10 Nourishing First Food Ideas For Your Baby (Baby-Led Weaning)

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

When it comes to feeding our babies, we want to be sure we are offering foods that are healthy and nutritious! These 10 nourishing first food ideas are full of important vitamins and minerals for your baby. They are also either soft but firm enough by nature or can be cooked easily. As you’ll see, I mention various tastes and textures for you to offer your little one. The first couple of times you offer these foods (and others) to your baby, you’ll want to refrain from adding flavorings and/or seasonings. 

When you are introducing food to your baby and getting started with baby-led weaning, you want the foods you offer to be soft enough that you are able to squish it between your fingers quite easily. For the most part, you’ll want to make sure the food pieces are about the size of your pointer finger or if it’s super soft and squishy (making it easy to swallow), you can offer pieces about the size of the tip of your thumb.

 Read to the end and I’ll share the first food we offered my son at the end of this post.

1. Avocado

Avocado is not flavorful on it’s own, a very neutral flavor. It’s a great green food, nice and squishy but also firm. Avocado is a great source of healthy fat. That means it’s great for your baby’s brain development. It’s also a great source of potassium.

2. Banana

Bananas are very squishy, especially if you wait until they’re nice and ripe. Bananas are very sweet which will likely make your little one’s taste buds happy! Among other things, bananas are also a very good source of potassium. 

3. Mango

A great thing about mangoes as a first food is that you can give your baby the large pit with a little bit of fruit left on it! It’s easy to hold and very fun for your little one. Just like bananas, it’s very sweet and it’s also nice and juicy. Mango is good for magnesium and it’s also a good source of vitamin c.

4. Soft-baked apples

You’d have to peel the apple because the texture may cause your baby to choke. You slice it nice and thin and bake it for right around 20 minutes. It’s not quite mushy but it’s soft enough to melt in your mouth. Apples are a great source of fiber, vitamin k, and antioxidants among other things.

5. Sweet potato 

Same with the apple, you’ll want to slice the sweet potato in thin finger-length pieces and remove the skin. Roast it in the oven for about 30 minutes or so, until it’s nice and soft enough to squish between your fingers. Sweet potatoes contain iron, calcium and another good source of magnesium and potassium.

6. Roasted butternut squash

Butternut squash still has a sweetness but it’s definitely not as sweet as the last couple options. Butternut squash would be prepared basically the same way as apples or sweet potato, although the cooking time may vary. Butternut squash offers some vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese.

7. Steamed broccoli

Broccoli is definitely a bit more of a bold tasting first food. When it is steamed, it is nice and soft but also firm enough for your baby to firmly grasp it in their little fist. Broccoli is a powerhouse of nutrients. Surprisingly, broccoli contains protein. It’s also a good source of vitamins A, C, K and it has folic acid.

8. Chicken on a bone

Chicken can be offered in finger-length pieces as well but not only is it slightly easier for your baby to hold when it’s on the bone, it also makes for some fun dinner-time pics! Chicken is a great source of protein. It provides your little one some iron, vitamin b12, zinc and other nutrients.

9. Egg

Super affordable and very versatile for offering as a first food. Eggs are a great texture for your baby to pick up and mash up with their gums. They are a great source of protein, full of iron, vitamin B12, zinc and calcium.

10. Salmon

Baked salmon is nice, soft and flaky. You want to make sure there are no bones in the pieces you offer your baby. Salmon contains a lot of the B vitamins! It also contains vitamin E, selenium and it is a powerhouse of omega 3 fatty acids.

7 Tips for Getting Started on Your Journey

1. Know the difference between gagging and choking.

This can be very scary for some parents and it can be the biggest factor in deciding against baby-led weaning. You can save yourself from this fear by doing a little bit of research on gagging vs. choking. Your baby has incredible gag reflex – by incredible, I mean it’s closer to the front of their mouths than it is for us so they may gag quite easily. However, it is definitely crucial for you to recognize if your baby is choking and (preferably) be able to offer immediate help.

2. Start off slow.

This is new for your baby and they’re used to simply relying on milk for all their nutrients…and really, until they reach a year old, that remains the case. They may only take a bite or two. They may just play with it for a while. All of that is completely normal.

3. If your baby doesn’t like something today, don’t be afraid to try tomorrow – or next week.

Be sure to offer a variety of foods – tastes, textures, colors, etc. Your babies taste buds are still developing so you want to help foster that for them. 

4. Now is a great time to start encouraging your little one to say Bismillah before eating.

At this stage, you’ll be doing that simply by modeling. The key here is to stay consistent and be intentional about it.

5. Along the same lines, start encouraging and helping your little one to use their right hand when eating.

If your baby is left-handed, it’s not the end of the world and you don’t need to take any drastic action right now. When you hand your baby food, offer it in their right hand and narrate what you are doing. They’ll pick it up overtime that the right hand is for eating…and if not, you can be more direct in a year or two.

6. Be prepared for a mess.

For the first couple months, it’s perfectly normal for not much actual eating to be happening. Most of this process, in the beginning, is a lot of exploration and skill-building. Your little one is learning all the best ways to pick up certain foods, how to get it in their mouth and they’re testing out all the various textures, tastes…and your reactions!

7. Eat as a family.

This is a great habit to start from the beginning. Eating together as a family, whether that’s one meal each day or whatever works best for you and your family – it can be very incredible to eat as a family. Your baby learns a lot from being able to observe multiple people. There’s emotional and social benefits as well.

This was a lot of information packed into this post! I hope that you have found some benefit in it and I’m looking forward to hearing all of your first food stories in the comments!

As promised, the very first food that we offered our son. Actually, we gave him 2  foods, pretty much simultaneously –  mango and watermelon. It was during Ramadan and he was looking at everyone like we we’re holding out on him… He loved the juicy sweetness!

Question for the comments: What was the very first food you’ve ever offered your baby? What helped you choose?

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