Vegetable puree - the best recipes. How to properly and tasty prepare vegetable puree

05.02.2024

Vegetable puree for babies is recommended first and foremost as complementary foods. Not juices or cereals, as some parents think, but vegetables. They are rich in vitamins and minerals, they contain enough dietary fiber, which will provide the child with soft and delicate digestion and will be a good preventive measure for constipation.

In this article we will talk about how to introduce vegetable complementary foods, how to prepare tasty and healthy purees for babies, what vegetables to give and in what quantities.

What vegetables does the first complementary feeding start with?

Breast milk and adapted milk formulas satisfy the child's requirements for approximately the first six months of life. Then the baby’s diet should expand. Pediatricians recommend introducing vegetable purees into the diet first.. But not all vegetables are acceptable for a baby’s introduction to new foods.

If the child is breastfed, it is recommended to introduce vegetable complementary foods from 5-6 months. For a child who, by coincidence, is deprived of breast milk and is fed formula, it is better to introduce vegetables into the diet at 4 months of age.

It is recommended to introduce vegetables in a certain sequence. For the very first acquaintance with new food Vegetables that usually do not cause allergies are recommended, so-called low-allergenic. These are zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. At the same time, the first baby vegetable puree must be one-component, that is, contain only one type of vegetable crop - only squash or only cauliflower puree.

pumpkin;
carrot;
potato;
squash.

Another month later, at the age of 7-8 months, cabbage, beets and cucumbers are added, in a year - tomatoes, and at 1.5 years - beans, peas and other legumes. It is recommended to introduce eggplants after one and a half years, closer to 2 years.

Manufacturers rating

Ready-made baby puree in a jar is convenient and safe. Manufacturers make sure that the composition of the product is hypoallergenic and balanced. To start complementary feeding, puree in a jar is the best option., because preparing homemade puree for the sake of half a teaspoon that the baby will eat is inappropriate. In addition, puree in a jar is convenient to take with you on a walk or on a trip.

Choosing a particular brand of baby food is a matter of family income and preferences. A pediatrician can only recommend certain manufacturers, but parents will still choose themselves, taking into account, among other things, the preferences of their own baby, because it happens that a child refuses to eat one brand of puree, but is delighted with the same puree from a different manufacturer.

safety and risk of allergy to the product;
taste qualities;
reviews from parents and pediatricians.

Based on these three criteria, we can arrange the currently existing brands in the following order:

Humana;
Gerber;
"Granny's Basket";
Nutricia;
"FrutoNyanya";
"Subject";
"Swaddle";
"Agusha";
Hipp.

When choosing ready-made puree, be sure to pay attention to the age label and expiration date. If the jar does not make a pop when opening, you should not feed your baby this puree. If you wish, you can prepare vegetable puree yourself, but a number of important conditions must be met.

Selection and preparation of ingredients

To prepare homemade vegetable puree that can be given to an infant, you need to choose only fresh vegetables, the appearance of which is not satisfactory. If a zucchini or pumpkin has darkening, unevenness, areas of rot, cracks, or “damaged” sides, they are not suitable for baby food.

Vegetables can be bought at the market, in a store, but the best option is fruits and roots collected on your own site. If you don’t have a dacha or a vegetable garden, choose only those purchased that are grown in your area. Imported and imported vegetables and fruits are usually stuffed with a large number of chemicals to preserve their presentation. You need to be especially careful when choosing vegetables if they are not in season in your area. Instead of store-bought zucchini in the middle of winter, it’s better to buy ready-made puree in a jar from a trusted manufacturer of baby food.

You should not select vegetables whose sides are shiny for baby puree - it is possible to use wax, which is used to rub vegetables to retain moisture when transporting them from afar.

Homemade recipes

Making puree is easy. The task will be made easier by having a blender and steamer in the kitchen. A good puree can also be made in a slow cooker. In order to make a one-component puree for the first feeding, take a zucchini, wash it well and peel it. Cut the vegetable into large pieces, after removing the seeds and core.

If you cook vegetables in small pieces, they will retain almost no beneficial substances during heat treatment.

