How to prepare baby food purees. Vegetable complementary foods in the diet of the baby

Vegetable Puree - General Cooking Principles

Vegetable puree is a great addition to meat, poultry or fish dishes, it can also be served on its own. Vegetable puree can often be found in children's, dietary or special treatment menus. Puree from vegetables has a soft homogeneous texture, so it is perfectly absorbed by the body. The most popular vegetable puree, which can be found in many cuisines of the world, is mashed potatoes. It is prepared very simply: boiled potatoes are mashed with a blender or mashed with a crush, 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 such a puree. You can diversify classic mashed potatoes with greens, seasonings and other products: for example, green peas, green beans, mushrooms, cheese, carrots, turnips, swedes, etc.

You can move away from the classics and cook 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. From this it follows that you can experiment in any way and mix a variety of vegetables.

The cooking scheme 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. You can do this with a pusher or a blender. Then spread the crushed additional ingredients, add butter and hot milk. By the way, you can cook vegetables in vegetable broth and grind until smooth with it. 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 pot, 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 ordinary serving plates along with the main course.

Product preparation 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 come across in mashed potatoes;

- Washing and chopping greens;

– Preparation of salt, pepper and other spices;

- Preparation of additional ingredients: softening butter, heating milk, etc.

Vegetable Puree Recipes:

Recipe 1: Vegetable Puree

Many people know how to cook mashed potatoes, but not everyone knows how interesting it is to serve. This recipe for a popular vegetable puree describes the recipe for the dish and a further method of serving. For cooking, you need potatoes, green peas and milk.

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

Rinse the potatoes, peel and randomly cut into pieces. Pour water over potatoes and bring to a boil. As soon as the potatoes are completely cooked, drain the broth into a separate glass, crush the potatoes themselves with a crush. Heat milk and pour over potatoes. Throw in a piece of butter. Continue to knead everything until smooth. Boil green peas in the drained broth and lay out to the potatoes. Mix all ingredients. If the puree is too difficult to mix, you can add a little hot broth. Salt vegetable puree to taste.

Recipe 2: Vegetable Carrot Puree

Try 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 spices give the dish a savory, spicy taste.

• A kilogram of carrots;
• Half a glass of vegetable broth (can be from cubes);
• Nut oil - 30 ml;
• Onion - 1 pc.;
• garlic clove;
• 10 g chopped ginger;
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp;
• Nutmeg - 2 g;
• Mint - a few branches.

Boil the broth (or bring water to a boil and dilute the bouillon cubes), peel the carrots, chop and put in a saucepan. Cook until tender (20 minutes). In the meantime, peel and chop the onion and garlic, fry in a pan with a spoonful of walnut 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. The cooled puree can be reheated in the oven or in the microwave.

Recipe 3: Cauliflower Vegetable Puree

A very simple recipe for a delicious vegetable puree made from cauliflower, milk and flour. For baby food, it is better to prepare a one-component puree from only one vegetable, and for diet food, flour can be excluded, although it is used in very small quantities.

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

Rinse the cabbage, disassemble into inflorescences and boil in salted water. Drain in a colander, let the water drain and transfer to a saucepan. Puree the cabbage with a blender. Fry the flour in butter, mix with hot milk and stir vigorously. Pour mixture into vegetable puree. Put the pan on the fire, add the butter and boil a little.

Recipe 4: Beetroot Puree

Beetroot puree is an amazingly healthy dish, because it is rich in vitamins, trace elements and other useful substances. In addition, beetroot vegetable puree removes toxins and toxins, normalizes digestion and restores blood.

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

Beets should be washed, cleaned and cooked in a double boiler. Grate the steamed beets on a fine grater, season with salt to taste, pour in vegetable juices and warm milk. Also do not forget to add sugar syrup. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and put on low heat. Add butter, stir again and bring to a boil. Best served hot or warm.

