Avocado For Baby-Led Weaning

Avocado is a delicious, nutrient-dense food for all ages, including infants starting solids. Moreover, avocado is also one of the easiest foods to prepare for your baby – and what parent doesn’t want that? This article covers how to prepare avocado for baby-led weaning.

Avocado has long been a first food for babies starting solids. This creamy, dreamy fruit (yes, fruit) is soft, rich, and bursting with nutrients, making it a great choice for your little one. Read on to learn how to serve avocado to your baby. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t always have to be mashed.

Nutrients found in avocado

Before we talk nutrients, it’s important to note that babies don’t get much nutrition from food at first. Learning to eat takes time and exploration, and kids quite frankly aren’t very good at it in the beginning. However, over time you little one will rely more heavily on food for nutrition.

Now, back to the nutrients in avocado. Avocados are arguably one of the most nutritious foods on the planet offering close to 20 nutrients. Specifically, avocados provide fat, fiber, folate, vitamin K, copper, riboflavin, potassium, vitamin E, and more.

• Fat: Essential for brain and vision development. Also provides energy to fuel rapid growth.
• Fiber: Promotes laxation, and supports the gut microbiome which influences immunity, brain function, the liver and more.
• Folate: Important for cell division, neurodevelopment, and protein metabolism.
• Vitamin K: Involved in blood clotting and bone formation. (Most kids get a shot of vitamin K at birth to tide them over until they start solids).
• Copper: Important for energy production, iron metabolism, formation of tissues and bones, and maintaining the central nervous system.

10 ways to serve avocados for baby-led weaning

Your baby can enjoy avocados in a variety of forms. Here are 10 ideas for serving avocado for baby-led weaning to help you get started:

1. Slice and roll in panko, wheatgerm, hemp seeds, or infant cereal (to improve grip).
2. Mash and smear on whole grain toast fingers.
3. Mash with lime juice, and finely-chopped cilantro. Serve on a preloaded spoon.
4. Mash with cumin and smear on roasted sweet potato wedges.
5. Mash with lemon, garlic powder, and ricotta, and mix with whole grain pasta.
6. Mash and smear on soft-cooked beef.
7. Mash and mix with cooked quinoa.
8. Mash and smear onto slices of omelet.
9. Mash and mix with lime juice, cilantro, and shredded chicken.
10. Combine mashed avocado with whole grain flour, mashed banana, an egg, and whole milk/soy milk to make pancake batter. Griddle batter over medium heat to make pancakes.

Can avocado make my baby constipated?

Avocados are rich in insoluble fiber which promotes laxation. Therefore, avocados are unlikely to be the main culprit for constipation in kids starting solids. Many infants experience constipation as they transition from a liquid-only diet to eating food. (Read more about constipation here).

Key takeaways

• Avocado is a delicious, nutrient-dense food for all ages, including infants starting solids.
• Avocados provide close to 20 nutrients including fat, fiber, folate, vitamin K, copper, riboflavin, potassium, vitamin E, and more.
• Using the baby-led weaning approach, your baby can enjoy avocados in a variety of forms such as spread on toast, mashed, and sliced.