Place the zucchini pieces in a multicooker bowl, steamer or small saucepan with a small amount of water. Bring covered until done. Using a blender, turn the boiled zucchini into puree. If it turns out to be thick, add a little vegetable broth that remains after heat treatment, or boiled water. It is not recommended for infants to add salt and pepper to vegetable puree., but you can add a couple of drops of extra virgin olive oil. Ready puree is not stored. Before the next feeding, which includes additional feeding with vegetables, it is prepared again.

After 8 months the child will be able to eat multi-component purees. In this case, you can immediately cook several types of vegetables in a similar way, and then make a single puree from them. Zucchini and carrots, zucchini and broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, beets and carrots go well together. Almost all types of vegetables go well with mashed potatoes, which is prepared in the same way, but with the addition of milk or water (with the permission of the pediatrician), without butter. As your baby grows, you can use regular vegetable purees to create pureed soups, as well as vegetable mousses, for example, from boiled pumpkin and cottage cheese, from zucchini and boiled carrots.

Calculate your complementary feeding table

Norms and rules of use

Complementary feeding always begins with a minimum amount of a new product. For a baby, acquaintance with vegetables should begin with half a teaspoon. During the day, the mother should carefully monitor the baby. If allergies and intestinal disorders do not appear, the next day you can increase the volume of vegetable puree to a teaspoon.

The infant feeding scheme does not imply adding more than one new product every two days. This is important in order to keep track of possible negative reactions of the child’s body to food. It will be beneficial for the baby and his parents if the amount of complementary feeding meets the standards.

A table indicating the minimum and maximum amount of vegetable puree acceptable at a given age will help you determine them.

The table shows the daily value. Parents can split this amount into two or three meals if the child loves vegetables. Thus, a child at 5 months can be given vegetables twice a day, 15 grams per feeding, and at 6 months, he can be given two times 25 grams.

Before one year of age, it is important to teach your child to eat vegetables., otherwise, later, at an older age, the baby may refuse to eat these foods and dishes that are healthy and necessary for his growth and development. But only in theory, children should eat this or that amount of food. In practice, everything may not turn out this way - the child will demand vegetables more often and more, or refuse them altogether. With the latter problem, parents most often turn to pediatricians.

What to do if the child does not want to eat purees?

A child who does not want to eat pureed vegetables at his tender age has many reasons for this behavior.

Here are just some of the reasons why children refuse this dish.

Complementary foods are introduced too early, the child is not psychologically and physiologically ready for it - you need to postpone the idea and return to it in a week.
The child does not like the taste of vegetables– try giving another vegetable. If he doesn’t eat zucchini, give him broccoli; if he refuses store-bought puree in a jar, prepare it at home.
The type of vegetables is unclear or unpleasant– place your child more often in a high chair at the adult table during dinner or breakfast; he should see how adults eat their food. This will form an idea of why his mother bothers him with a spoon and a strange substance in a plate or jar. Serve the puree in a beautiful children's plate, use an interesting spoon with animal figures, and interest the baby in the process of eating.
The child has no time for vegetables– he’s teething or his stomach hurts, he gets sick. In this situation, it is impossible to offer new products so as not to increase the load on the baby’s body.
Baby is not hungry– in this situation, wait until the child is hungry and offer vegetable puree at the very beginning of the meal.
Already have a negative experience– if the baby was forced to eat vegetables, a spoon was pushed into him by force, the taste of the puree will be unpleasant for understandable psychological reasons. In this situation, give the child the opportunity to choose for himself whether to eat or not. And the vegetables that are so needed can be mixed into other types of food, for example, into vegetable puree soup, into porridge.

In order to prevent situations in which the child hates vegetable dishes, it is important to do everything in a timely manner. You should not too blindly follow the advice of relatives and pediatricians about the timing of complementary feeding. If a child refuses zucchini once in his six months, no need to insist. Try offering him complementary foods a little later.. All children develop at different rates and according to their own schedule. This applies not only to height and weight, but also to metabolic processes, processes of production of necessary enzymes in the body, because without them, the absorption of new food is impossible.

The same recommendation applies to the amount of vegetables eaten. The child doesn't owe anyone anything. He may well have his own tastes and needs in the amount of complementary foods. And his real needs do not always exactly correspond to pediatric standards and tables.

To learn how to prepare vegetable puree at home for a 7-8 month old baby, watch the following video.

