stages within the first few months that make feeding time easy! At 4-6 months, children can have single-grain cereals mixed with baby formula, milk, or water. Between 6 and 8 months, you can introduce pureed and strained foods like fruits, vegetables, and yogurt. Around 8-10 months, they can begin consuming egg yolks and cheese. They can also eat baby finger foods like soft vegetables, beans, and small pieces of meat. When they’re nearly a year old, they can eat most foods as long as they’re easy to consume.

Is It Cost-Effective to Make Your Own Baby Food?

Whether you’re purchasing standard Gerber or organic baby food, it can get costly to buy by the jar! Depending on how much your baby eats, it can be around $50 to $100 per month. Fortunately, making your own healthy baby food recipes with a baby food processor can be a budget-conscious way to go. For simple vegetable or fruit-based baby foods, wash, peel, and pit the foods you’re preparing.

You can steam, boil or microwave them and then mash or puree them for your own baby food jars. While you may want to add spices, stay away from additives like salt and sugar. If you’re preparing recipes with meat, cook the protein until it’s very soft. Once cooked properly, you can puree or grind and add liquid to get the appropriate texture. Making your own baby food can be nutritional and cost-effective!

What Are the Best Foods for a Baby?

A lot of the staples of an adult diet are good for babies. However, there are quite a few foods that can add extra oomph to their baby food diet. Berries like strawberries and especially blueberries are full of antioxidants. These can help your baby’s brain and eyes. Bananas are rich in potassium and also contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

Sweet potatoes may be one of the best foods for adults, but they’re great for babies too! These root vegetables are chock full of vitamin Ciron, and copper. Yogurt mixed with fruit is a good snack option too as it’s rich in calcium and vitamin D. Avocados, iron-fortified cereal, and carrots are also great foods to get your infant off to a nutritious start.

What Are Some Simple Baby Food Recipes?

It can be easy enough to mash and puree to your heart’s content! However, if you’re getting bored with standard baby food fare, you might want to try something a little bit different.  Why not try preparing potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and chicken breast? Just cook, add liquid, then blend! While simple can be good, making a different mix can provide some unique flavor combinations for your little one!

baby food recipe

Apple and Sweet Potato Baby Food

Introduce your baby to this delicious, nutritious apple sweet potato baby food!
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Baby Food
Cuisine American
Servings 2 people
Calories 147 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1.0 apple (peeled)
  • 1.0 sweet potato
  • 1.0 tsp cinnamon
  • water (as needed)

Instructions
 

Apple and Sweet Potato Baby Food

  • Steam the peeled apple.
  • Place the sweet potato in the microwave until cooked all the way through, soft enough to easily insert fork. Cut in half and scoop the inside of the sweet potato into blender.
  • Add steamed apple and cinnamon to blender. Add water as needed, and blend until smooth.

Nutrition

Calories: 147kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 63mgPotassium: 482mgFiber: 6gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 16083IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 49mgIron: 1mg
Keyword apples, baby food, easy, sweet potato
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Buying baby food in the jar can be an easy choice. However, it can also be easy to make your own recipes from scratch for a nutritional, inexpensive meal. Whether you go with pre-made or homemade, getting the right nutrients for your infant is important for their healthy development.

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