Recipe 5: Vegetable Tomato Puree with Sweet Potato

Vegetable puree from tomatoes and sweet potatoes (yam) is incredibly tasty, appetizing and healthy. The dish can be served as a side dish or on its own. The seasonings included in the recipe give an exquisite aroma and a rich spicy taste.

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

Bake sweet potatoes until tender, then cut in half and scrape out the flesh with a sharp spoon. Put in a bowl and crush with a masher. Add turmeric, nutmeg, zest, hot pepper, salt and mix well. Pour in the orange juice and mix the ingredients again. Peel the tomatoes and chop. Heat the oil in a frying pan and put the sugar, bring, stirring, until a reddish hue and put the tomatoes. Cook over low heat until the tomatoes are soft. Put the tomatoes to the potatoes, mix thoroughly, warm the mass evenly. Chop nuts and fry in a dry frying pan. Serve vegetable puree with roasted almonds.

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

- Having decided to cook vegetable puree for a child, you need to remember that cauliflower, zucchini, turnips and pumpkins are the least allergenic.

Your baby is already quite an adult and it seems to you that the time has come for him to the first complementary foods? Then you met our article in time. Puree for babies is the best option, which is easily digested by the children's stomach, moreover, almost all children love this particular food consistency. It is also good that pediatricians recommend starting the transition to "adult" food with various purees. To choose the right or prepare the most delicious and healthy puree for the first feeding on your own, just follow our advice.

Purees for babies are adored not only by kids, but also by their parents for their ease of preparation. The process consists of just a few simple steps, which is why it is remarkable for the everyday life of a mother and baby: the daily bustle of the first year of life simply does not allow spending a lot of time on cooking super-complex dishes. But in order to get acquainted with a new type of food with a bang, you need to offer it correctly. We will consider another important aspect: which baby puree will be the best - purchased or made at home.

Why puree?

Puree is the ideal food for breastfeeding, and there are several reasons for this:

• Soft foods are best absorbed by children's digestion.
• So that acquaintance with new food is not stressful for the baby, you can add a few drops of the usual breast milk or mixture to the puree: this way the dish will not lose its taste, and it will not be so alien for the child.
• The puree-like consistency allows the baby not to make serious efforts in order to get his portion of food: he practically does not have to chew (yes, perhaps there is nothing else).
• You can simply cook the dish yourself or buy a ready-made product: the quality of modern children's food of famous brands is beyond doubt.
• If you decide to make baby puree at home with your own hands, you can do it for the future. This luxury of saving time and effort is not available with all types of children's meals, because most of them need to be eaten only freshly prepared.

When the time comes

A baby in the first six months or a year of life can safely receive all the necessary substances from breast milk, and the inclusion of other products will be more of an addition than a replacement.

If earlier grandmothers introduced the child to new tastes already at the age of 3 months, today pediatricians strongly recommend starting the first complementary foods no earlier than six months.

Before reaching this age, the baby does not need any other food than their favorite sweet milk. As a rule, his immature digestion is not ready for gastronomic experiments. Another argument against early complementary foods is that the sooner you introduce a new food to your baby, the more likely he is to react to it with an allergy.

For formula-fed babies, the timing for the first complementary foods is usually earlier.

Probably, every mother wonders at what age she can give her baby new food, and almost always doubts whether her child is ripe for such a “revolution” in her diet. Often experiences are in vain: the baby himself will begin to hint to her that he is ready for innovations. You will understand its signs by the following signs:

• the baby will begin to observe with interest what and how you eat;
• will ask for food more often;
• will try to eat on their own;
• if you give him something to try, he won't protest.

But when it is possible to give a child this or that food for complementary foods is an individual question for each new item on the baby's menu. Types of products are suitable for children's digestion in different ways and are characterized by varying degrees of allergenicity.

Fortunately, the basic rules from pediatricians still exist and have been successfully tested on personal experience by many mothers.

