Best fruits for babies first food

First Fruits for Baby | Stonyfield

Mom always said to eat your veggies, but don’t forget about fruit! Many fruits are easy to mash, dice and mix into child-friendly preparations, plus they provide important vitamins and nutrients babies need to grow strong and healthy throughout their first year. Of course, always check with your child’s doctor before trying anything new to rule out allergies or potential ill effects.

Bananas

Almost every baby’s first food is the banana, and there’s good reason why. “Bananas are mild, mashable and easy to chew. They’re loaded with vitamin C, vitamin B6 and potassium, making them a perfect first fruit for baby,” says Jill Castle, M.S., R.D., childhood nutrition expert and co-author of Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters From High Chair to High School. Bananas can be introduced as early as four months of age. They can be quickly mashed and served on their own (perfect for parents on the go) or mixed with breast milk or formula. As your baby gets older, bananas can be sauteed, mixed with other fruits or combined with brown rice or hot cereal.

Avocados

Although green and commonly thought of as a veggie, avocado is actually a nutrient-rich fruit full of vitamin C, vitamin K and folate. You can introduce avocados into your baby’s diet at four to six months. “My favorite thing about avocado is its fat content,” says Castle. “Babies have rapidly-growing brains and need a high amount of fat in their diet during the first year. Avocados are a delicious way to help baby meet those needs.” One scrumptious, and surprising, way to prepare avocado is to mix and mash it with banana. It’s so tasty, you might just steal a spoonful for yourself.

Apples

An apple a day truly can help baby stay healthy. “Iron deficiency is common among babies because they often ‘grow out’ of the amount of iron they’re born with,” says Tina Ruggiero, M.S., R.D., L.D., nutrition expert and co-author of The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet. “Once an infant is weaned, it’s important to ensure that he or she is eating enough iron-rich food to compensate for the reduced iron intake from breast milk.” Fruits particularly bountiful in vitamin C, like apples, help babies absorb iron. Pureed or grated, they can be introduced at six months and mixed with iron-rich foods like cooked veggies, egg yolks and brown rice.

Mangoes

Added to the diet between six and eight months, mangoes are an excellent source of vitamins A, B6 and C, as well as potassium, copper and fiber. This sweet treat can simply be mashed with a fork and mixed with veggies, organic yogurt or served on its own. As babies start to feed themselves, Castle suggests finely dicing mangoes to help them work on developing motor skills.

Cantaloupes

Sweet and juicy, cantaloupes are a well-rounded fruit to introduce to your baby’s diet around nine months. This melon is plentiful in vitamins A and C and rich in antioxidants. Perfect for your little movers and shakers, it can be diced up for those starting to self-feed. Build texture into meals by combing small cantaloupe squares with brown rice and yogurt.

Overall, fruits have the double benefit of sweet taste and high nutritional value. When they’re introduced to babies at the right time, and served with other nutritious foods, fruits can help them grow up happy and healthy.

Author Bio

Paula Carvajal has been a journalist since 2007. She has worked for Malibu Magazine, Us Weekly and Cambio, covering major award shows and events such as the Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys and New York Fashion Week. Carvajal received her Bachelor of Arts in communications and Spanish from Santa Clara University, as well as a Master of Arts from the University of Westminster.

Baby's first foods: The 10 best foods for babies

These 10 first foods are ideal for your baby because they're full of essential nutrients, reasonably priced, easy to prepare, and delicious. Avocados contain healthy fats, while bananas are loaded with potassium. Blueberries are bursting with antioxidants, whereas broccoli offers fiber and folate. Both lentils and meat are packed with protein. Prunes can help with constipation, and yogurt helps form healthy bones and teeth. Sweet potatoes and winter squash are great sources of beta-carotene and vitamin C.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it's important to offer your baby a variety of healthy foods. There are lots of healthy, baby-friendly foods out there, but these 10 recommended by doctors and dietitians alike stand out from the pack. From vitamin-rich fruits and veggies to meats and beans loaded with protein, these superfoods are full of essential nutrients, reasonably priced, easy to prepare, and delicious.

Many are also favorite first foods. Before introducing solids, talk to the doctor about your baby's readiness for solids, and which foods to introduce and when. Then introduce foods one at a time, waiting at least three days after each new food to watch for any allergic reaction.

Avocados

BabyCenter parents are all about avocado as a first food. This buttery fruit-vegetable is rich in healthy unsaturated fats that help boost brain development. In fact, the fat composition of avocados is somewhat similar to that of breast milk.

