Feeding baby meat for the first time

What You Want to Know

Being in charge of your baby’s nutritional needs can seem overwhelming because the choices are endless, from nutritional content and preparation, to color, taste, and texture.

Should you start by offering your baby applesauce or cereal, or can you start with meat? What’s the scoop on meat, anyway?

For most babies, breast milk or formula will give your baby all the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that they need for the first 6 months of their lives.

If you’re exclusively or primarily breastfeeding, your doctor may suggest supplements for iron and vitamin D. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), you’ll want to introduce vitamin D supplements from just about birth and iron after around 4 months. (Formulas are usually fortified with these already.)

Once you hit the 6-month milestone, you can start offering your baby solid food. Traditionally, parents have offered their babies cereal, veggies, fruit and then meat.

But is that the right approach? Maybe not.

Here’s why: At 4 to 6 months of age, the iron stores that your baby was born with are starting to get depleted. Iron is needed for hemoglobin formation and oxygen transport.

You can keep these iron levels high by introducing your baby to foods that are rich in iron. Iron comes in two forms: heme and non-heme iron.

Heme iron. You’ll find this in red meat, seafood, and poultry. Heme iron is pretty easy for your body to absorb.
Non-heme iron. You’ll find this in iron-fortified infant cereals, tofu, beans, lentils, and green, leafy veggies.

Heme iron is the easiest for your body to absorb. Which is exactly why you may want to start offering your baby meat as one of their first foods. In addition lean red meat also has zinc, vitamin B12, fats, and of course, lots of protein.

Is my baby ready?

You bet! If your baby has developed physically to the point that they’re now ready to handle the intricacies of eating solids, then they’re ready for eating meat.

Notice that their tongue thrust reflex is fading — they don’t push food out of their mouth with their tongue. They’ve learned to coordinate breathing and swallowing. They can sit in a high chair. They have good head and neck control.

Okay, so you’ve made the decision to offer meat to your baby. Now which meat is best for baby?

Beef, veal, lamb, mutton, goat, pork, chicken, or turkey? Organ meat such as heart, kidney, liver? What about buffalo meat? Yup, that counts as a meat source too.

The long and short is that all meats are good. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Good to know:

Liver is a significant source of iron, with pork liver delivering the highest amount
Choose dark turkey meat over white. The dark meat contains 1.4 mg of iron per 100 grams compared to 0.7 mg per 100 grams in the white meat.
Chicken liver has almost double the amount of iron that is found in beef liver.
Light canned tuna in water offers 1. 67 mg of iron per 100 grams.

Do and don’ts:

Do make sure that your baby eats fully cooked meat only. No “rare” or “medium rare” for little tummies.
Do keep away from deli meats, bacon, and hot dogs. Not only are these meats packed with preservatives and chemicals, the average hot dog contains only 5.7 percent actual meat, according to a 2008 analysis.
Do avoid fish that is high in mercury. Fish that’s approved by the FDA for kids is canned light tuna. (Note: The FDA says a serving for a 2-year-old is just 1 ounce, so up to 3 ounces of tuna weekly is recommended for toddlers.)
Don’t fry meat for babies.
Don’t reheat meat more than once.

What’s the best way to go about introducing meat to your baby? Every new stage in life is a learning curve, and we’ve got you covered whether you opt for jarred baby food or homemade food.

Jarred baby food

No doubt about it: This is your easiest option. Gerber and Plum Organics are two popular options you’ll find at your local grocery store. Meat may come as a standalone option, or as part of a blend with veggies or fruits. When introducing a food the first time, single ingredient foods should be used.

Remember that some brands of baby food include meat only at their stage 2 or 3 foods. If you want to introduce meat earlier, shop carefully or make your own baby food.

Homemade baby food

It’s not as daunting as it seems to make your own baby food. Make sure you’re armed with an immersion blender and you’ll be fine. Just for fun, have a look at our yummy recipes or consider buying a baby food cookbook. Or wing it on your own.

Soups: Create a soup with your choice of meat and a mix of sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and squash. Cook and then blend to smooth.
Baking or roasting: While cooking this way preserves most of the nutrients in food, it’s a little harder to blend food that has been baked or roasted. You can thin out the mixture by adding water, formula, or breast milk.
Slow-cooker: Using a slow-cooker might be the simplest way to prepare soft and well-cooked meats. Combine meats, veggies, and fruits to taste.

If you don’t feel like cooking a separate dish, don’t despair: Cooking for your baby can be as easy as scooping off part of your own supper. There’s a lot of fun in this. Set aside part of your meal and blend or mash.

