Some ideas for purées that don’t need cooking – which are great when you’re out and about – include mashing some avo, banana, pear, paw paw or mango with a fork and feeding to your baby.
Do this just before serving, as these fruits oxidise quickly, losing some nutritional value.
Make butterbean mash (a great way to introduce legumes into your baby’s diet) by fork-mashing a tablespoon or two of drained tinned butterbeans. Make sure that the brand you buy doesn’t contain
any added sugar or salt.
Otherwise, make your own by first soaking some butterbeans in water overnight, then rinsing them and boiling them in fresh water for about two hours.
Legumes are a great source of folate, potassium, iron and magnesium; all of which your baby needs for healthy development.
A great way to get protein into first-time eaters is to mix some hummus, a paste made from
chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, or smooth nut butters (like cashew nut butter, almond
butter and macadamia nut butter) into their purées.
Do this only if there is no history of nut allergies in your family and monitor your baby closely when you first give this to him.