Reminder for mom

Preparing mashed potatoes for babies is quite simple. This dish usually quickly enters the category of a child's favorite. And if you decide that it is time for your child to eat "adult" food, remember some important rules:

• The ideal option for complementary foods at 6 months of age is a one-ingredient, one-ingredient vegetable puree. A little later, when the baby's menu includes 1 introduced vegetable and more, you can mix the learned ingredients and prepare a monocomponent puree.
• It is recommended to start acquaintance with new products in the form of puree according to the following scheme: the baby is first offered a teaspoon of treats, then gradually, by slowly increasing the portion, the dosage is adjusted to 50 grams.
• The first step on the way to adult food often causes bewilderment in the baby, and more often - whims and protests. In this case, mom needs to be patient and not give up her attempts to introduce the stubborn little one to new food. Offer one type of food at least 10 times, and if the reaction to the product is the same negative, try using a different vegetable to mash for babies.
• No matter how bland and tasteless you may think baby puree for complementary foods tastes, it is forbidden to dilute it with salt, oil and spices. Your child is not yet familiar with other flavors, so the product will seem very edible and incomparable to anything, literally.
• Even if you've tried baby puree and feel like spitting it out, your baby shouldn't suspect it. The opposite approach is needed here: share a new dish with the baby and eat it with great pleasure: this way you will arouse his curiosity for the product.

It is better to offer mashed potatoes prepared on your own to the crumbs immediately after cooling: the benefits and taste of a fresh dish are always higher.

Careful selection of ingredients

In such an important issue as the introduction of complementary foods to a baby, it is useful for every mother to know which foods are optimal for a child's body at the age of about 6 months.

The first dish for babies is usually vegetable purees and sometimes cereals. Today we are talking about puree. The main criteria when choosing a product for its preparation are hypoallergenicity, benefits, safety and ease of assimilation by children's digestion.

The universal components for complementary foods include zucchini and broccoli: it is from them that most parents prepare the first puree in the baby's life. When he learns these simple vegetables, it will be the turn of pumpkin, potatoes, green peas, carrots, spinach and kohlrabi.

But the question arises: which puree is better, cooked by yourself or purchased?

From mom with love

Many well-meaning mothers prefer to make baby puree at home in order to provide the baby's body with the most natural food. This solution has both pros and cons.

Advantages

• you cannot be deceived in the naturalness of the process: after all, you do everything yourself;
• mother in this case is the main expert on storage conditions and compliance with expiration dates;
• home-made baby purees are always the freshest and healthiest;
• guaranteed absence of preservatives, dyes and other harmful additives;
• you can cook treats "wholesale" and store in the freezer;
• confidence in the sanitary conditions of preparation;
• saving money, because it’s easier to buy the necessary products for the future than to spend money on a jar of mashed potatoes every time;
• you yourself determine the portion and, depending on it, select the right amount of ingredients;

Flaws

Making mashed potatoes at home has its drawbacks:

• the laboriousness of the process is familiar to every mother of a baby who has chosen complementary foods of her own preparation;
• making puree yourself is a long time, and this time could be spent on more pleasant activities: for example, playing with a baby;
• the quality of purchased vegetables and fruits is often questionable, especially if you purchase them out of season;
• the shelf life of a fresh product is limited to days in the refrigerator, and even this is undesirable;
• home-made puree is more difficult to take with you;
• small portions are problematic to prepare: especially in a blender, when the minimum amount has to be literally scraped off the walls.

Jar food

Often, due to lack of time or the presence of any beliefs, parents of a baby decide that making mashed potatoes at home is not practical. Then they come to the aid of purchased products.

Advantages

Store-bought puree is often a good option as well, as it has significant benefits:

• its quality is subject to strict state control;
• manufacturers have thought of everything for convenience: both sealed packaging and a long shelf life;
• the main advantage for many women is that they do not have to spend time cooking;
• the food is already completely ready to eat;
• manufacturers take into account the characteristics of the age of the baby and make the product in accordance with them;
• many purees mix several ingredients at once: for example, vegetables and cereals;
• often children's products contain additional vitamins;
• you can read the entire composition on the jar to be sure of the purchase.