When it comes time to introduce complementary foods, many parents are at a loss. At what age should the first complementary foods be given? Should you prepare baby food yourself or buy industrially produced products in jars? The book "Food for Little Ones" offers a modern European perspective on this issue and dispels many doubts. Here are some recipes for homemade vegetable and fruit purees and tips for storing them.

The puree feeding phase is not a strictly prescribed period that must last a fixed number of weeks. Some parents skip it altogether, while others believe that vegetable and fruit purees should be the basis of complementary feeding for several months. But in any case, purees are just the beginning, the first step on the path to “normal” food. As soon as the child is ready for this, it is very important to accustom him to dense foods, to food that can be handled and chewed.

Try making simple purees from one ingredient, and when your child gets used to them, turn your attention to more complex recipes.

If you are going to feed your baby purees, I recommend getting a stationary blender with a tall jug. Hand-held immersion blenders are great for making pureed soups or other fairly thin mixtures, but they don't always work well with thicker ones.

When making purees for children, there is no need to wear a white coat and a hair net, but it is still worth remembering about hygiene. In young children, the immune system has not yet strengthened, and they are more sensitive to viruses, and food poisoning is extremely dangerous for them. Plus, by peeling, cutting and wiping fruits and vegetables, you give bacteria more room to feed and reproduce. No need to panic, just follow some rules.

Basic hygiene rules when preparing purees

Cooled puree from boiled products can be kept in the refrigerator for 24 hours or frozen in small portions. The classic freezer container is an ice tray, but I prefer silicone molds for mini muffins. They have the perfect size for one serving of puree, and each one is very easy to take out. Thaw the puree in the refrigerator, then warm thoroughly and cool slightly before serving. You cannot reheat more than once.

You should not freeze fresh fruit puree, because when defrosting they will need to be reheated very much, and this is not very good.

Many vegetables and fruits need to be pureed with water. You can use breast milk or artificial milk instead - it will enrich the mixture with calories and nutrients. But if you are going to store the puree in the refrigerator or freezer, diluting it with milk is not very good from a sanitation point of view. Purees to be stored are best diluted with water - and the same water in which vegetables or fruits were prepared, because some of the vitamins have passed into it. It is better to make puree intended for freezing quite thick; and after defrosting and reheating, you can add fresh milk or fresh hot broth.

To start: one-ingredient puree

Next step: mixed purees

When the child gets used to the simplest purees, move on to more complex options. Gradually make the puree thicker and richer by adding ingredients rich in proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

As soon as it seems to you that the child is ready for this, make the puree thicker, do not puree, but knead or chop the ingredients. To make your puree more filling, try these additions:

before serving, add grated cheese, a little cream, butter or whole natural yogurt - if the child is already six months old;
a hard-boiled and chopped egg - again, if the child is six months old;
some finely chopped freshly cooked chicken or fish;
boil rice or pasta with vegetables;
If you are cooking vegetables in water, add red lentils.

Broccoli, potatoes and fish. Potatoes should not be ground in a blender or food processor - this will make them sticky. It is better to mash it by hand or add it to puree other vegetables. Bake 1 potato at 200°C for an hour until soft. Towards the end of baking, place 1 small fish fillet (such as pollock or mackerel) on a foil-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 minutes. Break the fish into flakes, carefully removing the bones. Trim the tough stems off 250g of broccoli and place in a steamer or fine sieve set over a pan of simmering water. Cover and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Cut the finished potatoes in half and scrape out the pulp, then mash. Either puree the fish and broccoli or chop it very finely. Mix with mashed potatoes, adding liquid if desired. Approximately 300 ml puree.

Spinach, spelled and onions. Place 50g of spelled (or pearl barley) in a small saucepan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat for about 20 minutes until fully cooked (barley takes longer to cook). Drain and reserve water. Wash 300 g of spinach and tear off the tough stems from the large leaves; leave the small ones whole. Place the spinach in a saucepan and place over medium heat (the remaining water on the leaves will suffice for cooking). Cover and let the spinach wilt - this will only take 3-4 minutes. Drain in a colander (but do not wring out). Finely chop 1 small onion. Heat 1 tbsp in the pan where you cooked the spinach. l. rapeseed or olive oil over medium heat and fry the onion for 10 minutes until soft. Grind spelled, spinach and onion in a blender, adding another 1 tbsp. l. oils Dilute slightly with water from cooking spelled. Spelled will give the puree a nice, slightly lumpy consistency. Approximately 500 ml.

