Ideas to create your own meal plan AND keep it simple!
Don’t stress yourself out when it comes to puree feeding. Keep it simple. If you’re feeling stressed out, simplify it more.
Rather than giving you weekly meal plans for puree feeding, I wanted to give you ideas to create your own plan. This is important because everyone’s desires are different, everyone eats various cultural foods/types of food, and everyone has various financial and time resources.
Reminders when introducing purees:
- No purees before four months unless indicated by your child’s clinician.
- Watch for signs of readiness – read “Is your baby ready for solids?”
- If starting solids between 4-6 months, I like to start with vegetables, purees, and oatmeal cereals. If tolerating, then advance to adding yogurts, cheeses, and meats.
- This is to monitor for stomach tolerance of these foods.
- Try to incorporate allergenic foods (unless clearly instructed not to by a clinician).
- Try to puree down anything you eat (You can use the puree setting on a mixer/blender).Don’t worry so much about the seasonings if they’re things you are making at home.
- If buying purees, aim for the lowest sodium and no/limited added sugars.
- Start with one meal (lunch is good) and add on meals as they tolerate.
- Remember, you can incorporate this with self-feeding or BLW-type foods!
When starting out, start with single items and advance as tolerated to a combo listed below.
BREAKFAST
- Oatmeal, Yogurt, Avocado, Egg or Grain
- Fruit
LUNCH
- Protein or Grain
- Veggie
DINNER
- Protein or Grain
- Veggie
Puree Feeding: Sample Veggies to Start
- Peas
- Green Beans
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Sweet Potatoes
- Butternut Squash
- Eggplant
Puree Feeding: Sample Fruits to Start
- Apples
- Pears
- Bananas
- Peaches
- Avocado
Puree Feeding: Sample Grains to Start
- Oatmeal
- Rice
- infant Multigrain Cereal
- Infant Quinoa Cereal
Puree Feeding: Sample Dairy to Start
- Unsweetened greek yogurt with live-active cultures (probiotics)
- Cheese (mozzarella, ricotta, swiss)
Puree Feeding: Sample Proteins to Start
- Turkey
- Chicken
- Beef
- Lamb
- Avocado
- Lentils
And remember the PedsDocTalk Motto with meal planning when starting purees:
- Keep it simple.
- Don’t stress yourself out. If you’re feeling stressed out, simplify it more.
- Meal plan if possible, and freeze or store food as needed.
- Don’t be afraid of some seasoning, but don’t overdo everything so they get used to over-seasoned foods: Start slow to see how their digestive system handles it. If they do well (no diarrhea), keep advancing and introducing various seasonings.
- Rotate around various fruits, veggies, grains, and proteins from this list every week you go shopping or however often you go shopping.
Need more ideas and want to be part of a community?
Join The New Mom’s Survival Guide where you’ll find exactly that AND a whole Puree Feeding Demo and Handout which includes tips on seasonings!
