Hints and Recipes

Is your baby ready to start eating solid foods?

Watch the Yummy Beginnings DVD for expert advice and hints from our nutritionist for a healthy and stress-free start.

Here are some simple hints.

1. Start with 1 teaspoon of rice cereal (either homemade as shown on the Yummy Beginnings DVD, or use a commercially made rice cereal fortified with iron), mixed with breast milk, formula or cooled boiled water to a smooth paste. Give to your baby for 3 days, around mid-morning.
   
2. Increase to 1 teaspoon twice a day for 3 days, mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
   
3. After a week, introduce a vegetable.  Please refer to the Yummy Beginnings DVD for an indepth look at what vegetable or fruit is best to start with and why.

Carrot and Potato Puree

This is appropriate for giving to your baby at around 6 months.

½ cup of carrot in slices (washed and peeled)
½ cup of potato in slices (washed and peeled)
½ cup water

Cook the vegetables until they are soft, either in the microwave, simmer on the stove or steam them. Puree in a blender ½ cup of the water that you cooked the vegetables in (this helps to keep all the nutrition in) until smooth.

Young babies need all their first foods to be pureed. Watch the DVD for an in depth guide to the best vegetables to start with.

Apricot and apple puree

1/2 cup of soft dried apricots, chopped
1 cooked apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 boiled water
natural yoghurt

Simmer the apricots in the water for 5 minutes.  Add the apple to the pan and continue to simmer until soft. Puree in  a blander.  Cool.  Add some yoghurt and you have a healthy dessert, full of calcium and vitamin D. Calcium needs to be constantly eaten by children as 90% of our adult bone strength is built by the age of 18.  Vitamin D helps to absorb the calcium.