Serving ideas: Mash avocado with a fork, or make baby guacamole.

Bananas

Known as a good source of potassium, this grab-and-go fruit also contains vitamins B6 and C, fiber, and magnesium.

Serving ideas: Make banana and mango puree. Or, for your little one's first smoothie, puree banana and peach chunks with whole-milk yogurt.

Blueberries

Blueberries are bursting with antioxidants. The deep, brilliant blue of these berries comes from flavonoids that benefit your baby's eyes, brain, and even urinary tract.

Serving ideas: Blend or mash blueberries well and swirl a spoonful of the juicy purple puree into yogurt, or top silky coconut milk rice pudding with blueberry compote.

Broccoli

This cruciferous vegetable is a rich source of essential nutrients, including fiber, folate, and calcium. Introduce your baby to broccoli's bold flavor early, and you'll be expanding their tastes and encouraging a lifelong love of green vegetables.

Serving idea: Steam until soft, cut into pieces small enough for your child to eat safely, and then chill. Steaming takes the bite out of broccoli, and some babies prefer the texture and taste when it's cold.

Lentils

Beans and other legumes pack lots of lean protein and fiber. But unlike larger beans, little lentils simmer into a pleasing mush just right for baby bites. They're also one of the cheapest healthy foods you can buy.

Serving ideas: Cook finely diced carrots along with the lentils. As your baby gets older, double up on nutrient-rich foods by making lentil and spinach stew.

Meat

Lack of iron can cause anemia. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends meat as a first food because it's such a great source of protein, zinc, and iron, especially red meat and dark poultry meat. Plus, babies absorb iron more easily from meat than from iron-fortified cereals, another common first food.

Serving ideas: If your baby is new to solids, try our easy turkey or chicken puree recipe. As they get older, introduce new flavors with chicken curry with green beans and zucchini or shepherd's pie.

Prunes

Whether you call them "prunes" or "dried plums," these humble fruits don't sound glamorous – but they're soft, sweet, and full of fiber. Your baby may suffer from constipation when switching to solids, as it's a big change for their system. Add pureed prunes to your baby's diet to aid digestion and keep things moving.

Serving ideas: Serve pureed prunes alone or mixed with other foods, such as oatmeal, cereal, or applesauce, for a naturally sweet treat.

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are one of the more popular first foods for babies, who tend to like both their sweetness and texture. These colorful root vegetables are packed with beta-carotene, vitamin C, and minerals, including iron and copper.

Serving ideas: Serve sweet potato puree alone or swirled into pureed chicken or turkey.

Winter squash

Orange- or yellow-fleshed hard winter squashes such as butternut, acorn, and pumpkin boast many benefits, one of which is they're exceptionally rich in beta-carotene, recognized for being great for eyes. Squash is also an excellent source of vitamin C. Natural sweetness and a creamy texture add to the appeal of winter varieties.

Serving ideas: Roast a winter squash like butternut, scoop out the flesh, and puree it for an easy first food. As your baby gets older, introduce new flavors and textures with dishes like smashed chickpea and butternut chili.

Yogurt

Creamy yogurt is rich in calcium and vitamin D, necessary for healthy bones and teeth. Your baby can have it at 4 to 6 months, long before they'll be ready for cow's milk.

Opt for plain yogurt with no added sugar. Also look for a brand with the most live cultures, which help regulate the good bacteria in your baby's digestive tract. Make sure you pick up whole-milk yogurt – babies need the calories from fat.

Serving ideas: Yogurt is fine on its own, or swirl in pureed berries or other fresh fruit, applesauce, or mashed avocado.

Complementary foods for a child - the introduction of fruit puree, fruits and juices into the diet of infants

Historically, fruit juice was recommended by pediatricians as a source of vitamin C, calcium, and other vitamins. The juice is delicious, sweet, children drink it with pleasure, and suddenly it turned out that there are potential risks: the high sugar content in the juice increases calorie intake, overweight and the risk of caries. More recently, about twenty years ago, doctors recommended the introduction of complementary foods, starting with juices and fruits. But now the situation has changed. Children's nutritionists believe that the optimal time for the introduction of juices is 1 year after the child gets used to the main complementary foods: vegetables, cereals, meat, fish, fruits. At the same time, you can find recommendations to give juices from 6 months or after 3 years. Carbohydrates, which are abundant in juice, change the child's appetite, but to get the required amount of vitamins, you need to drink a lot of it, about 1 liter! In addition, they do not give a feeling of satiety and the child may be prone to overeating.

