Healthy Baby Meal Ideas for Your 6-12 Month Old
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Coming up with meal ideas for the whole family on top of thinking of a healthy baby meal can be very overwhelming and stressful. If you’re doing baby-led weaning there is a simple way to ensure your baby is getting the right nutrients without having to make a separate meal! Keep in mind that in the early days of starting solids, your baby will be doing more exploring than eating and serving 1-2 meals/day is acceptable to ease into it. During that first week you may only serve 1 food item to baby as well. After those first couple weeks of starting solids, you’ll want to focus on a few key nutrients in order to create a healthy baby meal. These nutrients are iron, vitamin C, and energy-dense foods (foods high in carbohydrates and/or fat).
Iron
Iron is the most common micronutrient deficiency in children worldwide partly because of their rapid growth rates and hence, the increased need for iron. Iron has a role in brain development and forms hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to all parts of the body. The iron stores of a full-term baby plus the iron in breast milk are enough to keep hemoglobin within normal ranges for the first six months of life. However, around six months these iron stores become depleted. This is one reason why the CDC and AAP recommends starting solid foods around 6 months and when the other signs of readiness are present.
There are two forms of iron, heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron is found in animal sources and is more easily absorbed by the body (15-35% of heme iron is absorbed) compared to non-heme iron which is found in plants. It is important to provide iron-rich foods at most meals for baby, and cook with a cast iron skillet or use the Lucky Iron Fish that easily adds iron to water and other low-iron foods. Cooking garlic with iron-rich foods also enhances iron absorption. Examples of foods containing heme iron are meats, poultry, seafood, and eggs. Foods containing non-heme iron include beans and peas, sweet potatoes, iron-fortified cereal, and tofu.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C containing foods are important for baby because it increases absorption of non-heme iron. Serve a fruit or vegetable with meals or season iron-containing foods with citrus to increase iron absorption.
Energy-dense foods
Babies are growing fast and furious and need energy-dense foods! They have tiny tummies so every bite of food counts and we want those bites to be nutritious! Energy-dense foods are high in fat and/or carbohydrates, which are easily converted into glucose (the body’s preferred source of fuel). Examples of these foods are full-fat plain yogurt, cream cheese, pancakes and waffles, potatoes, avocado, and fortified infant cereal.
Healthy Baby Meal Ideas
To create a nutritious baby meal choose an iron-rich food, a vitamin C food, and an energy-dense food. Keep in mind that these foods may overlap. An iron-rich food could also be an energy dense food and could count as both for a meal. Some example meals containing these three important nutrients for baby include:
- Steak, sweet potato, and broccoli
- Black beans, bell peppers, and avocado
- Pancakes with almond butter spread and strawberries
- Iron-fortified cereal made with breast milk/formula and cantaloupe
- Eggs, tomatoes, and buttered toast
Be sure to snag the free download of 10 Nutritious Baby Meals for more balanced meal ideas! You may be in the beginning stages of starting solids or maybe haven’t quite started, in either case, check out the baby-led weaning supply list to shop all the feeding supplies you’ll need for starting solids.
Resources
Domellöf M, Braegger C, Campoy C, et al; ESPGHAN Committee on Nutrition. Iron requirements of infants and toddlers. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2014 Jan;58(1):119-29. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000000206. PMID: 24135983.
Ems T, St Lucia K, Huecker MR. Biochemistry, Iron Absorption. [Updated 2022 Apr 21]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK448204/
