Welcome to my ninth edition of my Nutrient Dense Baby Foods series for Homemade Mommy!  Last week I provided you with a fantastic Vanilla Custard recipe to add to your baby’s diet.  This week I am explaining why and how to add pureed meats.

Making your own baby food is simple and saves you several dollars on both grocery AND medical bills!  Feeding your baby the most nutritious foods without the added preservatives or other chemicals is going to help keep your baby healthy.

Why should you add pureed meats to your baby’s diet?

At 6-8 months of age, the Weston A. Price Foundation recommend’s adding pureed meats such as lamb, turkey, beef, chicken, liver and fish to your baby’s diet.  This is because at this age your baby’s digestive system, although still immature, has the enzymes required to digest fats and proteins as opposed to carbohydrates.  This makes the meats easier to digest than the cereals that are often encouraged at this age.  (source)

Nutrient-dense organ meat should also be included in the types of meats you can feed your baby while begin the weaning process.  As your baby begins to consume less breast milk, he or she requires nutrients like protein, zinc, iron and B-vitamins.  Meat is one food group that has these nutrients in ample amounts.

According a study conducted by Dr. Nancy Krebs, breastfed infants who received puréed or strained meat as a primary weaning food beginning at four to five months grew at a slightly faster rate. Inadequate protein or zinc from common first foods may limit the growth of some breastfed infants during the weaning period. Infants who received meat had high protein and zinc levels.  Read my post about including liver in your baby’s diet here.

How do you prepare meat for your baby?

1. Add homemade stock or filtered water to a pan.
2. Add meat.
3. Cook over medium high heat until completely tender.
4. Allow meat to cool by placing it in the refrigerator.
5. Cut into 1-2 inch chunks.
6. Grind up the meat with this attachment for your Kitchenaid mixer or a food mill.

Note: I ground the meat using the “fine grind” attachment and it came out great.  You can add water, formula, breast milk or cooking juices to the ground meat to feed to your baby.

Nutrient Dense Baby Foods: Chicken Liver Paté for Baby

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb organic chicken livers
• 1/4 cup homemade or organic chicken broth
• 2 tsp butter
• Pinch of sea salt

Directions

1. Add chicken livers to broth in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
3. Allow to simmer for 8 minutes.
4. Pour mixture into a blender.
5. Add butter and sea salt.
6. Blend to desired consistency.

Next week I’ll continue this series about how you can save time and money and still make healthy, nutrient dense baby food!

Would you like a clean, printable version of the baby food introduction schedule that will look great on your fridge?  Visit my blog and subscribe to my newsletter for your FREE copy!

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