Introduction of fruit juice American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations: download

Optimal to completely avoid the use of juice in infants until 1 year of age;
AAP and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry guidelines state that juice should be offered to babies in a cup, not a bottle, and that babies should not go to bed with a bottle in their mouth.
They concluded that long-term exposure to the sugar contained in the juice on the teeth is the main factor influencing dental caries.
After 1 year, fruit juice can be used as part of a meal or snack. It should not be drunk like water during the day or used as a means to calm an upset child.
Do not give juices if the child has diarrhea, oral rehydration solutions only.
The development of perioral rash in some children after feeding freshly squeezed citrus juice is most likely due to the chemical irritant effect of the acid.
Diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms that some children experience are most commonly associated with carbohydrate malabsorption.
Although fruit allergy can develop at an early age, this is rare.

Baby food - fresh juices

It is not recommended to introduce freshly squeezed juices to children under one year old. But there is no strict ban. Juice up to a year is not useful, unlike children older than one year . It contains a lot of fruit acid, which can lead to increased peristalsis and intestinal walls, pain, and digestive disorders. Dilute with water in a ratio of 1:1. And remember, fresh juice retains its maximum amount of vitamins in the first half hour, so do not store juice for later. With a later introduction of juice, their better tolerance is noted. This is due to the maturation of the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract and its readiness for the absorption of juice. But even with this, the child may experience pain and bloating, regurgitation, and stool disorders. This is due to the presence of organic acids in juices, which have an irritating effect on the gastrointestinal tract.

How do I start adding juice to my baby?

First, a teaspoonful (about 5 ml) between feedings, observing the baby's reaction. For children under 3 years old, juices are recommended to be diluted with boiled or baby water in a ratio of 1:2. Freshly squeezed juices - up to 7-8 years. The amount of juice: from 1 year to 1.5 years - up to 100 ml, should not be exceeded. At 2 years - 200 ml.

It is best to give green apple or pear juice first. Juice from plums, apricots, peaches - it is better to give at an older age, they have a slight laxative effect.

Then you can give a mixture of juices from 2 or 3 fruits. You can give a mixture of cherry, cherry, currant, raspberry juice, orange juice, pineapple, mango, grapefruit and mixtures thereof. It is better to give grape juice from 5-6 years old, there are a lot of carbohydrates.

It must be remembered that:

Apple, carrot and pear juice - strengthen
Plum, pumpkin, apricot, peach - weakening

This can be used if there are digestive problems.

If we choose industrial juices - carefully read what is written on the label, there should be no artificial additives, dyes and preservatives. Do not use opened packages. Should I give industrial juices for baby food? Why not? They are made from high quality, proven, specially selected raw materials, production is strictly controlled, they have balanced compositions and optimal taste. Until the age of 3, buy juices for your child only marked “baby food” on the package.

Introduction of fruit and fruit puree - European recommendations

If your young child has already tasted vegetables and accepted them, it's time for fruit. The season is always for them, but the best is in autumn, when the most delicious apples, pears and plums appear. Fresh fruits from all over the world are available in stores all year round, but it's worth starting with seasonal, locally grown ones. And these are: apricots, raspberries, apples, pears, plums. They contain not only vitamins, dietary fiber, but also minerals, including valuable microelements, which should be present in the child during the expansion of the diet.

Fruit is usually recommended from 6-7 months of age. Complementary foods often begin with fruit or vegetable purees. But it is better to start with vegetables. Fruit puree tastes better, is sweeter, and the child may then eat vegetables worse. But vegetable puree will not affect the baby's desire to eat fruit dishes. Therefore, more often pediatricians are advised to give fruit dishes after the introduction of vegetables and cereals. Start complementary foods with fruits in the form of mashed apples or bananas or pears. Then you can add fruits that grow in your area of \u200b\u200bresidence. Then you can include fruit and fruit and vegetable mixtures.

Fashionable but exotic fruits or with strong flavors - strawberries, mangoes, kiwis, currants - are best introduced later. But there is no strict ban.

Fruit puree should be started with 1 teaspoon in the morning, increasing to 100 g over 2 weeks.

Homemade or factory made? As you wish, subject to the basic hygiene rules of cooking. If you have time, make your own fruit puree. Plums, apricots, banana can be mashed in a mortar or blender. Grate apples and pears on a fine plastic grater. For the first time, the apple can be boiled, then it will be soft. Pour the prunes with boiling water and leave for 15 minutes. Do not add sugar!

Homemade fruit puree - don't forget about hygiene

Pour boiling water over a grater, preferably a plastic one or a blender, wash and peel the fruit.