Flaws

Unfortunately, purchased mashed potatoes for babies also have some disadvantages:

• The nutritional value of purchased treats is often lower compared to self-prepared ones due to the high water content;
• the taste is sometimes less intense;
• sometimes quality control is not the most strict and you can lose sight of the freshness of the components and the correctness of the cooking technology;
• the high price for one jar is also not encouraging;
• many purchased purees allow unwanted salt and sugar in their composition.

Parental control

To make the purchase of baby food puree only a joy, you should know what you should pay attention to in the store.

How to choose

In fact, everything is very simple and, given these points, any mother will choose the highest quality product:

• Evaluate the tightness of the package: the lid must be tightly closed, and the entire jar is wrapped in a film.
• Don't forget to check the expiration date.
• The composition deserves special attention: there should not be any extra components.
• The color of the puree should be the same as that of the main product in the composition.

Rating of the best manufacturers

Many mothers of babies are interested in what brand of baby food purees is the best. Parents make their rating empirically and then share their observations. Among the most popular and high-quality are:

• "Gerber";
• "Grandma's basket";
• "FrutoNyanya";
• "Subject";
• "Agusha";
• "Hipp";
• "Semper";
• "Humana";
• "Haynes";
• "Nutrition".

Easy cooking

Do you know how to make baby puree at home? Basic recipes for a delicious children's dish will help you navigate the technology:

• The first puree for babies is often made from zucchini. How to do? Very simple! Boil several rings of peeled vegetables for 10 minutes in a double boiler. Then chop the vegetable in a blender and wipe through a sieve: the dish is ready.
• Making broccoli puree is just as easy. Boil the washed inflorescences in a double boiler for 20 minutes. In a saucepan, frozen broccoli will cook for 15 minutes after boiling, while fresh broccoli will cook for only 5-7 minutes. Keep in mind that the water should only slightly cover the vegetable. After that, puree the broccoli using a blender or sieve.

Cooking complementary foods at home: video

It is enough to learn how to cook one puree for babies, and the rest of the recipes will already seem simple.

We wish your baby tasty and light pureed foods!

It is puree that is the first dish that our kids try and becomes a favorite for many more years. All mothers know that for the further health of the baby, the first three years of life, namely the first, are very important. If now your child's nutrition is correct, that is, healthy, balanced and tasty, then in the future the predisposition to overweight and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract will be practically excluded.

Usually, by 6 months, the child no longer has valuable nutritional properties in breast milk, and loving mothers begin to feed them with different ones.
It is quite difficult to determine which puree the baby will like the most. Therefore, when choosing the first taste sensation, remember that vegetable puree is easier to digest, normalizes stool well and is much less likely to be an allergen, although fruit puree is, of course, sweeter, and therefore tastier.

Naturally, it is much easier to buy ready-made mashed potatoes, which are packaged in a beautiful jar with an attractive label, however, do not forget that nothing can replace the mother's energy, invested in preparing mashed potatoes for her baby.

For vegetable puree for babies, cauliflower, zucchini, pumpkin, broccoli, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, spinach will go. before cooking, be sure to wash, and remove the peel with a thin layer. If the fruit has green parts, they must be cut off, and strongly green parts should not be used at all. Peeled vegetables are washed again with running water and cut. When preparing mashed potatoes for babies, it is advisable to soak vegetables in water (potatoes - 12 - 24 hours, other vegetables 1 - 2 hours), while nitrates, pesticides and other harmful compounds will be removed. It is better to steam vegetables, so more vitamins will be preserved. For normal cooking, put the vegetables in boiling water, and cook covered in an enamel pot, avoid overcooking. Next, still hot, grind with a blender. The water used in the preparation of puree should be special for baby food. You can add breast milk, a little ready-made mixture or flavor with vegetable oil. For children older than a year, puree can be salted and finely chopped greens can be added.

