How to Create a Balanced Meal for Baby
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3 Components of a Balanced Meal
When starting your baby on solid foods, it is important to focus on serving balanced meals for optimal nutrition! When creating a balanced meal for a baby, I aim to focus on three types of foods:
- High iron
- Vitamin C
- Energy-dense and healthy fats
Let’s Unpack Each Category
- High-iron foods
If you have been following me for even a little bit, you know that adequate iron intake is a major goal when introducing solid foods to prevent iron deficiency. Providing a high iron food with every meal is recommended.
Examples of high-iron foods include:
- Beans
- Lentils
- Animal-based products
- Sardines
- Eggs
- Tofu
If you want to read more on iron, I have a great post discussing The Need for Iron Rich Foods When Starting Solids.
- Vitamin C-Containing foods.
These foods tag team with high-iron foods and aid in iron absorption. Most fruits and veggies contain vitamin C and are also important for babies to be consuming in meals for their vitamin and antioxidant content.
Some great vitamin C containing fruits include:
- Oranges
- Grapefruit
- Grapes
- Berries
- Cantaloupe
- Raspberries
- Tomatoes
- Kiwis
- Strawberries
Vitamin C containing veggies include:
- Collards
- Bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Kale
- Cabbage
- Energy-Dense and Healthy Fat Foods.
We know that every bite counts when starting solids so choose a food option that contains tons of healthy fats and calories to help meet their nutritional needs. Fats are also recommended to be unrestricted for the first two years of life to aid in brain development!
Examples of energy-dense and healthy fat foods include:
- Avocado
- Sardines
- Salmon
- Cheese
- Olive oil
- Avocado oil
- Animal products
- Eggs
- Chia seeds
Adding some of these foods to increase calories in the meals for your baby can be easy! When cooking, consider adding more oil, ghee, or butter. Sprinkle chia seeds or cheese into the meals your baby already enjoys is also a great way to boost calories.
Remember that some of these foods may overlap and meet both the high iron and the energy dense food requirement!
Use this simple method to create a balanced meal for your little one! But don’t worry if your little one isn’t always eating a balanced meal. Check out this balanced meal examples below!
Need more balanced meal inspiration? Grab our balanced meal magnet at 101beforeone.
Need more help? Grab our baby-led feeding cookbook or join our digital membership group.
Cinthia Scott is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), with over 7 years experience in the field of dietetics. Cinthia focuses on ensuring optimal nutrition in the first 1000 days of life to ensure optimal growth and development as well as set the stage for long-term health. Cindy is an author, starting solids expert, and advocate for caregivers receiving evidence based education and support surrounding breastfeeding and starting solids.
Cinthia is co-author of the 101beforeone Starting Solids Book, “101beforeone -baby-led feeding cookbook,” and is the founder and owner of The Baby Dietitian LLC which is her private practice built to provide virtual 1:1 services for caregivers surrounding infant nutrition, toddler nutrition, and breastfeeding support. Cinthia is also the creator of the Starting Solids 101 Program which provides caregivers 1:1 support from a Pediatric Dietitian on how to provide optimal nutrition from the start and create healthy eating habits that will last their whole lifetime. To work with Cinthia, you can access her services here.
Cinthia provides tons of free information for parents on her social media accounts as well.
- Instagram: @The.Baby.Dietitian
- Tiktok: @The.Baby.Dietitian