Baby-led weaning

Want to skip the puree? Then baby-led weaning is for you. More and more busy parents are opting to let their 6-month-old babies feed themselves finger foods.

Baby-led weaning isn’t just good for parents. By feeding themselves, babies practice hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. They also learn to self-regulate —they stop eating when they’re full. But do remember to check the meat you offer to remove bones and skin.

Good food choices for baby-led weaning:

finger-long strips of meat
kebabs and meatballs shaped into a finger-sized log instead of a ball.
drumsticks
lamb chops

Remember it’s important to closely supervise when your baby is eating and avoid foods with a shape, size, or texture likely to cause choking. Discuss any questions or concerns you have with your pediatrician.

Safety first!

No matter how you offer meat to your baby, make sure to cook it at these minimum temperatures:

beef, veal, and lamb: 170°F (77°C)
pork: 160˚F (71˚C)
ground meat: 160˚F (71˚C)
poultry pieces and ground poultry: 165˚F (74˚C)
whole poultry: 180˚F (82˚C)
fish with fins: 145˚F (63˚C)

Good to know:

Your baby won’t eat more than a spoonful or two to start with. So feel free to freeze portions in ice cube trays. Move on to larger portions as their appetite increases.
Potatoes don’t freeze well, so don’t throw them into your mixture if you’re planning on freezing part of it.
Make sure to offer your baby a variety of meats to expose them to different flavors and textures.
Anything left over? Remember to refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

No, you don’t need to give your baby meat. The American Dietetic Association acknowledges that “well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.”

If you choose not to give your baby meats, you should offer them plenty of iron-fortified infant cereals, tofu, beans, lentils and green, leafy veggies. These contain non-heme iron.

It’s harder for your body to absorb non-heme iron, but you can increase the body’s absorption rate by pairing foods that contain non-heme iron with foods that contain vitamin C. Think beans served with tomatoes and cereal served with orange juice.

Good practice is discuss your plans with your baby’s healthcare provider and consider whether to opt for a blood test for your baby so that you can check their iron levels.

Bon appétit! You’re now at the stage when you and your baby can sit down at the table and enjoy a meal together. It won’t be long before they’ll join you in the kitchen and help you prepare it!

Finger Foods for Babies (for Parents)

When babies begin feeding themselves — a new task most really enjoy — they'll find that they like trying new tastes and textures.

By the time they're 9 months old, most babies have developed the fine motor skills — the small, precise movements — needed to pick up small pieces of food and feed themselves. You may notice that yours can take hold of food (and other small objects) between forefinger and thumb in a pincer grasp. The pincer grasp starts out a little clumsy, but with practice soon becomes a real skill.

Let your child self-feed as much as possible. You'll still help by spoon-feeding cereal and other important dietary elements. But encouraging finger feeding helps your child develop independent, healthy eating habits.

Finger feeding — and using utensils a little later — gives babies some control over what they eat and how much. Sometimes they'll eat the food, sometimes not, and that's all part of the process of learning self-regulation. Even little kids can tell when they're hungry or full, so let them learn to recognize and respond to these cues.

What Should a Baby Eat?

Now that they're joining the rest of the family for meals, older babies are ready to try more table foods.

This means more work for whoever makes the meals for the family, but dishes often can be adapted for the baby. For instance, your little one can have some of the zucchini you're making for dinner. Cook that serving a bit longer — until it's soft — and cut it into pieces small enough for the baby to handle. Pieces of ripe banana, well-cooked pasta, and small pieces of chicken are other good choices.

Before giving your child a finger food, try a bite first and ask yourself:

Does it melt in the mouth? Some dry cereals and crackers that are light and flaky will melt in the mouth.
Is it cooked enough so that it mushes easily? Well-cooked veggies and fruits will mush easily, as will canned fruit and vegetables (choose ones without added sugar or salt).
Is it soft? Cottage cheese, shredded cheese, and small pieces of tofu are good examples.
Can it be gummed? Pieces of ripe banana and well-cooked pasta can be gummed.
Is it small enough? Food should be cut into small pieces. The sizes will vary depending on the food's texture. A piece of chicken, for instance, needs to be smaller than a piece of watermelon, which even a pair of baby gums will quickly smash.

If your child doesn't like a food, don't let that stop you from offering it at future meals. Kids are naturally slow to accept new tastes and textures. For example, some are more sensitive to texture and may reject coarse foods, such as meat. When introducing meat, it's helpful to start with well-cooked ground meats or shreds of thinly sliced deli meats, such as turkey.

Present your baby with a variety of foods, even some that he or she didn't seem to like the week before. Don't force your baby to eat, but realize that it can take 10 or more tries before a child will accept a new food.