Chicken and salad. Cut 2 skinless, boneless chicken thighs into equal pieces. Place them in a small saucepan and add enough water to barely cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop 1 head of romaine lettuce. Add to chicken, stir and cover. Cook for another 3 minutes, tossing a couple of times, until the lettuce is completely wilted. Place everything together in a blender and puree. You will get approximately 300 ml.

Fruit puree

As soon as the child is ready for this, make the puree thicker, do not puree, but knead or chop the ingredients. To make your puree more filling, try the following:

before serving, add cream or natural yoghurt - if the child is already six months old;
mix fruit puree with porridge - oatmeal or other cereal;
add a little spice - for example, a pinch of cinnamon or a few drops of vanilla extract.

Citrus fruits and berries can cause allergies. Give them along with fruits that you know won't cause problems for your child to monitor the reaction.

Apple and dried apricots. Place 100 g of dried apricots in a small saucepan, cover with water and leave overnight. Peel 2 apples, remove core and cut into slices. Add dried apricots to the pan, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft. Puree. You will get approximately 300 ml.

Pear and papaya. If you have a couple of soft, ripe pears, there is no need to boil them - just peel and coarsely chop them. Peel, core and coarsely chop firm pears, then place in a steamer or fine sieve set over a pan of gently simmering water. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, until tender; let cool. Halve the papaya, remove the seeds, scoop out the pulp and mix with the pears, then puree. Since the puree contains fresh fruit, it is best to serve it immediately. Approximately 300 ml.

Berries and banana. Mash 200 g of a mixture of berries - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. If you used berries with large seeds, such as raspberries, rub them through a sieve. Mix with 1 ripe banana, cut into pieces, and puree. Since there is fresh fruit, it is best to serve the puree right away. Approximately 300 ml.

Discussion

Thank you very much for the article and advice! And when the time came for us to introduce vegetables into our diet, there were no fresh ones in stores and markets yet, and I am wary of frozen store-bought vegetables. So I decided to try jarred puree. I chose Heinz zucchini puree (as our pediatrician advised). My daughter loved the puree from the first spoon! Now, during the season of vegetables and fruits, I will try to make purees myself.

I will try to introduce very good recipes. But the eldest flatly refused to eat what I cooked, no matter how hard I tried. Give her store-bought purees and that’s it. I don’t know how the little one will react. Homemade is always better, I hope you like it.

Comment on the article "Complementary feeding: how to make pureed vegetables and fruits. 10 recipes"

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We offer simple recipes and useful cooking tips.

Proper and wholesome nutrition is the key to the health and good mood of any child, which is why you need to very carefully choose foods for your baby’s diet. This is especially true for baby purees, since this is the first dish that a child tries after breastfeeding or bottle feeding. The puree should be prepared only from high-quality and fresh products, be hypoallergenic and not contain artificial additives. Now on store shelves there is a wide selection of vegetable, fruit and meat purees for every taste and budget. However, baby purees can be prepared at home using a blender.

There are advantages to making your own baby purees. Firstly, you will be sure that the puree contains only the freshest and healthiest products, especially if these are fruits and vegetables grown in your own summer cottage. Secondly, homemade purees can cost you much less than store-bought ones. So how can you make tasty, healthy and nutritious purees that your baby will love? We offer you several simple and healthy recipes for one- and multi-component vegetable, fruit and meat baby purees.

Vegetable purees

It is best to start complementary feeding with vegetable purees from zucchini and cauliflower. These vegetables are very easy to digest and rarely cause allergies. A little later, you can introduce pumpkin, potatoes, green peas and turnips into your child’s diet. Remember that when feeding for the first time, you should not add butter, sugar, salt and other additives to the puree: this can be done when the child is 1 year old.

Preparing baby vegetable puree from pumpkin

Pumpkin puree has a pleasant sweetish taste, so, as a rule, kids eat it with pleasure. In addition, pumpkin is simply a storehouse of vitamins: it contains iron, carotene, pectin, vitamins B, C, E, D, PP and even T - a rare vitamin responsible for metabolism in the body.