Gradually make the fruit puree coarser.

Start with liquid puree, at 8 months - finely ground puree, at 10 months of age. - puree from larger particles.

When the child has 6-8 teeth, you can give pieces of fruit and he will eat them on his own.

Properties of various fruit purees

Banana puree is a good source of trace elements: magnesium and potassium, calcium, iron and phosphorus. Bananas rarely cause allergic reactions
Prune puree can act as a mild laxative that increases intestinal motility. Contains potassium, vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin).
Blueberry puree contains tannin - tannin, contains pectin, which has a disinfectant and anti-inflammatory effect, contains a large amount of provitamin A - beta-carotene, which is good for vision, manganese. In addition, blueberries are low allergenic. Apricots are an excellent source of potassium, carotene, vitamin C and pectin.

Tips from the Nyankovskih Healthy Child University

Fruits are sweet and can be used instead of sweets.
Fruits should be included in the child's diet as the second food group after vegetables. They can be given quite early, when the baby is four months old (between 17 and 26 weeks of age).
Initially it can be a mousse (or puree from a jar) and then an apple scraper with a spoon.
In a few days the child can try other fruits, berries, currants, raspberries. You can serve them on their own or add them to cereals, desserts. When a child is 10-11 months old and knows how to eat fruit purees and mousses, he should start learning to eat fruits in the form of soft particles, as well as himself, with a pen. Offer him peeled peaches, apricots, plums, grapes (no seeds!).
The new rules for baby food are a real revolution. Parents no longer have to stick to rigid patterns. The parents decide what the child eats and the child decides how much he eats.

Video: child feeding - introduction of fruits, fruit puree, juices, feeding in gdudnoy and artificial feeding

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Fruit food - Encyclopedia Baby food

Fruit food is easy and simple to introduce because fruits are bright, juicy and sweet. Which baby refuses natural sweetness, breast milk is sweet, so fruit complementary foods are usually easy, without problems for parents. But any type of complementary foods has its own nuances, which we will consider in the article below.

If you look at the article “Complementary food tables in Russia”, you can see that pediatricians advise introducing fruit complementary foods at different ages. It's good that they agreed that fruit is by no means the first food , and first of all it is a dessert, the mass of consumption, which is calculated based on the baby's age (K * 10 ml., where K is the child's age).

Pediatricians usually advise introducing fruit puree into complementary foods after vegetables, cereals and meat. However, most parents introduce fruits after vegetables or vegetables and cereals. Especially if fresh fruits are on the market during the feeding period of the child. Why wait for the next summer, or feed the baby in the winter with fruit purees from cans, if it is possible to calmly introduce new complementary foods according to the season without nerves.

Therefore, when answering the question "When should fruits be included in a child's diet?" there is no clear answer, depending on the season, on the health of the baby and other factors.

About Preparing Fruit for Baby

Table of Contents:

Most pediatric sources recommend heat treating fruit to be fed to a baby until the baby is eight months old. However, bananas and avocados are exceptions to this rule. The only thing is, if a banana is introduced as the first fruit for a baby, then the ideal option is to introduce banana puree from a jar, after the complete introduction of the product, you can give fresh fruit. For toddlers who are just getting started with fruit purees, making fruit is a really good idea. The thermally processed product is easier to digest in an immature tummy.

Which fruit should I choose?

For the first feeding with fruit, mothers traditionally choose a green apple, as a product that does not cause allergies, except for individual intolerance. The next fruit is green pears. The first fruit food should be thermally processed, one-component, of a delicate, homogeneous texture, without lumps, for easy and quick absorption of the product.

Fruit puree is introduced according to all the rules of complementary foods, namely, we begin to give complementary foods from ½ teaspoon, to the second complementary foods, gradually increasing the amount of complementary foods to the prescribed norm (at 6 months - 30-60 ml.), We monitor the reaction of the baby, when rash or vomiting, diarrhea, immediately stop giving new complementary foods. Any new product is introduced into the baby's diet for at least 7 days.

After the complete introduction of thermally processed apples and pears into complementary foods, closer to 8 months, the baby can be introduced to fresh fruits. However, it is necessary to offer the baby a fresh soft fruit, better cut into pieces, in the presence of a parent. These are basic safety rules, as a small child can choke on a small, hard piece of an apple or pear. Therefore, most parents prefer a nibbler to introduce their baby to fresh fruit.

