Six Months Baby Diet
By six months, your baby needs to extend her culinary range beyond breast milk or formula. If your baby is desperate for food earlier than this, you may need to start introducing fruits without seeds and non-fibrous vegetables, puréed and/or cooked as described in this chapter. Her digestive system is still developing, so start gently. Puréed fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes are ideal for the initial stages of introducing solids. From sweet Apple Purée to nutty Baby Brown Rice Purée, these first foods will give your baby the best nutritional start.
When your baby gets used to eating from a spoon, make things more interesting by combining flavors and introducing a bigger variety of legumes along with fish, poultry, and meat. This is the beginning of your child’s relationship with food. Give her the best you can, with lots of variety, and she’ll be on her way to a lifetime of good eating.
Starting your baby on her first foods is an exciting time. Begin with the foods listed in the chart opposite. Take it slowly to give your child a gentle transition to solid foods.
BREAST MILK, FORMULA, AND WATER
Carry on giving your baby breast milk or formula at breakfast and between meals because it’s still an important source of protein. You can also start to offera little filtered water at mealtimes—make sure to serve it slightly warm so it doesn’t chill your baby’s stomach.
SOURCES OF PROTEIN
Fish is an excellent source of protein and essential fatty acids. The best to
introduce are fresh anchovies (canned are too salty) and sardines. Their tiny, soft bones provide calcium but pose no risk of choking. Avoid conventionally farmed fish such as cod, which is raised in poor conditions and may carry toxins. Instead try sustainably fished alternatives such as pollock and haddock. You can also introduce organic poultry and meat, which do not contain hormones or antibiotics, and game, which is wild and lean. Make sure all meats are completely cooked.
FATS
Add two teaspoons of cold-pressed oil to your baby’s food each day. Their brain and nervous systems are still developing, and the essential fats in these oils are extremely important.
OATS
You can also bring in gluten-free oats. Traditionally, oats were handled with machines that handle gluten-containing grains and were thought to contain it, but where kept isolated, oats do not contain gluten. They do contain a gluten-like protein that very sensitive people may react to.
Apple Puree
Raw fruit is the easiest food for your baby to digest—and it’s packed with living nutrition. You can also use this recipe for apricot, mango, nectarine, papaya, peach, pear or plum purée. Each fruit is great on its own as a snack or mixed with a grain purée for a healthy breakfast.
PREP TIME: 5 mins
1 apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 Put the apple in a blender and blend for 1 minute until smooth, adding a little water if the mixture is too dry.
2 Serve immediately to prevent the apple from discoloring.
STORAGE: Refrigerate the cooled purée for up to 3 days or freeze in cubes for up to 3 months.
Dried Apricot Puree
Apricots sweeten food in a nutritious way and are a good source of beta carotene. You can use prunes for this recipe, too. It’s good to have some of these dense purées on hand as ice cubes that you can quickly defrost and serve warm when hunger suddenly strikes.
PREP TIME: 5 mins, plus overnight soaking
COOK TIME: 15 mins
1 cup unsulfured dried apricots
1 Put the apricots and 1½ cups water in a small saucepan and let soak, covered, overnight.
2 Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer,
covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely soft. If using a blender with a plastic container, let the mixture cool completely before blending.
3 Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend for 1 minute until smooth. Serve warm, reheating if necessary.
STORAGE: Refrigerate the cooled purée for up to 3 days or freeze in cubes for up to 3 months.
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