When preparing fruit puree, sugar is not used, and the fruits must be carefully sorted. At 10-11 months, the baby can be introduced into the diet of mashed meat. It is worth choosing lean meat - rabbit, lamb, veal, pork. Chicken white meat (turkey) is excellent. Do not use frozen meat. The cooked meat is cut into pieces and ground in a blender, then combined with vegetable broth.

For the first six months of his life, a small child eats only breast milk, which contains all the substances and calories necessary for the development of the body. But after six months, this food becomes scarce and the mother needs to gradually accustom the child to complementary foods. It is best if the first "adult" food is vegetable puree for babies. Cooking it is very easy, but in the process you need to follow some rules. Good recipes for these dishes can be found online.

Puree of vegetables is well suited to diversify the diet of a grown-up baby. Proper nutrition at the beginning of the first or second year will have a beneficial effect on the health of the child in the future. Homemade, according to simple recipes, top dressing is preferable to a purchased ready-made mixture.

When and how to start feeding the baby with vegetables?

The approximate start time for a partial change in diet depends on the type of feeding: if the baby is breastfed, then the first complementary foods are given at the age of six months. If the child eats artificial food, the introduction of grated vegetables is already acceptable for a four-month-old baby.

It is believed that a child is ready to start eating vegetables when he is gaining weight normally, has learned to sit and tries to make chewing movements with his jaws during feeding. At this time, he needs to prepare and offer to try new food - no more than one spoon a day before the start of milk feeding. If he accepts the novelty and eats it without whims, the portions are gradually increased. If the baby refuses mashed potatoes, it is worth waiting for some time (a day or two) and offering him a new dish again.

It must be remembered that up to a year you should not deprive a child of breast milk - only reduce its proportion in food. Even if he is no longer breastfeeding, milk can be added to the mixture.

First, the baby is offered to taste a small amount of one-component puree, each time checking his reaction to the product. To make it easier to do, it is worth experimenting in the morning. With normal assimilation, allergic manifestations, digestive problems and other symptoms should not be present. It is forbidden to give several completely new “tastes” at once.

A couple of months after the successful start of complementary foods, you can try mix recipes by mixing several types of puree from already proven and harmless vegetables. After some time, they begin to introduce fruit into the diet, and then meat and fish options, in that order.

Rules for cooking vegetable dishes

A good start to complementary foods will be mashed green vegetables - zucchini, broccoli, green peas, cauliflower, squash, as well as carrots and pumpkins. These plants are low allergenic and perfectly digestible.

Carrot. An excellent vegetable for the very first complementary foods. It does not cause allergies, is remarkably well tolerated and goes well with other foods. In addition, carrots are very easy to cook.

Potatoes should be given very carefully and not immediately. This product is difficult for the baby's digestion, so even in a puree mixture, only 20-50% is required.

Cabbage. Some types of this vegetable - broccoli, colored - are ideal for the very first purees. But a separate product from the white version should not be given.

The first purees, while the baby is a little over six months old, should be monocomponent (from only one vegetable ingredient). It is better to use fresh vegetables, ideally, purchase them from a direct manufacturer. But if the start date of complementary foods was in the winter, fresh-frozen options are also suitable.

Each type has its own recipes. Common to all vegetables is their thorough peeling (if possible) and soaking in water for several hours. It is better to cook them for a couple, and bake pumpkin in the oven. After the products have become soft, they are crushed with a blender or ground through a sieve and immediately “served on the table”.

Recipes for the very first meal should not include salt and sugar, only a few drops of vegetable oil are allowed. At this age, spices are harmful to the baby. In addition, when he eats, he must recognize the natural taste of vegetables.