To prepare the puree, you need to choose a small pumpkin weighing up to 3-5 kg (small pumpkins are usually juicier and more pleasant to taste and are much easier to clean than “adult” pumpkins). First, wash the pumpkin thoroughly and divide it into two parts. Next, cut it into slices - as much as your baby will eat, peel and cut into cubes. Then boil the pumpkin in a double boiler or saucepan: place it in boiling water and cook for 20 minutes until the vegetable is completely softened. After the pumpkin is cooked, blend it in a blender until smooth. If the puree is too thick, you can add a little breast milk, infant formula or water. Cool the puree to 30 degrees, then you can feed the baby.

Preparing baby vegetable puree from broccoli

Want to understand other important issues? Read

Vegetable puree - general principles of preparation

Vegetable puree is an excellent addition to meat, poultry or fish dishes, and can also be served on its own. Vegetable puree can often be found in children's, dietary or special medical menus. Vegetable puree has a soft, uniform consistency, so it is easily absorbed by the body. The most popular vegetable puree, which can be found in many cuisines around the world, is potato puree. It is prepared very simply: boiled potatoes are mashed with a blender or mashed with a masher, mixed with hot milk, water or vegetable broth, a piece of butter is added and salted to taste. Sometimes a little sautéed onion is also added to this puree. You can diversify classic mashed potatoes with herbs, seasonings and other products: for example, green peas, green beans, champignons, cheese, carrots, turnips, rutabaga, etc.

You can move away from the classics and prepare delicious vegetable puree from Brussels sprouts or cauliflower, broccoli, beets, tomatoes, zucchini, sorrel, asparagus, spinach, pumpkin and other vegetables. In general, all vegetable purees can be divided into 2 categories: single-component or multi-component. It follows from this that you can experiment in different ways and mix a variety of vegetables.

The preparation procedure for all vegetable purees is approximately the same: vegetables are processed, boiled (baked, cooked in a double boiler or slow cooker) and pureed until smooth. This can be done using a masher or blender. Then lay out the crushed additional ingredients, add butter and hot milk. By the way, you can cook vegetables in vegetable broth and grind them together until smooth. Sometimes, instead of butter, you can add any vegetable oil: sesame, olive, pumpkin, etc. Vegetable puree is best served warm.

Vegetable puree - preparing food and dishes

To prepare vegetable puree, you need to prepare a set of kitchen utensils, including the following items: a saucepan, a frying pan, a bowl, vegetable cutters and peelers, a grater, a colander, a sieve, a knife, a cutting board and a blender. You may also need a steamer to pre-cook some ingredients. Vegetable puree is served on regular serving plates along with the main dish.

Preparation of products consists of the following steps:

— Washing and further cleaning of vegetables. If necessary, you need to remove the seeds and stalks. Carrots and beets must be carefully scraped; it is better to remove the skin from tomatoes so that it does not get caught in the puree;

— Washing and chopping greens;

— Preparation of salt, pepper and other spices;

— Preparing additional ingredients: softening butter, heating milk, etc.

Vegetable puree recipes:

Recipe 1: Vegetable puree

Many people know how to prepare mashed potatoes, but not everyone knows how to serve it in an interesting way. This recipe for a popular vegetable puree describes the recipe for the dish and the further method of serving. To prepare you will need potatoes, green peas and milk.

Potatoes - several pieces;
1-2 tbsp. l. green peas;
12 g butter;
Milk - 40-45 ml;
Salt.

Wash the potatoes, peel them and cut into pieces as desired. Pour water over the potatoes and let them cook. As soon as the potatoes are completely cooked, pour the broth into a separate glass and crush the potatoes themselves with a potato masher. Heat the milk and pour it into the potatoes. Throw in a piece of butter. Continue kneading everything until smooth. Boil green peas in the drained broth and add to the potatoes. Mix all ingredients. If the puree is too difficult to mix, you can add a little hot broth. Salt the vegetable puree to taste.

Recipe 2: Vegetable puree from carrots

Try making carrot puree instead of regular mashed potatoes. Vegetable puree is perfect as a side dish for many dishes; it is also very tasty on its own. Garlic, ginger and seasonings give the dish a piquant, spicy taste.

