How to build a nutritionally dense purée for your baby! It’s easy to make a purée, but what you should be aiming for is not just ‘filler foods’ but nutritionally dense foods! Our babies stomachs are very small, so let’s fill them with foods that will benefit them! You can adapt these principles to baby led weaning also by following the same building blocks (eg lots of vegetables cooked in or topped with spices and healthy fats (or include avocado on the side), some meat or legumes and maybe a bottle/cup of bone broth 1. Predominantly plant based – our purée should be predominantly fruit or vegetables (I am for 70%). I’d recommend mainly savoury purées to develop the palate. I’m sure you’ll all agree it’s not hard to get your toddler to eat sweet food, so let’s work on savoury! 2. Meat, fish, legumes, beans or certain grains. Babies don’t need a lot of these things, but I usually aim for about 20% of my purée constituting of this. 3. Healthy fats – including healthy fats will help your baby absorb vital nutrients and fat soluble vitamins from the food. Eg. Baking in coconut oil or ghee, EEVO, MCT, hemp oil, egg yolk, avocado, coconut cream. 4. Liquid thinner – think creatively instead of just using water – add bone broth, coconut milk, breastmilk 5. Flavour and spice – start small and build up as your baby becomes more explorative. Think fresh herbs and spices, garlic, ginger, seaweed, sauerkraut juice! (see my post on flavour combinations here).