Finger Foods to Avoid

Finger feeding is fun and rewarding for older babies. But avoid foods that can cause choking and those with little nutritional value.

Choking Hazards

Parents and caregivers can help prevent choking by supervising the baby during eating. Foods that are choking hazards include:

pieces of raw vegetables or hard fruits
whole grapes, berries, cherry or grape tomatoes (instead, peel and slice or cut in quarters)
raisins and other dried fruit
peanuts, nuts, and seeds
large scoops of peanut butter and other nut or seed butters (use only a thin layer)
whole hot dogs and kiddie sausages (peel and cut these in very small pieces)
untoasted bread, especially white bread that sticks together
chunks of cheese or meat
candy (hard candy, jelly beans, gummies, chewing gum)
popcorn, pretzels, corn chips, and other snack foods
marshmallows

Hold the Sweets

At first bite, your baby probably will love the taste of cookies, cake, and other sweets, but don't give them now. Your little one needs nutrient-rich foods, not the empty calories found in desserts and high-fat snacks, like potato chips.

It's tempting to want to see the baby's reactions to some of these foods, but now is not the time. Grandparents and others may want to rush your baby into trying triple-chocolate cake or some other family favorite. Politely and firmly explain that the baby isn't ready for those foods. You can blame this tough love on your child's doctor — the doctor won't mind.

What kind of meat to start complementary foods for a child - when to introduce meat complementary foods

If the baby is already familiar not only with breast milk or formula, but also with cereals, vegetable purees, you can continue to expand his diet. According to the National program for optimizing the feeding of children in the first year of life in the Russian Federation, meat can be introduced from the age of 6 months, after the child has become acquainted with vegetable complementary foods and the first cereals.

Meat is the richest source of animal protein, vitamins and easily digestible iron necessary for healthy growth. About how to properly introduce meat into the diet of the baby - in our article.

The benefits and harms of meat for an infant

For healthy growth, a child in the first year of life should receive the following beneficial substances contained in meat with food:

Dietary proteins that serve as a source of amino acids, including essential ones for the growth of all the cells of one's own body;

B vitamins;

iron, magnesium, zinc and other trace elements;

Saturated fats, which are essential for energy and body building.

Complementary meats are denser than vegetables, fruits or grains, and their introduction stimulates the further development of chewing skills, as well as the work of the digestive enzymes of the pancreas, which break down protein and fat components.

It is important to introduce meat complementary foods correctly so that new, yet unfamiliar food for the child does not cause negative reactions from the digestive system and the whole body: . Lamb, pork, horse meat, duck, goose and wild animals are not suitable for complementary foods! They are introduced into the diet after 2-3 years of age.

No salt, artificial preservatives or chemical additives in baby foods. It is acceptable to add herbs and natural spices.

Like any new product, you need to start giving meat puree in small portions, evaluating the reaction to it (there should be no manifestations of allergies, problems with stools, ailments).

If your pediatrician has special recommendations for the introduction of complementary foods (for example, due to food allergies or the risk of anemia), it is important to strictly follow them.

How to introduce meat into complementary foods

You need to introduce meat products into the diet, observing the following basic rules:

· * They are increased gradually if there are no allergies or digestive disorders.

· Meat products are traditionally offered during the day, at lunchtime. They must be mixed with vegetable or fruit purees, because. this improves the absorption of iron from both meat and vegetables/fruits.

· Only one new food is introduced at a time so that the child's response can be assessed correctly.

If the baby refuses to taste the meat, if he does not like the taste, you do not need to force him. Try again the next day, and for a more familiar and pleasant taste, mix the meat with fruit puree. You can also make steam homemade meatballs or meatballs and offer them to your child right in the pen - perhaps in this form it will be interesting for him to try something new.

· From the age of 7-9 months, the child can be gradually offered meat not only in the form of mashed potatoes, but also in the form of dishes from the general table - these can be meatballs, as well as tender soft pieces of stew. You can spread mashed meat on bread, like a pate, and offer your child tiny “sandwiches”.

What kind of meat is suitable for complementary foods

There are varieties of meat that are especially suitable for babies in the first year of life for the first complementary foods and expansion of the diet. It is recommended to enter them in the following order:

low-allergenic rabbit or turkey first;

then chicken (chicken), beef (veal), lamb.

Rabbit meat is low-allergenic, low-fat, highly digestible, rich in vitamins and minerals. Rabbit meat proteins contain all the essential amino acids.

The turkey is also good for the first foods, it contains a lot of iron, calcium, phosphorus. This is a low-fat and easily digestible meat with excellent nutritional properties.