A kilogram of carrots;
Half a glass of vegetable broth (can be cubed);
Nut oil - 30 ml;
Onions - 1 pc.;
Garlic clove;
10 g chopped ginger;
Cumin powder - 1 tsp;
Nutmeg - 2 g;
Mint - a few sprigs.

Boil the broth (or bring water to a boil and dissolve the bouillon cubes), peel, chop and place the carrots in a saucepan. Cook until done (20 minutes). Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion and garlic, fry in a frying pan with a spoonful of nut oil along with cumin and ginger. Transfer the roast to the pan with the carrots and puree all the ingredients with a blender. Season the carrot puree with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour in 15 ml of nut oil and mix thoroughly. Serve with mint leaves. Cooled puree can be reheated in the oven or microwave.

Recipe 3: Cauliflower Vegetable Puree

A very simple recipe for delicious vegetable puree made from cauliflower, milk and flour. For baby food, it is better to prepare a one-component puree from just one vegetable, and for dietary nutrition, you can exclude flour, although it is used in very small quantities.

650 cauliflower (fresh or frozen);
35-40 g flour;
2-3 spoons of milk;
75-78 g butter.

Wash the cabbage, separate into florets and boil in salted water. Drain in a colander, let the water drain and transfer to a saucepan. Puree the cabbage in a blender. Fry the flour in butter, mix with hot milk and stir vigorously. Add the mixture to the vegetable puree. Place the pan on the fire, add butter and simmer a little.

Recipe 4: Beetroot puree

Beetroot puree is a surprisingly healthy dish, because it is rich in vitamins, microelements and other beneficial substances. In addition, vegetable puree from beets removes toxins and waste, normalizes digestion and restores blood.

Half a kilo of beets;
15-16 g butter;
A quarter glass each of milk and carrot juice;
Tomato juice - 75-80 ml;
Incomplete Art. l. sugar syrup;
Salt - to taste.

Wash the beets thoroughly, peel them and cook in a double boiler. Grate the steamed beets on a fine grater, season to taste with salt, pour in vegetable juices and warm milk. Also don't forget to add sugar syrup. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and place on low heat. Add the butter, stir again and bring to a boil. Best served hot or warm.

Recipe 5: Vegetable puree from tomatoes and sweet potatoes

Vegetable puree from tomatoes and sweet potatoes (yams) turns out incredibly tasty, appetizing and healthy. The dish can be served as a side dish or on its own. The seasonings included in the recipe add a refined aroma and rich, piquant taste.

A kilogram of sweet potatoes;
4-5 g salt;
Turmeric - 2 g;
A pinch of hot cayenne pepper;
1.5 g nutmeg;
55-60 ml orange juice;
2 g orange zest;
45-47 ml ghee;
12 g brown sugar;
345 tomatoes;
34 g almonds.

Bake the sweet potatoes until tender, then cut them in half and scoop out the flesh with a sharp spoon. Place in a bowl and mash with a masher. Add turmeric, nutmeg, zest, hot pepper, salt and mix well. Pour in the orange juice and mix the ingredients again. Peel and chop the tomatoes. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add sugar, stirring until it turns reddish and add the tomatoes. Cook over low heat until the tomatoes are soft. Add the tomatoes to the potatoes, mix thoroughly, and heat the mixture evenly. Chop the nuts and fry in a dry frying pan. Serve vegetable puree with toasted almonds.

— You should also try to pierce the vegetables with a knife as little as possible during the cooking process;

— When deciding to prepare vegetable puree for your child, you need to remember that cauliflower, zucchini, turnips and pumpkin are the least allergenic.

Your baby is ready to try something new when he can no longer get enough of his usual mother’s milk or formula; if he shows interest in your food, he can grab a piece and put it in his mouth. This usually occurs between about 5 and 9 months of age. So, it's time to introduce your child to vegetables. And for this you need to find out how to prepare vegetable puree for the first complementary feeding yourself or choose the right ready-made one, when to give it and what to expect from this innovation.

First vegetable puree: when and what to give

On the issue of complementary feeding - the timing of its start and the choice of ingredient - baby nutrition specialists do not have a common opinion. Much depends on the health status of each baby, the individual pace of its development and the method of feeding.

