Vegetarian feeding guide
Moving on to solids is a big step for any baby. A vegetarian diet can meet
the needs of a growing child but it does require a conscious effort.
The following is a guide to assist you in delivering the right combination of
food to your baby:
Up until 4-6 months
Breast milk or infant formula is all that baby needs.
Around 4-6 months
Baby may now be ready for solids. Remember breast milk or formula is still the
most important food. Please consult your health professional for advice.
From 4 months
(After the milk feed)
- Rice-based, iron-enriched infant cereal mixed smooth with boiled, cooled water, or breast milk or formula.
- Cooked and pureed apple, pear, apricot, peach, nectarine. Raw, ripe mashed banana, mango. (Tinned fruit may be used.)
- Cooked and pureed pumpkin, potato, kumara, carrot, marrow, courgette (zucchini). Raw, mashed avocado.
- Remove skins and seeds from fruits and vegetables.
After 6 months
Add to foods introduced earlier -
- Infant muesli, wheat-based infant cereal, porridge made from oatmeal or rolled oats.
- Cooked egg yolk.
- Home-made vegetables soups or stock, mixed with vegetables.
- Yam, cauliflower, broccoli, taro, swede, puha, bok choy, green beans, parsnip, beetroot (cooked).
- Melon, plum (skins and seeds removed). Raw persimmon (scooped out soft pulp or peeled wedges if firmer).
- Dried fruit - prunes or apricots, cooked to soften, then pureed.
- Serve with other fruit or infant cereals.
- Toast fingers, rusks.
Around 8-9 months
Baby is interested in an extended range of foods and varied
texture. Some of these foods will still need to be modified by mashing and/or
finely chopping.
Include first and second stage foods plus -
- Tofu, legumes such as lentils, kidney beans and chickpeas, cooked, and mashed or sieved.
- Silverbeet, spinach, peas, cabbage, tomatoes, creamed corn, celery, brussels sprouts, mushrooms (cooked).
- Vegetables suitable from 4-6 months on (e.g. potato, kumara, pumpkin) can now be offered baked in wedges instead of mashed.
- Onions, leeks and turnips can also be used in soups and casseroles.
- Orange, mandarin, kiwifruit, feijoa, pineapple, berries.
- For finger foods offer small amounts of prunes, apricots, raisins, sultanas, soaked in hot water for ½ hour
- Pasta, white rice
- Spaghetti, mashed baked beans.
- Yoghurt, custard (made with egg yolk or custard powder), cottage cheese, grated cheese.
- Vegemite/marmite.
- Smooth peanut butter.*
Leave until after 12 months
Cow's milk as a main drink, adult breakfast cereals, honey, egg
white.
After 12 months, baby can join in family meals and eat a wide variety of
foods.
Milk remains important for calcium. 1 to 3 year olds should include at least 2 to 3 servings of milk and/or milk products each day. A serving is 1 cup (250ml) of milk, or 150g tub of yoghurt, or 2 to 3 slices (40g) of cheese.
Karicare Toddler milks can be used as an alternative to cow's milk. Karicare Toddler milks contain additional iron, Vitamin C and inulin, a type of dietary fibre.
Karicare Gold Toddler 3 is enriched with omega DHA.
For teething, offer
A piece of fruit or vegetable wedge wrapped in muslin, e.g. a peeled apple
quarter, stick of carrot. After 6 months rusks or dry toast can be used.
If allergies run in the family delay the following foods until 12 months:
Cow's milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, tofu, wheat, fish, peanut butter*
*If there is a strong family history of peanut allergy, delay until after 3
years
