If your baby is beyond the “liquid diet” stage of consuming only breastmilk or formula, “breakfast” likely involves lots and lots of infant oatmeal or rice cereal. But with so many other fun options out there, there’s no reason to stick to this daily gruel. Here are a few baby-safe ideas for spicing up your little one’s morning routine””and introducing her to a whole new world of flavors and textures.
Perfect purees
So your baby doesn’t have teeth yet, or can’t yet mash things up with his gums? As long as he’s been able to eat stage 1 baby foods and cereals or pure purees with no bad reactions, you can still think outside the cereal box. Here are a few ideas for new eaters:
- Sunrise smoothie: combine spinach, peaches, mangoes and bananas and half a teaspoon of chia seeds in a blender or food processor until liquefied. Talk about a superfood start to the day! Busy mom shortcut: Happy Baby Happy Tot Organic Superfood Banana, Peach and Mango
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Make your own – or shop for baby food at Vitacost.com! - Pease porridge (hot or cold): Puree some frozen sweet peas with pears and rice, oatmeal or barley cereal until smooth. Add a dash of flax seed for an extra health boost. Busy mom shortcut: Happy Baby Happy Tot Organic Superfoods Green Bean Pear and Pea
- Fruity–tooty absolutely: Blend up your favorite combo of non-citrus fruits and veggies with a dash of Greek yogurt. Busy mom shortcut: Plum Organics Tots Yogurt Mish Mash Berry Banana Beet Fruit and Veggie Yogurt Smoothie
- Pumpkin for your lil’ punkin: Combine pumpkin puree with some infant oatmeal and a splash of pure vanilla extract.
Baby bites
Once baby gets those chompers or is able to mash up food in her mouth (usually around the age she starts trying to crawl), you can move on to table food””pancakes and French toast cut into tiny pieces, lumpier or “real” oatmeal, scrambled eggs (yolks only unless your pediatrician says otherwise), mini bagels and muffins.
Here’s a wholesome baby-friendly recipe that is packed with fruit, fiber and protein””and best of all, you can freeze it and use throughout the week for those crazy mornings when you don’t have time to make a fresh breakfast from scratch:
Baby Cakes
¼ cup of whole ricotta cheese or full-fat cottage cheese
1 egg yolk
¼ cup Best of All Rolled Oats
½ cup canned organic pumpkin puree OR 1/2 cup organic apple sauce
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of vanilla extract
Put all ingredients in a blender and liquefy. Spray a skillet with non-stick spray or melt a pat of butter. Add batter and cook on medium heat. Flip to cook other side.
Makes about 4 baby-sized servings.
No matter how many times you’ve cooked for people you care about, there’s just nothing more gratifying than seeing how delighted your little one is after eating Mommy’s home-cooked goodies. And beyond that, you can feel proud that you’ve made the “most important meal of the day” your baby’s favorite and healthiest. Happy cooking!
Jorie Mark is the Creative Director of Vitacost.com and mother to three children, ages 2 to 9.