Christmas dinner is the key part of the festivities for many families during the holiday season. If you have a baby you want them to enjoy it too so we have put together some easy baby food recipes for Christmas dinner.
What can your baby eat at Christmas?
Depending on what age your baby will be at Christmas will determine what types of food you can give them. If you haven’t started weaning yet, your little one can still join in with the Christmas dinner with a cute outfit!
Don’t use the Christmas dinner as a time to introduce loads of new flavours, especially items that could trigger allergies as you don’t want to be worrying all day about whether they will like the food or not. Introduce any new ‘Christmas’ food a week or so before.
First Stage of Weaning
At this point, your baby won’t be able to eat any meat. Nevertheless, pureed mash or veg, with a little bit of no salt stock or milk will go down a treat. Mash up potatoes in a potato ricer or mouli, rather than sticking them in the blender with the rest of your vegetables, this way the mixture won’t become sticky and starchy.
For extra flavour and nutrition, add in apples or pears, and perhaps a bit of butternut squash.
Second Stage of Weaning
You may want to let your baby try a little bit of turkey. Add a thin slice to the puree mixture and blend it together. Be sure to keep the ratio at 25% meat to 75% vegetables, and don’t salt the meat beforehand.
Finger foods
Your baby will be able to enjoy a wide range of textures and flavours. So, ensuring that none of your food is heavily salted, cut up their mini Christmas dinner into small shapes that they can easily pick up and chew on.
Recipes and ideas for Christmas dinner with a baby
Turkey Dinner
Turkey is the UK’s bird of choice at Christmastime, so that’s why we’ve put together this recipe that can introduce your baby its lovely flavour.
Ingredients:
1 X Turkey slice
1 X Potato
1 X Medium carrot
A couple of small broccoli florets
How to prepare:
1. Ensure that all of your meat and veg is cooked before beginning this recipe.
2. Blend the turkey first in a food processor, adding a little water or homemade stock. Keep blending until the mixture is fairly thin.
3. Add the potato and the rest of the veggies and continue to blend until the puree reaches the consistency you want.
Baby Stuffing
Traditional or commercial stuffing can be quite salty, and therefore it’s best not to give it to your baby. However, Mummy Cooks has a delicious baby-friendly version of the tasty Christmas treat over on her blog: Mummy Cooks stuffing recipe.
Potatoes
Potatoes are often the staple of Christmas cuisine, and they’re perfectly fine to give to your baby as long as they are completely free from salt. Mash some up and add some milk for your baby to enjoy.
Brussels sprouts
Love them or hate them, many people think Brussels sprouts are the ultimate addition to a festive dish. They are very high in protein making them nutritious for growing babies. Cook them for a short time (7 – 10 mins) until they are soft.
Only give your baby a few Brussels because, as you may very well know, they can cause a lot of gas!
Have you got any recipes for babies at Christmas? Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter and Facebook.
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