It is advisable to feed a child up to a year with a freshly prepared product. But, if the puree is cooked too much, it can be frozen in molds for people or in silicone molds for baking. Only in this case, the mixture should be on water, without oil and milk. To feed the baby with it, you need to defrost and warm it up well, and then cool it to the desired temperature.

Complementary foods are best prepared at home, but if this is not possible, ready-made baby food in jars is also suitable, usually every child eats them well. But when choosing them, you should pay attention to several important points:

1. The mixture is bought according to the age of the baby.
2. Information about the manufacturer, his contact details, and the expiration date of the contents should be clearly visible on the packaging.
3. The full composition is indicated, in which there should be a minimum of thickeners, preservatives and similar additives. Ideally, the product can only consist of puree and water.
4. Evaluate the integrity of the package, the condition of the lid (you need it to fit snugly on the jar) and the appearance of the food itself if the container is transparent.

From seven to eight months and up to a year, a child can eat more complex mixtures - such an introduction is made from only a few proven vegetables. Now you can expand the list of source foods to include potatoes, corn, spinach, bell peppers. Mashed potatoes should not be given separately from other vegetables, as it is heavy on the baby's digestive system.

Vegetable puree in the diet of children of different ages

4-5 months

This is the time to start feeding. Now the baby is learning to eat in a new way, gradually getting used to the new food. In the first days, he is given a spoon or two of mashed potatoes, and by the end of the five-month age, he normally eats at least 120 grams of the product, in addition to breast milk.

You should not start complementary foods if the child feels unwell: he got sick, got vaccinated, or something similar happened. But if the baby is healthy and does not eat mashed potatoes, you need to be persistent - offer him a dish for several days, smiling, persuading him and praising the new food.

In order for the child to perceive the novelty more positively, it is worth protecting him from stress and distractions during meals. Let him focus only on a spoonful of puree and his mother's joyful face. You can think of feeding as a game.

6 months

The volume of food of a six-month-old child is already quite diverse. In vegetable puree, you can already include a little oil. If the baby is accustomed to such food, eats it with appetite and responds well, mixtures are made from two or three products. At this age, the child already eats 150 grams of puree, among other things.

One of the best recipes are vegetable mixes, for example, from cauliflower and carrots (150/100 g). It is good to prepare a complex dish of zucchini, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli (50/50/50/50), diluted with milk and vegetable oil. After six months, unsweetened yogurt, decoctions of rice or pasta can be added to food.

7 months

At the age of seven months, children begin to teeth, and this gives impetus to a qualitative expansion of the list of possible food products. The baby can already be given crackers and pieces of cheese - their introduction into the diet will not only diversify it, but also alleviate the discomfort from the growth of the first teeth. In addition to vegetable puree mixes, the child eats cereals, well-cooked and finely chopped low-fat meat and poultry, eggs, grated cottage cheese and cheese. The menu becomes what it should be in the first two years of his life.

All recipes with new products need to be tested empirically for their child's tolerance. Each supplement is given to try in small quantities, monitoring the condition of the baby.

8 months

Having acquired the first set of teeth, the baby can already cope with pieces of boiled vegetables, soups with herbs, and meat and fish ingredients, oil and salt are added to complex vegetable purees. Moreover, the volume of mixes should reach 200 grams per day. Vegetables contain fiber necessary for digestion, so these purees should be eaten in sufficient quantities.

9 months to a year

The baby is already so accustomed to "adult" food that he can be given breast milk only at night and in the morning, when he usually eats, and there is no freshly prepared product at hand. In the diet, the main categories of products are approximately equally distributed, including vegetable purees. And from the new "tastes" the child can be introduced to fish. The amount of feeding decreases, but the portions increase.

As you can see, vegetable puree is a necessary food product in the second half of a baby's life. It performs both a nutritious and educational function, accustoming the baby to a new variety of food and facilitating weaning.

Pay attention to the video, which tells in an understandable and accessible way how to prepare vegetable puree soup for your baby.