If your baby is fed breast milk, he will not need anything else until he is six months old. And after six months, mother’s milk alone is not enough to provide the developing baby’s body with all the important substances. Then comes the “finest hour” of vegetable puree. By this time, the digestive system, which is not fully strengthened, is already able to cope with the new product without the risk of gas formation or diarrhea. For bottle-fed babies, the most appropriate time is 4 or 4.5 months.

By the way, the actual timing of the introduction of vegetable complementary foods differs in different parts of the world: in Europe, for example, this occurs at 3-4 months of a baby’s life. In particular, German pediatricians do not hide the fact that the goal of these measures is the gradual persistent weaning of the child from breastfeeding at an earlier date, mainly so that the mother can return to work sooner.

Its time to begin

Your baby can already try vegetable puree if:

his weight has doubled since birth;
he can eat in an upright position;
he can chew food with large pieces.

Experts recommend starting complementary feeding with vegetables, not fruits. Otherwise, an early addiction to sweets will form, followed by a refusal of other healthy foods, caries may develop and metabolism may deteriorate (plus an extra load on the pancreas and kidneys). Vegetables are less “interesting” than fruits, but they contain all the vitamins and microelements necessary for growth.

If your baby’s weight gain is poor, the pediatrician may recommend introducing porridge into the diet first. In other cases, vegetables are the best option.

It is better to start giving vegetable puree in the first half of the day so that you have time to monitor the child’s condition and monitor possible consequences of feeding (allergies or digestive problems).

It’s okay if the baby turns away from the spoon, cries or spits out healthy food - just give him a little time and try these methods:

give new food at the next feeding or after a couple of days;
add some breast milk/formula to make the taste more familiar;
After a few days, give a puree of another type of vegetable.

You can feed your baby little by little, more than once or twice. Experience shows that children may agree to try puree only after ten or even fifteen unsuccessful attempts. But refuse to introduce complementary foods if the child is unwell or in a bad mood: he is unlikely to positively perceive experiments with his menu.

First vegetables

So, what vegetables should you start feeding with? With so many products to choose from, it can be difficult to know which ones are best for your baby and which ones you should hold off on. It is most convenient to use the universal advice of children's nutritionists, who have studied suitable vegetables for first complementary feeding, their composition and beneficial properties, and also determined the risk of an allergic reaction.

Type of vegetable	Characteristics	Allergy risk
Zucchini/squash	Useful for children prone to allergies. Removes excess water from the body. Suitable for overweight children. Not recommended for loose stools	Short
Cauliflower	Contains a high proportion of vitamin C, it has a lot of iron and protein. Suitable for overweight children
Broccoli	Broccoli
Potato	It contains potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins. High in calories. Lots of starch (to remove excess starch, you need to soak it in water for an hour before cooking). It is better to consume in small quantities. Not recommended for constipation	Average
Carrot	It contains more vitamin A than other vegetables (which is why it is good for the eyes), and many natural antibiotics. It has a pleasant taste. It is better to start feeding with boiled carrots
Pumpkin	Saturated with pectin and vitamins. Low in calories. Suitable for overweight children

When deciding which vegetable puree is best to start complementary feeding with, give preference to zucchini, cauliflower or broccoli. After two weeks, when you are sure that the child is used to it, try giving him pureed pumpkin, carrots, white cabbage, green peas or spinach. Beets, tomatoes, and onions are offered from 9-10 months, when the child’s body can perceive them normally, and do this with caution, because they can cause allergies.

You need to choose foods especially carefully if the baby’s father or mother had or has food allergies.

Vegetable purees from 4 months, and generally at the beginning of complementary feeding, should be monocomponent (from one specific vegetable). After becoming familiar with the listed products, if there is no negative reaction, you can offer your child multi-component nutrition.

Complementary feeding scheme

From the very beginning, vegetable puree should be an independent meal - breakfast or lunch. Vegetables will become a side dish only when meat and fish appear in your child’s diet.

So, a new dish should be included in the children's menu gradually, almost imperceptibly. When you introduce vegetable puree to complementary foods, the feeding pattern may look like this.

