5 Ways to use Puree in Baby Led Weaning
There are two main ways to wean a baby. The traditional way is to slowly transition baby to solid foods through purees. First, you start with single ingredients and thin textures to introduce flavors and then you move to thicker textures and more ingredients as you feel your baby is ready.
There is also another trend, called baby led weaning that you may have heard of. Here’s a few tips and tricks about what is baby led weaning and how you can use Amara organic baby food on your weaning journey.
What is Baby Led Weaning?
Baby led weaning, or BLW, is an approach to introducing solid foods where baby is encouraged to self - feed appropriate size finger foods instead of receiving purees. The concept is a transition into solid foods when your baby is ready, not necessarily a transition away from breastmilk. It is also important to mention that every baby is different and every parent is comfortable with different approaches so always listen to your pediatrician and yourself!
What size should I use for Baby Led Weaning (BLW)?
One of the concepts of baby lead weaning is that you skip the pureed stages of foods and go straight to solids. Remember that in whatever format, you don’t want to put the usual bad suspects in front of your baby (salt, sugar, honey) and you do want to offer foods that are appropriate for their diet (no tiny nuts baby can choke on!).
What is the appropriate size for baby led weaning? Remember that to start baby led weaning it is recommended that your baby is sitting upright (not slouched) by his or herself. You should also always be watching them closely and don't force feed them or rush them, remember they are experimenting with food and just starting to learn to use their mouths. Make sure you stay away from foods that pose a choking risk. You want to start with foods that are soft and or crumbly. Think ripe fruits and vegetables, puffed cereals, cooked meat... For the size you want to make it easy for your baby to put in their fist, cut in long, thin strips or substantial baby fist size pieces that are easy for your baby to hold on to.
For the parents that are doing Baby Led weaning and are transitioning to solid foods, Amara purees can be a big help. Here are five recipes that you can use.
Flourless Pancakes
We have an earlier post on how to useAmara’s Kale and Potato puree to make flourless pancakes. You can make them in just 15 minutes, and you may be tempted to sneak a bite yourself!Here’s the recipe.
Kale Fritters
Making fritters is similar to making pancakes, and you can use any of our purees to make them. Start with two packages of our food like with the flourless pancakes and add water to make a puree. Add 1 egg and a tiny pinch of salt to assist with the baking. Start adding flour a little bit at a time until it starts to hold its shape, a little less than cookie dough.
Heat some oil in a pan and then spoon the fritters into the pan. The fritters should hold their shape. If they don’t, add more flour and try again. It’s still good! Cook them on one side for several minutes, then flip them. Cook for a few more minutes and they’re done!
While you could use this with our kale and potato, there’s no reason why you couldn’t make fruit fritters. Why not tryOats and Berries?
Apple Sauce
Applesauce is an excellent weaning food, but it can be time consuming to make it at home from scratch. Most store brands are also packed with extra sugar. But if you don’t have time to make your own - ourApple Sauce with Maqui Berries is a great applesauce that you can take with you anywhere!
Popsicles
Any of our purees can be frozen in popsicle trays for a summertime treat that can also help with the pain of teething. Just mix it up and pour it into the molds! We recommend ourTropical Mango flavor for this one.
Oatmeal
Finally, if your baby is starting to crave more substantial food, you can mix in the Amarabanana flavor as an add-in for oatmeal. Just stir the powder directly into soft oatmeal if your oatmeal is a little watery, or add water to powder first and then stir it in.
Better yet, our organicOats n’ Berries flavor already has thebest organic oatmeal for baby and berries mixed in and is ready to go. Just add in water, breastmilk or formula and you have your oatmeal and berries ready!
Now you have recipes for all five of Amara’s current flavor lineup for your baby led weaning adventure. Try setting some of these in front of your baby and see what they go for. You may be surprised by what they like!
