Bitter Vegetables: How to Safely Offer Bitter Vegetables for Baby-Led Weaning

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Episode Description

Can babies eat bitter vegetables? Or is it dangerous to offer bitter foods to your baby? Babies benefit from a variety of taste and flavor exposures, including bitter vegetables. And a baby may need to see a food 10-15 times before he or she likes or accepts it...so don’t turn your back on bitter vegetables just because your baby has rejected these foods a few times!

In this episode we’re exploring bitter vegetables: why should we feed these foods to babies? How do you make bitter vegetables safe for babies to self-feed? What about nitrates in bitter vegetables, are they bad? Come listen to learn the what, when, why and how much about bitter vegetables for baby-led weaning.

SUMMARY OF EPISODE

In this episode we’re covering

• WHAT bitter vegetables babies can eat? Think asparagus, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, eggplant and spinach (among others!)

• WHEN should babies start eating these foods...and why one of the best ways to reduce exposure to nitrates from these foods is to wait until 6 months to start solid foods - but if you wait too long, the flavor window can close!

• HOW to prepare bitter vegetables safely for baby-led weaning since hard and crunchy foods are choking hazards for babies as are raw leafy vegetables

LINKS from episode

• Other BABY-LED WEANING MADE EASY podcast episodes mentioned in this episode:

  • Episode 99: Are Organic Foods Better for My Baby?

  • Episode 143: BLW Basics: How to Make Fritters for Self-Feeding Babies

  • Episode 48: How to Flavor, Season & Spice Your Baby's Food with Kanchan Koya, PhD

• BLW Palak Paneer Recipe for safely feeding spinach for baby-led weaning

• Check out The Spice House for great salt-free seasonings and spices for all of your baby’s flavoring needs! You can get 10% off with code BLWT10 and check out their Salt-Free Spices Deluxe Gift Box Set here (this is an affiliate link & affiliate code)

• REGISTER for my free online workshop BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without you having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches. Everyone on the workshop gets a copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS list so you’ll know exactly what foods babies CAN eat when they’re ready for BLW (including bitter vegetables)! Register for this week’s workshop times here.

RESEARCH LINKS FROM EPISODE

• Infant & Toddler Responses to Novel Bitter-Tasting Vegetables study (this is the one funded by the Sugar Association but emphasizes the acceptance advantages of offering bitter vegetables at 6-12 months) https://academic.oup.com/jn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jn/nxab198/6311831#267028246

• Information about Nitrates in Vegetables & drinking water: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/nitrate_2013/docs/nitrate_patient-education.pdf 

• Benefits of exposure to bitter vegetables in utero and while breastfeeding article: https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/478759

TRANSCRIPT of episode

WANT MORE BLW INFO?!

• SUBSCRIBE to the BABY-LED WEANING MADE EASY PODCAST - new episodes are released on Monday and Thursday and subscribing means you’ll never miss what’s new (+ you’ll get notified about special bonus episodes too!)...subscribe here.

• Grab my free download called 10 EASY STARTER FOODS FOR BABY-LED WEANING - sometimes just getting the confidence to get going will help you realize your baby CAN and WANTS to do this self-feeding thing! < < CLICK HERE FOR THE 10 STARTER FOODS DOWNLOAD > >

• REGISTER for my free online workshop BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS: How to get your baby to try 100 foods before turning 1 without you having to spoon-feed purees or buy pouches. Everyone on the workshop gets a copy of my 100 FIRST FOODS list so you’ll know exactly what foods babies CAN eat when they’re ready for BLW! Register for this week’s workshop times here.