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Baby Food Combinations

From Single Purees to More Variety for Baby

By Teri Brown

Every milestone Baby attains is greeted with joy and awe. His first smile, first belly laugh, rolling over, the first time he eats solid food – all these things are cause for celebration, or at the very least a phone call to Grandma! But then it gets a bit more complicated, once Baby is done with single pureed foods and is ready for combinations and a little texture. What then?

The first thing parents wonder about when considering food combinations is allergies. But if you have done your job right on single purees, that shouldn't be a problem.

Molly Morgan, a registered dietician, the owner of Creative Nutrition Solutions and mother of a 9-month-old baby, says it is imperative that parents look at their own family tree before starting their little one on new foods. "It is important to look at your family history of food allergies because if there is no history of any food allergies it is less likely that your little one will suffer from allergies," Morgan says. "But it is still best to introduce foods one at a time and wait for about three to five days to determine how your little one's system will adjust to the new food."

Morgan says it's important to remember that up to about age 1, foods are just a supplemental form of feeding for most infants, with breast milk or formula still being the primary source of nutrition. "With that said, it's not so much about the nutrition specifics of the food combinations, rather it is the importance of introducing your child to a variety of fruits and vegetables at an early age," she says.

Jacqueline Rubin, the author of Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby (Sourcebooks, 2008), agrees that parents should introduce new foods slowly. "Because of their potential to be allergens or their unsuitability for babies, certain foods should not be introduced until after the first year," Rubin says. "Potentially allergenic foods include egg whites, cow's milk, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, wheat, shellfish, strawberries, chocolate and citrus. These foods must be introduced slowly, one at a time, and with any reactions recorded. Many pediatricians suggest that tree nuts and peanuts should not be given before the age of 3."

It might help to keep a list of the foods you have tried and how your baby reacts to them. Once you know what your baby will tolerate, it is time to start combining.

After single fruits are tolerated, you can make double and triple fruit purees. The same goes for vegetables.

"Cereals and vegetables also work well together at 8 months," Rubin says. "As for cereal and fruit, cereals combine best with apples, though other fruits can be used as well. Later you can start fruit and sweet vegetable combinations."

Good combinations include kale and squash; broccoli and carrot; banana and mango; apple and pear; apricot, pear and apple; brown rice and green peas or green beans; millet and squash; oatmeal and banana; and brown rice and applesauce.

Many people are eschewing canned baby food and making their own food for Baby. This is one way for parents to know for sure what their child is getting in each meal.

Morgan says it's simple to puree baby food, and you can use combinations from your own meal. "Making your own baby food is so easy!' she says. "It's definitely worth it. For example, if you're making sweet potatoes, peel and boil a few extra and mash or puree for your little one (plain of course, no butter needed!). Then freeze the pureed food in ice cube trays, remove from trays once frozen and store in an airtight container or bag in the freezer."

If you are having pasta, with a couple of vegetables on the side, it's not difficult to puree it to whatever consistency your baby is ready for. Rice with little bits of shredded meat, potatoes and spinach, or even a pureed stir fry are all good choices – as long as your baby is known to tolerate each food item.

Jessica Meyers from Kenosha, Wis., now makes most of her own baby food this way. "I followed all the guidelines that said to try one food at a time until we were sure there were no allergies," Meyers says. "Everything went fine until around the time I started her on chunkier solid foods. I was still breastfeeding, but the increased solid food in her diet made her constipated. That was a totally new problem. Up to that point, I hadn't had any problems with her and solid food. That was when I started cooking for her."

This can be a problem with some children, no matter how slowly you start. Meyers found that adding lentil soup to her daughter's diet solved the constipation and was good for adults too! If the rest of the family is eating a well-balanced diet, than pureeing the same foods will ensure that Baby is getting a well-balanced diet as well.

Want to see more?

• Simply Pureed: One-ingredient Meals for Baby
• In the Can: Should Conscientious Parents Can or Freeze Homemade Baby Food?
• Bringing Taste Back to the Highchair: Annabel Karmel on Homemade Baby Food
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