Chicken is introduced into the diet with caution - it can provoke food allergies. To correctly assess the reaction, it is better to choose a period when the baby feels good (does not get sick, his teeth are not cut, there are no vaccinations), when other new products are not introduced.

Finally, veal can be used for first foods. This is a nutritious meat that contains a lot of iron, which is quite well absorbed. Veal proteins contain all the necessary amino acids, vitamins and minerals.

How to cook meat for the first feeding

Often, mashed meat is introduced even before teeth appear, when the baby cannot chew. Therefore, it should be tender, homogeneous, have a light texture. It is prepared by boiling the pulp without adding salt. To obtain a puree-like homogeneous mass, you can use a blender that needs to process the product several times.

But it is much more convenient to use special baby food. Complementary foods of industrial production, in particular meat puree, have a guaranteed safe composition, optimal consistency, eliminate the need to mess around in the kitchen with long preparation (you must admit, this is a waste of time, because at first the baby eats only a couple of spoons).

What kind of meat puree to choose for complementary foods

As we have already found out, the ideal first meat food is:

Industrially produced puree, not homemade.

Firstly, ready-made baby food is guaranteed to be chemically and microbiologically safe, which cannot be said about products bought in a store or on the market. Such meat may contain an excessive amount of antibiotics, hormones and other substances that are dangerous for the baby.

Secondly, ready-made meat purees have a consistency suitable for a small child, eliminating the possibility that the baby will choke or be unable to chew food. At home, achieving such uniformity is quite difficult.

Product without salt, starch, vegetable protein.

At the same time, meat purees can contain vegetable oil, lemon juice (to improve iron absorption), sometimes rice or corn flour - to create an optimal thick consistency.

Low allergenic meats.

Well, if the first meat puree is from the most low-allergenic types of meat - rabbit or turkey.

Heinz offers ready-to-use monocomponent baby food made from rabbit, turkey, chicken, veal. It does not contain salt, preservatives or other undesirable additives.

From the age of 6 months, children can also be served Heinz ready meals: beef with vegetables, sauté, stews and others. They will help to expand the diet of the baby, introduce him to new tastes, provide a healthy and balanced diet.

What kind of meat to start complementary foods for a child: when to introduce and how, from how many months

At the very beginning of the introduction of meat puree, you need to focus on the content of fat in it. The first varieties of meat should be fairly lean: turkey, rabbit, chicken, veal, beef. Offal, such as tongue, liver, heart, can be introduced into the diet no earlier than 8 months.

Important!

Complementary meats can be introduced no earlier than 6 months. The baby's first puree should be monocomponent, i.e. contain only one type of meat, it should not contain salt and other spices. Meat at 8 months, the child should already actively eat.

Where to start?

It doesn't matter what kind of meat you give your child first, but there are certain features that may affect your choice. So, for example, if your child has allergic reactions to the introduction of complementary foods, skin or intestinal, the first types of meat that should be offered to the child are rabbit and turkey. If a child is allergic to cow's milk proteins, rabbit, turkey, pork, horse meat are allowed, but beef and veal are excluded. If the child has signs of iron deficiency, the product of choice will be rabbit meat, which contains the maximum amount of heme iron.

Complementary meat should be given to the child daily, at lunchtime, in combination with vegetable purees. It is in combination with vegetables that iron from meat is absorbed as fully as possible. In the first days, you can dilute meat puree with vegetable broth, as well as breast milk, since it has a thick consistency. In addition, the familiar taste of the product introduced earlier will allow you to quickly adapt the child to the new taste of meat.

How much protein does a child need?

For example, your child is 6. 5 months old and has just recovered from a respiratory infection; you want to introduce meat puree. How to do it right? Let's opt for rabbit puree. On the first day, you can give the child 10 g of puree (1 tsp), on the second day, subject to good tolerance, you can increase the amount of meat to 15–20 g, on the third day, expand the volume to 30 g, on the fourth or fifth day - up to 40, on the sixth-seventh - up to 50 g. As a result, after 7-10 days, the volume of meat puree may well be brought up to 50 g. The remaining amount of feeding will consist of vegetable puree, and the child will have a full lunch meal.

From 6 to 8 months, the amount of meat puree can vary from 30 to 50 g, and at the age of 9–12 months it can increase to 60–70 g. a large amount of gas, a change in the nature of the stool, the appearance of fatty, putty-like stools, the appearance of pain in the abdomen).

Choose a meat dish for your baby

Important!

Meat complementary foods are of great importance for the healthy and harmonious development of your child, and therefore must be introduced into the diet in a timely manner and in the required quantity.