At 7-8 months old, your baby can be introduced to prunes and plums. I consider prunes to be a very important type of complementary food, because after its introduction, the mother has an excellent natural remedy for regulating the baby's stool. Therefore, if a child has constipation from birth, then after consulting with a pediatrician, you can try to introduce prunes closer to 7 months (as recommended by a doctor).

At 8-10 months the fruit diet can be expanded to include banana, peaches, apricots, blueberries.

At 10-12 months, you can introduce wild berries, cherries, raspberries and currants into the child's diet. But most pediatricians advise not to rush and introduce these fruits closer to the year, as the risk of allergies is higher than with other previous fruits. It is also worth considering different varieties of the same species, for example, a baby will respond well to black currants, but it can pour out red currants, so we even introduce varieties of one fruit as a separate product.

After 12-18 months, you can slowly start introducing citrus fruits, pomegranate, persimmon, etc. However, you need to know the measure, offer small portions, gradually increasing them, but do not cross a certain line. So if a baby eats a kilogram of tangerine in one day, it naturally pours out, there must be common sense in everything.

The benefits of fruit food

Fruit food contains soluble fiber, which enhances intestinal motility, is an excellent prevention of constipation in babies. Pectin, which is part of soluble fiber, helps rid the child's body of harmful substances. Fruit puree is an excellent source of important vitamins, micro and macro elements. Berries and fruits are a source of glucose, which is necessary for brain function, and is also an excellent main source of energy for children's fun. And fruit complementary foods are rich in easily digestible carbohydrates, which quickly saturate the child's body and are very nutritious. And most importantly, any child will like the sweet, juicy taste of the fruit, so almost all children, without exception, eat fruit puree.

Why is fruit not the first complementary food?

The baby's body must get used to the digestion of easily digestible foods. As you get used to, the complexity of digestion becomes more complicated due to the introduction of new foods into complementary foods. Raw fruits contain acid and coarse fiber, which irritates the intestines and stomach of the child. Therefore, as soon as the body is accustomed to digesting vegetables or porridge, fruit purees can be introduced, by this time the baby is more prepared to assimilate them and obtain useful substances from the product.

It should also be taken into account that after sweet foods, the baby is reluctant to eat vegetables or cereals. By introducing fruit purees as the first complementary foods, we violate the taste orientation of the baby.

As mentioned above, fruit puree serving size is calculated based on the child's age. So at 6 months the baby receives 5-60 ml of fruit, at 7 months - 70 ml, at 8 months - 80 ml, but from 9 to 12 months the norm is the same in the region of 90-100 ml.

However, the parent should remember that the child's diet should be varied, so it is not necessary to feed the prescribed norm of 100 ml at a time. So, for example, an example menu at 9months includes a dinner consisting of breast milk or formula + fruit puree 30-40 ml + baby biscuits. From this it follows that the table of complementary foods indicates an approximate portion, which each parent can vary at their own discretion and the preferences of the child. The most important thing to remember is that fruit puree is a dessert, not a main meal.

Freezing fruit foods

If your baby is feeding during the winter, prepare fresh fruits in the summer and freeze them. On the site "Encyclopedia Baby Food" there is a whole section "Frozen complementary foods", where you can read how to freeze, how to store, etc.

Traditionally, fruits are frozen for compotes, but frozen peach pieces boiled in water are indistinguishable from fresh peaches. The taste is identical. It’s up to parents to decide whether they want to mess around with freezing and then preparing baby food, or it’s easier to buy a ready-made baby product, I also already wrote about this on the Encyclopedia Baby Food website.

You can freeze fruit puree, but keep in mind that the texture of baby puree can be liquid when defrosted, so try it, see my table on freezing food.

Frozen fruit puree cube is easy to put into hot porridge, thereby enriching its taste. Older children can put frozen fruits that melt in porridge in a couple of minutes, oatmeal with frozen raspberries is just delicious, especially in winter - a piece of summer joy.

Preserved fruit food

Preserved fruit food is possible, but not so important in today's society when you can go to the store and easily buy ready-made baby food. My experience has shown that not all fruits are suitable for children's preservation, as it is necessary to close without additional additives that extend the shelf life. An ideal fruit for children's preservation is peaches, then perhaps apricots. You can read more about my experience in the article “Preservation of baby food”.

Dried fruits

Do not forget about drying fruit in winter. Useful vitamins and minerals are stored in dried fruit, in a smaller amount than in fresh fruit, but still more beneficial for a child than purchased juice.

In the summer it is worth trying and making apples, apricots, plums, etc. - dried fruit, so as not to buy it in the winter. Usually dried fruits are used to make children's compotes, but some mothers make fruit puree from them.