Pediatricians recommend starting complementary foods in the interval from 4-6 months (not earlier than 4 months and not later than 6 months of a child's life) and use vegetable purees or low-allergenic and dairy-free cereals as the first complementary foods.

Vegetables as the first food

From 4.5-5.5 months, thicker food can be introduced into the child's diet than breast milk or an adapted milk formula, which is referred to as "complementary foods". As the first complementary foods, it is preferable to prescribe vegetable puree. Vegetable puree is a source of organic acids, potassium, iron and dietary fiber, including pectins. Vegetable puree as the first feeding should be given to children with exudative-catarrhal diathesis, rickets, obesity, anemia, premature.

Complementary vegetable puree is a product obtained by mashing whole or peeled fresh or quick-frozen vegetables of one or more types, previously subjected to heat treatment (blanching).

The introduction of vegetables as a second food, after the introduction of cereals

The second complementary food in the form of vegetable puree from natural vegetables for baby food (without the addition of milk and not containing legumes) is introduced in parallel with the first, a month after the introduction of the first complementary foods and the complete replacement of one feeding.

What vegetables to start complementary foods with

The introduction of vegetable complementary foods should begin with one type of vegetable that has delicate fiber and is light in color (from green or white vegetables), for example, with zucchini or cauliflower, then moving on to a mixture of vegetables, with a gradual expansion of the range using potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, later - tomatoes, green peas.

Vegetables for the first meal

Zucchini, cauliflower and broccoli take priority among the first vegetable foods, as these vegetables are hypoallergenic foods and are the most optimal for starting complementary foods. It is cauliflower and broccoli that are often referred to as "higher education cabbage" because they are rich in vitamins and minerals.

Vegetables to expand your diet

If complementary foods are introduced at the age of 4-4.5 months, then the first vegetables can be monocomponent, homogenized mashed potatoes: zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, carrots.

At the age of 5 months life of a child and older, the assortment is expanded due to vegetable puree from pumpkin, beets, white cabbage.

At the age of 6 months the life of a child and older, it is possible to add tomatoes.

At the age of 7 months it is possible to expand the vegetable diet by adding green peas.

Puree vegetable industrial production for the first complementary foods can be of varying degrees of grinding:

• homogenized(heavily crushed, the number of pulp particles 0.15-0.3 mm in size) - for children older than 4 months of life;
• wiped(particle size no more than 0.4 mm) and coarsely ground (particle size 2 - 5 mm) - for children over 6 months of age.

Complementary foods from vegetables should be semi-liquid, well-mashed, homogeneous, it is necessary to move on to thicker foods gradually, accustoming the child to chewing with age.

How to introduce complementary foods from vegetables (scheme for the introduction of vegetable puree)

Zucchini, cauliflower, and broccoli are hypoallergenic foods and are the best for starting a first weaning meal. One-component vegetable puree is given to a child with a teaspoon, preferably in the morning for breakfast. It is NOT necessary to salt or sweeten vegetable purees for a child.

Scheme of the introduction of vegetable puree as complementary foods:

First day the baby is given ½ teaspoon of vegetable puree (such as zucchini), and then the baby is supplemented with normal food (breast milk or a bottle of formula). During the day, monitor the body's reaction to the introduced product - carefully examine the skin for rashes, pay attention to the stool, if there is mucus and greenery in the feces.

On the second day, if there are no signs of allergies and problems with the tummy, the child is given 1-2 teaspoons of zucchini (5-10 g) and supplemented with formula or milk.

On the third day- 3 teaspoons (15 g.).

For the fourth- 4-5 teaspoons. (20-25 years).

On the fifth day- 50 g. If there is no negative reaction to the introduced product, then the portion can be doubled.

On the sixth day- 80-100 g. You can give the child a portion twice the previous one.