Start in the morning with 1/2 teaspoon, then feed your baby breast milk/formula. Every day, double the volume and increase it to 50-100 ml, if the baby’s well-being and stool character have not changed.
If the baby no longer wants to eat, do not insist - immediately offer him his usual food (breast milk, formula).
If a negative reaction occurs (redness/rash/itching, diarrhea/constipation, abdominal pain) - discontinue the product, wait until the symptoms disappear and try another.
Have you had a reaction to an increased amount of a product that was previously perceived as normal? Stop for a couple of days and then return to the previous amount of food.
After the first week (if the child is feeling normal), completely replace one feeding with vegetables. Over the next seven days, adaptation to the new food will occur.
How to introduce vegetables into complementary foods: add each new type to the diet one at a time, after 7 days (this makes it easier to track a possible reaction and understand what exactly it occurred; it is recommended to keep records - date, type of food, dosage, reaction).

A “microdose” at the very beginning is the best solution. And the slower the volume per feeding increases, the less likely it is that the child will develop diathesis.

Buy or cook

Factory-made baby food is recommended for consumption by leading global and domestic health organizations. European and Russian manufacturers provide products of the highest quality, so the choice of parents depends only on their preferences and financial capabilities.

When purchasing ready-made baby food in a store, you should pay attention to:

integrity of the packaging (no dents, tightly closed lid);
color of the contents (if it can be seen through the packaging);
markings on labels (minimum age of the child, expiration date, manufacturer’s contacts);
compound.

Ideally, vegetable puree has an optimal uniform structure, natural color, is additionally enriched with useful substances, is hypoallergenic, and does not contain spices, preservatives, or “strange” additives, including starch as a thickener. It is sterile and contains all the necessary nutrients regardless of the season.

If you want to make your own baby puree, choose your vegetables carefully. They should not have any defects, but they should not look too “glossy” (most likely, during cultivation they were fertilized with fertilizers unknown to you). The best thing is vegetables from a proven “grandmother’s garden.”

You can stock up on food for future use: for example, cabbage is well stored in the freezer, and carrots and potatoes are stored on the balcony in winter.

It’s good to use a double boiler to cook vegetables: this is a quick way that will also preserve vitamins. Grind the vegetables through a sieve (for small volumes) or mash with an immersion blender. At about 10-11 months, you can mash food with a regular fork: including large pieces will help the baby learn to chew.

Here are the general principles for preparing a healthy vegetable dish for your child.

Take one type (let's say broccoli), rinse in running water.
Pour boiling water over the vegetable, chop and place in a saucepan.
Pour the product with clean bottled water, cover the pan with a lid and cook over low heat for 20-30 minutes until soft.
Drain the water (not completely), mash the still hot vegetables along with the broth.
Add 2-3 drops of olive or sunflower oil to the resulting mass (later you can increase it to 1 teaspoon), or a small amount of boiled milk.
Stir until smooth. Don't add salt.
Let the puree cool or slightly warm.

Important: Be sure to prepare fresh food before each feeding.

If you would like to try making different vegetable purees for children, the recipes we offer will help you with this. We remind you that these products can appear first in the diet, they will not cause allergies, will be well absorbed and will bring many benefits.

Zucchini puree

You will need a small zucchini (without cracks, dents or other damage) and bottled water.

Wash the vegetable thoroughly, remove the peel, remove the core and cut into small cubes (about 1x1 cm).
Pour a small amount of clean water over the pieces, let them boil, reduce the heat and cook for 15-20 minutes until they become soft.
Drain almost all the broth, grind the boiled zucchini until smooth, without lumps (wipe with a sieve or use a blender). If the consistency is thick, pour in a little broth and stir.

Cabbage puree

You will need cauliflower (7-10 inflorescences) and 50 ml of purified water, breast milk or an adapted formula).

Rinse the small inflorescences thoroughly, place in boiling water, leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes (the same amount of time will be required if cooked in a double boiler).
Place the boiled vegetables in a colander and cool.
Mash with a blender or rub through a sieve, gradually adding water/cabbage broth (gr. milk or mixture). Bring to the consistency of liquid sour cream.

Carrot puree

Take 100 g of root vegetables, 25 ml of boiled milk, three drops of vegetable oil.

If you observe an atypical reaction of your child to a new food, you need to consult a pediatrician or contact an allergist for examination. And to avoid problems, it is best to try first of all hypoallergenic vegetable purees for the first complementary foods - they are perfectly digestible, provide the baby’s body with the necessary macro- and micronutrients, fiber, and vitamins. And only after getting used to them should you treat your child to purees from other vegetables.