On the seventh day- 120-150 g, which completely replaces one feeding. The norm in grams per feeding is indicated for a six-month-old child, if complementary foods were introduced earlier, then the amount of the product should be reduced. If your child is breastfed, then after taking vegetable puree, be sure to breastfeed your baby, even if the volume of complementary foods completely replaces the whole feeding, so you can maintain lactation for a longer time.

For another week, the child is allowed to get used to vegetable marrow puree, and only after 5-7 days a new vegetable, such as broccoli, is introduced into the diet. This rule is important to observe if complementary foods are introduced to a child at the age of 4-4.5 months.

eighth day- ½ teaspoon of broccoli, then we feed the zucchini puree.

Ninth day- 1-2 teaspoons of broccoli (5-10 g) and give zucchini to the age dose, etc. Gradually, the amount of broccoli is replacing the first vegetable for feeding - zucchini.

If the child refuses vegetable puree, then take a break for a few days and offer the child puree again or replace the vegetable - for example, zucchini with cabbage.

Which is better - buy or make your own vegetable puree for feeding

The advantage of factory canned food is that it is sterile, the mother does not need to bother at the stove: cook, grind, it is better to devote this time to the child. Also, canned vegetable puree is convenient to take on the road. Canned baby food is recommended for use by leading global and domestic health organizations, so the choice of parents depends only on their preferences and financial capabilities.

If you plan to purchase factory-made vegetable puree, then carefully read the composition. In addition to vegetables and water, there should be nothing in the jar - no preservatives, dyes, flavors and flavor enhancers, including starch as a thickener. It is desirable that vegetable puree for complementary foods does not even contain salt and sugar, has a uniform structure and natural color.

Purchased puree in jars, before giving it to a child, must be heated in a water bath. Before you give puree to your baby, be sure to try it yourself. If you feel signs of spoilage of the product, such as a pungent odor, a sour taste, or when you open the jar you do not hear a characteristic pop, then the tightness of the jar has been broken and such a jar should be discarded. However, an adult may simply not like the taste of baby vegetable puree, due to the lack of additives such as sugar and salt, but this does not mean that it is not suitable for complementary foods. The started jar should be stored only in the refrigerator and no more than a day.

If parents are limited in funds or eat their own vegetables from the garden or garden plot (imported vegetables often contain nitrates), then the mother will be able to prepare vegetable puree for complementary foods on her own. If you don’t have your own garden, then when buying, pay attention to the country of origin, and choose, if possible, vegetables grown in your area. When choosing vegetables for feeding, pay attention to their appearance: they should not have defects (black dots, brown spots, dry or wrinkled areas of the skin, dents, etc.), but they should not look large and with a glossy sheen (such vegetables, most likely, have been subjected to strong chemical treatment). If the introduction of complementary foods with vegetables falls on the “off season”, when there are no fresh vegetables or there are only imported ones, pre-made frozen preparations are perfect. Just remember that vegetables should not be thawed before cooking, since most of the vitamins are destroyed during the process of slow defrosting.

For self-preparation of vegetable puree, it is advisable to purchase a double boiler and a blender. Before cooking, vegetables must be thoroughly washed and peeled, since most of the harmful substances are contained in the peel. Remove all the top leaves from the cabbage and remove the stalk from it. And cut off the big “tail” of carrots and beets.

Take one type of vegetable, such as zucchini, wash, peel, cut and cook in a double boiler or in an enamel saucepan with a little water. To save more nutrients, boil vegetables whole or cut them into large pieces. Vegetables should only be placed in boiling water, and cooked with the lid closed, but the best option for baby food is steaming vegetables.

Then transfer the vegetables to a blender, if necessary, add a little boiled water (so that the puree is not very thick). Vegetables for the first feeding should be completely boiled, without lumps. It is advisable not to add salt at all, otherwise the baby will not be able to eat fresh food later.

Vegetable oil can be added to vegetable puree, a few drops per serving. The best vegetable oil is cold-pressed olive oil, as well as sunflower, corn and linseed. Each time the puree should be freshly prepared.